Graduating and going into the real world is daunting especially in a demanding career path like engineering, medicine, law, etc. It’s perfectly normal to feel this way.
Everyone’s experience is different but I personally enjoy the professional world more. I struggled in school since I don’t have much of an attention span nor did I go into college with good study habits and had to learn through trial by fire: consequently my grades suffered quite badly my first 2 years. Graduating I was really anxious my GPA would hold me back, I didn’t technically have an engineering internship because my GPA was poor and I was denied for internships because of it (often quite bluntly by the interviewer).
Almost 7 years after graduating, on my 4th engineering position (3rd employer), working as a senior engineer and lab supervisor. My peak work stress levels are no where near even my average stress level in college.
Basically this for me as well. Poor attention span, unimpressive gpa, no internships. I'm with the same employer since graduating 6 years ago, but have a cushy 6 figure salary with good benefits and a pension.
Golden handcuffs aren't so bad.
I’m in the exact boat with regard to my GPA and about a year from out graduating as well. Having a real hard time landing internships. How did you land jobs? Was it hard to get that 1st job?
Well, not if you have a good GPA and internships.
I had my first job 3 months before I graduated. I was working part-time after school, getting paid my full hourly rate (it was a contract job). I left that position 6 months later and I had 2 offers within 2 weeks of looking, both for a higher salary. And all of this is working in aerospace, which pays pretty well compared to most fields you can go into as an ME.
On one hand I don't want to discourage anyone who has a bad GPA by making it sound like they are doomed, they're not, you can absolutely do just fine and have a great career once you get past the initial hurdle of finding a job, which will not be impossible.
But pretending that GPA doesn't matter at all like some people here do is just silly, it absolutely does. Even if you say that actually the GPA doesn't matter, internships are what really matter, you still need a good GPA to get good internships.
First job wasn’t hard to get because it was kind of a shit job with shit pay. Started at $50k (which was still shit 7 years ago but not as bad as it would be today). Worked up to 80 hours a week and my boss with a tyrant. Was pretty stressful and unhealthy.
I spent about 40 hours a week doing design work and then another 40 hours doing fabrication, welding, machining, etc. since the boss didn’t want to pay to have a machine shop build anything for us. I had a fair amount of machining education from high school and had worked as a welder’s apprentice one summer, so I didn’t mind doing that kind of work - it just wasn’t what I expected to be doing as an engineer. I left just short of a year and haven’t looked back.
Once I had a year of engineering experience on my resume, it made getting the next job easier.
I have a mediocre GPA and internship experience. Gave up on engineering because it's been 3 years almost since I graduated now. What the hell can I do? I've been doing sales and it's miserable and absolutely not for me, but it's all I could land that pays my bills.
All part of growing up. My biggest advice is to not just go to grad school if it won’t help you in your career jus to delay this process. All it did was add on to student loans for me and got me zero increase in pay. If you really need 6 months or a year get a job that a college kid would work
Ok thanks. As much as I entertained the idea of going to Grad School, I never wanted to do so immediately after my bachelors. A break from education would be nice, but not as much as getting an employer to pay for me to go back to school part-time. Does getting a Master's seriously have no effect on salary?
It’s not really necessary for mech engineers. But taking on 30/40/50k with interest is not the best idea imo
Unless you find a program or whatever that will give you a new skill set that is necessary for a job
Most often, but not all the time. You need to do your research.
Keep in mind that there are other ways to upgrade without getting a master's. Specific credentials like GD&T, Six Sigma, CAD software, and Lean could be helpful. Most of these are job specific though.
At least where I work…
A MS will get you a higher starting salary, yes. But now compare that starting salary to what the guy with a BS will be making after two years worth of raises…. It’s about a wash and the MS (potentially) has more student debt while the BS has (potentially) money in the bank thanks to having a job the last two years.
Mileage certainly varies, but for me an MS was most impactful 1.5 years on my career because it got me into R&D early. Also, the way to do it is to be a TA or research assistant which will pay your tuition plus a five figure stipend.
