changing my major?

[Seanz0rz]

so as of right now on the books I'm still an electrical and computer engineering major, but have decided to go for mechanical engineering, haven't put the paperwork through.

but recently I've come to the realization that an engineering major just might not be for me. i love the subject. i love stuff thats mechanical, love building stuff, designing stuff, thats not the problem. the problem is i suck so horribly at math. no matter how hard i try, i just dont get it. i kinda understand it, but actually turning around and doing it is another story. im constantly getting killed in math and science classes because i cant do the math. and if i cant pass these basic courses in math and science, how am i ever going to be able to pass classes in fluid mechanics and thermodynamics? and not just pass them, but understand them enough to work with them every day of my life? so far ive had to take these classes twice: college algebra, trig, and calculus 2 not to mention basically a c in every science course so far.

so that basically rules out any engineering or science. so what else is out there for me? i like history, but i doubt i could make a successful career out of that short of teaching, which is something i do not want to do. im fairly good at writing, so i have considered journalism. but i dont think i want to do that for the rest of my life.

so what do i do? any ideas?

[4x4Fink]

It's crazy how similar you and I both are.

I started out as an ME major but the math kicked my butt. I am currently a Business major with a focus in Real Estate/Finance. Economics is going to be my next battle. I took it and failed it. So I have put that off for a semester...maybe it'll be two, or three....lol.

Right now I am so fed up with having trouble with school that this semester I took easy, pre-req. classes and I am going to take the summer and fall off of school and just work. Get my head back above water financially which I'm hoping will ease my mind enough to focus back on school and my future as far as a career goes.

I'd get out of engineering man, I've talked to a lot of people I know that were in the same predicament as me and they're still in it...they HATE it. I love the business college here are at the U of A. Fun classes, fun profs and a much more laid back environment. Don't get me wrong, it's not the "easy" way out...it's still tough, just a different kind of tough. It's more a conceptual logic if you will, if you have good common sense and you can pick up CONCEPTS well then you're fine.

If you're not an analytical person then engineering is going to suck for you. I am NOT an analytical person, I like to sit down, look at a problem and be like...hmm...I wonder if this would work, try it and if it doesn't, revamp your way of going at it.

Anyway, if that made any sense at all then I've gotten somewhere.

Good luck man,

Fink

[garrett]

so what else is out there for me? [........] so what do i do? any ideas?


business....

i can't imagine staying in engineering if i was bad at math. math is compensating for my other grades....

[Erich_870]

Sounds like you need to get some help from a tutor. You obviously have a square head on your shoulders, and if I gave you a complex problem to solve for mounting your front bumper, you'd do what it took to figure it out. Well, look at your struggle with math in the same way. You would use any and all tools available to design your bumper, AutoCAD, Finite Element Analysis, Solid works, etc. Why not find a tool to teach you math :hillbill: (Pun intended)

I personally cannot just sit down read a book and learn something, especially math! I need to be able to talk to a person and work through the process verbally. I never did very well in the upper level calc classes, but I didn't do what I should have and found a good tutor. I know if I had someone to work through problems with, I would have been a math Genius. :P

Don't get down on yourself, just go find that tutor who will assist you in finishing your degree.

A person with outstanding background skills in design and construction who also is confident with their engineering background is gold in his or her field. You don't have to be Einstein though.

Just my 0.02

Erich

[PhorunninDuke]

I would start with some english/gramer/writting classes. :tapedshut:

Seriously, do what you like.

If history floats your boat, thats where you should be. If you really love the engineering stuff, you can learn the math. If you don't want to learn the math then you probably are not really in love with the major anyway.

[Henry]

Lol thats exactly what turned me away from engineering in the first place when I was deciding on a major. I like the stuff, and you can make a good living off of it, but I know the math would kill me too. Tutoring might or might not work as I was barely managing a C in calculus even with tutoring. Some people are just not mathematically gifted.

It's funny how everyone falls back on business if they don't find something like engineering haha. My school didnt have a business major so I, along with a ton of other people, majored in Economics. In fact it had like double the amount of people graduating with that major than the second most.

[waskillywabbit]

If you can't do math, engineering is NOT NOT NOT for you...as the upper level stuff is applied math. I can do math in my sleep and some of the engineering courses were still just flat out hard.

What is your passion? What brings you joy? Pick a related career.

Good luck.

:guitar:

[drguitarum2005]

i too started out as Electrical and Computer Engineering but I have since switched officially to ME, and with the courses I've taken so far, I can say that if you can't hang with the math, you won't be able to graduate with a good GPA, or you may not be able to graduate so far. I'm not the greatest at math but I can usually hold my own. If you think you REALLY want to be in ME, you need to start talking to your professors about study habits, how to learn the material better, and look for the help of your TAs and/or tutors so you can start doing better.

[oly884]

You go to school to LEARN math, it's not as if engineering majors already know the math walking into school. I sit here, 12 days from graduation, and trust me, I had a hard time with math. However, I sat down and studied it, and now I'm graduating. You're faced with challenges every day in your life, some times they are small, some times they are not. The fact is, you can't throw in the towel when things start to look bad.

Now there may be some other reasons, however, if it is JUST math that's making you want to switch, then my suggestion is that you stick with it.

[MTL_4runner]

I think the majority of people getting engineering degrees have struggled with the math at some point during their studies (there's always a few geniuses in the class to make you feel really stupid......some classes you do well in and some you don't). The point is more about how badly you want to become and engineer. I remember a very bright student back in school that had a straight 4.0 GPA and everyone was convinced he'd have the pick of the litter when it came to job hunting. Well the one big problem for him was that the guy had all the personality of a pet rock (probably because he did NOTHING but study) and was a great textbook learner (obviously). This was a far bigger weakness than we all thought because when you get into the REAL world, you design REAL stuff and if you can't apply what you learned or can't interact with other people, you don't have a job buddy! We all had gotten jobs by May (I had actually gotten my job by spring break) and that poor guy didn't a job until graduation (in late June). I'm not sure if it was his textbook learning style or his lack of extracurricular activities that did the guy in, but I think you get the idea anyway.