#you definitely uh. form a bond through shared strife. like me n my bme class were BESTIEEEESSS. i miss our discord server to this day.

[a-flickering-soul]

i am considering changing my major to engineering but I have basically no experience with it. any thoughts about what someone should expect maybe pros and cons or something. you don't have to respond lol I can always do more of my own research instead, sending this ask was kind of an impulse ig

Hi, thank you so much for the ask! I miss doing engineering and talking about it, so I'm always happy to answer any questions about my experience doing engineering in college.

Engineering as a college major is exactly as hard as everyone tells you, but if you know that going in, it helps a lot. I was perfectly happy to spend most of my free time doing homework and very carefully managing my time to allow myself breaks and time for hobbies, but for many people that's either not feasible or not pleasant. What helps a great deal is finding support systems (friends to study with/share answers, extra tutoring, Chegg) and really getting smart about where your weaknesses are as a student (mine was figuring out exactly what I didn't understand and attacking it). Expect to get nominally terrible grades, but with a generous curve.

Cons would be the workload and the expectation that you really should get real-world experience through summer internships or co-ops, making it difficult to find any sort of downtime (I genuinely cannot stress this enough, you will be hustling your ass off). Pros would be (and I also cannot stress this enough) very, very reasonable job security. While I am not working a nominally engineering job, my engineering degree made me a very competitive candidate, and this holds true for a lot of professions. While, of course, it is not a 100% guarantee, engineering majors do make pretty good placements for decent salaries and for me that was very important. Also, when I actually did engineering stuff and not coursework, I really liked it! You don't have to be particularly smart to be an engineering student-- you just have to work hard and be able to think constantly. I really loved the content, getting to run through the reiterative process of design with a team, and being able to have a tangible product to show for our work. If that's something you like, then you might want to consider it, because once you get through the pre-reqs to focus on your interests, it's really damn fun.

I will say though as a more specific note-- you mentioned you're changing your major into engineering. I don't know from what field you're transferring into, or what year, but it's important to know that all engineering degrees have a substantial amount of pre-reqs to take as a freshman/sophomore before you even think of taking a major-specific engineering class (usually Physics I & II, Chem I & II and maybe Orgo, and Calc I-II). These pre-reqs will wipe you out, even if you do them all on-schedule. They are purposefully weeder courses because academia is hell and engineering academia is an even deeper layer of hell. It's definitely doable to take these pre-reqs while not being a freshman and still graduate on time-- I have a few friends that were able to manage it-- but you will hustle and it will most likely not be pleasant, unless you are smarter and more hard-working than I am. It can be done though, and I would suggest talking to either an academic advisor about what you need to do or with people you know that are engineering majors already.

Of course, this is just my two cents-- any other engineering folk, please feel free to add on. If you want to ask follow-ups or DM me directly, by all means do so! I hope this helps!