<p>Hi, I'm a high school senior who will be majoring in engineering next year. Both this year and last year, I have excelled in multiple engineering-ish classes (high A's in ap calculus, ap chem, ap economics, and ap physics: mechanics). My problem, however, is E&M. Perhaps its just my lack of interest in the material, but I am struggling mightily with this class- barely passing at this point. It is actually the class I've put the most effort in thus far (calc and chem came naturally to me and econ and mechanics were more difficult but i still managed with studying only a little bit). I know almost if not all universities require students to take E&M as Physics 2, are E&M concepts important in engineering specifically mechE or chemE? Will I only need to deal with that one class of E&M (maybe not even if I AP test out of it), or will I need to know circuits and magnetism and other stuff like that for much of my engineering education? Just btw, I'm not going to change my mind about engineering or anything if I do have to do a lot of E&M, I'm just curious. Thank you.</p>
<p>For MechE and ChemE, you will not really need a lot of E&M. Outside of Physics 2 and a few electives later on, you won’t see much in the curriculum. Circuits, which is related, will be necessary as well.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t be too concerned about struggling with E&M - everybody does including electrical engineers and physicists.</p>
<p>thanks boneh3ad and DocT! thats nice to know</p>
<p>If you do solidly well in multivariable calculus (third semester of calculus which you may be placed into if you get a 5 on the AP Calculus BC test), then physics E&M may become more understandable when you take it afterward.</p>
<p>Even most EE’s don’t need E&M on any regular basis, which is good because it is often considered one the toughest and least popular parts of the curriculum. If your area of interest lies outside of EE then I would not give it any real thought - you should be able to muddle your may through the required physics class, and will then never have to deal with it again.</p>
<p>As one caution, many other fields of engineering have “nutcracker” courses that are mathematically rigorous - in MechE you might fluid dynamics or thermodynamics classes that are just as tough…</p>
<p>thanks for all the replies guys! cosmicfish, its not actually the math of E&M thats troubling me, its the actual concepts. 
I just don’t get RC circuits or magnetism or Gauss’ Law at all haha</p>
<p>I couldn’t stand E&M in Physics. I feel it’s one of those areas that are taught where students are told the rules and equations without any of the theory or background necessary to visualize what processes are actually occurring. I guess it’s understandable since the quantum chemistry/physics involved are beyond the average freshman/sophomore’s grasp.</p>
<p>I would think you would at least need to take e&m for chemE, I don’t know how important overall it is though.</p>
<p>I’m kinda weird. I struggled a lot with mechanics my freshmen year and got a C+, but then I got an A in e&m. Even last semester I had a hard time with classical mechanics but, somehow managed to get a B+. Currently taking electrodynamics. We’ll see how it goes.</p>
<p>Broken- I’m the same way. I struggle with all things newtonian physics, but ace e&m. Guess it’s a good thing I’m not a mechE…</p>
<p>Add me to the list. E&M is one of the most interesting subjects in physics I think. But I’m pretty interested in fields and that sort of thing. Which is something that you don’t really get into until multivariable calculus, so like someone else probably said it will be much easier once you take that class.</p>
<p>I’ve always liked E&M, and I thought I understood it quite well. It’s only when I started learning about the actual mathematics behind fields (multivariable/vector calculus and DEs) that it …just sort of made MORE sense. It’s difficult to describe but I’d imagine that for someone who’s struggling, that step up will be huge for their understanding (as it was for mine).</p>
<p>^^it is rare to find people who find e&m easier than mechanics - even for a pro like me</p>