<p>What's up everyone? This is my first post on here.</p>
<p>So here's the deal; I'm currently a sophomore at a Catholic high school in Pennsylvania. I've been thinking about college a lot lately, and what exactly I want to do that will make me the happiest I can be.</p>
<p>I'm really leaning towards a photography major since I'm really, really into it (check out my stuff at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshmcelweephotography%5B/url%5D">www.flickr.com/photos/joshmcelweephotography</a>, but I'm also considering engineering. I'm not entirely sure which branch yet, but I'm leaning towards civil, mining, or mechanical. My grandfather is a mechanical engineer for NASA, and my uncle is also a mechanical. I've learned a lot about it from them, and it's really sparked my interest.</p>
<p>What I'm concerned about are my grades. I'm a pretty average student. I get mostly Bs and Cs, with an A or two thrown in for good measure. My real concern is about the math I'm in. I had a bad math experience in middle school due to some bad teachers and my ADD, which forced me to take pre-algebra my freshman year, and now I'm only in algebra 1 as a sophompre. However, I'm doing pretty well in that class as of late (I have a 93 right now), but this means that I'd never be able to take any math past geometry (next year) and algebra 2 (senior year). Would I even be able to get into an engineering school without any advanced math?</p>
<p>Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>u wud have a tough team with no precal/trig. most schools require if u want to be in engineering to be ready to schedule calculus 1 first semester of freshman year, that is if u didnt take it in high school. i would advise u to find some way to take precal, b/c without it you will probably not make it.</p>
<p>Don't worry about it. You are in good shape....the college you go to will offer the prereq's necessary for calculus 1. Who cares if you don't start Calculus 1 in your first semester of college.</p>
<p>Alright, but what kind of college could I get into in a situation like mine? I don't have a problem going to community college for 2 years and then transfering, but do I have any other options?</p>
<p>you could dual enroll at a local CC or college and take precalc/trig...you still have a long time but i would apply to a more well rounded school rather than a focused engineering school in case you can't stand calculus...and you could always start your first semester freshman year in precalc/trig...or do summer session before first fall semester if you don't like being behind the pack</p>
<p>As long as your gpa is good you should be able to find a good college to go to...if not just go to CC. No big deal. You will not be behind if you don't start calculus your first semester of college.</p>
<p>wow that might be tough to even do the work if you got in!
My son had Algebra1 in 8th grade so it put him ahead. it will be hard to do but if you work hard you can do it!</p>
<p>That's interesting, but wouldn't it make me look kind of retarded to do something like that? Like, it might make people think that I wasn't able to make it through a real engineering program and had to do something a bit dumbed down.</p>
<p>No need to do ET. Strive for being an engineer.</p>
<p>It wouldn't make you look dumb. You just wont have the nice-paying job as an engineer. You'll be more of a technician.</p>
<p>If you're going to do EE, you'll need strong math skills (at least when you hit your junior year, that's where the applied calculus/Diff Eq comes in). Youll be taking Calc 1 2 3 during your freshman/sophomore years, and that's pretty easy, as long as you do the HWs and study.</p>
<p>If you are serious about engineering, I would either take some summer math (and maybe science classes), or think about taking a year at Community College before an engineering university. If you start an engineering program not ready for Calculus, you will be behind, and be taking a bunch of electives until you catch up as pretty much all the engineering courses are based off of that.</p>
<p>Even if they let you take Calc I your first semester, it may not be a good idea without a strong background.</p>
<p>They are not going to let him take Calculus 1 if he is not prepared...thats the whole point of PREREQS. You have absolutely no reason to be concerned right now...just get into college and go from there.</p>
<p>For Calculus, you don't need that much of an understanding of geometry (a little further than the basics). Algebra, you DEFINITELY need. To be honest, if you study hard when taking Calc 1, you should be fine, no matter what your background is. It would be nice to have a solid understanding of all the HS math fields PRIOR to taking it, but it won't hurt you. I personally would not take summer school because it's not that serious. Take as many math courses as you can and try to learn before you graduate. If you're motivated enough, try to do some self-studying over the summer, that way you can study when you want and not have to go to summer school. I just don't want summer school to deter you from actually pursuing engineering, because you might think it's a waste of time.</p>
<p>But anyway, Calculus II is more heavily oriented on solving complex integrals and series equations, so you won't need much geometry at all. They'll probably throw in some random shapes in, like Toroids, but that's not a big deal. Calculus III is in three dimensions, but it topics that is more relevant from Calc I than Calc II.</p>
<p>I don't want to do EE though. I want to do either civil, mining, mechanical, or possibly nuclear. I heard civil is the easiest out of all the engineering disciplines. Is that true?</p>
<p>Don't know about other schools, but at mine, the required math courses were the same across all majors. Calc I, II, III, Probability, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra.</p>