<p>From what I've heard, engineering requires rigorous math preparation. I want to do engineering because I like the concept of "applied science" in general, but I'm worried I won't be up to it.</p>
<p>I take Calc BC now and I'm doing perfectly fine in the class (straight A's), but sometimes I feel like i'm a little slow when understanding concepts or doing problems. Compared to my math whiz friends I sometimes feel like I lack that affinity for math. </p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Is this a serious question? Or are you fishing? There is a big difference between ‘confidence’ and ‘actual ability’. It sounds like you lack the former but not the latter. </p>
<p>Come on, think about this objectively and with a bit of perspective for a moment - get your head outside your highschool classroom. Google how many people graduate as engineers every year. Look at prereqs for engineering programs. Read this forum about the many paths people have taken to get into engineering.</p>
<p>Do you really believe that everyone who succeeds in engineering has a) taken Calc BC in highschool? b) has straight As in Calc BC? and c) is ALSO fastest in the class. Really? </p>
<p>Okay maybe you won’t, I don’t know…say go to MIT, or say be the top of your class at your favorite college, or get your PhD in engineering, or be one of those students that seems to be able to party a lot and still get a 3.8 in college. Or maybe you will achieve those goals! Too early yet to judge. But what I’m pretty certain of is you can succeed in engineering. And you should probably stop worrying about it regardless, since there isn’t much you can do about it anyways.</p>
<p>As an aside, anyone can feel like they aren’t ‘good enough’ if they search around for the right reference points to make them feel inferior. Wherever one goes, there will be those that are better at something. Even if you don’t meet those people, they exist! That doesn’t mean at all that only the narrow ‘best’ are successful, or that you won’t be. Just focus on your objective performance, doing your best, and not comparing yourself to others.</p>
<p>As an aside of an aside, I think there is tremendous value in being a highschool student who has to work a bit at their coursework/be slower but still finds a way to pull off straight As. It prepares you for college. Inevitably almost everyone hits a point where the material is no longer fast and easy and those that learned to work at it already have the tools to work through the tough parts, teach themselves, not freak out that they don’t immediately ‘get it’.</p>
<p>^^^ Yea what he/she said lol
Seriously though, probably the best post that I’ve seen on this site.</p>
<p>You should be fine in engineering. A lot of engineers shouldn’t be as confident as they are in their mathematical abilities; it sounds like you have a much more realistic and mature outlook on the situation.</p>