A Day in the Life of a STEM Major

For a high school student who hasn’t experienced life on a college campus, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect. How busy will you be on a daily basis? How much time will there be for extracurricular clubs or socializing? And how many hours can you expect to spend in the library? It’s hard to foresee exactly what your daily life will look like, and that can be an intimidating uncertainty. There are many factors not yet determined that will affect your routine. What college you ultimately attend, what major you pursue, and which extracurriculars you choose to participate in will all play integral roles in your day-to-day routine.   If you’re considering a STEM major, you might have heard that there’s a lot of work ahead of you. Indeed, STEM courses are known as time-consuming and intensive. Will it be overwhelming? Will you still have time for the other commitments that are important in your life? A little bit of insight can go a long way, and here at we have a team of experts who have been in your shoes. Read through our breakdown of a STEM major’s daily life, and then check out our Mentor Program . You’ll have access to the insights of peer mentors who have been through a competitive STEM program and are ready to share with you all the ins and outs of life on the STEM path. STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math, and it encompasses some of the quickest growing career industries. In 2010, there were estimated to be 7.6 million STEM workers in the United States, accounting for about 1 in 18 workers. STEM occupations were projected to grow by 17% from 2008 to 2018, compared to a projected 9.8% growth for non-STEM occupations. STEM workers also earn more than their non-STEM counterparts—26% more on average. Furthermore, STEM degree holders continue to earn more regardless of whether they work in STEM or non-STEM occupations. STEM careers also tend to require higher levels of education, with more than two-thirds of STEM workers holding a college degree, compared to less than one-third of non-STEM workers.       While it’s clear that a degree in STEM will serve you well, it’s also known that it won’t be easy. A 2014 study by the National Center for Education Statistics revealed that nearly half of all college students who pursue STEM degrees leave the field or drop out. While this attrition rate is roughly the same as other fields, it is being targeted for improvement by colleges, based on the steep rate of job growth demanded by the STEM industry. Basically, in order to meet the growing demand, colleges need to graduate more STEM majors. In response to this quickly increasing demand, more and more colleges and universities are identifying risk factors for leaving STEM fields and implementing support systems to help STEM majors stay on track. Students are more likely to drop out of a STEM program if they take lighter credit loads in STEM courses in the first year, take less challenging math courses in the first year, or perform more poorly in STEM classes than non-STEM classes. To support these students, many colleges and universities are providing increased office hours and tutoring sessions during entry-level STEM classes. With such a quickly growing industry, it’s important that students interested in pursuing STEM are supported as much as possible.       Like any degree, pursuing a STEM degree is a significant commitment. In fact, many sources point to it being a more rigorous and time-intensive commitment than other majors. There are many factors that will weigh into how busy you are as a STEM major. Here are the biggest ones: In order to be considered a full-time student at most colleges and universities, you will need to take at least 12 credit hours each semester. This means spending 12 hours in class on a weekly basis. While this is the minimum course load to be considered full-time, most students need to take 15 credit hours to be on track to graduate in four years. The course load is impacted by required coursework. Each major has specific course requirements and students who are considering graduate school or med school will have even more courses to consider in order to qualify for these postgraduate programs. Furthermore, many colleges and universities have specific graduation requirements that include broader coursework than that prescribed by a single major. These requirements are intended to expose students to a variety of content areas and produce more well-rounded graduates. If you’re considering a STEM major, it’s important to realize that it’s not uncommon to be required to take classes in other disciplines as well. Sometimes, students who are enrolled in STEM majors will select classes widely perceived as â€Å"easy† in order to fulfill non-STEM requirements. This makes sense due to the often more intensive time commitment required in STEM courses. There are usually many interesting choices to fill course requirements in the humanities or social sciences, and