Scared I Will fail in Engineering

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

Here’s the story: Elementary to grade 11 I’ve been done poorly in school (low 70’s, high 60’s) due to lack of interest and at home problems. Up until the summer of grade 12 I became fascinated with engineering and decided to turn my life around and tried very hard in my classes, and luckily the problems at home started to end. Ended up getting High 80’s in Chem and Physics, 90 in Calc, and 80 in English. Something happened in Math and I ended up only getting an 72 because I almost failed on the Diploma (Final Test worth 50% of your mark) and because I did not have a strong background in math. I retook the class the next month during summer school and ended up with a 97%. So because I screwed up in math the first time I was rejected from the University I wanted to go to (The University of Alberta). Luckily this university accepts redone courses and my mark is now an 89%. I understood that I didn’t do as well as I needed to because I tried my hardest a bit too late in the game, however now I am determined to work as hard as I can to become an engineer and have discovered a newly found interest and passion in Physics, Chem and Math.

Currently I am now taking an unintended Gap year till I attend Uni next fall and am using this time to mainly work and save up money so I don’t have to work during school, and to read lots of books. My plan and expectation once I get into Uni is to attend every class on time, pay attention and take notes, and return home expecting 3-4 hours of homework every school night. My hope is going to one social event a week, and join an engineering related club that consumes little time. I’m not anti-social however one big event every week or two is more than enough social interaction to make me happy since I dont like going out much. I’m not a big party goer and sacrificing some of my social life isn’t so bad for me.

TL;DR and question
So should I be scared of failing engineering? I’ve been reading as many posts about engineering dropouts and am still unsure of whether or not people fail/drop out because they cant commit to the work load, because they wont sacrifice their job, extra-curricular actives and social life. Or if its because the work load is simply that exhausting. I know I have written a lot however I would like any engineering students to comment on reasons why engineering students dropout/fail and if a student such as myself willing to commit 3-4 hours after school of studying with good time management skills that does not having work or other time consuming activities succeed in engineering with at least a 3.0 GPA. Also I plan on taking Electrical engineering as my specialty and attend a co-op program extending school to a fifth year for better employability once graduation.

2

Of course you should go into university with your eyes open about how much work you need to put in but you don’t need to be scared about it. You have demonstrated to yourself that you can do well when you are motivated so i would suspect that if you are enthusiastic about engineering, you will do fine.

3

Keep your eye on the goal and you can make it. Pace your workload (don’t procrastinate) and make sure you do the work to understand what you are learning, not just the minimum to get a passing grade.

Right now, you can start learning about the classes in the first year you will take. Currently, the list of actual classes are not up on Univ of Alberta’s site but you should familiarize yourself with the classes that meet this from their catalog:

82.7 Electrical Engineering

Electrical engineering is the application of knowledge of electrical systems and phenomena for the benefit of society. The Electrical Engineering program builds an understanding of theoretical concepts early in the program and then gives students the tools to develop more in-depth knowledge in their fields of interest. Introductory courses explore the fundamentals of electricity and magnetism, the laws governing analog electric circuits, and introduce digital circuitry. In the third and fourth years of study, students are able to investigate specific areas of electrical engineering, while maintaining a broad outlook. Practical experience is integral to the program. Laboratory experiments form a required element of many courses while in the final year of study students must complete a capstone design project.

Buy some books or take an online class of the ones that you will be taking so you are ready.

Since you are taking a gap year, it is easy for knowledge of Physics and Math to slip. Do what you can to make sure you are up to speed when school starts.