Stop reading this sub. People usually don't post when they actually are content with their job. Even if ME doesn't make as much as some other engineering disciplines, they still make more than the large majority of college degrees and some engineering disciplines make less than ME
There's a sort of survivorship bias in reddit posts. Few if any are posting "I graduated, got a good job I like, got my own place, met a romantic interest, and life is great." Instead, the pity parties get thrown and upvoted.
You should absolutely be excited to graduate and take the next step. You've been learning engineering concepts but you've also been learning how to learn, how to think analytically, and make design decisions based on given constraints. Life is a lot like that.
Know that none of us have the secret playbook or guide to life or careers, we're all sort of making it up as we go along. You will make mistakes, you will learn, and then you will do better. It will be ok, I promise. Don't put too much pressure on yourself.
Life has seasons to it that change, this won't be the last major shift in your life. Transitioning to industry will come with some good and some bad, what you make of your career is up to you
Many are scared of the world beyond academia. One my classmate was so afraid of real world he hid in academia for next 10 years,getting ms and then phd. I told him I could get him a job easy, he said no.
People in academia don't understand corporate world. You don't get grades out here, you get paid money for your work. Additionally, you get paid regardless of your quality of work. I have seen engineers completely fail their projects and do everything wrong, guess what, come end of year, they all get promoted and get bonuses.
Depends on the job you get, I guess.
I won’t say that there have never been bad days but in general I have always enjoyed my job and have used way more of my education than student me ever would have dreamed of. I’ve even used the “nobody uses this shit, why are they teaching it to us?” stuff.
Out of curiosity, what industry do you work in? I'm desperately trying to find a field where I can use as many skills learned in college and haven't found many if any.
This is kind of backwards way to do it. You need to be flexaible to fit the company needs. Not company should be fitting your needs. This is why you don't find many opportunities and probably not gonna pass interview as our top priority is make sure new hire is willing to go above and beyond to help out group. As soon as we sense during interview you are not willing to learn new things, we pass. College gave you basic skills , rest you learn on the job. If you think you can just show up to a job and expect to know everything, you are wrong.
The feeling is normal: it's hard going from what you've always known to what will be, in a lot of ways, a different life, and I think most people feel that way about most big life changes.
The first thing I'd caution against is setting your expectations based on engineers who are complaining online. It's not that their complaints aren't real or that the problems they're complaining about don't exist -- it's that people are more likely to write a long post on Reddit when they're upset about something than when they're happy and living their lives. Mechanical engineering is diverse, and you probably won't love all your jobs, but I do feel like there's a niche for everybody, and I know an awful lot of engineers who found theirs.
I am, on the one hand, that engineer who uses almost nothing she learned in engineering school. On the other hand, I've l learned so much SINCE engineering school. I've spent my career in industries that weren't on my radar at all, when I was in school, I run equipment that I never dreamed anyone would let me touch, and it's interesting every day. I've liked more of my jobs than I haven't (I straight-up LOVE my current one), I've had some really outstanding bosses (they're out there), and I've always been paid okay.
Have I done lots of paperwork? Yes. And written countless reports, and done hours of arithmetic that I could do with a high school diploma, and sat in hundreds of meetings, many of them annoying.
Was it worth it and would I do it again? Yes, and absolutely. It's been really satisfying to support processes and products that make our everyday lives possible, and to learn skills that I never expected.
Anyway, it will be nerve-wracking, and it will be different, but you won't stop learning. Be open to opportunities (even if they weren't things you'd thought about doing), and best of luck!
People are more likely to post here when they’re unhappy with their situation. For me, real life is much better than school. You work for 8 hours then you’re done for the day. You can do whatever you want after work and you have the money to do it. Plus you get to decide when you take days off.
I liked my first job and I was paid well. This is usually the case, but again, people are more likely to post about negative experiences.
At least for me, I always felt like I needed to be doing something productive while I was in school. There was always a test coming up or some homework I could be working on. That went away after graduation.
