Intense Dilemma - two years in...

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p><em>Disclaimer</em> </p>

<h2>This will be a long post, so bear with me (or just hit backspace/close the tab, whatever floats your boat).</h2>

<p>Okay, so I'm a second year Bioengineering student, and I'm rather...disillusioned. I used to think I was a smart guy (never really studied in my life, aced pretty much everything, and I can analyze/write as well as most L&S students, which is admittedly rare for an Engineering student), but since I've been in Berkeley, I have not done very well at all. I'm not like getting kicked out or anything, but I'm definitely about average for an engineer - which is disappointing, personally.</p>

<p>And the fact of the matter is, besides my BioE classes (of which I've only had one), and my research in a lab, I'm not <em>enjoying</em> my time in Berkeley at all. I find the BioE clubs a total waste of time, and frankly, most of my time is spent doing my copious amounts of work, leaving very little time to dedicate outside of school/research.</p>

<p>I seem to have hit a "wall" of sorts; that is, I do tons of work with very little to show for it in terms of grades, I've made some great friends, but just can't talk to them that often (usually because they're L&S students and ask me to hang out nights before Psets or lab reports are due), and I have no interest in the material that I'm learning (which, admittedly, is probably leading to the first issue of grades). </p>

<p>For instance, spending an entire semester killing myself learning almost every reaction in Chem 3B, which I will NEVER use again. I can refer to textbooks or the internet if I EVER need to see any of those reactions again...so obviously I did badly in that class.</p>

<hr>

<p>At this point, I'm debating whether I should switch out of BioE into something that I actually seem to enjoy, like Economics. I'm in Econ 1 right now, and I really enjoy the material, and for the amount of work I put in (not very much), I'm getting stellar grades, relative to my engineering grades. </p>

<p>After graduating with my BioE degree, I had planned to either go to grad school relating to my research and/or getting an MBA, both of which I can still do with a degree in Econ. However, I feel like I've just wasted two years of my life doing all the prereqs for my BioE degree, and would basically have to start fresh in L&S. Also, I think I'll enjoy the upper div BioE classes, since the cutting-edge research in the field of bioengineering is what drew me to the discipline in the first place.</p>

<p>At the same time, however, I have to ask myself (and by extension, all of you now), what if I end up not enjoying my upper div BioE's? At that point it'd be too late to switch into some other major, so I'd essentially be stuck between a rock and a hard place. </p>

<p>And, as a final point, I would have much more peace of mind after graduating with a Berkeley Engineering degree, simply because it holds so much intrinsic value within it. I mean, worst comes to worst, I'm still a viable candidate in the labor market, which I simply wouldn't be with an economics degrees...</p>

<p>I'm simply at a loss about what to do...any advice/commiseration would be helpful. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Only you can make the decision sorry :frowning:
Maybe try taking at least one econ class mixed in with your BioE prereqs to make the waiting for your upper level classes a little less boring and then if you decide you don’t like those classes at all, switch to econ. A degree is pointless if you’re uninterested in using it because you hate what you’re doing.
I’m not even in college though lol that’s just what I would do if I was in your situation so idk how feasible that is at Berkeley.</p>

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<p>In an ideal world, sure. However, Econ is a capped major, and as such, needs to be applied to by your first semester, Junior year. Also, taking an econ class in the midst of upper div BioE’s makes the already challenging workload intolerable…
Thanks for your thoughts though.</p>

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<p>If you don’t like the material of BioE, switch majors. It’s that simple. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life doing something you don’t like(How many times have you heard that before, lol) Since you don’t know what the upper div BioE classes are like, maybe you should ask around, esp. if it may be too late for you to change majors soon.</p>

<p>You’ve only taken GEs so far, and generally GEs for any major are similar. So you wouldn’t be starting over completely by switching.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

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<p>BioE is a tough major but well respected and there is no reason you can’t apply to business jobs…</p>

<p>for econ, you’d have a better time but probably have to stay a fifth year completing reqs</p>

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<p>don’t consider the sunk cost</p>

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<p>dreamspace wins the thread.</p>

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<p>If you are experiencing diminishing marginal utility with BioE, it’s time to switch to maximize total utility.</p>

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<p>If you’re interested in quantitative econ/finance you could major in applied math or statistics, which aren’t capped majors. </p>

<p>I was an EECS major initially but had my ass whooped by more zealous students in EE… so I switched into CS/Stats… the econ courses I’ve taken (econ 101a, 141, 136) have been breezy because 1. i’m more motivated by the subject and 2. it’s less competitive.</p>

<p>Oh and you can get a feel for upper div Bio E courses right now… just peruse the textbooks/lecture notes</p>

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<p>What drew u towards BioE? If that reason no longer exists, then leave?</p>

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<p>

Heh, I took Econ 1 my senior year as an elective and thought the same thing.</p>

<p>My opinion is to stick with engineering and go later for an MBA. Technical knowledge/skills and business savvy is a great combo.</p>

