<p>Okay so I'm currently a senior in high school. Im very smart, 5th overall in my class, and about a 4.2 gpa. I want to be a mechanical engineer, so I'm currently taking physics and calculus classes, along with other maths and sciences. like i said I'm fairly smart, but these two classes are just killing me. i still do fairly well grade wise, but the content is just so difficult for me to understand, and even when i understand it, i don't retain the information. </p>
<p>will things get easier in college? i mean i know in general college is a lot more difficult, but i guess what I'm asking is this feeling common for engineers in the beginning? or is it something that i should take as a sign to pick a different major?</p>
<p>Physics and calculus were hard for me, too. My very first exam in college was in honors physics. I got a 45! I thought my life was over. I got a B one semester and a C in the other. Before that, I’d gotten one B total - in 5th grade! </p>
<p>But after that, I did fine. I ended up graduating with high honors (3.8+ GPA). So I wouldn’t give up on engineering if I were you! I do recommend that you find a tutor if/when you find you are struggling in a class. And take advantage of the professors’ office hours!!! Most of them don’t bite. :)</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a common feeling. But at college you might have 3 or 4 of those tough classes at time. If you are a good student, you will probably get used to it. </p>
<p>For me, it has not got easier. My advisor said that Calculus II was going to be the hardest class for the entire major (Industrial Engineering) but it wasn’t</p>
<p>The two Engineering classes I am taking this semester: Engineering Economic Analysis and Work Design/Ergonomics sounded like “jokes” in the beginning of the semester but they have been much harder</p>
<p>I am not talking about the material itself but the way the tests are designed and graded. </p>
<p>In the case Engineering Economic Analysis, open book test, 25 multiple choice questions, extremely hard questions, average on Test 1 was a 48. </p>
<p>Ergonomics/ Work Design, I got a 30 out of 100 on my first exam. Second exam, some kid got a 3 out of 75. For the hard questions, no partial credit, you either get full credit or no credit given.</p>
<p>I can only speak for myself but I can’t think of any Engineering class so far that was easy. </p>
Generally speaking, most engineering students see the difficulty increase each year, with the possible exception of the senior year, when electives at least give you the option of taking classes that are, for you at least, relatively easy.</p>
<p>But the fact that you find it difficult just means that you are like 99% of engineering students! We all find it hard, we all struggle with the material and the workload, and some (like bschoolwiz, perhaps) are broken by it. It often takes years to internalize the material, and until then it will indeed be a lot of work.</p>
<p>To quote the great Jimmy Dugan: *“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.” *</p>
<p>There is a reason why there are relatively few engineers, and why the profession is paid more than just about any at the baccalaureate level. It’s hard. If you can stomach hard for a few years, you can have a great career.</p>
<p>Then I got a 3.73 in my first semester at University of Iowa, under the standard 1st semester freshman mechanical engineering program track.</p>
<p>Though my GPA will drop to 3.5-3.6 in my current second semester, since Statics has been kicking my rear end. And I can’t seem to get higher than a B in Engineering Math II (which is most of calc 2 and calc 3 combined).</p>
<p>I’m not so sure about Engineering Math 3 (Matrix/linear algebra) and Intro Physics I, since they combine all of the scores at the end of the semester to generate the final grade.</p>
<p>I do have an A in an C and Matlab programming course.</p>
<p>Yes it did for me. I flunked high school Physics(English language was a problem). In college, my first quarter I got 3.4 GPA, but after that I consistently had an average GPA between 3.8-4.0 while taking lots of engineering classes(19-21 units) and finished in almost 3 years. Finished my MS in one year while working full time.
I think the first quarter was to gage how much effort and work I had to put in to get good grades. Once I got the confidence to study or time management, it got easier.</p>
<p>Now that I’m starting on my upper level classes I’m realizing the math, physics, and chem you take during your first two years aren’t really engineering. That said, you need to retain enough information from your foundation courses to be able to be able to tackle more longer and more complex problems. A way to think about it is that no one part of an engineering problem requires you to hand solve a tricky integral, but you have to be able to setup the problem, which requires some tough abstraction.</p>
<p>Tl;dr I yearn for the days when I had textbook problems to practice with ad infinitum. </p>
<p>Yeah, very common to feel overwhelmed in engineering the first semester or two. You learn techniques over time though on how to deal with high work loads and complex problems… including better ways to study/take notes/etc. I would say that the material itself doesn’t get easier, but since you are adapting as you go along, it <em>seems</em> easier as you progress through the semesters.</p>
<p>My D got 5s on AB and BC Calc, Stats, Chem. She took AP physics but didn’t take the test (field trip made taking the test impossible). She took non-engineering Calc 3 at UCSD and made a B+ without really working.</p>
<p>Fast forward a year. She’s getting her *ss kicked by engineering Calc 3, physics, COS. She studies, goes to office hours, study groups, does assigned problem sets (which she gets high grades), unassigned problem sets, trolls U-tube for helpful videos (she has lots of professors for whom English is not their first language), and more.</p>
<p>The mean in her most recent physics II quiz was 36%, in a multi-variable quiz 37%. And this in in a school where the average Incoming SAT was 2250+.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it will get easier; I do know that she is bewildered - but not discouraged because she’s working as hard as she can possibly work. Indeed, she’s adding a finance component to the Chem E major. I couldn’t do what she’s doing; but, engineering students have the pride which comes with being the best of the best in the most difficult of majors. I think engineers are a very special breed - and the job market recognizes this.</p>