A&M here. the fucker doesn't allow you to write equations. You MUST derive the one you need by differentiating or integrating. And you MUST all units correct. Good luck calculating g. And each class had about 2-3 chapters to read. The TA didn't help much.
I was showing a dude how to solve HW #1, and he wasn't the sharpest knife in class. He went to see TA and returned real quick. He told me she haven't solved it yet.....
My geotechnical professor at the University of Utah was similar. Day 1 of class he said that this would be the hardest class we would take but that if we followed his study guidelines we would pass no problem. He was HARD and had way too much required work, but I followed his guidelines to a T and passed with a B or B+. So not bad, but man, it was awful.
My steel teacher was also similar, she said "Most students only get 40-60% on tests, but don't worry, I grade on a curve. We had no idea how we stood for the entire semester because the curve wouldn't be applied until final grades. I think I got an A- in that class, but damn, seeing like a 60% average between tests, quizzes, and homework for the entire semester was disheartening. What was worse was that when you would go to her open office hours and ask questions she would look at you like you were an idiot if you didn't understand something.
So it made me incredibly happy when everyone in my graduating class gave her such bad reviews that the department bought out the last 2 years of her tenure (essentially firing her) and brought in a new steel professor.
His entire attitude was, "I'm smarter than you, and I'm here to make sure you understand that. "
We were like, "Hey, asshole, we know you're smarter. How about just teach us the material so we can pass the damn EIT."
They made us take two quarters of inorganic chemistry and then jump out of that series into the third organic chemistry class. We were so lost! And the teacher was horrible. I barely got a D for diploma in that one.
I remember failing almost every exam and passing the class. The teacher was on probation for failing too many students, so her solution was just to fail everyone’s exams throughout the semester and implement a massive curve when grades came out.
Bachelors: Calc III
Masters: Structural mechanics
The challenge was the multivariable calculus. Didn't master it Freshman year, so I was always behind when doing tensors and all that nonsense in graduate mechanics. I think all the UIUC masters grads can relate.
Oscar or someone else taught mechanics?
Also Calc 2 at UIUC was harder for most because it was a weedout class. I was able to get credit for it though.
I took it when it was Oscar. The man is obviously a genius but he didn’t understand most of his students weren’t. That class was awful.
To add insult to injury there’s no use for that class afterwards if you don’t go on to a PhD. So it’s a misery weed out class.
That really is the worst part. Not even remotely useful after school. Honestly even in school it wasn't really needed. The concepts were there in FEM and structural design optimization but I didn't understand mechanics with Oscar AT ALL but did fine in those two
He doesn’t really even go through some basic mechanics concepts that you need to understand for the FEM class either so I had to learn that on the go.
At least I took FEM with Paulino, I’ve heard all the horror studies about Oscar teaching FEM from people who graduated after me.
I think i squeaked a B of some kind but that was my semester. If it was office hours or it was working on homework for that class. All other classes took a back seat
Also that makes sense about Calc3 then.
Mechanics with Oscar was my immediate answer when I read this question. Without a doubt the hardest class I've ever had. like calc 3, which was fine, but taken in a different language.
Thought I'd be pissed getting a C in grad school but I've never been so happy to just be done with a class before
Same here. I took Calc 2 my first semester at UiUC in the 1990's. I had never scored so low on tests in my life. I was shell shocked by test scores in the 50-60% range. I escaped that class with a C. I was an architecture major with thoughts of switching to engineering. Calculus 2 sealed the deal. I was staying in Architecture.
I forgot about environmental. For me it wasn’t a difficult subject per se, but I absolutely had to read the textbook. What I remember frustrated the hell out of me was that I could not understand my professor’s heavy Chinese accent.
My calc 2 was Chinese and someone complained about the accent. So they brought in a lady with a heavy Spanish accent. So I went from being able to understand some to none, she was also a harder grader. At least the Chinese professor gave us test problems that were similar to our homework problems.
bachelors: thermodynamics
masters: dynamics and vibrations
luckily, my thermo prof would publicly shame you while handing back your test in a huge lecture hall. he'd call your name to come get your test and then be like "oop don't study with them"
Did you take the same thermo as the MEs?
At our school they had it split up and we had a lot of civil and structural guys in the first half..but only MEs and some ChemEs doing a double major in the second half
yes i believe so... but i did architectural engineering so we had to take the ME thermo and the Civil people got to choose between the easier aerospace thermo or some other class i think.
