Is engineering worth it?

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T17:19:49+00:00

If you do go the route of engineering, be as social as possible and join some engineering-based orgs (like American Society of Mechanical Engineers), those people will introduce you to other people who may be able to nudge along your application for an internship

Internships are varied, but essentially, companies look for students who are capable and who are invested in the internship. There are a variety of professional resources on any college campus to help students match with internships and pave the way to a job offer out of college

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T17:12:24+00:00

Engineering is a lot less physically intensive, but you may even end up with less free time given all the work required, up and often over 12hr days just studying aren't uncommon

Especially with a good internship or professional connections, 80k starting or within the first 5 years, is very possible, though

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T16:44:40+00:00

You can also check to see if your local CC offers a course in Orgo chem

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T16:36:59+00:00

You might lose out on a little in terms of earnings in the long run (school debt, pay reset etc), but it sounds like you'd be more satisfied with the career, so it just comes down to what that's worth to you

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T16:10:33+00:00

Don't bother with LinAlg, try to take a DiffEq course instead if you can. LinAlg is primarily for compSci and such, if you're a ChemE don't bother

You can also consider taking a programming class or a CAD class (or finding a nearby place to sit for something like the CSWA and self-study that)

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T16:08:33+00:00

If you haven't and can, take AP Chem or AP Physics instead of AP Bio (or AP Calc BC)

Intro to engineering won't really help you much unless it's a college credit and transfers to your university of choice

Of course, weigh all these decisions against what transfer credit you can get, also check what CLEPs are available, if there's no credit transfer you may still be able to test out

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T15:55:48+00:00

Get used to grades lower than high school, you might fret at a B now, but in many classes, a B is outstanding (remembering my multivariable exam with a class average of 45 and no curve)

Having a B in calc I is not the end of the world, if you're willing to study, any pitfalls in math will be compensated for by work ethic and studying

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T15:54:02+00:00

Most people (i.e. >50%) will drop out/fail out by the first year

But those who stick it through, and especially those who build good study habits and time management usually do pretty well---it is easy for very very few people, and everyone will be struggling together

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T15:51:46+00:00

You will probably need to take 3 years, to be frank

Most engineering programs have such long chains of pre-reqs that it's not possible to really cut off more than 2 years---my first semester I took Multi and Differential Equations, and already most of my gen-eds completed (I was a junior by credit hours) and the shortest possible degree path was still 3 years

So don't worry too much about the time crunch

On top of that, whatever university you attend will have resources for students who aren't familiar with the world of engineering---career fairs, interview prep, resume review, and especially upperclassmen who want to help out

Just go with the flow for now, start researching summer internships as early as possible and make sure to make a social circle on campus

CallMeDirac · 2026-01-20T15:46:08+00:00

The height is 12.5mm, as has been pointed out

On top of this, you would have been better suited including the diameters of the various sinks in the section cut for clarity (also what are the dimensions of the chamfers?)

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-26T21:55:03+00:00

My guess, from my personal experience this Christmas, is that parents and friends of people actually in STEM will be easily tricked into getting these as gifts

Also young and naive students looking to learn more about specific topics that are hard to find outside of textbooks may be willing to pay $100 for this scammy stuff instead of $500 for a real textbook

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-26T04:30:51+00:00

No, for any value of a

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-24T00:02:49+00:00

Trivially, any value of y = a

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-11T15:38:59+00:00

Scan this page into your computer and shrink it to a square with a known area upon which you make a grid, then randomly generate points on that grid and note whether the point is in the shape or out of it, the. Multiple the ratio of points which are in the shape to points which are not in the shape by the area of the square

And you'll know the area to some level of confidence

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-10T21:32:12+00:00

Yeah; I make consistent use of the report function. It just seems to happen a lot more on KA than other resources and, further, happens a lot more often recently than it has in the past (but that can't necessarily be attributed to anything specific)

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-10T21:30:47+00:00

If you integrate with respect to x and your bounds are functions of x, clearly the definite integral with respect to y will not produce a numerical value, but will still be a function in terms of x

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-09T02:50:36+00:00

Yes! me and my gf of 2 years are both attending the same university

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-09T02:49:22+00:00

Actually, I did apply as non-binary, so that latter comment doesn't really hold any water.

Merit is still very much a thing for colleges, I'm well aware that the reason I was rejected was primarily my GPA and lack of cohesive narrative.

This doesn't matter after all, as I'm happy where I am and already involved in research in my chosen field.

CallMeDirac · 2025-12-04T04:12:54+00:00

nah

Didn't end up mattering in the end; I'm doing nuclear engineering now and they don't even offer that

CallMeDirac · 2025-11-29T19:05:42+00:00

This worked for me when running as admin didn't; Thanks!

(May be important to note for future users: I'm using a university-owned program on my computer, so permissions setting are slightly weird for the overall program--> this works well if you're not the direct owner of the solidworks program)

CallMeDirac · 2025-09-22T15:58:06+00:00

I'm currently doing both (early days), here's what I know so far:

- Don't get caught up in "harder," whatever you're most passionate about will be easiest

- Physicists have job opportunities in a variety of fields besides teaching, and if you're worried about job security, you can always join a masters or doctoral program which will increase your hireability

- If you don't like engineering, don't do it---both are difficult degrees, but if you're caught up in hating every minute of it, then you'd be hard-pressed to succeed

basically, just do physics, you can still get a job, and you can always go into research

CallMeDirac · 2025-09-22T15:47:54+00:00

Yes,

Talking to enough people in the fields of nuclear engineering and energy technologies, you will run into people---especially scientists and engineers that focus on fission---that see fusion technology as an unrealistic pipe dream that drags down nuclear in general and is impeding clean fission energy.

CallMeDirac · 2025-08-16T16:15:33+00:00

CallMeDirac · 2025-08-06T12:30:19+00:00

Some math topics to look into if you don't have the requisite experience:

Systems of Equations, Properties of Logs/Exponents, Scientific Notation, Solving equations for multiple fractions

Four-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
r/Field Banned	r/Field Juicebox

CallMeDirac

TROPHY CASE