<p>Everyone says engineering is very difficult, but it's manageable if you have good time management skills.</p>
<p>I'm planning on doing electrical engineering, so I was wondering what part I should focus on more.</p>
<p>Is it the math/physics classes that are tough
or is it the actual electrical engineering courses, or both?</p>
<p>I’m doing Computer Engineering so I can’s speak specifically for Electrical, but I think in general the core courses are a little more challenging than the initial physics/calculus sequences. But as long as you have the aptitude and can effectively manage your time, its not that bad. I think most students fail either because they do not spend adequate time studying or they just never had the aptitude for it in the first place, or both.</p>
<p>It should not actually be that hard for someone good at math. Of course, you will have to study and work at it, as a student in any reasonably rigorous major should.</p>
<p>However, math education at the K-12 level in the US is poor, so few college bound high school graduates are actually ready for college level math, and a semester of remedial math in college may not be able to undo the damage caused by years of poor math education. If most of the people telling you that engineering is hard are those whose math skills are weak, take their comments in context of that.</p>
<p>Engineering (as well as science) majors do take more lab courses than many other majors, so they may spend more time on their courses.</p>
<p>I’m a parent and I have a BS in Electrical Engineering. For me, engineering was tough because of the sheer work load esp. in comparison to many of my liberal arts classmates. It required discipline to skip events with my sorority to hit the books when everyone else could participate. So, time management and a serious work ethic are essential skills for an engineering student.</p>
<p>High school was not difficult for me. The transition to college level work demands was huge because engineering requires one to learn concepts (in both science and EE classes) and apply that knowledge to a lab or on an exam. Typically, test averages were in the 40’s and that would be either motivating or completely frustrating as a result. </p>
<p>I must say, it was ALL worth it. There are so many interesting careers you can pursue. I think it helps to know when to seek help and dont underestimate the benefits of building a strong network among other engineering students. Furthermore, it really helped that my professors were encouraging and wanted to see us all succeed. </p>
<p>Perhaps, if possible at your high school, spend some extra time with your teachers and ask them to challenge you with difficult math and science problems. At my daughters high school, there is a strong Science Olympiad program which provides a platform for the students to practice using their critical thinking skills. Upperclassman can be paired with underclassman and parent and teachers coach the various events. This is just one example of an activity that might be interesting for you. I hope Ive helped to answer your questions.</p>
<p>In my experience going to a college that is 95% engineering, math and science is advantageous because you have no liberal arts classmates distracting you and the “activities” tended to not coincide with midterms and other crunch times. It is something to consider when choosing a school.</p>
<p>I think the hardest part is when you realize that you’ve listened in lecture and read the book and it still doesn’t make sense. Some of the concepts are just hard to grasp. Hopefully, you can call on resources like instructors, tutors, classmates, the library and Internet to gain some clarity. However, sometimes it just doesn’t gel.</p>
<p>The hardest part of being engineering major is envy. You will need to study 5-nights a week while your roommate can study 3-nights a week and start the weekend on Thursday. Many students drop out of engineering because they are afraid that someone is having more fun.</p>
<p>Engineering degrees include more credit hours than others, and a credit hour of engineering typically includes far more homework and studying than other majors. All of the work is doable, but it adds up.</p>
<p>Engineering majors often include a variety of subject areas that need to be mastered as well–e.g., math, physics, programming, biology, etc. This is why so many people fear BME and CompE.</p>
<p>Reasons for difficulty may vary depending on your high school preparation, level of extracurricular activity, and your career goals. </p>
<p>Students at the top of their class (provided they have good time management skills and are naturally smart) obviously will have an easier time than those who are at the bottom. It won’t be a cakewalk for anyone, but it definitely helps to be a good student. </p>
<p>Engineering courses typically require a lot more time than do other ones. One project-based course (such as design or micrcontrollers or what have you) alone can easily take up twenty hours of your week, and more during crunch weeks. Some concepts in more theoretical classes require a lot of effort to master. </p>
<p>Those heavily involved in extracurricular activities (project teams, research, part-time work) will need to manage their time very carefully. </p>
<p>Even above-average students might find their experience stressful if they are aiming for top grad schools, which can mean maintaining 3.7+ and spending a lot of time on research. </p>
<p>I’ve also found that the overall amount of suffering doesn’t change that much between different tier schools. Well, I don’t actually know, my sample size is 2. But my impression is that professors challenge students according to their level.</p>
<p>Not to turn this into a “back in the day thread”, but I when I was math/CS major, all assignments HAD to be done at one of the computer labs. Many times, that meant going at late-night hours to make sure that you had a workstation. If you didn’t understand a concept in class, there was no “googling” it…you had to go to the math or engineering libraries because the main library did not have a big selection of technical books.</p>
