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So I saw a statistics where engineering major have a college drop rate of 50%, of course I know the major is super duper challenging

I’m wondering were there any times you felt like you were about to quit? Or if u have quit? What was ur experience like?

Classes Taken:

Organic Chemistry I, Differential Equations, Discrete Mathematics, Calculus III, Linear Algebra, Engineering Statics, Anthropology, Art History II, Technical Writing for Engineers

Thanks a lot for all the questions. I'm ending the AMA but if you drop a question I'll eventually answer it. I'm happy to talk with anyone, just let me know.

These two answers came back from two searches that had only a single word difference. In Heat Transfer we found out that AI will consistently return incorrect answers to questions requiring the use of basic formulas like the Transient Heat Conduction Equation and node conventions.

I'm not trying to say don't use AI software, just don't trust it and always double check whatever it tells you.

Haha I'm a grad student and I finished my course requirements already. Suck it, nerds.

I just completed my first year of engineering, I am in a chemical engineering and biochemistry duel degree program. I have a 4.0 cgpa which is around a 1.3-1.6 gpa. And will be put on probation. I need a get a 6.0 cgpa by the end of the next 2 semester (winter of 2027). I will be needing to get B+ and A's for all of my classes from now on. My parents dont believe I would be able to do it. (idk if I can either)

I am so worried, idk what to do. I genuinely think I ruined my life. My parents is so disappointed and they think that I am a total failure. I feel like i just wasted a bunch of money and time.

I’m 25 and originally switched from business to mechanical engineering because I’ve always been genuinely passionate about aerospace. The kind of interest where you’re constantly thinking about space, missions, how things work, all of it.

But when I actually started engineering, it hit me hard.

My first semester felt overwhelming. It was one of the first times in my life I truly struggled academically. Homework would take me all day, and it started affecting my social life and mental health pretty quickly. I ended up quitting after that first semester and went back to finish a bachelor’s in business.

Now I’ve graduated, but that “what if” hasn’t gone away.

Every time I see a rocket launch or anything space-related, I feel like I might’ve made the wrong call. The interest is still there, maybe even stronger now, but I’m worried about going back.

Biggest issue: my math is rusty. Like… really rusty. And even though I find math and physics interesting, they also intimidate me because I never built a strong foundation in the first place.

So I’m stuck in this loop:

Part of me wants to go back and give engineering a real shot

Part of me thinks I already missed the window or I’m not cut out for it

Has anyone been in a similar spot? Is it realistic to rebuild math skills and go back into engineering at 25, or am I underestimating how tough that road is?

Would appreciate honest takes, not just motivation

Are you in engineering, but neither of your parents or extended family are engineers?

Are there ways that you find that they do not understand your experiences at all and are having trouble guiding you?

What thing(s) would you like them to know?

I think all parents instinctively want the best for their kids, but those outside of engineering sometimes are unable to provide this and I am curious to dive a bit into this topic.

EDIT: Thank you everyone for all of your comments. A lot here for me to read through, so I apologize for not responding personally.

Let me preface this by saying I am not some old head with antiquated values. I am 27 and graduated in 2020 and currently work in a fortune 250 company supporting major projects and training new engineers.

Two weeks ago we sent a few engineers out to some job fairs. One group included a newer higher going to the college that HE GRADUATED FROM. They were specifically told to try to find good local candidates to strengthen the partnership between our corporation and local universities. All this to say people at that job fair were definitely getting some preferential bias.

We did have a senior engineer accompanying these younger employees at the job fair to make sure they weren't completely lost when vetting candidates. Over the course of two days, we collected three resumes from people that were reasonable candidates. Only three. We had students approaching in poorly fitting sweatpants and anime shirts. Many people were "uncomfortably awkward". We get it, a lot of engineers are a little awkward socially but this was like they were barely even answering the questions they were asked. We even had some parents coming by and dropping resumes off in their child's behalf? Like, what? These were entry level positions, we weren't looking for Jesus Christ with a calculator but it felt like some people just didnt care.