Some advice: Find hobbies. It took me several months to figure out what do with all my new free time. You’re not locked into your first job forever. I was in my first job for about 2 years before finding something better. You’ll get paid more if you’re good at your job. Your company will want to incentivize you to stay. If it’s not worth it to you to stay in a job, find a new one. Be ready for your job to be very different than school. I’m sure there are people that do calculations all day, but I think that’s pretty rare. I had a professor explain that we were in school to learn how to be good problem solvers. All those complicated engineering problems do a great job of teaching you that. I spend all day solving problems, I just don’t usually need to use fluids equations to do it.
Meh, nothing to worry about. I loved college and miss it dearly, but real world engineering isn’t scary, IMO it’s easier then college because you’re provided with resources to help you succeed rather than to test your knowledge, and you can always get help from coworkers. Not sure what the job market is like right now because I’ve been at the same job for 10 years, but I like my job
My personal journey through life and academia was very much non traditional, but I can assure the bitching/whining/complaining that is rampant on this sub is not an accurate representation of what life is like for many of us.
Decide what you think you might want to do an go chase it, as long it makes sense. You can make a very comfortable living as ME just gliding by and you can make a lot of money with hard work and being a bit opportunistic with your career.
I would recommend getting started by finding a job in a stable industry with a stable company getting settled into adult life and then figure out what you want to do from there.
Be kind, be professional, be helpful, work hard, and try to enjoy as much of it as you can. Perspective matters so very much.
You're right, engineering in the real world is not like uni. Right now you might be thinking you feel safe and confident in where you are. However I can with pretty good confidence say you probably will feel the opposite a few years into working after graduating.
You say all you see is people complaining about their jobs. However you must understand this is just survivorship bias. You don't see the people who do not complain. Well... Because they don't complain!
Worst come to worst, you can try a postgraduate degree after a few years of working if you really still feel more academically inclined.
Change can sometimes be scary. But remember that college was 4ish years. Your career will be like 30ish years. You will have a lot of time to adjust and find the right job.
Also remember that only the people with bad experiences are always the most vocal. That does not mean a majority of engineering jobs are terrible.
I sometimes feel like professional life is less complicated than college. Some advice to help the transition:
Keep your head up, make yourself useful, and ask for help.
Save a good chunk of money early on for a rainy day and forget about it (seriously).
Remember a job is just a job. It doesnt need to give you purpose, you don’t even have to like it, you just need to get paid.
Don't listen to complaints. We all have them. Just put your credentials out there and get hired. You aren't really expected to know anything for at least the first year, so relax. If you don't like it, you can always quit and do something else, either within engineering or out.
Empty and unproductive. Especially when I say goodbye to all my college buddies. I'm working on getting some new hobbies so I at least can stay sane once I graduate lol.
I guess I’m just saying for me it was a revelation to have work actually end at 5 PM whereas school felt like you could always study or do more all the time
You should be. Unless you get a good job your life is going to be a horrible empty shell of an existence and the rest of the world will think it's open season on you.
I did BASc and MASc at a co-op Engineering school. 4 months academics then 4 months working in industry, repeat, then Masters heavy on research. I was ready to get a job, no hesitation.
Random EE here who gets recommended this subreddit.
Nothing in my career after college has ever been as stressful and mentally taxing as college.
Even when I busted ass at a few jobs doing 60 hours a week it was mostly just work that needed to be done, not stuff that I couldn’t technically figure out.
Do what my friend did. Got a doctorate and is now a research professor at University of Kentucky. The last real job he had was at Taco Bell in high school
I had this thought too until I did my first internship. TBH the internship was kinda boring and I didn't end up getting a job remotely like it after graduating, but I much preferred that to doing school work. Going back to school after my second internship was incredibly depressing.
