Engineering in college

[EricVanWyk]

I have some strongly held convictions on math and engineering education. For example, I think that algebra-based physics should be thrown away and replaced with calc-based physics... in 9th grade. In my immodest opinion, we lose a lot of potential engineers because the modern american math curriculum focuses too much on results and not enough on process - too many formulas, not enough concepts. It becomes a terrifying wall of cryptic symbols that can only be memorized... but the beauty of math is that it all makes sense and requires extremely little memorization once you understand it.

For example, take 1 dimensional 1 body physics. In algebra land, it is a whole lot of specific formulas to memorize. In calculus land, all you have to remember is
"position's first derivative is velocity, second derivative is acceleration". Combined with a few hours of calc, you can easily rediscover all the equations that you had to memorize in algebra-land. Why waste all that angst teaching it by brute force in the first place?



Before you decide that engineering isn't for you, ask yourself if you are having trouble with the Math concepts or the Math memorization. Force yourself to understand where all the equations come from, and you will have a much easier time. Spend the time up front, it will pay back in spades later.

[rcmolloy]

One thing, that I actually learned this year, is don't underestimate the workload that you are going to be presented. The past 2 quarters at Cal Poly were not that much demanding and time consuming. However, once you start packing on core classes with major support classes, things start to get a bit iffy.

From my perspective, I have always enjoyed creating things or making things with a certain task at hand (FIRST ). However, understanding concepts and material does take a longer amount of time for me to consume.

Just know your limits when it comes to coursework and also be able to cut back on certain things to ensure that your education is not being hindered.

[Ducky280]

Thanks everyone
this is helping a lot

[JohnSchneider]

I'm a current engineering student at Texas A&M - and I can say this:

The engineering courses I've been through are easy thanks to FIRST. My entire first semester was LEGO mindstorms with labview and the second is Solidworks...also ""

However the Physics courses for freshmen engineers here are horrible. With a 75% drop rate of the courses (Mostly due to curriculum and instruction and not effort Id say) they weed people out easy. Its all calculus based and they expect you to be able to do calculus you haven't even seen yet.

From my experience unless you really enjoy calculus - and are willing to go learn ahead of your class on your own to keep up - its the physics and math courses that will kill you as an engineer - not the engineering classes themselves.

(as a side note the other STEM fields have easier but equivalent math and science courses)

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by Ducky280

It's not that I can't do math at all because I am good at it to a point. It's just the fact that my high school teachers math aren't really good at breaking things down and teaching them. I'm not saying there not good teachers but their just confusing. But I can do math like Algebra and Geometry, I just haven't experienced Trig or Calc yet and will not have the opportunity to take it since this is my last trimester of high school before graduation.

Being in college doesn't necessarily guarantee that the professors are better teachers (you may have been told this by others; my parents and high school teachers shoved it down my throat). I found myself having my mom send my high school precalc notes up within a week of starting calc 1, because the review that my professor did of basic calculus was extremely poor. I'm not too thrilled with my physics and calc 2 instructors either, but I've found that if you are willing to put in the extra effort, you will have significantly better results than the student who sits there and says "This class sucks, I just need to pass the final." I don't know how it works at other universities, but here we have a lot of extra help available in the form of learning centers and supplemental instruction, and it is very useful for struggling students.

To answer your original question: pursuing one of those degrees wouldn't be a bad idea, as long as you know that there will be some extra effort involved on your part.