<p>I’ll add another viewpoint that having a solid, supportive partner at your side can make all the difference in the world when it comes to pursuing an engineering degree.</p>
<p>I was an extremely immature, disorganized, bullheaded idiot when I first met my future wife in school in a freshmen English class (the only class our curriculums shared). Lets also throw in selfish, elitist, and arrogant to round out my charming qualities. She was a drama major, I was an engineering major, so I thought I’d impress her with my “quant” smarts. Turns out her dad is a Physicist, her mother a Chemist, brother number 1 a genius (~180IQ), sister number 1 a mechanical engineer, sister number 2 a biochemistry major, brother number 2 at least is still in high school. Even her paternal grandmother has two PhD’s. She scored 5’s on her BC Calc, Chem, and both Physics C AP exams to my 3 Calc AB, 3 (mech)/4(e&m) Physics scores (no chem taken). She also has a tested IQ score 1 point higher than mine (still reminds me of this from time to time).</p>
<p>Add to this the fact that she has been a self-sufficient adult since she was probably 15, held at one point, 3 different jobs while maintaining above a 3.8 (to keep scholarships) in an extremely tough program - you start to get the idea that she is a good influence for an aspiring engineer. Now she’s a deputy project manager at a software company (the desire for health insurance and a stable income prompted a switch in careers from the theater industry).</p>
<p>Simply put, without the structure and support my wife provides, there is no way I ever would have grown up and gotten my act together (let me introduce you to my oldest brother). I never would have gone back to school for an engineering degree without her encouragement.</p>
<p>All that said, where we are now took a decade, I don’t believe anyone under the age of 25 can possibly understand how far they really have to go. My advice is unless she’s better than you, ditch her, else hang on for dear life :-)</p>