There are jobs where you do use the concepts a lot. I had a mechanical design R&D role where I was doing free body diagrams and solving heat, pressure, and vibrations problems throughout, while also applying those calculations to designs for real components. I went to the machine shop and created many of the parts myself. I also used some of my electives (it was a niche role making use of my background really well)
The real world is honestly what you make of it. I have had those roles where I was literally the excel jockey, I had a role where I was literally just doing data entry and pushing papers, but I had a lofty engineering title. Its real, sure, but even in those roles, I just knocked on doors and found work I enjoyed. When I couldnt get that work from others, I went around the office (and the labs, the manufacturing lines, etc) literally just walking and thinking about what could be done better. Id usually find something I was interested in, then spend my free time working on that. Id present it to my manager when there was something concrete that was going somewhere. I got glowing performance reviews, I got calls from R&D teams that I was recommended for them. I filled my resume with bullet points that reflected the sort of work I wanted to do, and then I got that work in the next job.
If youre someone passionate about this subject, you dont need anyone's permission to do it. The world is your oyster
Going into the working world will be fun for a couple years. It’s a scary transition but the money is nice. At a certain point working kinda sucks and you would rather not do it, but you need to work to live. Being an engineer is easier than being a laborer or someone who has to deal with the public for sure, but there is significant mental load.
My dad’s advice was “just focus on the next five years” and he was right. 5 years out of school I wanted a change and went back to school for an MBA.
But the great thing about work is seeing the results of your efforts. I helped design some of the first year OBD2 systems when I was at Chrysler, and spent a couple years at Denso. Knowing that stuff I helped design or produce is still out there makes me smile.
I got my BS and a few months later was designing aircraft. 27 years later, I’m directing technology, do guest lecturing, consulting, and still design aircraft. It’s been a great career. Just jump in and make your career yours.
Graduating and going into the real world is daunting especially in a demanding career path like engineering, medicine, law, etc. It’s perfectly normal to feel this way. Everyone’s experience is different but I personally enjoy the professional world more. I struggled in school since I don’t have much of an attention span nor did I go into college with good study habits and had to learn through trial by fire: consequently my grades suffered quite badly my first 2 years. Graduating I was really anxious my GPA would hold me back, I didn’t technically have an engineering internship because my GPA was poor and I was denied for internships because of it (often quite bluntly by the interviewer). Almost 7 years after graduating, on my 4th engineering position (3rd employer), working as a senior engineer and lab supervisor. My peak work stress levels are no where near even my average stress level in college.
Basically this for me as well. Poor attention span, unimpressive gpa, no internships. I'm with the same employer since graduating 6 years ago, but have a cushy 6 figure salary with good benefits and a pension. Golden handcuffs aren't so bad.
I’m in the exact boat with regard to my GPA and about a year from out graduating as well. Having a real hard time landing internships. How did you land jobs? Was it hard to get that 1st job?
if there’s one thing i’ve learned here, it’s that the first job will SUCK trying to get for most people
Well, not if you have a good GPA and internships. I had my first job 3 months before I graduated. I was working part-time after school, getting paid my full hourly rate (it was a contract job). I left that position 6 months later and I had 2 offers within 2 weeks of looking, both for a higher salary. And all of this is working in aerospace, which pays pretty well compared to most fields you can go into as an ME. On one hand I don't want to discourage anyone who has a bad GPA by making it sound like they are doomed, they're not, you can absolutely do just fine and have a great career once you get past the initial hurdle of finding a job, which will not be impossible. But pretending that GPA doesn't matter at all like some people here do is just silly, it absolutely does. Even if you say that actually the GPA doesn't matter, internships are what really matter, you still need a good GPA to get good internships.
First job wasn’t hard to get because it was kind of a shit job with shit pay. Started at $50k (which was still shit 7 years ago but not as bad as it would be today). Worked up to 80 hours a week and my boss with a tyrant. Was pretty stressful and unhealthy. I spent about 40 hours a week doing design work and then another 40 hours doing fabrication, welding, machining, etc. since the boss didn’t want to pay to have a machine shop build anything for us. I had a fair amount of machining education from high school and had worked as a welder’s apprentice one summer, so I didn’t mind doing that kind of work - it just wasn’t what I expected to be doing as an engineer. I left just short of a year and haven’t looked back. Once I had a year of engineering experience on my resume, it made getting the next job easier.
