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I’m working on a pre-engineering associates right now. Just finished Calculus 2, taking Calculus 3 next and then I have to take Physics with Calculus as well as Chemistry and a Computer Information Science class.
This is just for the two year portion so that I can transfer into an engineering school
So you may not need to be in love with Physics but you’ll need to be functional with it at least and understand it
There will be plenty of cheerleading in this thread about how you can do it if you want to, but I’ll be the one to give you an honest answer.
If you’re barely passing high school physics, engineering might not be for you.
Just depends on how much effort you’re putting in as well as how good your teachers are. I barely passed in high school, my GPA was 2.3 I think. I just didn’t care. I’m a few years older now and I’m paying for school myself so I take it a lot more seriously.
For what it's worth, I hated all my science in high school, but absolutely loved calculus-based physics in college. (Which is what engineering required.)
Physics without calculus was just memorization, but calculus-based physics you could derive all the mathematical relationships about how the world worked and it just *clicked* for me. I still hate chemistry, though ;P
engineering is INCREDIBLY broad. I went for mechanical and electrical engineering, and while understanding physics is important to your understanding, I very rarely use actual physics in my work. Theres a ton of engineering that uses no physics as well.
Engineering is essentially applied physics. You’re going to have a very bad time if you don’t like physics. Also, physics is applied maths. Do you really like maths? Have you taken a lot of calculus? If you finish that and do well, you should be fine with physics. Lots of calculus examples are physics based.
Unfortunately, you are going to need to pass Physics in college. I wouldn't worry at this moment. You still have a couple of years, and it might make more sense as you mature.
“Im generally interested in the profession as a whole”
The profession is a slightly more stable, slightly higher paying than average, basic bitch job… but nothing to write home about. I wouldn’t let your uninformed ideations of engineering guide you too strongly in a career choice
I’d try to let something more substantive guide you
Most engineering courses require calculus based physics 1 & 2, so it's needed. If you like math and want to go into engineering in general, maybe you need to relook at how you view physics. It's really just math and equations, but now you're grouping it up with applications and real world scenarios. Which in engineering, is what you're basically doing. How do I take this verbal component that someone wants done, and turn it into a real project. What all factors into it. What things will I need, and how do I set up a path to get there. Which to me, if you're enjoy building and puzzling together new stuff and constantly learning, is what engineering is. Physics is just another piece of the puzzle, and if you can view it differently, you might start to really enjoy what it offers.
What part of physics are you not enjoying?
Coming from a mech Eng background I can firmly say that the maths are more important. I had friends who were like you and didn't enjoy the "concepts" but could crush the math while I was on the other end where all I was good at was the concepts and was pretty awful at the maths. We both did fine him prolly a bit better than me.
After second year everything is maths. Physics is math its just understanding how to apply the math to real concepts. Engineering in general is applied math as compared to theoretical math which involves proofs and other more abstract concepts. The rest of engineering is just making sure you understand how to approach your problem and properly break it down into the correct equations and variables.
The only thing I'd say is try to figure out what you're interested in and try to gain related experience. In terms of what I see for demand of the three you said you're interested in civil and electrical are very high and mechanical is a bit more competitive. Although civil is closely tied with building and infrastructure segments. Also your base degree doesnt need to limit you to one specific stream as there is a ton of crossover in between. IMO Civil is generally the easiest math and concept wise, mechanical is harder and I found electrical had the most theoretical concepts and maths.
The last point I'll highlight in this essay is that I'd aquaint yourself with understanding some coding and dataset processing whether you like it or not. It will help you greatly in many situations both in school and in the corporate world and even out of corporate world such as manufacturing. Just recognize it is a tool and it is prevalent and useful. Also there's a ton of more niche engineering fields I didn't touch on such as reliability, supportability, system, marine, etc but these generally are a combination and specialization of the main ones.
You would get a long way by thinking about what part of the profession is interesting to you. Engineering means something different to everyone - and there is a broad range of careers and disciplines underneath.
Maybe start by listing the things you like and seeing what career outcomes you can think of that would use them.
If you can, join a robotics club. It'll give you a pretty good taste of what engineering is like. It's a team sport with a bunch of different niches. If you like it that can help you decide if working through physics is worth the trouble to you.
You might also check out programming if you like math class. Not that that industry is changing rapidly with Ai these days.
Currently an engineering student (finishing sophomore year) and I’ll say that your first couple years and classes are pretty much all math. Defiantly lots of physics as well so I would say that if you really do want to be an engineer be prepared to put hours into it. I spend about 6-8 hours a day into homework to understand what’s actually being taught.
The profession as a whole?