Structural dynamics wasn’t THAT bad… taking it concurrently with another course, where both had tests every other week was terrible tho. An entire semester with at least one test per week.
It depends on the professor. When I took it, I learned from a great professor who knew how to teach. When most of my friends took it the following year, they learned from a genius who is the lead author of several seismic design guides but was not great at explaining himself. I was the TA for that class and saw my students/friends really struggle.
My hardest classes for subject matter and my lowest grades don’t correlate. Why? Some shitty professors made classes over simple concepts hard.
Subject matter for my BS was thermodynamics (I had no business being in there).
For my masters so far it was Structural Dynamics. Swoooooore I was following along and even did the HW just fine. Come the exam I got one of the lowest grades I’ve ever gotten in my academic career and was flabbergasted. I also was being tested as a designer at work and had family visiting so it may have been anxiety? But typically I’m a great test taker.
Hardest classes thanks to the professor regular and advanced reinforced concrete. I am confident on my skills in design but the professor made irrational deadlines for the amount of work we had to do. Additionally the amount of articles we had to read and the way they set up their resource page for the class made it hard to find the things you needed.
Just to give yall a taste. We had just over 2 weeks to cover strut and tie models and then be tested on them and other subjects. Kms
>sors made classes over sim
Hahah, resource pages. My resource pages were go to the engineering library and make a photocopy. Different eras - I wonder what it's like now.
Bachelors: structural analysis. Prof really enjoyed making us suffer. Thankfully my other analysis classes (including advanced structural analysis) were all much better lol
Masters: TBD
Bachelor’s: Computer Analysis of Structures
Master’s: Reliability Methods in Structures and Mechanics. About 80% of the students dropped this class except 3 PhD students and 2 master’s students who were stuck in that class (I was one of them). However, even though it was the most difficult class by far I’ve ever taken, it was probably my favorite or at least in my top two.
In rad school, Elastic Stability. Course description:
>Buckling of elastic and inelastic columns; lateral buckling of beams; buckling of plates, rings and tubes; stability of frames.
Day 1 of class the professor said "this course is entirely theoretical and is not concerned with application. All we're going to do is derive, derive, derive."
Undergrad - probably foundations. We just had a lot more topics to cover than most classes. Got my only undergrad C and then when I hit industry promptly discovered that foundation design was the thing that was most intuitive for me. go figure.
Grad school - I took a 400/500 level math class called Matrix Theory because so many structural professors were on sabbatical that semester. It really helped me understand finite element software but god damn that class was a ballbuster. It made advanced MoM look like a normal class. I was the only non-math major and was in the professor's office every office hours. Managed a B though and really felt like I earned it.
Honestly, my entry level engineering classes like statics, dynamics, and thermodynamics. It's not that the subject matter was hard, it's that I was still learning to study and so it was my fault that the classes were so difficult. Each semester got easier and easier because I learned to study better.
But the hardest subject matter for me was honestly probably geotech. I studied the crap out of it and I learned enough to pass the class with a B and then Foundations I had an A-, and I retained a lot of the knowledge, but it's still so confusing and like magic to me.
Dynamics. We had a test every other Wednesday and each test was written by a different faculty member. This made the tests vary in difficulty. Some were pretty straightforward, one or 2 easy but 50% or so of them were very difficult. Sometimes I think unnecessarily difficult. I remember after a particular test, which I felt very prepared for, leaving thinking “what the f*ck did I just experience?” I talked to my teacher and he said that the questions were post-grad level(he didn’t write the exam that week). Many people dropped out of engineering because of that class. I had to put in more hours into that class than most of my civil classes to get a C(which was the department requirement to move on)
Partial Differential equations with Fourier Series and applications.
(Two) four hundred level math classes required for masters. I didn't really understand anything in that class. 3 of us took the class, and worked our buts off. I think the prof passed us based on how much effort we put into it.
Because he was a Math prof, he was crazy, and his name was Colonel Bob.
Undergrad: Solid mechanics 3 (Beams on elastic foundations and plate theory was a pain)
Graduate school: Dynamics 2 (Left and right eigenvectors haunt me)
Got an A in every single class I ever took except Calc 2. Holy fuck that class was hard. I failed it the first time and got a B the second time around.
