<p>I'm in Pre-Calculus Honors at my high school as a senior and I really like math. I believe that I was wrongfully placed in math class my freshman year therefore I have been getting straight A's in all my math classes during my time at school. Is it okay for me to go into a major in Engineering even though I have only taken Pre-Calculus?</p>
<p>Ask if you can take Calc 1 at a CC during the summer. </p>
<p>@bomerr i will be working at a 9-5 job during the summer so i dont know if that would work out</p>
<p>You can start engineering without calculus but you’ll find the coursework more difficult as compared to people who finished calculus in high school. </p>
<p>but will it seriously hurt my chances to succeed in engineering?</p>
<p>okay thank you @bomerr</p>
<p>hurt your chances to succeed? no
hurt your gpa? possibly. </p>
<p>for anyone else looking at this who has gone into engineering with only pre-calculus from high school or known someone who has, was it harder to grasp the concepts being taught in college math/engineering classes?</p>
<p>Have a look at the class sequences for engineering at schools you are interested in. Probably you will find that they start with calc 1. So, if your math skills are strong, you should be ok with just precalc. That said, I think it would be preferable if you had calculus already; it would make the requirements less onerous and also you would have more confidence in your math skills if you were already part way into the program.</p>
<p>@mathyone or @bomerr would buying a Barron’s book for AP Calc and studying it over the summer help at all?</p>
<p>or at least the first few sections of it just so i get a slight understanding…</p>
<p>I would buy “understanding calculus” from the great courses. In fact I would recommend you buy all three video courses. Calc 1, 2 and 3. They often go on sale for 60-80 each. </p>
<p>Personally I spend the most time on Calculus and Foreign Language. Calculus 1, at least for me, took a LOT of time to learn but that was party because my math skills were awful. If you know calculus, then you can spend less time learning calculus during college which just makes your schedule a lot easier. </p>
<p>what is your major @bomerr</p>
<p>Engineering drop-out, currently doing Business Administration. Only Calculus 1 and 2 are requirements for me now.</p>
<p>did you think that you wanted to do engineering then found out that your “math skills were awful” or did you know about your skills before starting to pursue it @bomerr </p>
<p>because I am partially afraid of going into engineering then not liking it. i have a full scholarship to Alabama as long as i stay in the college of engineering but I am afraid that I might want to change in the future. </p>
<p>@CaliKid1455</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post. </p>
<p>I thought I wanted to do engineering because of my ECs then went into Calc & Chemistry courses only to realize that this wasn’t HS anymore. </p>
<p>Teachers don’t teach, they expect you to learn everything themselves… then their tests are weeders and the grading is harsh. For instance the chemistry teacher required us to know how to spell every element correctly or else she would mark off points. But even the general format of the tests annoyed me. For instance I like learning about different atomic energy levels and configurations or infinite series but the tests are more in-depth and require knowing random specific setups i.e trig identities. Basically I like general theory but not nit-picky memorization that tests are on. </p>
<p>I also didn’t like the environment or people in the class. In HS, even in a tough class like Math or Chem, you got that social aspect to offset the difficult. You might take it for granted but talking with the teacher or someone cracking a joke makes the class feel so much easier. None of that in the classes I was talking in College. Over half the class was made up of international students from Asia (China, Taiwan, Vietnam, etc) </p>
<p>I know that if I stayed in those courses it would just destroy my GPA so I dropped out of General Chem and Calc 1. A lot of colleges require placement tests for Math and Science. Well I self-studied and placed directly into Calc 1 along with General Chemistry ! but my skills in both areas were still way to low. </p>
<p>After that I bought the great courses series on Calc 1 and self-studied it myself. BEST DECISION I EVER MADE. I ended up signed up for Calc 1 again and received an A this time. (Like I said a lot of times it’s on sale for 80 bucks, it’s not right now but maybe you can call and ask them for the 70% off savings) </p>
<p>Of course at this point I realized realized that taking Calculus 1, General Chemistry 1, C++ 1, English Composition 1 all in the same semester would be BRUTAL. I would be struggling to just get a 3.0 GPA. Plus I couldn’t imagine myself sitting in a cubicle all day solving differential equations. I needed a major that was more social. So I made the decision to switch into Business instead. </p>
<p>Thank you for all of your help @bomerr and for the sake of my scholarship I hope I can stick with Engineering </p>
<p>I have no idea if you will or will not like engineering. You will have to work hard and you will likely find some of the courses very challenging. For me, the rewards of a career in engineering have been very good.</p>
<p>So far as calc I goes, if you truly understand your pre-calc material you will be fine in calc I. The calc concepts are not difficult but the algebraic and trig manipulations required are difficult if you do not have a good understanding of your pre-calc material. This is from someone that did not have a solid pre-calc background in high school but survived calc I and learned my pre-calc material at the same time. I did much better in calc II and III and differential equations.</p>
<p>Alabama is offering you a great opportunity but it is impossible to know if you will like anything until you do it. I know engineers that graduated, did well and never worked in engineering but their technical understanding let them become great salesmen, patent attorneys, managers, etc.</p>
<p>@WAPacker I will definitely do my best to stick with it. Thank you for your input it has helped a lot.</p>