these classes don’t necessarily have to take time away from your STEM studies. Our Early Advising Program helps students in 9th and 10th grade discover their passions and build strong academic and extracurricular profiles to succeed in high school. STEM majors put in a lot of work outside of their regular class hours. If you’re considering a STEM major, you can plan on spending about 20 hours studying each week, according to a 2011 study by the National Survey of Student Engagement . Furthermore, these study hours do not include any time that you might spend attending your professor’s office hours or even discussing your coursework amongst friends, both of which are regular occurrences for STEM majors. Many college students hold jobs in addition to their coursework. These jobs are sometimes required through work-study programs or are financially necessary. In 2011, 71 percent of the nation’s 19.7 million college undergrads held jobs. Of that number, one in five students worked at least 35 hours per week. More commonly, though, students work 10-15 hours in the average week. Students in STEM fields might be able to find a paid research position through their school to fulfill their work requirements, but if this isn’t the case, sometimes STEM majors volunteer as research assistants or interns. In other cases, students might be able to receive course credit for their research. Extracurriculars are a valuable component of any college education and have been associated with a positive impact on the academic experience of students ranging in age from middle school to undergrads. On average, undergraduate engineering majors spend about the same amount of time on extracurriculars as students in other majors. This averages about eight hours per week and includes things like sports, clubs, and student government or volunteer associations. As you can see, there are a number of factors that influence how busy you will be as a STEM major. Although no two student experiences are exactly alike, using the studies and statistics available, it’s easy to get a picture of what the average STEM student can expect in college. Keeping all of this in mind, here is what you can expect on an average day as a STEM major: 8:00 AM: Wake Up! You have a full day ahead of you and you’ll need to grab a quick bite of breakfast before you get started. Take a quick shower and get moving. 8:30 AM: Head to the dining hall or a local cafe to grab some coffee and a bite to eat on your way to your first class. 9:00 AM: Your first class of the day begins. Maybe it’s organic chemistry or calculus II. Either way, don’t forget your notebook! 10:30 AM: You’re done with your first class of the day. Time to squeeze in some studying and maybe pick up another coffee. 12:00 PM: With a solid hour plus of studying under your belt, now is time to grab some lunch before your afternoon classes begin. 1:00 PM: Class again. Maybe this time it’s a lab or a school-required humanities class. 2:30 PM: You’re done with classes for the day! Before you rush out though, you might stop in for office hours to ask some questions or get a little guidance on your newest problem set. 3:00 PM: After you hit office hours, it’s time to rush to soccer practice. Don’t be late! 5:00 PM: Practice is done, have a quick shower and squeeze in some study time before dinner. 6:30 PM: You have a little time to get dinner before you go to work. 7:00 PM:   Work. Maybe you’re in the lab with a professor, or maybe you’re serving coffee at the campus cafe. Either way, it’s money in your pocket. 9:00 PM: Your shift is over, phew! Maybe you can squeeze in a little more study time. 10:00 PM: Have you finished your homework? If so, now you get some time to catch up with friends, relax, and get ready for the day ahead. 11:00 PM: Hit the sack! You’ve got to do it all again tomorrow. This day sounds busy, but if you break it down, it’s actually pretty well-rounded. You’ve spent three hours in class. You’ve studied or done homework for three or four hours, worked for two hours, and gone to soccer practice. You had some time to enjoy meals with friends, touch base with a professor during office hours, and even hang out and socialize a little before bed. Does it sound busy? Sure! Does it sound impossible? No way! Of course, no matter what major you pursue, there will be some days that do seem impossibly busy, while others will seem luxuriously slow. Life as a STEM major might be busier than the average college student’s life, but it isn’t crazily so. If you’re genuinely interested in STEM industries and you’re willing to invest some time and energy into getting yourself there, you may ultimately be rewarded with job security and a solid paycheck. If you’re interested in hearing more about life as a STEM major, don’t forget to contact ’s Mentoring Program , which provides practical advice on topics from high school activities and college applications to career aspirations, all from successful college students who have been in your shoes.

