<p>I'm in high school, and I've always thought I wanted to be an engineer, but now that college is coming up I'm reconsidering whether it is really for me. </p>
<p>Math comes fairly naturally for me, and while I enjoy it to an extent, it gets dull/tedious at some point and then I'd rather go read/write/do psychology homework, all of which I find really fun. Math just isn't that much fun.</p>
<p>I really like the physical sciences, chemistry is my favorite thing ever; I just love it (I've had excellent teachers) Physics is also interesting to me in a way that calculus or algebra are not. </p>
<p>I also love learning and reading about the social sciences in my free time, mainly linguistics/languages and anthropology. I am not required to learn about these, but I love them so much that studying them is something I do for fun and something I actively pursue. I'm not sure I could have a career in them though.</p>
<p>Does it not make sense for me to go into engineering, if math is not what I love? I'm okay with math, but I don't really love it. There are aspects of engineering that I find intriguing, like the problem solving, and I think I can manage the course work fairly competently. But on the other hand, I feel like majoring in something like linguistics would be going out on a limb because, while I love it, I feel like I need some math to stimulate my mind, if that makes sense. And there aren't many employment opportunities until you have a PhD in fields like that.</p>
<p>So what do you think? Should I major in engineering? Or am I better off with a pure science like chemistry? Or even a social science? I would love a career that I can bring my writing skills and curiosity into while also utilizing mathematics. I don't know what major or career encompasses all that... sigh... Sorry that this is so long.</p>
<p>I think you’d make an excellent engineer! Math is just a tool that you use to solve problems. The challenging part of engineering is figuring out what you need to do! A lot of times, it’s not clear. And once you figure out what the problem is and also solve it, you have to communicate your findings/design. Writing is an important skill to have!</p>
<p>Even in structural engineering, we have do to quite a bit of research. There are always new codes to learn and materials to investigate. Now that green design is so big, we’re being asked to design foundations and framing differently than we used to. We’re also using BIM (Building Information Modeling) in our design. It’s NEVER boring! (Sometimes I think a little bit of boring would be nice.)</p>
<p>Heres my advice. Most of the math you learn in high school is useless aside from calculus and learning how to algebraically manipulate your expressions. You will use math but it will be used in ways that can represent physical systems. Look at it this way, physics is applied math, engineering is applied physics and “academic” social sciences is applied bs. If you love chemistry and physics, do Chem E.</p>
<p>As a parent and former BSEE graduate from a Big10 school I would say this … if you think that you might go into engineering, then you should take freshman classes like Calc and physics that will keep you on track for engineering. You will still have to take liberal arts type classes for electives, you won’t be completely trapped in math/science for life. By the end of your freshman year you hopefully will have a better idea of what your strengths really are. Engineering as a degree is always a good investment of your college $'s. Liberal arts without a graduate degree can make for some tight budgets, but people obviously make it work. If you are female, you may also have more opportunities than average because many companies are trying to increase the diversity of women in their technical and engineering ranks. Just a thought. </p>
<p>p.s. Chemical engineering could give you the best of both worlds AND a bigger salary to boot.</p>
<p>As another parent and an engineer I have to agree with snowflake. If you think you might want to be an engineer start off on that path and see where it takes you. It is much easier to switch out to social sciences than it is to start in social sciences and then switch into engineering if you haven’t taken the required freshman classes like Calc, Chem & Physics. And there are areas like ergonomics and computer interfaces that require a firm understanding of how people interact with technology that might interest you and bring that social science element into your work.</p>
<p>Forget engineering. Have you considered finance? That’s where the money is.</p>
<p>I think finance would be deadly boring compared to engineering.</p>
<p>^ Whatever helps you sleep at night.</p>
<p>Chemical engineering with a minor in linguistics? </p>
<p>And as said above generally speaking the math you perform is pretty straight forward its the application which is difficult. </p>
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<p>+1…although its definitely more profitable</p>