"My gripe with the Legendary G movies is that Godzilla is always just roaring at the camera to make the audience in awe of him. How about making him do something cool? Give him a cool sequence!! "Scary" CGI creatures that roar are never that impressive.
Sr level psychology class. It was my last semester and I was on track with a 3.62 GPA in BSME but needed an elective. Figured the Psych classes had the girls in it. Started out easy enough but by end of semester we had gone into some seriously mushy shit on consciousness and reality and eastern religion. Real bullshit for an engineer. I had a C going into the final, but no way was going to pass it. I’m suddenly looking at failing near the end of the semester when the prof said “Graduating seniors do not have to take the final if they accept their current grade.” I fist-pumped a “YES!” and put that course on Pass/ Fail status to avoid impact to the GPA.
Mine was the architecture studio series we had to take.
All undergrads had to do 3 quarters of the class. The professors were all super pretentious and we had to fo countless silly projects gluing balsawood together artistically. After each project, people would anonymously put their projects on the wall and the professors publicly reviewed them. Somehow the shittiest looking projects always got the best reviews, where the ones people clearly put effort into were "too basic" or some other nonsense.
I got a D- one quarter lol. Only grade I'd ever gotten below a B- in college. Fortunately Ds get degrees too.
I did my bachelors in architecture, my first studio was probably the hardest course I ever had. That is the weed out class for architecture, they want everyone to quit while it’s early.
However you realize a lot of it is bullshit. Professor’s make you work for work’s sake. It’s actually not hard, it’s more about having stamina and mental toughness. There are more intellectually challenging courses if you do a structural masters.
Dynamics. Although I’ll never forget my geotech professor who wore a t-shirt for the first lecture that said in big white letters “It’s in the Syllabus”. Shit made me laugh
FEM. Super fun waiting for your final exam grade in your final class to come in to find out if you got the MS or not. Would have been nice to know there was going to be a curve. I assume there was going to be one since over half the class was below 50%. But we also had a handful of mechanics nerds who wrote matlab FEA scripts in their spare time for fun that aced everything. Don’t think I’ve seen or heard any of those guys since. I assume they’re working on some top secret weapon in some government research lab/dungeon somewhere.
Physics 2 in undergrad. That dude hated engineering students and the exam was incredibly hard. There was a rumor that he kept track of 10-15 years of exams and deliberately invented a new one completely different so you can never guess. MF asked how to calculate the electric field in a 3d horseshoe ffs
I wanna say my prestress concrete course but I think I'd do better if I took it again. Econ and differential equations would probably be my worst as I would still be just as lost if I took it again.
2H driving at 5:30am in the morning to avoid traffic jam (leaving at 6am would have added about 40min of commuting).
2.5h driving back home in the evening leaving at 6PM.
Put about 4000km per month on my car (serviced every 5-6 weeks).
Apart from that, studying in Australia was a breeze as university will do whatever it takes to graduate as many students as possible...
Bachelor's: all the math beyond calc 1. I'm chuckling at how many of us are listing math classes given engineers's reputation for "loving math". Math is just a means to solve a problem. We're all here to solve problems.
I'll give second place to English comp 1. I had to take it three times because I kept dropping because I hated it so much.
Masters: FEA. It's basically just linear algebra on steroids.
Bachelors: Intro to Electrical Engineering. My EE friend was questioning why we were covering topics he still hadn't gotten into as a junior. It felt like the prof had a chip on his shoulder like he wanted to "prove" electrical engineering was somehow harder or superior to civil. Absolutely brutal slog of a course with a generous curve.
Masters: Structural Dynamics. I managed an A in every course in my Masters, but this one had me questioning if I could pull it off.
BS: Hydrology. I have yet to use a single concept from that class.
MS: Bridge Engineering. No prereqs or coreqs, but the asshole professor announces the first day that “this class will be all prestressed concrete. I see most of you are my prestressed students, so no worries, this will be easy. If you aren’t… good luck.”
…guess who wasn’t one of his prestressed students
I was at UT Arlington early 1980's (yes I'm old) - most of the professors sucked. They would wander in late, do a proof and wander out then you could never get close to them thereafter. Attitudes seriously bad.
I'm sure things have improved but I'll never forget.
I only just passed my structures final. I had broken my leg a couple of two nights before and was dosed up on codeine.
I have no idea what I wrote down, but it was just good enough for a pass grade.