MULTINATIONAL CORP-EVOL & CUR ISSUE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

MULTINATIONAL CORP-EVOL & CUR ISSUE - Essay Example However, it is important that one understands the significance of this merger to the two companies, their shareholders, competitors, the industry and the consumer (Rumyantseva and Enkel, 2002). In any given industry â€Å"The Rule of Three† manifests itself in the manner in which companies move within the market. The Technology Sector is undoubtedly one of the most oligopolistic, yet monopolistic markets in the modern day. This makes it conform to the rule of three, a fact that may have influenced and possibly affected the manner in which the market is shaped. The rule of three suggests that every industry that is free of major entry barriers and regulatory constraints depicts two types of competitors; full time generalists and product/market specialists (Tu, 2014). Full line generalists are volume-driven and as their market share grows, so does their financial performance they own 10 to 40% of the market share. These full-line generalists usually depict very good financial performance as long as they maintain their control of the market (Sheth and Sisodia, 2002). Product or market specialists on the other hand control 1 to 5 % and have curved out a niche in the market in which they control considerably. Their financial performance is inversely proportional to its market share, i.e. as their market share grows, their financial performance diminishes. Any firm that owns more than 5% but less than 10% of the market is in the ditch. Such companies depict the worst financial performance and are either taken over by a full-line generalist to increase their market share or by a product/market specialist seeking to grow into a full-line generalist (Sheth and Sisodia, 2002). Every market usually has three full-line generalists. Even though at one time there would be more than three, the market usually shakes up to provide three full-line generalists. Consider the

ENVS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ENVS - Essay Example Interaction between contaminated water and body surfaces of plants and animals also has adverse consequences to establish significance of water quality to environmentalists. This paper reports on water quality of a section of Cherry Creek, based on results from a field study. The experiment aimed at understanding the anthropogenic and natural sources of common water pollutants and understanding the role of sampling and sources of errors in performing an experimental analysis. The study was conducted on July 16, 2013, from Denver country’s Platte River and the experimental procedures implemented near bridge down. The one hour exercise was conducted in the afternoon in a sunny weather and a temperature of 790 . Prior 48-hour period to the exercise had an average temperature of 73.50 and a combination of rainy and sunny weather. Existence rain prior to the study indicates chances of pollution while the river section had algae growth of five percent, no submerged aquatic plants wi th grass vegetation along the road to the stream site. The stream’s bottom was majorly composed of sand, 60 percent, gravel, 10 percent, silt, 10 percent, and rock shelf, 20 percent. Water contamination from pollutant gases that gets absorbed in rainwater and washed materials from earth’s surface were therefore anticipated. ... The jar was then held near the bottom of the stream and water collected from an inverted position of the submerged jar. Water was allowed into the jar for 30 seconds and turbidity chart used to determine the water’s turbidity level. The water was emptied into the stream and the same collection procedure repeated for tests on alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, hardness, nitrate level, Ph level, phosphate level, ammonia level, water temperature and coli form bacteria. Data Data shows concentration of the tested components that dissolved in water: alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and ammonia. Concentration was measured in ppm and the different minerals had different concentration level in the stream water. Other measures are turbidity, hardness, pH, coli form bacteria and water temperature. The following table summarizes results of the experiment. Turbidity Alkalinity DO Hardness Nitrate pH Phosphate Ammonia Q Tem 40 JTU 180 ppm 3 ppm 240 ppm 2 ppm 7.6 1.5 ppm > 4 ppm 34.61 260 c The table bellow summarizes data from other experimental groups. Turbidity Alkalinity DO Hardness Nitrate pH Phosphate Ammonia Q Tem H1 20 JTU 120 ppm 6 ppm 360 ppm 1 ppm 7.5 1.5 ppm 0.25 ppm 32.536 250 c CCH2 0 JTU 240 ppm 4 ppm 280 ppm 0 ppm 7.5 4 ppm 0 ppm 22.16 270 c PH2 80 JTU 180 ppm 4 ppm 240 ppm 2 ppm 7 4 ppm 0 ppm 20475 280 c Results The study reported a turbidity level of 40 JTU. This value is far beyond the recommended maximum level of 0.5 JTU. Reported rainfall in the past 48 hours to the exercise could be one of the reasons for the high turbidity level. While this is a temporary but recurrent cause of turbidity, a more permanent cause could be washed physical materials from the streams banks and base at regions before the