Hi all. So this is a new questions based on an older thread of mine. I am currently a college freshman and I have narrowed my choices of majors down to engineering or accounting.
I originally really wanted to enter the medical/dental field, but due to some circumstances, I am not able to pursue either of those fields
About myself: I am really interested in the human body and mechanisms and the whole biomedical/pharmaceutical world. Hence I wanted to enter the healthcare field. After I decided I couldn’t, I looked into accounting, which is totally different than healthcare, but I figured it was a stable job for the business field, also considering I’m not that outgoing so I chose accounting which is more of a “quieter” job.
To stay close to the science fields, I looked into engineering as well,specially chemical and biomedical. The thing about engineering is that it is brutal and I’m not that much of a smart spark. To be quite honest, I don’t consider myself very bright with the mathematic and engineering courses found in those two disciplines. I don’t know if id be smart enough to make the cut. And I cannot afford to make the wrong choice and then have to switch my major completely.
Would anyone mind putting their input or any suggestions and advice for someone in my situation. It would be appreciated very much!!
Thank you!!
I may get beaten up for this, but in my experience engineers are born not made: no matter what their actual job is, they are engineers at heart. In our family (which is overrun with them) we believe that it is a personality type. More objectively, they are endlessly interested in the mechanisms of how things work, and have been since they were tiny. Yet, you say in another thread that you are not interested in those things, so: listen to yourself.
Engineering is a challenging program, and there is no point going down such a demanding path if you don’t like the destination. Yes, you do need to be able for the maths (as distinct from numeracy) and physics. Also, being in pre-calc as a second semester freshman puts you more than a semester behind: you seem to be in a school that has Engineering as a major, not a course, so grad school will be necessary to fully qualify as an engineer.
The two things that I see in common with accountancy are numeracy and being detail oriented. I’m not sure why you have ruled out all forms of health sciences and science research: there are many and varied paths in both those arenas. Have you talked to the career advisory center at your college? it seems as though some aptitude testing/career advice would be helpful to you.
@collegemom3717 thank you for your input. I agree with you that what you like can play a big part of what you decide to do later in life, but from experience, I feel that even some people who don’t like to “tinker” with things have gone on to become engineers, and I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with finishing engineering not being a complete math and physics whiz.
I have pondered about the other science/research professions, but I feel that I would much rather prefer a more practical, day to day job rather than pursue ambiguous research, and i feel that research jobs are not easy to find out of college.
Yes I am aware of that I am a semester behind, if I pursue engineering, I would be looking at about 5 years to finish instead of the usual 4, but from experience, I have been told from friends in the engineering program at my school that most students end up taking more than 4 years anyway because of the sheer difficulty of the program and end up repeating courses.
I was just wondering if someone has experience pursuing engineering as something they didnt originally want to pursue and them being not a whiz at physics or math and how they got through it or if they decided to quit.
I have been to my career services office to no avail, hence I am trying to figure on my own and try and get some feedback.
Short answer, then: yes, you need to be strong in math and physics.
Also, people do often take 5 years to finish Engineering, but you are more than 1 semester behind: most engineering programs have you in calculus, physics and (for BME esp) chemistry from first year- and people starting there still can take 5 years. You are just starting pre-calc, so I think you may be looking at 5 more years / 6 years total.
And yes, people who don’t actually really want the end goal are the most likely to drop out when the going is tough and keeps getting tougher.
Have you done any form of aptitude testing? If not go get “What color is your parachute” - an oldie but a goodie- out of the library.
Hm, I’ve never heard of that test.
I believe that even though I wasn’t necessarily originally invested in engineering if need come to be, I would find some way to motivate myself to push through, as with BME where at least it deals with topics in medicine and human biology.
If I really do not push myself to engineering I would definitely pursue engineering and then do diagnostic sonography program, to stay close to my medical passions.
Do you by any change know any accountants? I’ve heard that accountants go up to only calculus 1 which I’m ok with because I would’ve done that with medical anyway. I’ve also heard that accountancy is more akin to law and memorizing rules and laws and deals with basic arithmetic. Would you say that those statements are true to a extent?
To be quite frank, you don’t sound very interested in or motivated to become an engineer. Most engineers that I know have long been fascinated in how things work, and they do like to tinker with things - “things” being broadly defined (software, processes, systems, the environment - it doesn’t just have to be machines/hardware).
I mean, at their core, engineers build stuff. Why would you want to go into a career that is centered upon building stuff if you don’t like to build stuff?
I am also curious about why you were so interested in healthcare as a career that you applied to BS/MD programs and then have given up on it entirely. I mean, you can always be an accountant in healthcare - in fact, healthcare agencies need people in finance and business to keep it running. But there are tons of other careers in healthcare - both as a care professional or a support professional - that you can pursue. Hospitals are large businesses; they have HR and finance and legal. There’s epidemiology and biostatistics; there’s community health work; there’s medical physics. You could go to optometry school. You could become an occupational therapist, a speech-language pathologist or audiologist, a podiatrist, a pharmacist, a physician’s assistant, a nurse practitioner, a dietitian…I mean, there are so many careers in healthcare and those are mostly the clinical ones. There’s also health management and administration.