<p>Another thing…specific to math programs…</p>
<p>I see now, there are math courses that teach ONLY the techniques to do proofs in preparation for the theoretical courses like real analysis and abstract algebra whereas you went from multivariable calculus straight to real analysis and had to learn the techniques to do proofs on the fly.</p>
<p>Computer science programs are at least getting more practical. Instead of REQUIRED whole courses on automata theory and turing machines, they are now electives since much of that stuff is not practical.</p>
<p>And one more thing, I know CS majors that went to school with me are MAAAAAD at today’s curriculums. CS majors at Michigan State were REQUIRED to take Calculus III (multivariable) AND Differential Equations (since CS was in the engineering school and all engineering majors had to take the same math courses). The math alone used to make students switch from being CS majors.</p>
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<p>The math departments probably figured that exposing potential math majors to proof techniques earlier would (a) help math majors handle proof oriented courses better, and (b) let potential math majors know what they are getting into, so that if they do not like doing proofs, they can switch to something else before getting to the “point of no return” in choosing a major.</p>
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<p>That course was useful if you wanted to take the compiler course afterward.</p>
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<p>You are correct…because back then, compiler design sequence was required. I believe now it is an elective.</p>
<p>Is it the sheer work load that makes engineering tough or the quality of the work? And do you think I may have at least some advantage in starting out by having taken AP Calculus BC, both AP Physics C exams, and AP chemistry and getting 5s and high grades in the class in all of them?</p>
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<p>To each their own. Being surrounded by people who took only STEM courses would have driven me up the wall. Having friends who were majoring in other fields exposed me to a number of other interesting areas and topics. I also attended a university with strong music and fine arts schools, and enjoyed the associated concerts and exhibitions.</p>
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<p>Yes, you can skip some introductory courses (gaining space for free electives) if your college allows it; if not allowed, you will find the material easier than otherwise having seen it before.</p>
<p>We didn’t take only STEM courses. We majored in only STEM majors. There is a difference. While I don’t think we had any fine arts classes we did have a group that put on plays and musicals. You might be surprised how many engineers have talents that only get the opportunity to come out when NOT competing with the art majors and not forced out by the time constraints. When the whole campus has a foucs on getting that degree that requires real work you don’t get that jerk of a roommate who is encouraging you to blow off classes and such because if you do get stuck with one of those he or she is gone the next semester.<br>
Cortana you will do fine.</p>
<p>I liked going to a big school like Texas - there was always something to do to relieve the tension. I even enjoyed my flighty freshman roommate, a girl active in her sorority. It made me very glad I was majoring in engineering, lol.</p>
<p>I’ll admit to a bit of anxiety about Lake Jr. enrolling at a STEM school this fall for his freshman year. Because of his interest STEM he didn’t apply to any Liberal Arts colleges. His list of STEM schools includes a solid group with excellent reputations. I just hope that he’ll get the opportunity to have a diverse social circle.</p>
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<p>You are going to be in decent shape, but none of what you’ve done is really engineering. It’s often really hard to get a grasp of what an engineering course is really trying to teach you, and if you mistake it for a science or math class, you’re liable to miss the real point. </p>
<p>What differentiates an engineering course from a science course or a math course it that the engineering course is about learning abstract mathematical reasoning tools to solve problems in your particular flavor of engineering. Those tools are often more general than that field and are often applicable to other fields too. </p>
<p>Example is the first EE class is usually a class on circuits. Now of course you’ve seen circuits in Physics, and may have solve some basic problems even. What you have not done is learned is how to take any network of linear elements, including resistors, capacitors and inductors, and convert them into a set of linear constant coefficient differential equations, and then learned how to use Laplace transforms to convert the differential equations into algebraic equations, then how to solve the algebraic equations, whose solution is then used to solve the differential equations. You then learn techniques on how to analyze the result, such as how the resulting system responds to sinusoids, etc. </p>
<p>My point is that it is really easy to think going in that this course is about circuits just like in physics. It’s not. It’s about techniques and analytical tools and how they are used to break down complex problems into simple ones, whose solution you will become very familiar with. </p>
<p>If you don’t get that, and many people don’t, then you tend to focus on the wrong thing and treat an analytic tool as just an example. You find yourself hopelessly behind when in fact they have been refining and building upon that tool for weeks, and the train has left the station when all the while you thought you were learning physics and that the course was moving rather slow because you’re still solving the same problem. That’s why I think many people have trouble.</p>
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<p>You mean you didn’t have to wait in line for the card punch machines?</p>