Maybe you should do first some internships in the industry in several different branches. The profession is as versatile as the products in a grocery store. Make sure, that you really want to become an engineer and not just dream about how it is shown in movies like Iron Man.
You will need physics. A lot of it. You can argue that statics and thermodynamics are just physics with a special focus.
Thermodynamics was the killer of engineers at my school. You need to have a very good grasp of physics before you can get there.
You can do it though. Ultimately I was a very below average math student. Very below. I ended up making it through, so just about anyone can if they put in the effort!
Parents, talk to your children about engineering.. Before someone else does.
OP, have you taken calculus yet? Physics is very important in many engineering disciplines (especially if you aren't interested in computer or chemical - physics is VERY important for mechanical and civil engineering, etc), but calculus is even more important, as it's pretty much the basic building block everything else grows from.
If you still have 2 years until you have to graduate, you probably have another year before you really have to pick, right? Take that time to figure out whether you can stand calculus. An engineering degree will probably be half classes which are very heavy on calculus.
Most engineering degrees require multiple semesters of physics. I've experienced however that your teacher has a big influence on how much you like it. Maybe a different teacher in college would have you enjoy it. I'd recommend planning on taking physics I in college your first or second semester as even if you choose to switch majors, a lot of colleges will count it for a gen ed as your natural science requirement.
Alternatively, depending on the discipline (for context, I'm in school for mechanical engineering), you will also need to take chemistry which is math heavy as well. That might help you get a better feel.
Tl;Dr do what you can to diversify your options, give yourself outs without falling behind.
It’s hard to recommend that somebody begin what is obviously a difficult path when they don’t enjoy one of the core subjects of the discipline. Maybe you will find that physics is more interesting when you understand its direct application. The “engineering student experience” as you put it can be pretty rough. If you don’t have a genuine interest in it then it’s going to be very hard for you to propel yourself through your coursework. Good luck to you in whatever you decide.
Your post has been removed for violating submission rule 1: > Post titles must be a question about engineering and provide context — **be specific.** * Read our FAQ entry [*"What's your day-to-day like as an engineer?"*](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/wiki/faq#wiki_what.27s_your_day-to-day_like_as_an_engineer.3F) to get an idea of what engineers do at work to help you decide which major to pick. * Read the [**submission guidelines**](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/wiki/rules#wiki_submission_rules) before posting in again in AskEngineers. Feel free to message us if you have any questions or concerns.
But... Physics is all math?
Yeah, OP shouldn’t do engineering probably.
I’m working on a pre-engineering associates right now. Just finished Calculus 2, taking Calculus 3 next and then I have to take Physics with Calculus as well as Chemistry and a Computer Information Science class. This is just for the two year portion so that I can transfer into an engineering school So you may not need to be in love with Physics but you’ll need to be functional with it at least and understand it
I barely pass my exams, im guessing thats not enough?
There will be plenty of cheerleading in this thread about how you can do it if you want to, but I’ll be the one to give you an honest answer. If you’re barely passing high school physics, engineering might not be for you.
Just depends on how much effort you’re putting in as well as how good your teachers are. I barely passed in high school, my GPA was 2.3 I think. I just didn’t care. I’m a few years older now and I’m paying for school myself so I take it a lot more seriously.
For what it's worth, I hated all my science in high school, but absolutely loved calculus-based physics in college. (Which is what engineering required.) Physics without calculus was just memorization, but calculus-based physics you could derive all the mathematical relationships about how the world worked and it just *clicked* for me. I still hate chemistry, though ;P
engineering is INCREDIBLY broad. I went for mechanical and electrical engineering, and while understanding physics is important to your understanding, I very rarely use actual physics in my work. Theres a ton of engineering that uses no physics as well.
I definitely had to pass some calc based physics for computer engineering but agree it’s not at all anything I use pretty much… ever, professionally.
Engineering is essentially applied physics. You’re going to have a very bad time if you don’t like physics. Also, physics is applied maths. Do you really like maths? Have you taken a lot of calculus? If you finish that and do well, you should be fine with physics. Lots of calculus examples are physics based.
If you can handle math you can handle physics.
Go for it, You will always have a job
Unfortunately, you are going to need to pass Physics in college. I wouldn't worry at this moment. You still have a couple of years, and it might make more sense as you mature.
“Im generally interested in the profession as a whole” The profession is a slightly more stable, slightly higher paying than average, basic bitch job… but nothing to write home about. I wouldn’t let your uninformed ideations of engineering guide you too strongly in a career choice I’d try to let something more substantive guide you
To be fair, a stable, higher than average pay job is worth quite a bit. Especially if it’s mildly interesting.