@juillet yes, I am aware of those professions, and I did consider many of them until I found out about my legal status and how I cannot be admitted into most of the healthcare professions, hence I looked into business and engineering. I figured that since I live the life sciences, it would be easier for me to pursue biomedical engineering or if not than accounting. Since I’ve never been exposed to it, the thought of “building things” doesn’t appeal to be, as I think I’m more of a theoretical person, but maybe biomedical isnt all about building stuff…
Biomedical engineering is, in large part, about building things. Here’s how the Occupational Outlook Handbook describes the duties of a biomedical engineer:
But never having been exposed to something is different from knowing that you don’t like it. You might actually like building things if you were to try, especially if those things aren’t necessarily tangible technological products (like computers or something) but smaller or different products like artificial organs or knee replacements or something. So why not try it?
I know that you’re afraid of making the “wrong” choice and not having enough time to correct course. But really, you could ask tons of questions, do informational interviews with accountants and engineers, and think about yourself deeply for weeks - and the only way to know for sure would still be to try it. You can, of course, shed more light or develop more insight through all of those things, but you’ll never be 100% sure until you try it out yourself.
Can you take the introductory courses in each area while you try to make a decision? So maybe like the first class an accounting major would take and the first class a biomedical engineer would take (aside from the basic physics, math, and biology, if you can).
You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to be an engineer. You do have to like math and be good with it.
The practice of accounting requires understanding (more than memorizing) complex rules and applying them to real life situations (which may not be as straightforward or clear-cut as the rules anticipate). No particular mathematical aptitude required, beyond a sense of reasonableness.
Your school’s degree program may require more or less numeracy. Be aware that Intermediate is the weeder class at many schools, so you may be three semesters in before you know that it’s not for you.
@allyphoe is right (I assume she’s talking about intermediate accounting) however if you get to intermediate and accounting and realize you can’t handle it you’ve normally just taken the same classes to go for another business concentration (finance, marketing, admin, etc).
In addition, if you’re struggling with deciding between engineering and accounting I recommend an alternative option. You’re only a freshman so you could always transfer.
Why not take a look at schools that offer either:
Engineering management
My son is or was in the same boat as you are now. He is a HS senior and applying to colleges and had a hard time deciding which “tree” to climb. They really are two distinct paths that do not share too much in common per se.
I am a CPA who like many before me tried the engineering track and found it a bit too challenging. I could handle the work but felt I was putting in too much effort so I questioned whether I had a natural aptitude for it or if I was just forcing the issue. I said to myself that I just did not want to think this hard for the rest of my work life. Then you enter the workforce and discover that work is nothing like all the stuff they teach you. I digress.
I always liked math and did very well in it so for me I found the math in accounting/finance/economics to be a more natural fit. I found I naturally had a legal mind for all the finance and tax rules.
You will just need to self discover this on your own. My son will have to do the same. There really is no wrong answer unless money is an issue. This caused my son stress because you really need to know what you want to study if your paying $65K a year. Two years of exploratory puts you $130K in the hole. You do not have the luxury like generations before you to find your way. It is just too expensive if you come from modest means.
Based on your responses you seem cool towards engineering. You will find accounting to be less challenging computationally but as was said you will need to be able to read and interpret law and make judgement calls on that interpretation. Bookkeeping is rigid and structured. Accounting is not.
One thing to keep in mind that others can also chime in on to correct me if I am wrong. Many engineers I talk to do not feel a huge push from employers to get or have a masters degree. That is not true in the Accounting/Finance world. A CPA requires a masters equivalent ( you need 150 credit hours to take the exam) and in finance an MBA is basically required for upper level professions.
@massdad68 thank you for your response. Yes in fact, we’ve been through some financial troubles that were pushing through right now so money is really a big factor. But other than that, it’s the burden on me to really make something out of my life to not only give me a comfortable lifestyle but to provide my parents with the sort of easiness that they never got.
If it means anything, I really enjoy English an analyzing things and I love history and that kind of stuff. So I’m inclined to say that accounting would be “easier” for me since even though math is not my natural talent, accounting being combined with law would be easier.
For engineering, it’s related to science and the human body, but I just keep doubting my abilities to be able to make it through the program, because it just builds on math and phsyics. Intellectually wise I would describe myself as average. I will find stats from my high school and college grades as soon as I get them to help anyone out make any other comments.
@philbegas lol yes creds to you. I know I saw it somewhere.
@juillet yes I suppose I can do that but there are pre reqs for even those basic courses and idk how far I would be in my academic career to test out the course. And I worry about risking my average for either one if I switch?
Also one more question to anyone who can answer, would it look bad if I were to take less classes per semester in order to make the program more manageable? Like if I were to span out my classes to finish in 5-6 years? Would employers look poorly upon that or no?
