engineering is not my thing

[alexanduh]

so im at uni now in australia and i would much rather be doing something else than engineering. way too much math for me.

ive been thinking of maybe transferring to architecture, design, or maybe landscaping.

thoughts?

 

[AlmostFullBenefits]

While they do beat you over the head with math in the early stages, it gets better, but still, engineering does use a lot of math. If you find math "boring", but can solve it without much trouble, don't worry, it gets better. If you find math difficult however, do something else. Architecture has always sounded fun, but I'm guessing there's still quite a bit of math involved, though perhaps easier than Bessel functions and quasi-viscoelastic stress-tensor transformations.

 

[bdeuce22]

if it's you just find math "boring", but "easy", stay with it. the first 2 years is hell. it weeds out the people that aren't cut out for it.

if you are having difficulties with the math, then it's probably not for you.

 

[austinite]

Originally Posted by bdeuce22

if it's you just find math "boring", but "easy", stay with it. the first 2 years is hell. it weeds out the people that aren't cut out for it.

if you are having difficulties with the math, then it's probably not for you.

Agree with both posters above. I was always extremely good at "high school math" and did well in Calculus, but in the harder math classes I struggled. Luckily in actual engineering work you generally only need to understand those topics at a conceptual level. Also remember that you can do many things once you get the degree.

That being said, if there is something specific you would rather do, then you should transfer to that. If you are just confused, I'd recommend holding on unless your grades are going to kick you out.

 

[StephenHero]

Math is only a small part of architectural design these days in most capacities. Coming from engineering is a really good foundation for understanding architecture, so the opportunity is definitely there. One other option is finishing out the engineering degree and working in development. There are lots of big development companies that need people with one foot in math and one foot in construction/design industry. You'd be doing lots of cost analysis in the design development stage and consulting with the development strategy team to give them rudimentary feedback on their plans. If you suspect that you aren't a talented designer, that would be a better paying option than architecture, but with a more dexterous and interesting workload than strictly engineering.

 

[alexanduh]

you know what make that cant do math. exam is on thursday and i cant do ****.

appreciate all the replies. thanks.

will probably end up changing if i can. hopefully something with zero mathematical skill required would be nice.

 

[ms244]

Don't be a quitter.

I suck at math and made it through.

Find a job or research project on campus, see if you still like it. Once you start building cool things
your perspective might change.

They have this thing in the US called Formula SAE, basically a small race car with a 600cc
or smaller streetbike engine. Teams from all over the country compete in this. This is more like real engineering then what you are suffering from now.

 

[scientific]

how did you get started on engineering with zero math skill? seems pretty odd ...

 

[Smartalox]

Originally Posted by austinite

Agree with both posters above. I was always extremely good at "high school math" and did well in Calculus, but in the harder math classes I struggled. Luckily in actual engineering work you generally only need to understand those topics at a conceptual level. Also remember that you can do many things once you get the degree. That being said, if there is something specific you would rather do, then you should transfer to that. If you are just confused, I'd recommend holding on unless your grades are going to kick you out.
+1. I did well in high school math, but struggled mightily with math in University. Made it through though. It's enough to merely pass your math classes, but understand the concepts at the qualitative level. Getting involved in projects like solar car, or building a high-gas mileage racer kept my interest up, helped me make valuable industry contacts, and compensated for my lack of math scores. It might not hurt to take a year off, and try for an internship in an engineering company that suits your interest. A little work experience could help you keep your eyes on the prize, so to speak. For what it's worth, most of the math related work that I do now, I do with dedicated software, or Excel spreadsheets and macros, simply because there is so much data to churn through, and these programs can do so much more than I ever could with hand calcs. My math 'skill' lies in knowing the right statistics to apply to a given data set, and how to code it in Excel.

 

[rs232]

I'd be tempted to just say "suck it up". Honestly, push-ups aren't my thing, but I do them anyway. Maths isn't the sort of thing you look back on and say "I wish I didn't know that".

If you pursue engineering over architecture in Australia, you'll likely be earning $20-40K p.a. more for the rest of the time you work as an engineer, you'll have the international mobility that architectural accreditation doesn't have, you'll have less trouble finding jobs, and definitely pull more chicks (ok, I made the last one up).

I'd only pursue architecture over engineering if you genuinely liked it, not just to avoid the maths.

 

[Mr Herbert]

as a practicing engineer you will mainly use software and simulators and very rarely use maths harder than simultaneous equations - definitely no solving differential equations etc

but if you are struggling with first year maths then you might not have the aptitude to teach yourself difficult concepts, so engineering might not be for you.

architecture and engineering seem so different in the spectrum of skill sets that im suprised you are considering the transition. architecture is a 5 year degree and has woeful starting salaries so unless you are really passionate about it, i wouldnt bother.

 

[ginlimetonic]

Originally Posted by Smartalox

+1. I did well in high school math, but struggled mightily with math in University. Made it through though. It's enough to merely pass your math classes, but understand the concepts at the qualitative level. Getting involved in projects like solar car, or building a high-gas mileage racer kept my interest up, helped me make valuable industry contacts, and compensated for my lack of math scores.

It might not hurt to take a year off, and try for an internship in an engineering company that suits your interest. A little work experience could help you keep your eyes on the prize, so to speak.

For what it's worth, most of the math related work that I do now, I do with dedicated software, or Excel spreadsheets and macros, simply because there is so much data to churn through, and these programs can do so much more than I ever could with hand calcs. My math 'skill' lies in knowing the right statistics to apply to a given data set, and how to code it in Excel.

I know the exact kind of maths you're doing. You won't do well applying stochastic calculators or linear algebra to excel or SAS or matlab if you don't get the theory behind it.

Uni maths is hard, for the average person, just spend a SH1T LOAD of time on it, and keep doing tute and final pastpapers and you'll get a decent score.

No reason to change courses yet.. but you need to know your end career objective is a job in which field... best to find a job you would enjoy, and take the undergrad to reach that goal.