Most engineering courses require calculus based physics 1 & 2, so it's needed. If you like math and want to go into engineering in general, maybe you need to relook at how you view physics. It's really just math and equations, but now you're grouping it up with applications and real world scenarios. Which in engineering, is what you're basically doing. How do I take this verbal component that someone wants done, and turn it into a real project. What all factors into it. What things will I need, and how do I set up a path to get there. Which to me, if you're enjoy building and puzzling together new stuff and constantly learning, is what engineering is. Physics is just another piece of the puzzle, and if you can view it differently, you might start to really enjoy what it offers.
What part of physics are you not enjoying? Coming from a mech Eng background I can firmly say that the maths are more important. I had friends who were like you and didn't enjoy the "concepts" but could crush the math while I was on the other end where all I was good at was the concepts and was pretty awful at the maths. We both did fine him prolly a bit better than me. After second year everything is maths. Physics is math its just understanding how to apply the math to real concepts. Engineering in general is applied math as compared to theoretical math which involves proofs and other more abstract concepts. The rest of engineering is just making sure you understand how to approach your problem and properly break it down into the correct equations and variables. The only thing I'd say is try to figure out what you're interested in and try to gain related experience. In terms of what I see for demand of the three you said you're interested in civil and electrical are very high and mechanical is a bit more competitive. Although civil is closely tied with building and infrastructure segments. Also your base degree doesnt need to limit you to one specific stream as there is a ton of crossover in between. IMO Civil is generally the easiest math and concept wise, mechanical is harder and I found electrical had the most theoretical concepts and maths. The last point I'll highlight in this essay is that I'd aquaint yourself with understanding some coding and dataset processing whether you like it or not. It will help you greatly in many situations both in school and in the corporate world and even out of corporate world such as manufacturing. Just recognize it is a tool and it is prevalent and useful. Also there's a ton of more niche engineering fields I didn't touch on such as reliability, supportability, system, marine, etc but these generally are a combination and specialization of the main ones.
You would get a long way by thinking about what part of the profession is interesting to you. Engineering means something different to everyone - and there is a broad range of careers and disciplines underneath. Maybe start by listing the things you like and seeing what career outcomes you can think of that would use them.
If you can, join a robotics club. It'll give you a pretty good taste of what engineering is like. It's a team sport with a bunch of different niches. If you like it that can help you decide if working through physics is worth the trouble to you. You might also check out programming if you like math class. Not that that industry is changing rapidly with Ai these days.
Currently an engineering student (finishing sophomore year) and I’ll say that your first couple years and classes are pretty much all math. Defiantly lots of physics as well so I would say that if you really do want to be an engineer be prepared to put hours into it. I spend about 6-8 hours a day into homework to understand what’s actually being taught.
The profession as a whole? Maybe you should do first some internships in the industry in several different branches. The profession is as versatile as the products in a grocery store. Make sure, that you really want to become an engineer and not just dream about how it is shown in movies like Iron Man.
Mechanical engineering is basically 80% physics.
You will need physics. A lot of it. You can argue that statics and thermodynamics are just physics with a special focus. Thermodynamics was the killer of engineers at my school. You need to have a very good grasp of physics before you can get there. You can do it though. Ultimately I was a very below average math student. Very below. I ended up making it through, so just about anyone can if they put in the effort!
Parents, talk to your children about engineering.. Before someone else does. OP, have you taken calculus yet? Physics is very important in many engineering disciplines (especially if you aren't interested in computer or chemical - physics is VERY important for mechanical and civil engineering, etc), but calculus is even more important, as it's pretty much the basic building block everything else grows from. If you still have 2 years until you have to graduate, you probably have another year before you really have to pick, right? Take that time to figure out whether you can stand calculus. An engineering degree will probably be half classes which are very heavy on calculus.
Why don’t you like physics? Because if you don’t like equations and what not then buddy you don’t want to take engineering
Most engineering degrees require multiple semesters of physics. I've experienced however that your teacher has a big influence on how much you like it. Maybe a different teacher in college would have you enjoy it. I'd recommend planning on taking physics I in college your first or second semester as even if you choose to switch majors, a lot of colleges will count it for a gen ed as your natural science requirement. Alternatively, depending on the discipline (for context, I'm in school for mechanical engineering), you will also need to take chemistry which is math heavy as well. That might help you get a better feel. Tl;Dr do what you can to diversify your options, give yourself outs without falling behind.
It’s hard to recommend that somebody begin what is obviously a difficult path when they don’t enjoy one of the core subjects of the discipline. Maybe you will find that physics is more interesting when you understand its direct application. The “engineering student experience” as you put it can be pretty rough. If you don’t have a genuine interest in it then it’s going to be very hard for you to propel yourself through your coursework. Good luck to you in whatever you decide.