Hi, right now I’m a junior in high school so I’ve been starting to think about college. I’ve been wanting to wanting to do aerospace engineering since I was in 7th grade. I’m in calculus BC right now and it’s easy, but I have difficulty in AP physics. Will this prevent me from doing aerospace engineering? I was also thinking about applied mathematics, but a lot of people say that its hard to get a job for applied math unless you have a grad degree. Do you guys think I could succeed in graduate school if I can understand math concepts with ease? Thank you for your time.
How much difficulty are you having in AP physics? Physics (and chemistry) require a different type of thinking than you may be used to. It can take a while before it “clicks”. You’re only a couple of months into the year.
Engineering has a lot of physics.
There are many different fields involving math. Have you tried chemistry or economics or statistics? There are many jobs that one can get with a degree in applied math or one of the fields above.
Well right now I have a 92% in physics but I just have a harder time grasping the concepts than in math. I only got a 76% on the second unit test. As for economics and statistics, I like economics a lot but I don’t enjoy stats as much as I do as calculus. Chemistry was easy for me but I’m not sure I’d be interested in it as a major.
Which AP physics are you taking? I’m teaching AP physics 1 right now and most of my students could have written your post. You have been doing math since you started elementary school. It’s familiar. Physics isn’t. It doesn’t mean that you are worse at physics. Being challenged is a good thing. It means you are learning. Don’t make a decision that you are not good at something based on one test. Just keep at it and physics can become as familiar as math.
I’m in ap physics one as well and thanks for the advice I’ll give it my best in physics!