Maybe I should just Quit Engineering

<p>I'm about to fail my math midterm tomorrow which would mean that I can't major in engineering. I'm in a Vector Calculus 2 class right now and I did all the homework for the last three weeks assigned and spent nearly every day in the mathlab asking the T.A.'s for help. My mind is blank now. The material covered in the midterm requires knowledge from multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, and algebra...and right now my brain is fried from studying too much and I can't do even simple algebra. I've long forgotten how to do anything else and I need to have that entire repertoire by tomorrow. </p>

<p>Today is a sunday which means that the instructors and T.A.'s for the class are out of the school; my friends in that class have stopped caring and are too busy to offer help; and the internet confuses me even more. What do you do when you reach a block like this?</p>

<p>If you fail, retake the class. If you miraculously pass, well then, yay? </p>

<p>A few majors require less use of calculus. I’ve known quite a few engineering students who have failed Calc before. Not all of them dropped out.</p>

<p>Get a good night’s sleep and hope for the best. If you’ve done all you can do, then give it a break and do your best on the exam. If you fail the midterm, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve failed the class. If you fail the class, take it again. I know engineering majors who failed calculus, retook it, and got their degree. Failing this one midterm doesn’t mean that you can never major in engineering.</p>

<p>Or Maybe you can try again next semester no need to quit something for a small bump!! I know plenty who dropped calc 2 and came back strong the next semester! Try a new teacher or a CC!!!</p>

<p>It’s possible that you’ve overworked yourself and you just need to slow it down. If you fail, you fail, but you can retake it. I had a friend who took chemistry one three times already, and finally got an A in the class on the third attempt. From the looks of it, you sound you don’t want to give up being an engineer, just like my friend, and I think that’s an amazing quality, if not one of the most important, to have when pursuing an engineering degree. Just don’t give up and you’ll make it.</p>

<p>O.O I just got the test score and I got a 100% on it with the curve. The average for the midterm was 20/40 points, and I got a 34 which was curved to a 100%. I think I put too much pressure on myself…</p>

<p>Congratulations!</p>

<p>If you really love the major than don’t give up on it. Just work harder next time and get help right away. Usually the second time around students tend to do better. I really hope you do well.</p>

<p>Sounds like you’re better at calculus than you thought! A healthy dose of the ol’ impostor syndrome is a good thing to have in engineering, just don’t let it get you down so bad you actually start doing poorly out of anxiety.</p>

<p>Who takes a midterm in late August? Hmmm.</p>

<p>@Lake Washington:</p>

<p>Someone who’s doing summer school. The curriculum jams a quarter’s worth of material (10 weeks) into six. My vector calc. class is the last math class I need to take and so I want to finish it early so I can do biology for the next three quarter.</p>

<p>I’ve long held that for science classes, summer school is smart option. Best wishes for success.</p>

<p>@LakeWashington: is there a reason that taking science classes during summer is the smartest choice? And thanks :D.</p>

<p>It all depends on your personality as to if it’s good or not. I’m someone that likes to have time to digest material and think it over. I also retain things very well after I’ve learned them, so I really liked the semester system. I switched to quarters in grad school and felt the pace was too quick to really have that time to make the connections as to why what you’re learning is actually important. I can only imagine it would be worse for me in a shortened summer term.</p>