<p>I am currently a highschool junior beginning to look into colleges. I am very interested in science and engineering, but was wondering if not just anyone can succeed in engineering. I do well in math (all A's all years) but im not 'advanced' in math, (will take AP Calc senior year) meaning that i didnt enter highschool with 10 years of multivariable under my belt. But i am a hard worker, and have a strong interest in the sciences. Should i pursue an engineering school even though i am not a math prodigy?</p>
<p>Thanks for you help! </p>
<p>P.S. does anyone in engineering double major in something like chem. or biology? Is that just a crazy work load?</p>
<p>Wait so what is the question? You actually think the average incoming engineering freshman has taken multivariable calculus? You taking just normal calc in high school puts you on par with probably 75% of incoming freshman in engineering programs. The remainder is split between people who start directly in multivariable calc and people who never took calc before.</p>
<p>Engineering, math and physics programs are designed with the notion that the average student will start of with Calculus I…meaning NO Calculus in high-school at all.</p>
<p>I did not take Calculus in high-school nor even Pre-Calculus. My last math course in high-school was Analytic Geometry (basically the next course after Trig).</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>…and I ended up with a B.S. in Math and an M.S. in Engineering.</p>
<p>A lot of the time I find that the kids who take multivariable in high school end up burned out from math. In some respect, maybe it’s better that you haven’t or won’t have any sort of ridiculously advanced courses.</p>
<p>You’ll be fine. So far my experience (and as far as I can tell about future classes I’ll have to take) has it’s more of a heavy workload rather than super-hard work that you won’t be able to understand.</p>
<p>“But i am a hard worker, and have a strong interest in the sciences.” </p>
<p>This is the only think that is important.</p>
<p>It seemed like at my school most of the kids who took BC as sophomores and juniors are people who don’t like math but want to go to HYPS-type schools. Not everyone, but a lot more than those who took it as seniors.</p>
<p>If you love it, you’ll be able to work hard in it without forcing yourself too much. It won’t be something you have to “endure” as you’d enjoy it. Very important.</p>
<p>Double majoring in chem or bio with an engineering major is very burdensome. I won’t advise you against it because it is so hard, as you will be able to figure out what you can handle yourself. However, I will advise you against it because a chem or bio major to supplement an engineering major does nothing for you, as an employee or as someone looking to be employed. Even a Chemistry major to double with a Chemical Engineering major does nothing for the ChE degree. It’s better to pursue a field in graduate school.</p>
<p>“Engineering, math and physics programs are designed with the notion that the average student will start of with Calculus I…meaning NO Calculus in high-school at all.”</p>
<p>Be careful about this statement. The top programs set calc AB as a baseline and more than half will have taken calc BC.</p>
<p>No, you cannot be an engineer. You are too unmotivated and stuck pitying yourself to surmount any challenges. It doesn’t take a genius to be an engineer, just a confident hard worker.</p>
<p>There is no AP Multivariable, so most have to take it in college anyway. You are overestimating what an engineering freshman starts out with.</p>
<p>
Which top programs set calc AB as a baseline?</p>
<p>Geeze, my older S “only” had AP Calc, and has managed quite well. He was accepted at RPI, Stony Brook, and Stevens. He is finishing his sixth academic semester at Stevens, and has completed several co-ops.</p>
<p>OP, if engineering interests you, don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you otherwise. Check out some schools that interest you, and talk to an admissions person there to allay your concerns.</p>
<p>“Which top programs set calc AB as a baseline?”</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd, Caltech, and most likely a few others. If you had no way of taking calc in hs the schools state that they will not hold it against you but you need to do everything possible to exhaust your school’s math/science curriculum. The few that are admitted without available courses in hs are required to take a catch-up class before or early on freshman year.</p>
<p>At HMC there is a one quarter calc refresher (proofs, etc) for entering freshman. (About half of the class passes out of this 1 quarter class with a 5 on the AP BC test.) However, it is assumed that you have a good grasp of the fundamentals of calculus. It really is an assumed tool at HMC… used it just about every class.</p>