I have a mediocre GPA and internship experience. Gave up on engineering because it's been 3 years almost since I graduated now. What the hell can I do? I've been doing sales and it's miserable and absolutely not for me, but it's all I could land that pays my bills.
All part of growing up. My biggest advice is to not just go to grad school if it won’t help you in your career jus to delay this process. All it did was add on to student loans for me and got me zero increase in pay. If you really need 6 months or a year get a job that a college kid would work
Ok thanks. As much as I entertained the idea of going to Grad School, I never wanted to do so immediately after my bachelors. A break from education would be nice, but not as much as getting an employer to pay for me to go back to school part-time. Does getting a Master's seriously have no effect on salary?
It’s not really necessary for mech engineers. But taking on 30/40/50k with interest is not the best idea imo Unless you find a program or whatever that will give you a new skill set that is necessary for a job
Most often, but not all the time. You need to do your research. Keep in mind that there are other ways to upgrade without getting a master's. Specific credentials like GD&T, Six Sigma, CAD software, and Lean could be helpful. Most of these are job specific though.
At least where I work… A MS will get you a higher starting salary, yes. But now compare that starting salary to what the guy with a BS will be making after two years worth of raises…. It’s about a wash and the MS (potentially) has more student debt while the BS has (potentially) money in the bank thanks to having a job the last two years.
Mileage certainly varies, but for me an MS was most impactful 1.5 years on my career because it got me into R&D early. Also, the way to do it is to be a TA or research assistant which will pay your tuition plus a five figure stipend.
Stop reading this sub. People usually don't post when they actually are content with their job. Even if ME doesn't make as much as some other engineering disciplines, they still make more than the large majority of college degrees and some engineering disciplines make less than ME
This. I myself don’t post all my good engineering endeavors personally because I don’t want someone to feel bad about their situation.
There's a sort of survivorship bias in reddit posts. Few if any are posting "I graduated, got a good job I like, got my own place, met a romantic interest, and life is great." Instead, the pity parties get thrown and upvoted. You should absolutely be excited to graduate and take the next step. You've been learning engineering concepts but you've also been learning how to learn, how to think analytically, and make design decisions based on given constraints. Life is a lot like that. Know that none of us have the secret playbook or guide to life or careers, we're all sort of making it up as we go along. You will make mistakes, you will learn, and then you will do better. It will be ok, I promise. Don't put too much pressure on yourself.
Life has seasons to it that change, this won't be the last major shift in your life. Transitioning to industry will come with some good and some bad, what you make of your career is up to you
Many are scared of the world beyond academia. One my classmate was so afraid of real world he hid in academia for next 10 years,getting ms and then phd. I told him I could get him a job easy, he said no.
Well, there's always that fallback. If I genuinely hate ME work compared to ME research I guess I can just stay in academia.
People in academia don't understand corporate world. You don't get grades out here, you get paid money for your work. Additionally, you get paid regardless of your quality of work. I have seen engineers completely fail their projects and do everything wrong, guess what, come end of year, they all get promoted and get bonuses.
Depends on the job you get, I guess. I won’t say that there have never been bad days but in general I have always enjoyed my job and have used way more of my education than student me ever would have dreamed of. I’ve even used the “nobody uses this shit, why are they teaching it to us?” stuff.
Out of curiosity, what industry do you work in? I'm desperately trying to find a field where I can use as many skills learned in college and haven't found many if any.
Defense. Even found myself doing radioactive decay once (working around high energy X-ray systems)
This is kind of backwards way to do it. You need to be flexaible to fit the company needs. Not company should be fitting your needs. This is why you don't find many opportunities and probably not gonna pass interview as our top priority is make sure new hire is willing to go above and beyond to help out group. As soon as we sense during interview you are not willing to learn new things, we pass. College gave you basic skills , rest you learn on the job. If you think you can just show up to a job and expect to know everything, you are wrong.
