Why is engineering harder than most majors?

Question

i want to major in engineering in college but ive heard its a lot of work...more than any major. Is this true? And if it is, why so?

Answer 1

As an engineer I would agree most with the person who replied that it is the fact-based nature of the curriculum as well as the emphasis on subjects that most students find daunting.

Many of the other majors have tests with no single answer so if you can make a case for your response you are passing the course. If you are taking an engineering test in which the answer is"120 volts and 30 amps" there is no amount of discussion that will vindicate your reply of "maybe 30 volts and about 2 amps" so you just got one step closer to failing out.

Answer 2

I graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering 3 years ago, and am happily employed in my field of work. Engineering is often considered to be one of if not the hardest majors because most people don't like that much math and science. I personally thought that my classes were fair college level courses. You have to be willing to be challenged, and to take on that challenge. Most engineering students enter college with a different mentality than students in other majors. I've heard the average college student changes majors 3+ times during their time in school. Most who graduate with a degree in engineering started in engineering. We bring that average down. We go in knowing what we want and willing to work for it.

To me, the toughest courses were the required humanities. I just don't think that way. Math and science, especially if it could be applied and not just theory, came fairly easy to me and I enjoyed it. I do remember many weekends in the library working on a project during football games or while everyone else on campus was partying. It does take a tremendous amount of time if you want to understand the material, challenging but not what I would consider hard.

As an Engineer Intern, I will tell you that it pays very well and I find it to be a very enjoyable, challenging career. If you succeed in getting through college and getting a career, there are few jobs that I would consider more rewarding. You have the opportunity to affect, change and improve peoples lives in ways few others can imagine.

Good luck!!!

Answer 3

Being a recent graduate in engineering at UC Irvine (an honors student so I'm not some joe shmoe that barely graduated), here's what I think:

It's a lot of work, yes, but there are many factors that are put into play.

first of all majoring in engineering in your first two years of college is all math, learning theory, programming, physics, chemistry. learning the basics is the most difficult part because it's what gives you your stepping stone into engineering. It's especially demanding if you do not have a good background in say chemistry, physics, or calculus. to be honest, this is the hardest part. the first two years is where all the switching of majors from engineering to like psych or social ecology happens. once you get passed that, engineering gets somewhat easier, because you finally start your engineering classes, the designing, all the cool stuff, non of that 3 dimensional calc bullshit.

As for your last two years of college, It's very demanding due to the individual projects, lengthy and challenging homeworks, group projects, the intense demand on your mental capacity. I have had MANY all nighter's due to all of these different things. The reason why engineering is so challenging is because it's design. you're designing something and making sure it works and its safe. although you have to follow guidelines, its ultimately up to you how something is built. so when you're doing your calculations, you have to basically assume one thing, run it through calculations, make sure it checks out, if it doesn't adjust your calculations and do it again. its tedious, but once you build an understanding of engineering...it becomes easier.

honostly the level of difficulty of engineering doesnt make it a more tougher major. for me personally, i HATE reading. I'm engineer, I do calculations and numbers, I dont read. So if I had a choice between designing a bridge and writing an essay on Zen buddhism, I'd choose the bridge. I'd get it done faster, I'd have more fun, and I'd do a better job...because I like what I do. If i were to have gone into art history or humanities or bio, I would've failed. Looking at my college transcripts, my engineering gpa was a 3.7...but my gpa in humanities with all the writing courses was a 3.4. Those classes were harder for me.

really, difficulty I think depends on what type of person you are, what you're interested, what your strengths are. NOT to say engineering is easy, its hard as hell, and unless you don't want a social life, you're definitely going to run into all nighters. I was able to be involved, work parttime, joined clubs, volunteered as a freshman orientation staffer. but if you plan on studying all day and all night, i think you're still doomed because you'll go crazy. You need some time to have fun or else you'll go insane from numbers.

they say engineering is difficult, I personally thought engineering isn't as bad as they make it seem to be. but it's still pretty hard. when I started, I was ready to fail because they said I was gonna fail SOMETHING, and that's the reality of it. But I didnt. anyway good luck, hope I answered your question.

Answer 4

In Engineering, you have to design, and produce something that should perform the job it was designed for.
A bridge should carry safely a weight it was designed for,
A car should start easily, and transport people safely and fast.
A computer should do what it was designed for.
The products should be reliable, and we could repeatedly predict how they would behave in a certain condition, if tested.

In literature, we could write anything. Some people would say it is good, while some others may criticise. There is no scale with which we could measure its quality.
So is the case with other arts subjects like poetry, painting, etc.,

Answer 5

B/c of the degree of difficulty involved; basically all complex mathematics etc. It's right up there w/ Medicine and Law for a reason, too, you know.

This is as opposed to easy majors like Womens Studies and Literature etc. But which one pays better at the end of the day? The one that requires the greater difficulty and time, of course: Engineering.

Answer 6

I lived right across the hall from a group of boys who majored in engineering and my floor during freshman year was full of them.. . Some of them got on by fine. Most of them spent nights huddled in groups trying to work through questions are lamenting on how evil some of their teachers were. A few ended up miserably trying to figure out how they could salvage their gpa. My brother graduated with honors from the school of engineering, but I know one kid who decided to leave WashU to attend a college back home.
It all depends on how you manage yourself and what you really want to do. Just make sure that you use the resources available to you. Talk to your teachers and your classmates and never be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

Answer 7

When I started college in Engineering, they held a freshman engineering assembly, and I will never forget that the speaker had us all stand up, and he told everyone to shake the hand of the person to their left, and then of the person to their right, and then he said that only one of you three will graduate with a degree in engineering. I doubt if that statistic has changed since then.

Answer 8

That is because you will be doing some real learning instead of the ditzes in the other majors, i.e., Liberal Arts, etc.

You are going be taking math courses at the same level as math majors. You are going to be taking physics courses at the same level as physics majors. You are going to taking chemistry courses at the same level as chemistry majors. And that is not mentioning your engineering course load.

You are going to make it if you are willing to commit to studying and not partying.

Answer 9

Engineering means finding applications on what scientists makes.

It's not just math, it's application.

Answer 10

for the person that commented on the music major, it really is the most time consuming, because you can spend your entire life on it, and still have more to get better at. most musicians in music college practice for 4-5 hours a day (more if physically possible) and the rest of the time studying music concepts and theory, testing their pitch recognition and training their entire body