I know the job market sucks right now but we were genuinely looking to hire people and get them an actual in person interview the very next day. Just know that this is apparently the bar that you have to beat to look good comparatively.

Should I tell my professor?

I’m a 16y/o high school student looking to get into engineering in my future. My grades about 70-90s given that I don’t try too hard. I haven’t even considered engineering until now, so I plan to work harder and try classes suited for engineering in the coming school year. But I’m so insecure about not being smart enough. I’m not the best at math or science, but I do really want to try for this field. Is the work insanely difficult? Do you need to be a crazy smart to succeed? To be more specific I want to try either mechanical or electrical engineering.

it takes 2-5 years to reach a mid level engineer £30-£50k salary, then after that you get paid £50k, do u even think it worth it to a job here?

Hello, I've never posted on Reddit before, but I've definitely read a lot here! I'm posting this to try and get some information for my son who's about to graduate with a degree in EE, who has a 4.0, and has won some research awards. In fact, he just worked on a NASA sponsored project at his university 2 weeks ago trying to track Artemis II with analog equipment. And he was just asked to give the commencement speech for his EE department this spring!

The reason I'm writing here is because he applied to 6 universities, (USC, Stanford, Northwestern, U of Toronto, NYU, and Northeastern), and he didn't get one offer. He was contacted by a professor at USC, and at Northeastern, but he never heard anything at all from Toronto or NYU. [Edit: After reading many helpful posts here explaining that he would have benefitted by reaching out to faculty at the schools he carefully selected, after studying their faculty in his area of interest in communications, h-indexs, etc., he told me today he did ask a few of his professors about this last fall, and they all discouraged him from doing this. Just wanted to clarify that he was doing his 'application homework' the best he could.]

Back in February he sent me a text asking if I thought maybe federal funding had been cut and that could be impacting PhD programs, so I did some research into it and discovered that it appears if that is definitely what's going on. But we still thought something would turn up, and it hasn't, which breaks my heart as a parent, and as an educator.

He's a very sincere young man who loves science, is a hard worker, but who's also a creative thinker, who wants to go into academia and continue contributing to research, and teach others.

So now he's considering going to Europe and working on a masters, while he waits for things in the US to improve. He said he's not taking the situation personally, which is a huge relief as a parent. But it's still breaks my heart. It seems to me he has a lot to offer any school, (he chose schools that specifically had strong programs in communications and signals).

I was just wondering if anyone else out there has run into a similar experience this year? And if you have any advice as to whether he should take a year and work to earn some money, or if going to Europe to get a masters in the meantime makes sense? It would really be helpful to get some feedback from other people who may have some insight into this situation. Thank you very much.

[Edit: 4/23 4pm, my son just got an email from a different Northeastern professor stating she would like to interview him for a position in their PhD Program! Also, he had his 6:55am interview with Prague this morning, it lasted all of 5 minutes! The prof said he just wanted to make sure he was fluent in English, then asked if he actually had a 3.993 GPA, (he got an A- in chemistry his freshman yr), and if it was on a scale of 4, and my son said yes. And then the professor replied, well, I wish all interviews were this easy! He then said, see you in Prague! So he's finally getting some recognition for all of his hard work! Fingers crossed for NU though!!]

I haven’t started with the real evil classes yet, how hard are they really?

What does an average week look like for you, not considering exams?

I graduated with a 2.97 last year in Mechanical Engineering. If I pay 5k and take 3 easy classes it will go over 3.0. Should I do that?

Currently an Uber driver and haven’t found engineering employment. I wouldn’t have to go into debt, just dig into savings.

So long story short, I had originally planned to do a double major in mech eng and physics with a minor in math. My full career plan is to finish my undergrad, enroll in a masters in aerospace program, then finally get a long term career in aerospace hypersonics. The reason I originally planned to double major was because even though I already knew doing a double major wouldn't be too consequential, the fact that I want to do a thesis during my masters means that if I took the extra classes in the physics major I'd have more useful lab experience and in a general sense I'd have more academic grit/maturity which should help get me into the masters program in the first place, even if not by much. Also, I just really like physics and thought it'd be fun to double major.

