Can I enjoy engineering if I don't like physics?

That’s basically my question. I am currently a HS junior and throughout high school I have wanted to do engineering and have taken several pre-eng classes which I have enjoyed. This year I am taking AP Physics 1&2 (that’s 2 AP physics classes in one year). I am doing pretty badly (C to C+) in it and I can’t say I hate it but it’s definitely not my favorite subject. So is physics not for me or should I just be taking an easier physics class? And does this mean I would not like engineering or engineering school? I am mainly considering civil or marine engineering.

My kid loves Physics (possibly majoring in it, down to the semester where she has to decide and can’t make up her mind). But she HATES engineering. So… I am guessing that you could be the opposite.

Why don’t you try to get some kind of experience at an engineering camp this summer? Have you heard of Operation Catapult at Rose-Hulman?

Thanks…I get the feeling that the pre-eng classes at my school (and maybe engineering camps too, but I could be wrong here) give you the “fun” parts of engineering (problem solving and design) without the tedious math and physics. That’s why I think I might not like engineering as a major even though I have enjoyed it in high school. I’m not totally clear on how much of engineering school is just advanced physics and how much is the “fun” parts.

Well, I think it depends on a lot.

Physics is the foundation upon which engineering is built; you have to take a lot of physics classes to get through an engineering program. Just a quick look at the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum at Penn State (my current institution) reveals that students have to take 3 classes in the physics department (mechanics, e-mag, and wave motion/quantum physics) but also several classes in the mechE department that are basically applied physics classes (statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, fluid flow, heat transfer). A quick look at the civil & environmental engineering curricula seems to show fewer physics classes and more chemistry classes, but there will still be a lot (especially if you go to into the structural side of civil engineering). And even in the classes that don’t seem strictly physical (like “Water and Wastewater Treatment”) are going to include some elements of physics when discussing design of these systems.

HOWEVER. It could be that you dislike the idea of theoretical physics (aka physics disembodied from any particular usefulness; physics for its own sake) but that you will really like applied physics in service of engineering. For my own part, I was never super enthusiastic about math until my senior year of college, when I took AP Calculus AB and AP Physics C from a GTech-trained mechanical engineer. He wrote all his own homework problems and tests and centered his instruction around the practical application of the classes (mostly engineering examples). I fell in love, and realized that there was a lot of practical application for math that I had never thought about before, and ended up becoming a quantitative social scientist (there’s actually a bit of calculus and a LOT of statistics in my job). Likewise, my husband disliked his mathematics major (which focused primarily on concepts of pure, theoretical mathematics) but really likes his statistics major (which focuses on application of mathematical principles to solve real-world problems).

So it’s possible that you dislike your physics class because it’s taught in a disconnected way - but once you start taking engineering classes, you’ll love them because it’ll be the physics applied in a practical way.