Further Education

[csather666]

I am half-way through my electronics engineering technology A.A.S program at my local community college and ideally I would like to transfer to get my bachelors. However I am not sure what to get my bachelors in, I do not feel it is necessary to get a bachelors in EET and I am only sort of decent at math so getting any kind of engineering degree is ruled out. I thought maybe A BS in Biotechnology because I like science but, I would be starting nearly from scratch, maybe sophomore year if I'm lucky. I love the EET program but, I want a bachelors degree so I will have more options in my life, so I was wondering if any of you guys on the blog are or were in a similar position, Ex: got an associates in EET and a bachelors in accounting or something.

Any info would be great!

-Thanks,
  Colin

[EEVblog]

Do the course in what you are interested in, not what you think you can do, or what you think might give you better career options.

[Syntax_Error]

I'm not the demographic asked for, so sorry if this is unsolicited advice/opinion:

Do you like engineering? If so, get the engineering degree and don't look back. I have met engineers whose math skills were unimpressive, and they were still good engineers. Don't let something like decent math skills shut doors for you.

If you want to do something else, by all means, go ahead and study that. But if what you are secretly saying to yourself is, "I really wish I was better at math so I could learn engineering, but I will just have to settle for something less." then I say SCREW THAT fear and go for it. You will be pleasantly surprised when you achieve your goal despite your flaws and navigating some tough road ahead of you, to look back someday and be very thankful you didn't shy away from your true desires.

I know first hand what it's like to feel handicapped by lack of ability in a necessary area (i.e. math) and I may be projecting that onto you unfairly, but if this is the case, buck up and go for it. (I am, and I haven't done poorly yet!)

[DIPLover]

I second the "don't worry about math skills" if you're interested in an engineering degree.

I have completed my EE degree despite marginal math skills, and am now doing an applied research Ph.D in EE, building machine-learning automated diagnostic systems.

There were 4 actual math courses as well as 4 math-heavy physics courses in the whole curriculum (of about 40 courses).
All you need to do is pass them and understand the basic concepts and how they fit together.

Afterwards, you'll use (or build) tools to do the math for you, there's a reason we've invented computers in the first place...

[IanB]

Doing what you are interested in is good advice, but you do also need the aptitude to make it through.

It's easy to say, "oh, there wasn't really that much math involved when I studied engineering", but that depends where you are coming from. One person's gentle foothills of math maybe someone else's unclimbable mountain.

The only answer is to get a qualified opinion based on a personal assessment. You should be able to find out from a course tutor, your existing grades, and the math prerequisites of a prospective EE program whether you are up to it.

If you are interested in EE and you can do it, then go for the EE degree. Don't choose something else just because your first choice seems too hard.

[Dave]

I agree with the fellows above me, don't let your lack of math skills stop you from pursuing an EE career.

However, instead of saying "I'm bad at math", do something to change that. There are many books available, many online courses, etc. Math only becomes easy once you've spent enough time on it. The sooner you start, the sooner you are going to get good at it.

Contrary to what some people may believe, you are going to need to know advanced math to become a good engineer. Engineering is basically applied mathematics. Electrical/electronics engineering in particular are especially rich in math, because most concepts can only really be explained with complex equations - no way around that.

To sum up: Do attempt to become an EE, if this excites you, and put in the effort to become good at math, because you are going to need it.

[coppice]

Contrary to what some people may believe, you are going to need to know advanced math to become a good engineer.

Not necessarily. If you are really hopeless at maths you will struggle as an engineer in any discipline. However, if you are just a bit weak at maths there are opportunities. I wouldn't try going into, say, signal processing with weak maths. On the other hand a huge number of electronics engineers hardly ever do anything more complex than plugging a few values into some formulae. If you work alone I think there can be problems, as you will hit a mathematical obstacle every now and then. If you work in a team there's usually someone who will delight in being able to show off and get you over those obstacles.

For reference, I'm one of the people who does the maths.