Engineering major but never took calc in HS?

<p>So im going to be a fresman this fall and will be taking engineering but I've never taken calculus at all in HS. I went from college algebra junior year to AP stats senior year. Is it still possible for me to do well in engineering or will I fall behind compared to the other engineering students who probably took the highest calc in hs.</p>

<p>Unrelated comment: Why do they call it college algebra? It sounds like you are taking abstract algebra when you really are not.</p>

<p>There’s an engineering forum for this, but no, not necessarily. Some kids might have an advantage over you due to their extended calculus experience, others might not. It’s basically up to you whether you <em>allow</em> yourself to fall behind in your engineering classes or not.</p>

<p>I took calc ab in high school and basically taught myself everything I know about calculus in the 2 weeks before the ap test. If I were you I may just buy a used textbook off of amazon or look at mit ocw, but no, you should be absolutely fine.</p>

<p>You’ll be fine. I imagine you’ll be taking 3 semesters of calculus (calc I, calc II and diff eq), so at some point even the AP students are seeing things they didn’t see in high school.</p>

<p>I am an engineering student who took no calc in HS. I had no problem with calc 1 or 2 and I am not amazing at math. I enjoy it but I have to work at it. I took a trig class in college before calc just because I saw hardly any trig in HS. Took Calc 1 and 2 in 10 weeks. You should be fine.</p>

<p>engineers only go up to ODEs’ right? do they ever go into any analysis (complex,real,functional)?</p>

<p>One would “think” an engineering major would have already had Calculus in HS but one would be wrong.</p>

<p>My impression is that outside of the most select engineering schools, they assume you will be taking Calculus as a freshman. It may be a “weed out” course, but if you are in the right major you shouldn’t have major problems.</p>

<p>I was surprised at one info session, they were pretty sure everyone takes Calc as a freshman. My sons all had it in HS, and a couple also had multivariable eq. in HS. They got 5s on the exam, and did not need a “refresher” course to succeed in college, but the official at the info session talked like it was expected to be taken in college. So there you go.</p>

<p>I have to take Calc 1 and 2, Multivariable calc, and Dif equations for civil engineering. I am at Clemson.</p>

<p>alright thanks guys!</p>

<p>You might be a class or two behind what the “average” person is in, but you’ll be fine.</p>

<p>The point of the calc sequence for engineers is that they expect you’re starting from the beginning, just like any other intro course.</p>

<p>^Well, where I go they start the Engineering math sequence at Calc 2 because they expect people to have learned Calc 1 in high school, but I don’t know that that’s the case everywhere.</p>

<p>You’ll be fine, though you might have to work a bit harder to catch up to those who’ve already taken calculus. A lot of people take Calc 1 & 2 their freshman year, and, except for some crazy places, the curriculum is designed that way (ie Calc 1 & 2 freshman year, Differential/Multivariable sophomore year). You shouldn’t be taking any classes that require an in-depth knowledge of calculus until after your freshman year, except for physics. Even then, physics classes vary in the amount of calculus you need to know.</p>

<p>And generally, most engineers will only need up to diff-e, while some go to multi. At my school, EE/CS sometimes do some complex analysis stuff but I don’t think they’re required to take the math courses, they learn what they need to know in their department-specific classes.</p>