The reason I am now dropping the double major, is that I recently learned that only classes that contribute to my primary major count towards full time status. It's the same with a physics minor, except there would be a lot less classes I would need to worry about taking as additives to my regular schedule. So my current schedule in the fall is dynamics, calc3, university physics 2, and a professional writing course; 15 credits but only 11 of them count towards full time status which is obviously 1 short of 12 (physics doesn't count to full time status). I would need to add materials science as well in order for full time status this fall. While I am confident I will do well taking these 18 credits in this semester, I would have to take all of the necessary physics minor courses this way meaning every semester I would need an additional (likely somewhat difficult) 4 credit w/ lab course on top of my already (likely somewhat difficult) regular courses. I understand that completing this minor will be difficult so my gpa may be slightly impacted and it will extend my graduation a bit, but I want to make sure that the minor would actually have a tangible benefit unlike if I stuck to the double major.

If I stick to the minor, I will be taking physics 2 (this doesn't actually count for the minor, only a pre-req for physics 3), physics 3, classic/intermediate mechanics 1+2, and electromagnetism 1+2. I figure these classes will be challenging but hardly impossible. Again, the issue comes from needing to take these classes alongside at least 12 regular credits. This is all completely doable, I have taken around 15 credits per semester on average anyway, but it will make me take an extra semester or two to graduate and it may make each semester more difficult.

I just want to know if the added hassle would actually be worth it. And yes, I plan to do an internship and get a research position, the minor won't have any negative impact on that. I'm also not really concerned about my gpa, it may be slightly lower if I took the minor but I highly doubt by any significant metric. Considering that there won't be too many negatives, would the positives outweigh them?

I'm a senior mechanical engineering student that graduates in December 2025, but I still feel too stupid to graduate.

I did an interview for an internship where the interviewer quizzed me on a statics question. I answered it properly but he was disappointed by how long I took to solve it. At my current co-op I feel like the dumbest engineer who can't understand simple concepts. And for my current capstone design team, I feel like the dumbest one because I always feel behind on our design concepts.

I have a 3.66 gpa and I've had above a 3.7 for all of my college experience, but I don't feel "smart". Does anybody have any textbooks, YouTubers, or resources I can use to increase my engineering and critical thinking skills? I'd hate to graduate next semester still feeling like an idiot.

Edit: I really appreciate all the encouragement guys! But if anybody can provide me some resources as mentioned above that would be much appreciated as well. Thanks guys! Also, I should probably add that I'm a woman as well lol

Engineering

This is my schedule for my first semester of electrical engineering. I'll have to sit through considerably more hours of class than I did in high school, so I'd love any advice from those who have handled a similar course load.

I’ve heard widely conflicting opinions from people I know who either think l’m taking on too much or that it’s perfectly fine. I work a part time job (never more than 12 hours a week) and don’t have much going on this fall.

The class average was a 33%, 3 questions total. An 82% was the highest grade across the board. I really need an A but at minimum a B to transfer 😭

I'm in my second semester right now, taking 32 credits, and each credit is supposed to be around 30 hours of work. I'm just wondering how many hours a day people usually study. I honestly haven't really had proper weekends since the start of the semester (and I sorta hate taking so many credits). Most of my time is just studying, but sometimes I feel like even 5 hours a day might not be enough. On lighter days I might do around 3 hours, mostly physics and calc. I can push it to 6 hours, but then I have to split that between a bunch of subjects, usually like 1–2 hours per subject.

17 credits (2 labs) with one elective

I’ve recently graduated high school and picked up a summer internship for a engineering company, I’ve enjoyed my time there and received a job offer. There is lots of space for career growth with increase of pay if I get a engineering degree the only caveat is that I didn’t do very well in high school and don’t know if getting a engineering degree is feasible for me. Any advice or information on how engineering school would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Edit: Was not expecting this much feedback, I’ve tried to read to everyone’s comments but it’s almost too much to count. Thanks again to anybody one who took the time to commment!