<p>So I'm a pretty sharp guy, graduated #20 of around 250 with a 4.0 and a 27 on the ACT. I breezed through the math classes (Algebra, Trig, pre-cal) with A's and nothing less than a B in any of my other classes. Naturally I thought Engineering would be a great fit because I was pretty passionate about math and took 3 years of drafting and loved it. But now that I've spent a few days on campus (Auburn in the fall) and talked to some people also going into some field of engineering, I feel behind.</p>
<p>I'm taking 14 credit hours for the fall semester just to get acclimated to the whole college life. Taking the basics Cal 1, Chem with a lab, world history then a mandatory engineering orientation (worth 0 hours) and as Art of architecture elective to get it out of the way.</p>
<p>Even though I haven't started yet, I still feel behind. 80% of the of the people I have talked to are already in somewhere between Cal II and Differential Equations and a second tier science course, taking 18 hours and not thinking anything of it. </p>
<p>My advice for a rising freshmen like yourself: do not compare yourself with others. In college there will always be people smarter than you, so comparing yourself with others is an endless game. Worry about yourself because your college experience is what you make of it. It’s about the opportunities that you take advantage of (or not), the marketable job skills you develop (or not), whether you chose to party every weekend (or not), and how hard you are willing to work for the GPA you want. The fact that you care is a strong sign that you are on the right track. Good luck</p>
<p>I agree. Don’t worry about it. Just go to class and do the best you can. When you graduate, you will have a BS in engineering like the rest of them. </p>
<p>You will always have some students who will compete/compare every little thing. So they will bring up the fact that they are “taking 18 credits” and/or “taking Diff Eq a semester early”…while they beat on their chest.</p>
<p>Here is the skinny…UNLESS they are taking 18 EVERY TERM, they will be there in year 4 just like you…with at best maybe graduating in December (whoop dee doo!).</p>
<p>The program is still 120 credits. As long as you take the courses on schedule, you will be fine.</p>
<p>Now get out there and PARTY & SOCIALIZE. Yeah, I said it…so you will able to carry on a decent conversation when it is time to interview during your senior year.</p>
<p>Yes, it is common for engineering students to be ahead a semester in math (though much less commonly ahead two or more semesters) through AP credit. But the engineering degree programs at almost all universities are structured so that you can complete one of them starting from first semester freshman calculus.</p>
<p>Speaking from personal experience, it seems like a big part of maturing is recognizing that the only race you’re running in life is against yourself. You will always be behind some and ahead of others. Thinking the way you are thinking is a huge, frustrating dead end. It wasn’t until just a couple of years ago, at about 22, that I started to realize that what other people were doing really didn’t matter that much. You’ll get there.</p>
<p>Having just finished my freshman year as a CompE major, I felt myself have many of the same thoughts you have professed in this post. Until recently, I have always compared myself with others, usually those who were doing better than me. It is not necessarily bad to become competitive or initiate an unconscious rivalry with the rest of your graduating class, but constantly worrying about scheduling schematics so you can emerge ahead in the race to complete the mathematics and/ sciences requirements is, if anything, an activity that will only make you less productive overall, pessimistic, and miserable. On the other hand, if you can focus on your GPA, acquiring internships, advancing in your research, innovative ideas for entrepreneurship, and spend time making, managing, and furthering friendships, you will, on the whole, be much happier and satisfied with where you stand after graduation. </p>
<p>To put things into perspective, think of the time you spend or you might spend thinking about how others are proceeding, what they do to accomplish what they accomplish, how lucky they are and how unlucky you are, and then making useless plans of how you can advance more than they can, you will realize how useless such an ideology is. I am, of course, not saying you do or think any of these things, but this is what such a thought process can possibly envelope into.</p>