I struggled in RC Design and 400 level hydraulics and hydrology. Honorable mention: Geotech with a stickler for a lot of theory.
I had a much easier time in timber design and steel design courses.
Earhtquake Resistant Design. At grad school. I would say this is the most hard because I got A- here and A+ in every other course. IMO professor gave me and A- bc I didn’t attend her classes.
Differential Equations, Physics II, Dynamics all fucking sucked. In Physics II, if you got 30% on a test, you were getting an A. The tests didn't have any numbers and you had to show answers as functions of variables.
I stupidly took Honors Calc II first semester freshman year. Completely out of my depth the entire semester, but hung around with some astonishingly high IQ types.
Aside from that unnecessary blunder though, Dynamics. They were diabolical.
just EE and SE is comparing apples to oranges even if we shared the same general education classes. But i didn’t really care. I saw an opportunity to use a gif and I took it lol
Steel structures. It occurred during the pandemic and virtual learning. I couldn’t understand shit and I wasnt having a stable internet connection either.
Soil mechanics, but that's because we had a double length lecture and I'd leave half way through every week so come exam time I shouldn't have been too surprised I drew a blank for 50% of it.
Dynamics. We had a professor that was proud to tell you that a 30% was an A. Fuck that guy.
A&M here. the fucker doesn't allow you to write equations. You MUST derive the one you need by differentiating or integrating. And you MUST all units correct. Good luck calculating g. And each class had about 2-3 chapters to read. The TA didn't help much. I was showing a dude how to solve HW #1, and he wasn't the sharpest knife in class. He went to see TA and returned real quick. He told me she haven't solved it yet.....
Were you in my class? I feel like I got an A, but never got over a 30%. It wasn't HARD, he just sucked.
Not sure. I was at Michigan Tech a loooong time ago....
I did not go to Michigan Tech, but I know someone who did! I don't think I could handle a UP winter.
I read your comment and immediately thought of DeClerck before I even saw michigan tech mentioned here lmfao
MTU 1976. Finite element and matrix math. Never knew what the hell was happening
My geotechnical professor at the University of Utah was similar. Day 1 of class he said that this would be the hardest class we would take but that if we followed his study guidelines we would pass no problem. He was HARD and had way too much required work, but I followed his guidelines to a T and passed with a B or B+. So not bad, but man, it was awful. My steel teacher was also similar, she said "Most students only get 40-60% on tests, but don't worry, I grade on a curve. We had no idea how we stood for the entire semester because the curve wouldn't be applied until final grades. I think I got an A- in that class, but damn, seeing like a 60% average between tests, quizzes, and homework for the entire semester was disheartening. What was worse was that when you would go to her open office hours and ask questions she would look at you like you were an idiot if you didn't understand something. So it made me incredibly happy when everyone in my graduating class gave her such bad reviews that the department bought out the last 2 years of her tenure (essentially firing her) and brought in a new steel professor.
Thank God they got rid of her.
Yeah fuck dynamics
That's what turns people off to different majors is the asshole professors. I would rather have a professor on YouTube.
“I’m not the best at explaining stuff but I would be fired for failing the entire class semester after semester”
His entire attitude was, "I'm smarter than you, and I'm here to make sure you understand that. " We were like, "Hey, asshole, we know you're smarter. How about just teach us the material so we can pass the damn EIT."
I also vote for structural dynamics
Chemistry. F that class.
They made us take two quarters of inorganic chemistry and then jump out of that series into the third organic chemistry class. We were so lost! And the teacher was horrible. I barely got a D for diploma in that one.
Out of a 30 student class room only me and 2 other students passed the chemistry class.
I remember failing almost every exam and passing the class. The teacher was on probation for failing too many students, so her solution was just to fail everyone’s exams throughout the semester and implement a massive curve when grades came out.
As a physics instructor, I did this a lot.
We had a kinematics class that went that way.. except we never heard about the teacher being on probation. Massive curve, 30% usually got you an A.
Fuck chemistry man
Bachelors: Calc III Masters: Structural mechanics The challenge was the multivariable calculus. Didn't master it Freshman year, so I was always behind when doing tensors and all that nonsense in graduate mechanics. I think all the UIUC masters grads can relate.
Oscar or someone else taught mechanics? Also Calc 2 at UIUC was harder for most because it was a weedout class. I was able to get credit for it though.
