Cap'n Marvel's
Okay...
So here you are wondering, who is this idiot? Is he a TA? A professor? Nah. I'm just some guy who got lucky enough to get to his last semester as an OU Chemical Engineer undergrad. I don't have an outstanding GPA, I don't know Mo-Heat back and forth, but I DID make it.... and so can you. It'll be hard, harder than you realise. But when you're driving the Bimmer back and forth from your plant, when operators call you 'sir', you'll know the benefits.
MY INSPIRATIONAL STATEMENT: "If I Made It, So Can YOU!"
Here's some stuff I sure wish I was told before I went through this program. Granted, some of this you may know, some of this maynot apply to you. But, if you are anything like me, this may help you out a lot....
Listen to your Instructor Obvious, right? Do it. Listen to what they say about professionalism, about how things really are in industry. Pay special note to Mariano's comments on your writing. He's great with details...which leads us to:
Your Writing Sucks. Okay, maybe you disagree...but wait until you get your first rough draft back. Talk about reality check. Learn from those red marks, take them seriously. Don't think Tech Writing class is gonna save you, either. Remember: Tech Writers are from the ENGLISH department, and don't know their venturi from their orifice. And they grade that way. This writing suckitude continues until you graduate, but you will get better. And besides, isn't it nice to know everyone's in the same boat?
Don't RELY on the Instructors. You're smart enough to figure it out yourself. Ask 'em a question, and their answer will most likely be a question (Dr. Nollert, anyone?). Sometimes they want you to think it through by yourself, sometimes they truly don't know. Of course, you never know. You can squeeze blood from a rock on occasion, but don't count on it.
DON'T BLOW ANYTHING UP. If you don't know what a valve does, for sure, don't open it. This will screw up your class standing for sure.
Handy Example:
Packed Tower: The Most Easily Screwed Up Unit Operation
Friend of mine was turning on the water flow full blast just to make sure everything was cool with the seals, leaving some valves closed on purpose. Meanwhile, his conscientious group mate was cranking up the air flow full blast. BLAM! Water, ash, all over the lab. Have a clue as to what everyone is doing, okay? I gotta help fix this stuff.
5. Don't Drink the Ethanol. Unless you want to leave a pretty corpse. Its got 5% formaldehyde in it.
6. Network! Network! Network! But don't share reports, which is an easy way to get booted. Im sure you're all good at this already, but you'll get better. Before your second experiment, talk to the group who just did it. They'll tell you what sucks, and what is good. You'll learn more effectively and waste less time on 'What the hell does this switch do?'
7. Love Your Group, Live Your Group. Okay, you didn't get to choose your group, and either you got lucky (like me) or not quite so lucky. Get over it. You gotta work with these people for 15 weeks, intensively, so bite the bullet and become a team. Don't let ego get in the way of your group's (and your own) grade. Schedule meetings and go to them on time...nothing pisses a group off like you missing a meeting the night before a project is due. Remember: not only do you get evaluated by them, which counts more than you think, and you'll probably work with them again in the future.
8. Read Your Resources! Or be like me and get a bad grade until I pulled my head out and got to it. Besides (Old Grandpa Voice), "In MY day we didn't have ELECTRONIC RESERVE, so we had to walk all the way to the Engine Library through 16 feet of snow, to read a manual in Sanskrit written on greasy waxed paper to get our damned Heat Transfer Coefficient!"
9. Those Darn Presentations also count a whole lot. You may not have done this too much before, like me. Watching yourself on video is the best way to get better. If Nollert watches you, beware of the yawn. Don't go overtime, though it's pretty easy. Learn PowerPoint...you'll need it, and it looks cool. No sound effects, lasers are annoying. Watch your contrast...those backgrounds that look oh so cool on the PC will probably not show up during the real thing, and then your up sh....you're not doing well. Anyhow, this is where the money is made in the real world, so approach these like you want to conquer the universe, and you probably will.
10. The Waller Factor You'll meet a guy named John Waller. He's rich (check the plaque in the Senior Computer Lab. You'll be tempted not to listen, probably because of your two hours sleep in the last few days, but keep an ear open. Hell, he's got a lot of money, so I'd going to listen to what the guy says. I'll get a lot of flak from the other seniors for this, Im sure. Plus, the guy used to interview for his companies a lot, so show him your resume and interview technique, and he'll be brutally honest.
11. TA's. Know less than professors, but have been known to give good hints when it counts. Don't expect a lot of help, though. These guys have their own crap to worry about, much less to mess with some wet-behind-the-ears undergrad like you. They're in it for the money. Nice guys, though, personally.
12. Sleep Deficit You've seen it, but not to the Nazi-esque proportions you soon will. Watch for tendencies to violence, seriously. Strategically skip classes for sleep (I'll get drawn and quartered for that, too.) I work 25 hours a week, had 15 hours of class last semester, including 2 labs, and I began to hallucinate in the middle of P Chem, I swear...
13. Your Grade will scare the hell out of you at first. Expect bloodbaths on reports 1-3 unless you get A's on everything anyhow (jerk), in which case you'll pull off something in the 70's. Good News: No instructor is going to flunk you now, unless you just don't show up to the game, or generally act like a jerk. There will be a contingent of A's, B's, and some C's in the end, regardless of how many D's you get on your reports.
14. This Ain't Nothin Compared To Next Year Believe me. It DOES get worse.
15. Chem E....More than Numbers A little common sense and luck can get you really far in this. I'm a case study. If you just 'didn't get' Chem E thermo, don't worry...it'll all be reviewed before you graduate. It seems like Unit Ops is 'Find the Correlation 101', but look at what stuff looks like and how it acts. This equipment is for real.