Born again intellectual looking for sound advice

[Tampitump]

So I'll try my best to unpack my story as concisely as possible so I can get on to my question.....

 

Previously I was a vastly ignorant person with largely no regard for education. I'm speaking here of the no-so-distant past. From childhood well into young adulthood I was very lost intellectually and academically. Therefore, I'm sure you can imagine that my academic history is very botched and atrocious. You would be imagining correctly. All throughout grade school, high school, and in my first college attempt, I hated school work, and had absolutely no regard for the importance of education. I never invested myself in my school work and I barely squeaked by high school with a laughable GPA and no intentions to attend college (mainly because I was under the impression that college wouldn't be an option for me due to my poor grades).

 

I decided to apply to college during the summer after high school graduation due to the insistence of my parents. The school was just a run-of-the-mill state university that took me as a conditional admit due to my poor grades. I reluctantly attended, carrying the same attitude towards academics present in my past along with me. So in short, my time there was ultimately a joke. I spent three years attending this school after which I did not even make it past freshman status. I failed nearly every class I took and was eventually put on academic suspension. After this I spent nearly four years working various menial jobs before breaking down and deciding to go back to college.

 

My decision to go back to college did not come without previous epiphany. During the period after my first college attempt and being in the work force I had something of an epiphany. I'm not sure what sparked it, but I started to rethink what I deemed important. I became an atheist after previously being devoutly religious (non-sequitur I know), and I also gained a passion for education and science. My decision to go back to college was not born out of desire to get a degree in order to get a better job. It was for the purpose of getting an education first and foremost.

 

So fast forward to today, I'm currently a 25 year old community college student. My current major is mechanical engineering. This is my first semester back to college in four years, so I picked a major I felt would be a good starting point for a scientific general education curriculum. The community college I am attending is arguably the best or among the best in my state. I am on a transfer pathway program that will allow me to transfer seamlessly as a junior to a participating four-year college. My college of choice is the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

 

Currently, I am putting a great deal of thought into what I want to pursue. I want to study one of the sciences and possibly strive for graduate school or even a Phd program if everything works out. I know I might possibly be biting of more than I can chew with this hope. I'm trying not to be too much of an idealist. The point is, I am interested in science, but I am so new to this territory of actually caring about education that I really don't know much about its many areas of discipline. I have considered physics, neuroscience, and computer science as possible avenues. I think I have potentially ruled out biology as it just doesn't interest me in terms of studying. I also want to be conscious of which path is more likely to lead to a successful career. I know scholarly jobs are extremely difficult to come by and require a candidate to be top tier (at least this is how I perceive it).

 

I'm asking for information on the various sciences in terms of college degrees, the occupations available therein, what undergraduate degrees are required to pursue PhDs in these various fields, etc? I'm mainly just asking for information on the sciences that will help me make my decision. As I mentioned before, I'm just now starting to realize this desire to pursue the sciences and scientific education. There are some fields that stand out to me more than others in terms of interest, but I need more information

 

One more detail worth noting is that I am starting from very humble origins here. I neglected my education during the past and am now have to play catch-up with the rest of the world. Especially in math. I just never got the foundation I needed, even in basic algebra. So now I'm basically starting from square one in remedial college algebra classes. I know this should be very humiliating for me, but it is a challenge I am either going to have to rise up to or just step down now. I don't see a good reason to give up so I will trek on with my pursuit of education.

 

Thanks to all who respond. I just want to say, if you choose to respond, please post a detailed response. Not trying to be rude, I just don't like it when people give me half-baked answers that only address an insignificant part of my question.

 

Thanks!

[Genecks]

tl;dr -- kinda busy

 

But a quick response is to look into academic forgiveness for past grades.

[Endy0816]

What sort of work interests you?

[EdEarl]

Mechanical engineering jobs include licensed structural engineer. All two story buildings require an engineer to guarantee the building will not fall down. There are building codes enforced by building permits and bureaucrats. Mechanical engineers also work with architects designing large buildings of all kinds. The also help design bridges, power plants, dams, tunnels, etc.

 

Math is really important to getting an engineering degree of any kind. If you master math, your chances of an advanced degree are enhanced. Once math was only required for the hard sciences, but has recently spread into economics and social sciences.

 

Good luck.

 

What sort of work interests you?