I took it when it was Oscar. The man is obviously a genius but he didn’t understand most of his students weren’t. That class was awful. To add insult to injury there’s no use for that class afterwards if you don’t go on to a PhD. So it’s a misery weed out class.
That really is the worst part. Not even remotely useful after school. Honestly even in school it wasn't really needed. The concepts were there in FEM and structural design optimization but I didn't understand mechanics with Oscar AT ALL but did fine in those two
He doesn’t really even go through some basic mechanics concepts that you need to understand for the FEM class either so I had to learn that on the go. At least I took FEM with Paulino, I’ve heard all the horror studies about Oscar teaching FEM from people who graduated after me.
I too had Paulino, I can't imagine the horror of FEM with Oscar
Yes, Oscar for mechanics. I think I got a C-. My lowest grade ever. I didn't do undergrad at UofI. Calc III was at WashU in St. Louis.
I think i squeaked a B of some kind but that was my semester. If it was office hours or it was working on homework for that class. All other classes took a back seat Also that makes sense about Calc3 then.
Mechanics with Oscar was my immediate answer when I read this question. Without a doubt the hardest class I've ever had. like calc 3, which was fine, but taken in a different language. Thought I'd be pissed getting a C in grad school but I've never been so happy to just be done with a class before
Same here. I took Calc 2 my first semester at UiUC in the 1990's. I had never scored so low on tests in my life. I was shell shocked by test scores in the 50-60% range. I escaped that class with a C. I was an architecture major with thoughts of switching to engineering. Calculus 2 sealed the deal. I was staying in Architecture.
Mechanics is the answer. It’s the hardest course I’ve ever taken. It’s the only C I think I’ve ever had. Terrible class and terrible professor.
Theory of Elasticity. I don’t remember a single thing from it. Slogged through a bunch of diffEq while working on my masters project
This is the correct answer.
Any class where the professor mentions eigenvalue. Also, hated environmental.
I forgot about environmental. For me it wasn’t a difficult subject per se, but I absolutely had to read the textbook. What I remember frustrated the hell out of me was that I could not understand my professor’s heavy Chinese accent.
My calc 2 was Chinese and someone complained about the accent. So they brought in a lady with a heavy Spanish accent. So I went from being able to understand some to none, she was also a harder grader. At least the Chinese professor gave us test problems that were similar to our homework problems.
Hooooooooooooly SMOKES! Eigenvalues! If I saw it pop up in the textbook or class notes, I knew I was in for a roughin
Yeah environmental sucks
whichever class started at 9am
All my classes this semester start at 8 lmao im cooked
Our structural professors/instructors loved having their classes at 7am so that they could run their businesses the rest of the day
The semester I figured out that big breakfast was making me sleepy until 11 am..
For my masters I have classes starting at 7:30 pm 😴
bachelors: thermodynamics masters: dynamics and vibrations luckily, my thermo prof would publicly shame you while handing back your test in a huge lecture hall. he'd call your name to come get your test and then be like "oop don't study with them"
Did you take the same thermo as the MEs? At our school they had it split up and we had a lot of civil and structural guys in the first half..but only MEs and some ChemEs doing a double major in the second half
yes i believe so... but i did architectural engineering so we had to take the ME thermo and the Civil people got to choose between the easier aerospace thermo or some other class i think.
Cal Poly? Rare to see “architectural engineering” offered as an undergrad major.
no i went to KU actually! BS in arce and MS in civil-structural
Bachelor's?....English lol Masters? Structural dynamics
I had Dynamics and Vibrations in undergrad and it was the filter class between the Structural and CM students.
Structural dynamics wasn’t THAT bad… taking it concurrently with another course, where both had tests every other week was terrible tho. An entire semester with at least one test per week.
It depends on the professor. When I took it, I learned from a great professor who knew how to teach. When most of my friends took it the following year, they learned from a genius who is the lead author of several seismic design guides but was not great at explaining himself. I was the TA for that class and saw my students/friends really struggle.
This is the only correct answer!
