Concerned about pursuing engineering--should I do it?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I’ve been looking into studying engineering ever since elementary school, but after struggling with high school math I’m having second thoughts about doing it. My math grades aren’t bad–a few As and mostly Bs in my courses so far (geometry, algebra II, precalc)–but they’re always my lowest grades by a margin of up to 10%. I also dislike it to the point that I have trouble studying it more than I absolutely have to. Halfway through an assignment I’m usually pretty worn out, and it’s hard to focus much after that. So I basically just do whatever homework is assigned and nothing more because I cannot stand how the X’s and Y’s just kind of blur together into a bunch of nonsensical gibberish after about a half hour. But I digress…

Obviously this doesn’t sound like anything your typical engineer would say, and the farther I get through high school the more it starts to sound like a really bad idea. The looming question is whether or not I could even handle an engineering program while maintaining a decent GPA and not getting burned out. An extremely math-heavy major might prove to be too much. And even if I can manage it, it won’t be pleasant by any means. Unless I can somehow totally reverse my attitude towards math, and improve my ability, it would likely be a very rough four years. A college student getting overwhelmed by a program that’s over his head and either dropping out, getting depressed, or both isn’t an uncommon narrative.

On the other hand, I’ve always been told I think like an engineer. I’ve designed and flown model airplanes, drawn sketches of all kinds of contraptions since I was little, and have always been pretty good at problem solving and building things that work. It seems the only thing missing from the complete picture of an engineer is math, both in interest and ability.

Due to ROTC scholarship constraints, I’ll probably need to decide on a major by the spring of my senior year (I’m a junior now), so I’ve still got some time. I’d like to hear anyone’s insights on what they would do in my situation, or how I might go about “fixing” my math issues, or–and this is what I really want to know–if it would be better to just stay away from engineering. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

2

Unfortunately this is not a decision that anybody knows how to make for you. The only thing you can do is try taking the prereq math and physics courses. Those are a fairly good predictor of your ability to succeed in engineering. If you can’t handle those, then you know fairly early that you probably are not going to have much of a future in engineering.

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How you do in math is one thing, but if you despise it, that’s not a good sign. There’s some “hands on,” fabrication, prototyping stuff in some jobs, but that’s not really the gist of engineering. Engineering is largely math. I’d be concerned if you have a distain for it. Even technology programs are pretty math heavy.

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That’s why my husband and daughter love engineering so much.

I think you have to have a knack or natural ability for figuring out how math is used in designs and applications for engineering tasks. If you already know that you avoid these types of tasks,

it might not be for you.

Find out by taking the prereq courses as @umcoe16 has recommended.

5

Drop out rate out of Engineering programs after the first year is almost 50% in US. If you really hate Math…I suspect you might be in this category.