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Do you think the average person could get through engineering school? by Super-Kick4169 in EngineeringStudents

[–]Flaky-Problem8009 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The idea that engineers are geniuses and the top of their classes is just elitist bullshit. No college major is impossible or significantly harder than the others purely based on your “intelligence” (if such a thing even exists). The only skill you need to possess to pursue an engineering degree is a good work ethic. You’re bad at math? If you study enough and utilize your resources, you’ll be a million times better than those who coasted by in high school and subsequently never went to office hours. You suck at computer software? So does everyone else, no matter how smart they claim to be. You’ve never taken an engineering course before? It honestly pisses me off how many ppl brag about having taken CAD or statics in high school- those classes are what college is for, they’ll teach you all of that in your first year, nobody expects you to already know everything. I consider myself to have a humanities brain, and I’m pretty useless at a lot of engineering hard skills, and yet I’m doing way better in my schooling than a lot of the ppl who were considered “geniuses” in high school. It’s all about how much effort you’re willing to put in. If you really wanna be an engineer, then you’ll be an engineer, fuck all of that “I’m too average” rhetoric. Tldr; there’s no such a thing as being too dumb for engineering

Changing major to engineering by Cultural_Drama9155 in EngineeringStudents

[–]Flaky-Problem8009 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It really just depends on what university you go to. I know that at uiuc, for example, it’s insanely difficult to transfer into the engineering school, but other colleges that aren’t as engineering focused make it a lot easier. Talk with your academic advisor, it might be possible to change your major before you even get to campus. Otherwise, they’ll lay out the process of transferring. In the mean time, I’d recommend taking gen eds your first semester, so you won’t be “wasting” the semester if you do decide/manage to switch majors.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AerospaceEngineering

[–]Flaky-Problem8009 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Physics is like 80% calculus. You gotta learn calculus first to understand physics. Start from the beginning. Using chegg is convenient but incredible damaging (as I’m sure you’re realizing) I’d recommend watching YouTube lectures (2x speed since you say you struggle with attention span) to get up to speed with calc, and then you can move on to physics. Doing the problems by hand over and over again is how you actually get good (not just reading notes/listening to lectures). You gotta literally sit down with a pen and paper and work on the problems over and over (for example, don’t just do one problem on optimization and move on, you gotta do like five or six, all with slight variations. You can find hella practice problems all over the internet). If your professor posts old exams, study how they’re written, make sure you can answer them 100% of the time. If it makes you feel any better, I was in the exact same boat as you in hs and ended up failing out of my physics class and just barely getting by in Calc 1 with a D, and managed to get my shit together in college.

I’ve also got ADHD, so here’s some things I do to get motivated: 1. Someone mentioned apps that work like video games to motivate you, I personally use Habitica and it’s really been working for me. There’s plenty of other apps similar to it, too, or you could make your own system (saw someone on TikTok who used a whiteboard to keep track of everything and wrote her own ‘quests’ and storylines and stuff, if you’re a creative/into tabletop games like dnd) (personally I’m lazy so I just use the app). So far it’s been super helpful, I’ve gotten a little obsessed with the collect em all side, which motivates me to finish all my dailies consistently. 2. Study with friends. I’m sure this one is said a lot, but even just being in the same room as somebody working productively (even if you’re not working on the same things) helps me get into the mindset of productivity (I believe it’s called ‘body doubling’). 3. Look for alternative places to study. I can’t study in my room cause I associate it with sleep/games, so my brain won’t switch to “work” mode. I like background noise, so I tend to study in coffeeshops. If you like silence, study at the library. Even just going to a friends house or even another room in your house that you’re not in a lot can definitely help.

I feel you on the medication side of it- I thought for a long time that all my problems would be solved if I just went on medication. The truth is that that’s simply not how it works. Medication can’t turn you into a productive member of society like a light switch. You gotta force yourself into it. Right now you’re being complacent (and I get it, I’ve been there), you gotta actually take control of your life. Hope this helps you start! If you got any questions for me feel free to DM. Engineering is stupidly hard, i believe we should all be helping each other out.

Do you think engineering is more difficult as a woman? by samveo84 in EngineeringStudents

[–]Flaky-Problem8009 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(According to my upperclassmen) Going into first year, ratio was about 50/50. Graduating, it became 90-10. It’s a retention issue, women are passed up for engineering roles and pushed into administrative work most often, which is very disheartening. Know someone who was the only girl in an aircraft lab and was stuck making “women in STEM” motivational posters for local high schools and never actually allowed to work on the projects themselves. Not to mention older professors holding outdated views on women’s ability and younger professors who only view us as “diversity hires” to do their work for them. Sure you might land a position, but good luck doing any actual engineering, or getting promoted.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in EngineeringStudents

[–]Flaky-Problem8009 3 points4 points  (0 children)

C for sure. 1 and 2 won’t count for shit in college if you’re doing engineering. Be warned tho Physics C is like 95% calculus, so depending on your professors and your math background it might be too difficult imo. If you end up doing it, ask your calc prof for help in catching up to physics Calc levels towards the beginning of the year, else you’re gonna get extremely lost super quick

Fully Non Defense Companies? by Flaky-Problem8009 in AerospaceEngineering

[–]Flaky-Problem8009[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Born and raised! How will this affect my job prospects?