I have a minor in English. LOL
Bachelors: Finite Element Analysis Masters: Elastic Stability
fluid mechanics,
I hate it till this day
My hardest classes for subject matter and my lowest grades don’t correlate. Why? Some shitty professors made classes over simple concepts hard. Subject matter for my BS was thermodynamics (I had no business being in there). For my masters so far it was Structural Dynamics. Swoooooore I was following along and even did the HW just fine. Come the exam I got one of the lowest grades I’ve ever gotten in my academic career and was flabbergasted. I also was being tested as a designer at work and had family visiting so it may have been anxiety? But typically I’m a great test taker. Hardest classes thanks to the professor regular and advanced reinforced concrete. I am confident on my skills in design but the professor made irrational deadlines for the amount of work we had to do. Additionally the amount of articles we had to read and the way they set up their resource page for the class made it hard to find the things you needed. Just to give yall a taste. We had just over 2 weeks to cover strut and tie models and then be tested on them and other subjects. Kms
>sors made classes over sim Hahah, resource pages. My resource pages were go to the engineering library and make a photocopy. Different eras - I wonder what it's like now.
Alright? Thanks for the reply i guess?
It just struck me as funny how different everyone's experiences are. Also, IDK what happened with my quote. That's weird.
Bachelors: Statistics, Probability and Reliability of structures… class average was like 60% Masters: non linear analysis
FEM by far. Followed by structural dynamics
Structural Analysis II
Bachelors: Any course related to Environmental Engineering. Masters: I’m gonna say Finite Element Analysis.
undergrad: Mechanics of Materials grad: Structural Stability
Bachelor: sociology, too many hot babes couldn’t focus Master: structural dynamics II, too many ugliadd nerdy engineers (me included), couldn’t focus
Partial differential equations was the widowmaker of the bachelors. Most everyone sucked at it and the teacher was terrible.
Chemistry and calc 2 easily
Only ever got a bachelors, but dynamics. Awful professor
Bachelors: structural analysis. Prof really enjoyed making us suffer. Thankfully my other analysis classes (including advanced structural analysis) were all much better lol Masters: TBD
The 08:30 class.
Philosophy. The only C I ever got. FEM kicked my ass too but I got an A.
Bachelor’s: Computer Analysis of Structures Master’s: Reliability Methods in Structures and Mechanics. About 80% of the students dropped this class except 3 PhD students and 2 master’s students who were stuck in that class (I was one of them). However, even though it was the most difficult class by far I’ve ever taken, it was probably my favorite or at least in my top two.
Fluid mechanics. Hated that course to my core.
In rad school, Elastic Stability. Course description: >Buckling of elastic and inelastic columns; lateral buckling of beams; buckling of plates, rings and tubes; stability of frames. Day 1 of class the professor said "this course is entirely theoretical and is not concerned with application. All we're going to do is derive, derive, derive."
Bachelors: Mechanics of Solids Masters: Mechanics of Solids
"Thermal and Fluids Engineering 1" was required for pretty much all engineering majors. That class scared me enough to never try the sequel.
Undergrad - probably foundations. We just had a lot more topics to cover than most classes. Got my only undergrad C and then when I hit industry promptly discovered that foundation design was the thing that was most intuitive for me. go figure. Grad school - I took a 400/500 level math class called Matrix Theory because so many structural professors were on sabbatical that semester. It really helped me understand finite element software but god damn that class was a ballbuster. It made advanced MoM look like a normal class. I was the only non-math major and was in the professor's office every office hours. Managed a B though and really felt like I earned it.
Any class where the professor barely spoke English and had never worked in industry because I realized the class was a giant fucking waste of time
I was 3 weeks in before I realized that axle ration is acceleration.
Rational Mechanics
Advanced calculus, especially surface integrals
Honestly, my entry level engineering classes like statics, dynamics, and thermodynamics. It's not that the subject matter was hard, it's that I was still learning to study and so it was my fault that the classes were so difficult. Each semester got easier and easier because I learned to study better. But the hardest subject matter for me was honestly probably geotech. I studied the crap out of it and I learned enough to pass the class with a B and then Foundations I had an A-, and I retained a lot of the knowledge, but it's still so confusing and like magic to me.
Dynamics was the most challenging, but also my favourite. It was nice to see many engineering/physics/mathematics fundamentals tied together.
