<p>Hello! I'm in my junior year of high school, and I guess I'm pretty behind on deciding what I want to major in. I've always been pretty good at math and science so engineering has been an option I've considered for a very long time. The only thing I'm worried about is how smart you have to be and the workload.</p>
<p>I have a 3.83 unweighted gpa and a 4.75 weighted. (My weighted will go up though because I'm taking more APs this year and next year.) I would describe myself as an above average student. I usually do well in school just because I "get stuff", and I'm naturally pretty smart. I can be a hard worker sometimes, but I prefer to not spend my whole life on just school. This may be a self confidence issue, but I don't consider myself to be extremely intelligent simply because other people in my classes are a lot smarter than me, so I'm a bit worried I will be weeded out. But those people also tend to only care about school whereas I'm also heavily involved in extracurriculars and social activities as well.</p>
<p>I'm also curious what the students in an engineering program are like. Are they friendly? Because I have encountered plenty of arrogant geniuses who will not talk to anyone who they don't deem as smart enough. I want to be able to have fun and make friends in college too, so making sure the people who surround me are nice and can have a laugh is important too.</p>
<p>Obviously I know that hard work and having a passion for what you do plays a role. As for me, I don't know if I have a passion or not. I guess I'm kind of in a rut with deciding what I want to do with my life because nothing seems to be a perfect fit, but I do still hope I would be able to do engineering. If this sounds like a horrible fit to you, could you give me some suggestions for other possible majors?</p>
<p>I would love to hear all of your own personal experiences, pros and cons, and the descriptions about the social atmosphere. Advice in any form is greatly appreciated! :)</p>
<p>All the other prospective engineering and current engineering students I know are the smartest, most down-to-earth, awesomest people I know who make me really excited to go into the field.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman engineer student right now and I would say I’m just like you. I enjoy participating in extracurricular activities, socializing, and playing around on the weekends. I would say that most of the people I have met are not only awesome, but are pretty smart and well-rounded, which I like because we learn a lot from each other so there is definitely a sense of teamwork. In fact I would say that most of the engineers who are arrogant or unfriendly will probably struggle or not succeed in this major since so much of it involves helping each other given the difficulty of it. So far, I have met only 1 student who looked down on me cause I didn’t understand the homework and he refused to help me believing the assignment was to easy for me to not understand. That same person is now coming to me for some occasional help and has come to friendly terms with me.</p>
<p>I personally think the friendliness of the students probably has more to do with where you go than the actual major you take. If you enjoy math/science, problem solving, building things and understanding how they work, I think it’s a great major and I can say I’ve definitely enjoyed it overall.</p>
<p>I found my engineering students to be unpretentious and friendly (sometimes shy). If you are concerned, include schools that have engineering and many other majors too. Then try to visit various schools to get a feel for what vibe is the best fit for you.</p>
<p>I went to a top engineering school and even at that school, the people I met and had as classmates were quite down to earth. There were a few odd or weird ones, but only a very few. I had an active social life and participated in college athletics at the varsity level.</p>
<p>One of my friends was a fantastic artist (he had a natural talent but also took a lot of drawing classes that were offered in the evening); he went on to become a professor of mechanical engineering. Another was a guitar player who went to a long career as a aerospace design engineer. You get the idea, a lot of students had interests outside engineering.</p>
<p>The arrogant geniuses will change (or drop out) in engineering school. Professional engineers need to collaborate to function well and that is also driven home in college. Study groups and group projects are a big part of any engineering program. The arrogant people will not survive unless they change. Also, as I once heard in an admissions briefing: “the typical student here was in the top 10% of his class in high school, 90% of those will not be in the top 10% here”.</p>
<p>It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders and will do well if you do decide to pursue engineering. As a senior engineering student, I have found that the most important thing is that you work hard and have a passion for the field of engineering you pursue. Being “smart” is secondary.</p>
<p>As far as the people go, I know a few arrogant people and many more friendly people. You will run into both as you advance through school. On the whole, I have never had many problems with people, most tend to be very friendly and easy to work with.</p>
<p>You say you don’t know if you have a passion for engineering… I would say most people coming out of high school don’t know what they really want to do.</p>
<p>Engineering has majors that cover an encredibly diverse spectrum. An electrical engineer can work closely with medical professionals, manufacturing, nuclear power generation, circuit design for toys. The same can be said for almost all the engineering fields. So don’t let the unknown nature of passion stop you from entering an engineering program.</p>
<p>The most important thing to hold on to is that there is no one “critical” decision. Start on a course of study, but stay alert and flexible to what you learn at every step along the way and make adjustments as you go. There is never a time when it is too late to change direction once the passion is found.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much! This is my first time posting on here, and all your responses have been so nice and helpful! You guys have really reassured me about the social aspect of engineering, which was a huge concern for me before. I’m still a little bit worried about how stressful and difficult the classes are because I would prefer not to have a nervous breakdown.</p>
<p>" I usually do well in school just because I “get stuff”, and I’m naturally pretty smart" - If you can, try to find good organization techniques now, even if you can get by with wing-it methods. That will help you be ready for the workload. Good luck to you!</p>