I’m a junior in highschool and taking AP stats. For some background, I want to major in electrical engineering.
I normally concider myself pretty good at math, but I’ve been getting B’s and C’s in AP stats and it’s killing my self esteem.
I know that statistics doesn’t relate much to engineering, however I’ve heard that it’s an easy class and that if you can’t handle stats you shouldn’t be taking AP calc, which is what I’m planning to take senior year.
Other people in my class aren’t really doing well either, and my teacher is notoriously lazy, however I’m wondering if this is a sign that I’m bad at math and should give up on my dream or do something like engineering technology that’s more suited for people with bad math skills like me
Stats is typically considered easier than calc but high school stats is non calc based so I wouldn’t necessarily say that your stats grade will be predictive of how you will do next year or as a future engineer.
I would be more concerned about stem grades overall though as you posted previously having difficulty with physics. While one class isn’t a red flag, if you aren’t doing well in multiple stem courses, you may run into difficulty with college admission into engineering.
It’s still early in the school year so be sure you are getting extra help.
IMO don’t worry about your college major. Focus on doing the best you can in high school and reassess after the end of junior year.
I have straight A’s overall, and my physics grades have shot up since I learned how to study. I’m more concerned about how these skills transfer into college engineering than grades
I think it is WAY too soon to decide that you are not good at math. Also way too soon to decide that you don’t have what it takes to be an engineer. A person can still be a good engineer, even if the classes don’t come easily, as long as they are prepared to work hard.
That said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a degree in engineering technology, if that is what you decide on later. A close relative of mine attended a college that offered both ABET accredited engineering majors and ABET accredited engineering technology majors. It is not the most prestigious school in his city, but it is known to offer a solid education with small classes and good teachers, and has a good reputation with local employers. He now works for a big medical device company that employs graduates of both engineering and engineering technology majors, and often they end up doing the same work, and even have the same title. The pay for those with an engineering major is a little better, but engineering technology majors get paid pretty well too. Either way, you can end up with an interesting job that you love.
You might love calculus and find it easier than stats. My son thought pre calculus was hard, but once he started calculus, it was much more intuitive for him and subjectively much easier. He was also afraid to take Physics C because a lot of people fail it at our school, but it turns out to be his favorite class this semester.
Can you get help with your stats class? If your teacher isn’t covering the material very well, is there a tutoring session at your school that you can attend?
How you overcome them is what will get you through.
If you give up on your goal at 16 years old, what will you do with the even bigger challenges you are sure to face (we all do).
Time to see if you can learn the materials. It won’t be easy - it will take a lot of grit and dedication. But if you really want it, you have to give it your all.
There will be lots of opportunities for you to study EE - and it will be brutally hard - but again, it’s up to you - do you have the fortitude to make it happen??
I wouldn’t worry too much about Stats indicating a concern in Engineering. I suspect most Engineering students don’t take it in high school and it wasn’t part of my or my kids’ programs.
I had several Stats classes in grad school (business) and, while interesting, they weren’t very aligned with engineering skills and I didn’t think “wish I knew this before undergrad”.
Doing well in the “core” math courses - Algebra, Pre-Calc, Calculus will be a much better indicator.
Sometimes courses just don’t click with a person. One of my daughter’s friends was a 4.0 student through Junior year, one of a few student in line for valedictorian, and finished Calc BC as a Junior. She struggled to get B’s in AP Stats - just didn’t work for her.
The way that stats is taught in AP stats really doesn’t deal that much with the mathematics of stats, mostly arithmetics and research methods for science. If you are not having problems with AP Calc, but having difficulties with AP Stats, then the math is not what you are finding difficult.
I would guess that you are having the same problem with AP Stats that you had with physics -
You were successful in figuring out how to do well on physics - you can do the same for stats.
You could still be just fine at EE. Also, when the time comes to apply, you don’t necessarily have to go to the most competitive school you can get into, for EE. Our local state college (not flagship U) has a school of engineering. It’s not very competitive, but its grads do just fine at getting jobs in local companies, and after that first job, it matters less where you went, and more what you can do. So if EE is what you love, I’d say you should still shoot for that, but you might want to consider going to a less competitive school for it.
I do not think that this is a deal breaker either.
I was a math major. I was good at math. I took quite a bit of probability and statistics and stochastic processes. Statistics is a bit weird. Some people take to it. Some people do not. Some people will find it easier than calculus. Some will find it more difficult than calculus.
I was odder still. I loved probability and stochastic processes, but I did not like statistics. I think that I remembered what the students t-distribution was for just barely long enough to get through the final exam in my last statistics class.
Do you best in the class. Get extra help (as was mentioned above). Do not otherwise worry about it. You can wait and see how you do in a long list of other classes.
Extending that thought, IMO you don’t necessarily want to go to the most competitive school you can get into: “You are always better off at a school where you can thrive instead of just survive”.
Different programs have different emphases. In my undergrad program, the sophomore Electricity & Magnetism textbook said in the preface it was suitable for an introductory graduate course in E& M. Fine if you are headed towards a PhD and maybe research or teaching, but the course turned out to be almost worthless in terms of engineering useful to those stopping at a bachelor’s degree. I wanted practical things like how the pull from an electromagnet relates to number of windings + current, but instead got a lot of partial differential equations describing the electric field around a half-sphere and so forth. So the course content at a “less competitive” school can sometimes be a better match for what most students will be doing post-graduation.
No class should kill your self esteem. You’re going to go to college and a C isn’t going to change that. This is small potatoes.
A tale of two kids: D never took calc. She excelled at stats. Still does. Got a 5 on the test. She graded tests in college psych stats and became a stats TA in college. She was just great at stats.
S has done Calc and got A’s. Could barely manage a C in AP stats. Studied the most he’s ever done and got a 4. Is now a senior in college and say the only class he’s ever done that was harder is Econometrics.
Both kids had the same excellent teacher at the same school. It’s about the individual. Maybe stats is hard for you. My son said AP Stats isn’t even like math. He said it was more like a writing class. Don’t ask me what that means, but the teacher taught it for the test and she obviously did a good job.
Every kid has their own strengths and weaknesses. You do your best with what you excel at and work hard at what you don’t. You’re going to go to college, regardless, and this class isn’t going to change that.