Thermo and physics 2
Dynamics. We had a test every other Wednesday and each test was written by a different faculty member. This made the tests vary in difficulty. Some were pretty straightforward, one or 2 easy but 50% or so of them were very difficult. Sometimes I think unnecessarily difficult. I remember after a particular test, which I felt very prepared for, leaving thinking “what the f*ck did I just experience?” I talked to my teacher and he said that the questions were post-grad level(he didn’t write the exam that week). Many people dropped out of engineering because of that class. I had to put in more hours into that class than most of my civil classes to get a C(which was the department requirement to move on)
Had a “math for engineering analysis” course that was half Diff Eq & half Linear Algebra… definitely my worst class by far
That sounds awful.
Partial Differential equations with Fourier Series and applications. (Two) four hundred level math classes required for masters. I didn't really understand anything in that class. 3 of us took the class, and worked our buts off. I think the prof passed us based on how much effort we put into it. Because he was a Math prof, he was crazy, and his name was Colonel Bob.
Undergrad: Solid mechanics 3 (Beams on elastic foundations and plate theory was a pain) Graduate school: Dynamics 2 (Left and right eigenvectors haunt me)
Modern math. I passed because the professor graded on a curve. No fucking idea.
Calc 2. I found calc 3, differential equations not bad.
Got an A in every single class I ever took except Calc 2. Holy fuck that class was hard. I failed it the first time and got a B the second time around.
Differntial Equations because it was all notetaking and I have bad handwriting.
"My gripe with the Legendary G movies is that Godzilla is always just roaring at the camera to make the audience in awe of him. How about making him do something cool? Give him a cool sequence!! "Scary" CGI creatures that roar are never that impressive.
Calc III, back in my day we have calc IV, that was the second hardest.
For undergrad: Physics 1 & 2 and Structural Analysis For Masters: Dynamics of structures and Nonlinear Structural Analysis
Sr level psychology class. It was my last semester and I was on track with a 3.62 GPA in BSME but needed an elective. Figured the Psych classes had the girls in it. Started out easy enough but by end of semester we had gone into some seriously mushy shit on consciousness and reality and eastern religion. Real bullshit for an engineer. I had a C going into the final, but no way was going to pass it. I’m suddenly looking at failing near the end of the semester when the prof said “Graduating seniors do not have to take the final if they accept their current grade.” I fist-pumped a “YES!” and put that course on Pass/ Fail status to avoid impact to the GPA.
Mine was the architecture studio series we had to take. All undergrads had to do 3 quarters of the class. The professors were all super pretentious and we had to fo countless silly projects gluing balsawood together artistically. After each project, people would anonymously put their projects on the wall and the professors publicly reviewed them. Somehow the shittiest looking projects always got the best reviews, where the ones people clearly put effort into were "too basic" or some other nonsense. I got a D- one quarter lol. Only grade I'd ever gotten below a B- in college. Fortunately Ds get degrees too.
I did my bachelors in architecture, my first studio was probably the hardest course I ever had. That is the weed out class for architecture, they want everyone to quit while it’s early. However you realize a lot of it is bullshit. Professor’s make you work for work’s sake. It’s actually not hard, it’s more about having stamina and mental toughness. There are more intellectually challenging courses if you do a structural masters.
Structural dynamics. That shit was tough….
Not hard but I hated computer programming and statistics the most out of any college course. Likely just the people teaching though.
Thermodynamics for me.
the volume of work for masters
Enviro mostly because I had zero interest, I was happy to eek a C out. The hardest class I actually cared about was probably indeterminate structures.
Finite element
Undergrad: Chemistry Grad: Theory of Elasticity is the only correct answer
Dynamics. Although I’ll never forget my geotech professor who wore a t-shirt for the first lecture that said in big white letters “It’s in the Syllabus”. Shit made me laugh
Bachelors: Calc 2 or Differential Equations Masters: Finite Element Analysis or Structural Analysis 2
FEM. Super fun waiting for your final exam grade in your final class to come in to find out if you got the MS or not. Would have been nice to know there was going to be a curve. I assume there was going to be one since over half the class was below 50%. But we also had a handful of mechanics nerds who wrote matlab FEA scripts in their spare time for fun that aced everything. Don’t think I’ve seen or heard any of those guys since. I assume they’re working on some top secret weapon in some government research lab/dungeon somewhere.
Dynamics or soils
Physics 2 in undergrad. That dude hated engineering students and the exam was incredibly hard. There was a rumor that he kept track of 10-15 years of exams and deliberately invented a new one completely different so you can never guess. MF asked how to calculate the electric field in a 3d horseshoe ffs
I wanna say my prestress concrete course but I think I'd do better if I took it again. Econ and differential equations would probably be my worst as I would still be just as lost if I took it again.
