<p>Next year i am planning on majoring in electrical engineering. I am really good in physics and math.</p>
<p>Now I have heard people who are doing physics and cosmology at schools like MIT and Caltech who are very smart say that Electrical Engineering is the hardest major you can do out there. And they also say that unlike physics, every course related to the field is forced on you like quantum electrodynamics.</p>
<p>They say it is "Worse than a daycare center run by Micheal Jackson."</p>
<p>This is kind of making me wary of the field. Do you really only get 5 hours of sleep a night, and study about 8 or more hours a day?</p>
<p>If you want to be among the few that graduate, expect to sacrifice your weekends in favor of studying. (That's how this weekend has been for me; I'm off in 30 minutes to yet again be baffled by transforms I constantly screw up)</p>
<p>BUT, you will get used to it, and you'll be in the same boat as the other ECEs, so studying and doing homework with friends a lot of times alleviates the stress that ECE entails.</p>
<p>AND- if you're into it, it's really really really interesting and cool, and personally, I can't see myself doing anything else.</p>
<p>i agree with lil_killer129--sometimes it's not a matter of whether you will graduate, but how well you want to graduate. from my experience, the toughest part about ECE for most of us undergrads is that we have to take many core courses--signal processing, computer engineering, circuits, solid-state electronics, probability, electromagnetics--some of which is of no interest to students. otherwise, if you enjoy what you're learning in EE, i wouldn't it becomes "easier", but it certainly keeps you motivated.</p>
<p>How big is the difference between ECE and pure EE? </p>
<p>Also - do you think RIT or WPI is better for ECE? </p>
<p>I'm planning on doing ECE next year, but quantum electrodynamics sounds incredibly difficult and obfuscated - which is exactly what I want to get out of an engineering degree?</p>
<p>so why is it so hard to keep a high gpa in engineering? Is it the sheer amount of coursework, or is it the difficulty of the coursework? or Both?</p>
<p>Don't let all these people fool you. For some, it's easy. For others, it's more work. But at the end of the day, it's not so bad, or nobody would do it.</p>
<p>Most coursework in engineering is difficult because of its extent and quantity rather than the inherent difficulty of the problem in and of itself; most of the more complicated theories you would learn in these majors is really just science which is used primarily by engineers and not scientists.</p>
<p>Still, it won't be easy. No STEM major is. But the rewards - educationally and financially - are normally enough to encourage students.</p>
<p>Does it hurt anyone that a teacher could make 60K after probably 5-10 years, which isn't that much higher than an engineer? And consider the difficulty in the college majors of engineering & education. :(</p>
<p>Granted I went to a more top 25 school than a top 5, I really didn't find EE that hard. I only ever had one class that I simply could not do 100% of the work right, and that was a microprocessors course: First you had to wire it + the peripherals up right, then you had to write code for a few hours and hoped to heck you didn't make one mistake in the wiring so that you could debug the code - and this was for each of the 10 labs! The class was a 4th year class but it had a massive drop rate. I ended up getting an A because I'm absolutely amazing at exams where I do not have to rely on my own craftsmanship :) . I graduated summa, FWIW; Don't be intimidated by what people say.</p>
<p>The biggest problem classes I had were the math classes I took to complete a math minor, to be honest. Upper division math courses like topology and abstract algebra are crazy!</p>
<p>If you are below the 75th percentile in ability you are going to work at any engineering college. Very few people "have it easy" doing engineering.</p>
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The biggest problem classes I had were the math classes I took to complete a math minor, to be honest. Upper division math courses like topology and abstract algebra are crazy!
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<p>I have a different experience with this. The upper level math courses for a math minor at my school are considered to be rather easy compared to the electrical engineering curriculum, and I have a similar experience.</p>
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Now I have heard people who are doing physics and cosmology at schools like MIT and Caltech who are very smart say that Electrical Engineering is the hardest major you can do out there.
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<p>Who on earth are you talking to? I don't know a SINGLE MIT physics major who would say that, and I know a whole bunch. :)</p>
<p>The short answer to your question is that if you major in a technical subject, it is likely that you are going to have to work hard at most schools.</p>
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I have a different experience with this. The upper level math courses for a math minor at my school are considered to be rather easy compared to the electrical engineering curriculum, and I have a similar experience.
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<p>Well the courses I listed aren't exactly typical math minor classes. I took numerical analysis as my third upper div course - which is a typical math minor course - and it was a joke. Both classes were occupied mostly by grad students and the classes were entirely proofs-driven (which engineering majors are TERRIBLE at because our method of proving is so loose). Those math courses are taught from a completely different perspective: Unlike engineering, they teach you the fundamental, abstract concepts and you must find specific examples of these concepts in order to understand. In engineering, it's the exact opposite!</p>