[BigBronco]

I will put my 2 cents out there as I may be a little younger (Not much) at 35 years of age.

My career path went a little differently.

I was always involved in sports and the local Texas education system was quite easy for me. Top 10% got accepted to any Texas state college. Long story short, I knew I wanted to do engineering but when I made it to college, I quickly learned I had no idea how to study or utilize my time wisely.

With that being said, after almost two years, I bowed out as I was tired of wasting my money. I started working and did more hands on stuff with cars as I enjoyed working on cars. Long story short, I started manual machining at effectively a local engine building place here in Houston and busted my but for five years. During that time, I learned what it meant to work hard and not get a lot of income for it.

I started night school at the local community college to ensure I was ready to take on school and not waste my money again. Finally quit my job to pursue my Manufacturing Engineering degree full time. I had originally hoped to take that and then move back into the Cup industry in North Carolina afterwards.

My "sophomore" year, I started interning with some friends that populate this board (Nine Ball, Will69Camaro, etc) and ended up interning every summer and winter off from school.

And here I am almost 12 years later still working as a Lead Engineer / Project Manager at an Oil Company.

Big thing for me was getting to understand my habits and realizing all it takes to do well in college is just being there. Keep the grades up like Mark Steilow said and nail away those internships.

The internships and experience I had did 10 fold what my degree has done.

Gray