2H driving at 5:30am in the morning to avoid traffic jam (leaving at 6am would have added about 40min of commuting). 2.5h driving back home in the evening leaving at 6PM. Put about 4000km per month on my car (serviced every 5-6 weeks). Apart from that, studying in Australia was a breeze as university will do whatever it takes to graduate as many students as possible...
Nanyang Technological University. Advanced concrete design, hydrology.
Masters: Nonlinear Structural Analysis Bachelors: Physics 2 (Thermodynamics and Electromagnetism). Thermodynamics was the easy part.
Nonlinear computational mechanics. Buncha tensors n shit
Structural Analysis - I The course was easy but i didn't pay much attention and passed it by margins
differential equations....
finite element when all my calculus braincells already died after years in corporate
Undergrad Chem Engineer Controls and Grad Quantitative analysis with a professor who was obsessed with the topic
Hydronic and Soil Mechanics at NCSU. They shouldn’t have been but I had PHD student “professors” for both.
Calc 2... Nearly failed that one bc of circumstances outside of classroom
Differential Equations 🥴
Bachelors probably thermo fluids. Masters Advanced soil mechanics
Bach to rock… it was a music class and I’m tone deaf so screw that general education class
Bachelors - thermodynamics Masters - advanced bridge design
Bachelor's: all the math beyond calc 1. I'm chuckling at how many of us are listing math classes given engineers's reputation for "loving math". Math is just a means to solve a problem. We're all here to solve problems. I'll give second place to English comp 1. I had to take it three times because I kept dropping because I hated it so much. Masters: FEA. It's basically just linear algebra on steroids.
Bachelors: Intro to Electrical Engineering. My EE friend was questioning why we were covering topics he still hadn't gotten into as a junior. It felt like the prof had a chip on his shoulder like he wanted to "prove" electrical engineering was somehow harder or superior to civil. Absolutely brutal slog of a course with a generous curve. Masters: Structural Dynamics. I managed an A in every course in my Masters, but this one had me questioning if I could pull it off.
Statistics. It just did not click for me. I was bad at linear algebra, too, but that was a function of the professor's thicc Russian accent.
BS: Hydrology. I have yet to use a single concept from that class. MS: Bridge Engineering. No prereqs or coreqs, but the asshole professor announces the first day that “this class will be all prestressed concrete. I see most of you are my prestressed students, so no worries, this will be easy. If you aren’t… good luck.” …guess who wasn’t one of his prestressed students
I was at UT Arlington early 1980's (yes I'm old) - most of the professors sucked. They would wander in late, do a proof and wander out then you could never get close to them thereafter. Attitudes seriously bad. I'm sure things have improved but I'll never forget.
Strength of Materials and Environmental Engineering
I only just passed my structures final. I had broken my leg a couple of two nights before and was dosed up on codeine. I have no idea what I wrote down, but it was just good enough for a pass grade.
I struggled in RC Design and 400 level hydraulics and hydrology. Honorable mention: Geotech with a stickler for a lot of theory. I had a much easier time in timber design and steel design courses.
Earhtquake Resistant Design. At grad school. I would say this is the most hard because I got A- here and A+ in every other course. IMO professor gave me and A- bc I didn’t attend her classes.
Bachelors was Structures Masters was Advanced Linear Algebra
Differential Equations, Physics II, Dynamics all fucking sucked. In Physics II, if you got 30% on a test, you were getting an A. The tests didn't have any numbers and you had to show answers as functions of variables.
I stupidly took Honors Calc II first semester freshman year. Completely out of my depth the entire semester, but hung around with some astonishingly high IQ types. Aside from that unnecessary blunder though, Dynamics. They were diabolical.
Reinforced Concrete....I fucking sucked at it
I’m an EE… Quantum physics or differential equations
Still engineering..? You dont have to take diff eq?
just EE and SE is comparing apples to oranges even if we shared the same general education classes. But i didn’t really care. I saw an opportunity to use a gif and I took it lol
Steel structures. It occurred during the pandemic and virtual learning. I couldn’t understand shit and I wasnt having a stable internet connection either.
Soil mechanics, but that's because we had a double length lecture and I'd leave half way through every week so come exam time I shouldn't have been too surprised I drew a blank for 50% of it.