<p>I took AP AB and then AP BC calc and got 5’s on everything. It was a breeze and I passed out of the first math class at HMC. Then I went to HMC and really got the stuffing kicked out of me with the core math program. Perhaps I should not have skipped the first class.</p>
<p>“Be careful about this statement. The top programs set calc AB as a baseline and more than half will have taken calc BC.”</p>
<p>This crosses into VERY subjective topic of “top programs”. Even in the “mythical” set of “top programs”, you can start off Freshman year with Calculus I and will be more than able to complete an engineering program.</p>
<p>Once again, this is ENGINEERING where there are more jobs available that what universities can produce. I work in the I.T. industry and even a student who has to wait until spring semester of Freshman year for Calculus I would still have a good chance of graduating in 4 years or 4 years + a summer term…and still get hired at a nice defense firm.</p>
<p>Now maybe ME, CE, ChemE has more competition and I cannot speak totally for those majors, but Comp Sci?..Calc I freshman year is just as good.</p>
<p>"P.S. does anyone in engineering double major in something like chem. or biology? Is that just a crazy work load? "
- I know a lot of people who do it. If you count CS as “engineering”, I did it. It’s not impossible to do, if you really like both subjects, but it does mean extra work. You should check your institution’s program requirements for things like double, dual, etc. majors and double, dual, etc. degrees and see what is required in terms of coursework and credit hours. Depending on the requirements, it should definitely be doable within the regular four-year timeframe without taking extra semesters and without entering AP credit. If you spread your engineering BS over 5 years, then it should not be a problem in any case. Just be prepared to take the maximum courseload every semester, or close to it.</p>
<p>are there any engineering majors harder than the others? also, can one easily transfer into/out of an engineering college inside of a university that the student enrolls? say i enter in engineering but want to pursue chemistry but chem is through another college. Is it ‘easy’ to switch out of schools? vice versa?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No. If you want an in depth discussion about this, then do a quick search of the engineering forum. Otherwise, prepare to discuss the intricacies of ice cream!</p>
<p>“are there any engineering majors harder than the others?”</p>
<p>The consensus is that the hardest major is the one you are in. </p>
<p>“also, can one easily transfer into/out of an engineering college inside of a university that the student enrolls?”</p>
<p>Depends completely on the college.</p>
<p>I disagree with boneh3ad and QK. There are engineering majors that are certainly harder than others, or you could say there are engineering majors that are certainly easier than others; either way it is true. Sure you could argue it’s all relative and that it’s simply in the eye of the beholder, but all that really means is that the beholder is just really intrigued by a certain discipline and so studying the subject doesn’t bore him. There are concepts that didn’t take too much out of theorists to develop and there are others that seemed impossible to theorists and took a lot more out of them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Using that kind of logic, you could also never prove that any major was harder than another. The simple fact is that one major may be easy to one person and equally hard to another. There is no universally harder engineering major.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh really? Which theories where these? This statement is complete bologna. Even the theories that we today know to be fundamental challenged someone back when the science was new.</p>
<p>“I disagree with boneh3ad and QK.”</p>
<p>No you don’t.</p>
<p>That was just my sarcastic way of saying that most people claim their own major is hardest.</p>
<p>I never claimed my major was hardest. </p>
<p>However, numerous mathematicians across different societies developed the exact same individual concepts, such as integration, utilizing different or similar routes in validating their methodology. As the world “got smaller” these mathematicians realized they weren’t the only ones to have figured this out. Then you compare it to Einstein’s concept of mass-energy equivalence and his development of E=mc^2, a concept that was not discovered until one man with an outrageous IQ was finally born. And then, not to mention, a concept of which wasn’t even accepted until years after this guy died, simply because it was so complicated that no one knew how to understand it and therefore accept it as correct.</p>