<p>I'm a high school senior and I recently got accepted to Petroleum Engineering major in the university I wanna go to. I always wanted to be an engineer, just the process of how stuff works, taking it apart and building it intrigues me a lot. I'm passionate about engineering and I want to be one aside from other business related stuff I wanna do later in life.
I've always been a good student overall but sometimes I think that I don't have the ability required in Math to become a engineer. I sometimes got A's or C's but mostly I'm a B student in Math and by that I mean I struggled to get B's. Moving forward, as it gets harder, I seem to struggle more and it gets hard for me to get a good grade. On a side note, I never had a good teacher in any Mathematics that I took in high school.
Now i'm pretty firm that I want to do Petroleum Engineering so I need your opinion on a few things. How much "Math" do we really have to take and use it later in PetE because I have an understanding that it's mostly Physics/Chem which does require math but the process and units we deal with are different. Secondly, what will it take for me to get better at math? How can I survive 4 years in a good university taking PetE courses?
I really want to be an engineer! But just the thought of not being good enough in math kills me :( I've thought about switching majors a bunch of times but I simply can't. I've always wanted to an engineer. </p>
<p>See how you fare with calculus. I know some people who were dead-set on engineering who just simply could not, no matter how hard they tried, get through the prerequisite math series. Getting through the major is a difficult trial if you just can’t do the math. </p>
<p>The math actually isn’t too bad… most of the time. Occasionally you’ll get a class in which you’re expected to do something really tricky, and you’ll need some higher level math. Most of it is physics though, with algebra and simple calculus.</p>
I always wanted to be an engineer, just the process of how stuff works, taking it apart and building it intrigues me a lot.
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<p>This isn’t really what engineering is. Engineering complex systems by putting things together is too expensive and difficult. Instead, engineers learn how to use very advanced mathematical tools in order to develop mathematical models of what they intend to build and to handle complexity. They work with the models because though imperfect, it leads to tractable problems and practical insight. </p>
<p>Without the math, it would be like building houses with your hands, instead of with tools. </p>
<p>@ClassicRockerDad I agree with you 100%. That’s what I meant when saying “building stuff” because engineers to that, just in a complex way. I think I worded it in a generalization that we’ve or I’ve been using since I was a kid haha.</p>
<p>Just a thought: you can work in the petroleum industry without a petroleum degree. Oil companies hire all sorts of majors, such as petroleum, mechanical, industril, chemical, even electrical. In my opionion, industrial engineering is the least “mathy” if that makes sense. This might be a good option for you, especially if you have that common sense sort of mind and are good with people. A lot of the math they do is sort of just logic. However, you still have to get through you calc/physics classes, so keep that in mind</p>