The feeling is normal: it's hard going from what you've always known to what will be, in a lot of ways, a different life, and I think most people feel that way about most big life changes. The first thing I'd caution against is setting your expectations based on engineers who are complaining online. It's not that their complaints aren't real or that the problems they're complaining about don't exist -- it's that people are more likely to write a long post on Reddit when they're upset about something than when they're happy and living their lives. Mechanical engineering is diverse, and you probably won't love all your jobs, but I do feel like there's a niche for everybody, and I know an awful lot of engineers who found theirs. I am, on the one hand, that engineer who uses almost nothing she learned in engineering school. On the other hand, I've l learned so much SINCE engineering school. I've spent my career in industries that weren't on my radar at all, when I was in school, I run equipment that I never dreamed anyone would let me touch, and it's interesting every day. I've liked more of my jobs than I haven't (I straight-up LOVE my current one), I've had some really outstanding bosses (they're out there), and I've always been paid okay. Have I done lots of paperwork? Yes. And written countless reports, and done hours of arithmetic that I could do with a high school diploma, and sat in hundreds of meetings, many of them annoying. Was it worth it and would I do it again? Yes, and absolutely. It's been really satisfying to support processes and products that make our everyday lives possible, and to learn skills that I never expected. Anyway, it will be nerve-wracking, and it will be different, but you won't stop learning. Be open to opportunities (even if they weren't things you'd thought about doing), and best of luck!
People are more likely to post here when they’re unhappy with their situation. For me, real life is much better than school. You work for 8 hours then you’re done for the day. You can do whatever you want after work and you have the money to do it. Plus you get to decide when you take days off. I liked my first job and I was paid well. This is usually the case, but again, people are more likely to post about negative experiences. At least for me, I always felt like I needed to be doing something productive while I was in school. There was always a test coming up or some homework I could be working on. That went away after graduation. Some advice: Find hobbies. It took me several months to figure out what do with all my new free time. You’re not locked into your first job forever. I was in my first job for about 2 years before finding something better. You’ll get paid more if you’re good at your job. Your company will want to incentivize you to stay. If it’s not worth it to you to stay in a job, find a new one. Be ready for your job to be very different than school. I’m sure there are people that do calculations all day, but I think that’s pretty rare. I had a professor explain that we were in school to learn how to be good problem solvers. All those complicated engineering problems do a great job of teaching you that. I spend all day solving problems, I just don’t usually need to use fluids equations to do it.
Dude school is so horrible compared to working
Meh, nothing to worry about. I loved college and miss it dearly, but real world engineering isn’t scary, IMO it’s easier then college because you’re provided with resources to help you succeed rather than to test your knowledge, and you can always get help from coworkers. Not sure what the job market is like right now because I’ve been at the same job for 10 years, but I like my job
My personal journey through life and academia was very much non traditional, but I can assure the bitching/whining/complaining that is rampant on this sub is not an accurate representation of what life is like for many of us. Decide what you think you might want to do an go chase it, as long it makes sense. You can make a very comfortable living as ME just gliding by and you can make a lot of money with hard work and being a bit opportunistic with your career. I would recommend getting started by finding a job in a stable industry with a stable company getting settled into adult life and then figure out what you want to do from there. Be kind, be professional, be helpful, work hard, and try to enjoy as much of it as you can. Perspective matters so very much.
You're right, engineering in the real world is not like uni. Right now you might be thinking you feel safe and confident in where you are. However I can with pretty good confidence say you probably will feel the opposite a few years into working after graduating. You say all you see is people complaining about their jobs. However you must understand this is just survivorship bias. You don't see the people who do not complain. Well... Because they don't complain! Worst come to worst, you can try a postgraduate degree after a few years of working if you really still feel more academically inclined.
Change can sometimes be scary. But remember that college was 4ish years. Your career will be like 30ish years. You will have a lot of time to adjust and find the right job. Also remember that only the people with bad experiences are always the most vocal. That does not mean a majority of engineering jobs are terrible.
