College Confidential
» CC HOME » FORUM HOME

  College Confidential > College Admissions and Search > College Majors > Engineering Majors
New User

Welcome to College Confidential!
The leading college-bound community on the web
Join for FREE now, and start talking with other members, weighing in on community polls, and more.

Also, by registering and logging in you'll see fewer ads and pesky welcome messages (like this one)!
Discussion Menu
»Discussion Home
»Help & Rules
»Latest Posts
»NEW! CampusVibe™
»Stats Profiles
Top Forums
»College Chances
»College Search
»College Admissions
»Financial Aid
»SAT/ACT
»Parents
»Colleges
»Ivy League
Main CC Site
»College Confidential
»College Search
»College Admissions
»Paying for College
Sponsors
SuperMatch - The Future of College Search!
CampusVibe - Almost As Good As A Campus Visit!
Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 10-25-2012, 11:16 PM   #1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 87
How time consuming is mechanical engineering?

Hello

I am a senior in highschool

I was just about set on majoring in engineering, but then I started hearing about how hard the enginnering major is, and how I won't really have time for anything else except studying. I like math and do all right in it, but don't excel at it. I am like a B+ AP Calc student. (Don't get me wrong, I like challenging problems. and I like math and science.)

The dillema is:
I would really like to do a lot of music in college. I don't plan on majoring in it or even minoring in it, but I would like to take voice lessons and join acapella groups or glee clubs(I know, I know..) and travel to competitions with them. (like the ICCA national competition)


My SAT scores
Math 660 writing 630 reading 570

act scores
Math 31 Reading 32 English 27 SCI 23 and yes I am retaking both.

AP scores
5 AP Chem
4 AP History

GPA 3.884
class rank 17/114

I am a state level piano player/guitarist/ singer (all-state competitions)

It's NOT AT ALL that I want my college life to be laid back and relaxed. I do want a difficult and challenging college life that'll greatly enhance my academic and personal skills. It's just that even with all the time and efforts that I would put into my major(whether it be engineering or whatever else), I want some time set aside for music.

I've been talking to my AP Calc teacher, who majored in electrical engineering. She is recommending that I major in engineering, but she's the one who told me that I won't have any time set aside for extracurricular activities. She told me that all my time would be devoted into studying, if I want good grades. Then I also heard people saying that engineering majors DO get time aside for extracuricular activities.

Would it just all depend on how naturally smart you are? Like I posted, i'm no math genius. I'm barely above average in my AP calc class. And I know that in college math both the pace AND the difficulty will pick up.

Any thoughts? thanks in advance.
jellyman is offline   Reply   
Old 10-26-2012, 12:54 AM   #2
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 810
Certainly, a lot of things are made easier by being naturally smart. There's not a single person who can get by without putting in a tremendous effort though.
You should be able to find time to do what you like if you are good at balancing your priorities. I can't say that I expect you to be a star student with those qualifications, but you can certainly graduate respectably, which is all that really matters (the relative success of your peers actually does not matter).
NeoDymium is online now   Reply   
Old 10-26-2012, 02:18 AM   #3
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: CA
Posts: 70
The intensity of an engineering program can vary greatly from one school to another.
When choosing schools, study their catalogs carefully, especially the degree plans.
Some will have more math classes than others - we found huge differences in requirements for the same degree.
Also, some schools are known for trying to "weed out" first and second year students, while others will attempt to help everyone succeed.
sheepster is offline   Reply   
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:44 PM.




Copyright 2001-2011, Hobsons, Inc., All Rights Reserved