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<p>YOYOYO! My tour guide at Berkeley was just telling us about how he JUST switched into Econ major (after many major switches) and even so he will actually be graduating EARLY with this major. He says the process is real easy. I think you should do what you love. That’s all that matters in life. And the classes you have taken will not go to waste at all especially since you have an upper hand on all those econ majors from the start who have no specialty. My father says businesses everywhere are picking engineering majors over business majors for JOBS!! It’s because they specialize. I say go for it- everything happens for a reason and maybe your engineering classes will help out in the long run while you have been pursuing your econ major-something you truly love.</p>

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<p>I’m an EECS major, but I’m seriously trying to get a BioE double major (since EECS UD and BioE UD overlap quite a bit, for some classes). </p>

<p>I don’t know how you can judge bioE after taking 1 class. Believe me, UD BioE (and all engineering) is really fun, and it all pertains to research.</p>

<p>You take UD classes where there are 20-40 kids, many of them grad students, and your grade is essentially based on how well you understand and apply graduate level research :). Some UD classes have exams semi-optional (where you can instead weight your project grades more).</p>

<p>Yes, BioE and all other engineering majors were really hard, boring, and depressing for the first two years; especially when your dormmates are out partying. It is like that for almost everyone! Don’t quit until you’ve taken/audited 2 UD classes for BioE.</p>

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<p>I don’t know too much about the coursework here, but I have a couple of points.</p>

<p>a) Intro to econ is enjoyable by about anyone at any school. It’s a fun topic to learn, so it’s not fair to say, “O chem is boring as hell and why am I wasting my time memorizing crap I will hardly use” (also note that O chem is painful/boring at almost any school).
b) Not very reasonable to expect to continue bioengineering research if you’re an econ major. If you were math/applied math/physics, etc, sure you could make that claim, but it’s extraordinarily unlikely an undergrad degree in econ will convince people that you enjoy and know enough about bioengineering to pursue grad studies.</p>

<p>Perhaps one way to think of the weeder classes for an engineering major is as hurdles to show that you work hard enough and are smart enough (if you’re lucky, you’ll enjoy them too).</p>

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<p>you need to weigh your options. for your major/career choice, you have to be not only interested in the subject, but you also have to be good at it. however, just the intro classes won’t really gauge your interest, nor will it gauge how good you are at it. I think you should suck it up and test the waters first by taking another econ class along with your BioE reqs, and just see how it goes. If you shine much more in the econ classes further on, then do econ. If not, then…well, choose what you feel is right.</p>

<p>another thing is, make some friends in the BioE/Engineering circles, and start hanging out with them, not always with your friends in the L&S circles. once you do that, you can alter your studying habits by studying with others, and you won’t feel quite so guilty and put down by your friends having time to party and such. I’m in CoC, and staying almost entirely in the chem circles has really made me like the subject even more, and having close study buddies really helps in understanding material. Plus my small spaces of free time is roughly aligned with that of my friends, so it’s a lot more fun and I don’t feel left out.</p>

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<p>BUMP…I really hope more people respond to this thread. I am in the exact same boat as you Indian, except I’m a first year. What do you think I should do, keep going or switch out before I waste a bunch of semesters? I read your post and literally thought I wrote it in my sleep. Feel the EXACT same way about every part of it (except I’m not sure about econ, maybe business?). I was thinking the MBA route because im iffy about getting into grad/med school…any advice is appreciated? Does it help to talk to counselors?</p>

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<p>I talked to my student advisor at CoE, and he wasn’t too helpful…YMMV, though.</p>

<p>@KemKid, I have plenty of friends that are also BioE/other engineering majors, and a lot of them are just as disillusioned as I am. I have yet to meet someone that has enjoyed, and done well in, all of these classes…although I’m sure that they exist somewhere :P</p>

<p>@webhappy: to address your second point, for my research (which is in an MCB/Biophysics lab), I do not use ANYTHING that I’ve learned in any of my classes. Everything that I do is experimental, and all the theoretical aspects involve reading and understanding papers.
As to your claim that “it’s extraordinarily unlikely an undergrad degree in econ will convince people that you enjoy and know enough about bioengineering to pursue grad studies”, with a degree in Econ, I wouldn’t be looking for grad studies in BioE - rather, I would get a few years of work experience under my belt, then apply for MBA programs. In the job market (especially in the healthcare/biotech fields, which I want to focus on exclusively), companies would much rather hire an econ major that has research + a (partial) engineering background than a pure econ major, without the aforementioned…</p>

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<p>bump…any other thoughts?</p>

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<p>I also think it’s not fair to judge before you get to the upper division stuff more deeply, but if you need to have an early idea, you should think about picking up books and really sampling what it’s like ahead of time. This also includes talking to people about what to expect.</p>

<p>The weeders are not meant to be fun, that is for sure.</p>

<p>Be a little proactive and you’ll have so much fun :D</p>

<p>Also, be sure that whatever you plan on switching into really is how you think it is. The primary thing I fear is you don’t have a clear picture of what everything is actually like at this stage, and should carefully figure that out before taking a decision.</p>

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<p>I’m just afraid I’m going to fail…if I am doing really bad in weeder courses, what should that say for the UD courses? If I have a GPA below 3.0…will I ever succeed in Berkeley/elsewhere?</p>