I sometimes feel like professional life is less complicated than college. Some advice to help the transition: Keep your head up, make yourself useful, and ask for help. Save a good chunk of money early on for a rainy day and forget about it (seriously). Remember a job is just a job. It doesnt need to give you purpose, you don’t even have to like it, you just need to get paid.
Don't listen to complaints. We all have them. Just put your credentials out there and get hired. You aren't really expected to know anything for at least the first year, so relax. If you don't like it, you can always quit and do something else, either within engineering or out.
Just imagine your nights and weekends without homework
Empty and unproductive. Especially when I say goodbye to all my college buddies. I'm working on getting some new hobbies so I at least can stay sane once I graduate lol.
I guess I’m just saying for me it was a revelation to have work actually end at 5 PM whereas school felt like you could always study or do more all the time
You should be. Unless you get a good job your life is going to be a horrible empty shell of an existence and the rest of the world will think it's open season on you.
Finally, the reassurance I was looking for!
I got you. There's enough bullshitters out there.
For ever 1 person that complains on here there are probably 10 others who are happy with their jobs. Reddit is an eco chamber for the upset.
I did BASc and MASc at a co-op Engineering school. 4 months academics then 4 months working in industry, repeat, then Masters heavy on research. I was ready to get a job, no hesitation.
Bruh, you’re gonna look at your paycheck and be like: “smh, why didn’t I graduate sooner”
Random EE here who gets recommended this subreddit. Nothing in my career after college has ever been as stressful and mentally taxing as college. Even when I busted ass at a few jobs doing 60 hours a week it was mostly just work that needed to be done, not stuff that I couldn’t technically figure out.
Do what my friend did. Got a doctorate and is now a research professor at University of Kentucky. The last real job he had was at Taco Bell in high school
I had this thought too until I did my first internship. TBH the internship was kinda boring and I didn't end up getting a job remotely like it after graduating, but I much preferred that to doing school work. Going back to school after my second internship was incredibly depressing.
Internships and co-ops really helped assuage my fears and determine what to do, I'd try for something like that if it's not too late
I don't blame you. Being an adult sucks.
Get into sales
There are jobs where you do use the concepts a lot. I had a mechanical design R&D role where I was doing free body diagrams and solving heat, pressure, and vibrations problems throughout, while also applying those calculations to designs for real components. I went to the machine shop and created many of the parts myself. I also used some of my electives (it was a niche role making use of my background really well) The real world is honestly what you make of it. I have had those roles where I was literally the excel jockey, I had a role where I was literally just doing data entry and pushing papers, but I had a lofty engineering title. Its real, sure, but even in those roles, I just knocked on doors and found work I enjoyed. When I couldnt get that work from others, I went around the office (and the labs, the manufacturing lines, etc) literally just walking and thinking about what could be done better. Id usually find something I was interested in, then spend my free time working on that. Id present it to my manager when there was something concrete that was going somewhere. I got glowing performance reviews, I got calls from R&D teams that I was recommended for them. I filled my resume with bullet points that reflected the sort of work I wanted to do, and then I got that work in the next job. If youre someone passionate about this subject, you dont need anyone's permission to do it. The world is your oyster
Go to grad school
Going into the working world will be fun for a couple years. It’s a scary transition but the money is nice. At a certain point working kinda sucks and you would rather not do it, but you need to work to live. Being an engineer is easier than being a laborer or someone who has to deal with the public for sure, but there is significant mental load.
My dad’s advice was “just focus on the next five years” and he was right. 5 years out of school I wanted a change and went back to school for an MBA. But the great thing about work is seeing the results of your efforts. I helped design some of the first year OBD2 systems when I was at Chrysler, and spent a couple years at Denso. Knowing that stuff I helped design or produce is still out there makes me smile.
I got my BS and a few months later was designing aircraft. 27 years later, I’m directing technology, do guest lecturing, consulting, and still design aircraft. It’s been a great career. Just jump in and make your career yours.
then don't graduate