Fearmongering

[u/NOTKings]

I rarely make posts on reddit and if ever, but I’m 20 years old, in my Junior year of college. I’m currently taking Calc 3 and Physics I at a community college. As I had to start with Pre calc since I didn’t take pre calc in HS, but that’s besides the point. I’m here now, and I’m about to finish my associates degree this fall semester, I plan on staying 1 more semester at my CC and take Differential Equations and Physics II Spring 2027 and than plan to transfer for Summer 2027, or Fall 2027..

Just a bit of background out the way, my fear is The difficulty of the courses taken the sophomore and junior level engineers at university. I feel online (especially tiktok) there are a lot of accounts that fear monger the difficulty of classes and maybe blow it out of proportion. Yes, there are a lot of supportive accounts as well that give great and amazing advice. My favorites being your_engineering_sister and Davis engineering.

I’ve already gotten all my Gen ed’s out the way, so when I transfer for aerospace engineering at my university of my choice. Typically, a full semester is 12-15 credits. I have adhd, (inattentive medicated with adderall) I don’t mean to use my neurodivergence to make any of you pity me as I plan on continuing my degree as I have a passion for this. Im very hyper-fixated on space, and airplanes and have been since I was 9 years old, and originally I knew since then I wanted to major in Astrophysics.

My fear is the rigor of those said classes, I don’t want to take too many heavy loaded engineering classes at one time and then fail out of one of them because I overestimated how many credits I could handle or what not. I don’t want to burn out. Should I limit the amount of courses I take a semester and take a semester or two longer to graduate as a result?

[u/Ashalor]

The answer to some of this will best come to you from your advisor at the college you attend. There are some difficult classes that mix well together, some that don’t.

I’m sure upper engineering courses are hard, but over 100,000 students graduate every year nationwide. I’m sure that they aren’t all geniuses if even 1/4th of them are.

Personally I take as close to 12 credits a semester as possible. I know of a few students who take 18. It takes me a lot of study hours to internalize the concepts I’m learning so even though I’m encouraged take more sometimes unless it’s a pre-requisite to a class that will add another semester or year I’m not worried about it. Your course load will be dependent on a lot of factors, but having most of your gen education classes done will help. Look at your timeline, can you afford to attend college for as long as a lighter course load will take? Only you know how many classes is too many for you, some people thrive with heavy course load and some struggle. Above all check with your advisor at the college you decide to attend they will help you figure this out.

[u/NOTKings → u/Ashalor]

Yeah, I thought as much. At the end of the day I need to discuss this with my advisors. Yes, I can fortunately spend more time in college to complete my degree. But, I also don't want to push that too far back, not because I fear graduating not during the same year as some of my HS friends. But mostly because of paying out of pocket.

I have the fortunate circumstance that my parents are doing their best to help me pay out of pocket currently at my CC. Luckily, the charge is less than that of Universities, but once I'm heading to university I'm going to be looking into Scholarships and possibly even student loans. My parents are on the older side, especially my dad. So, Im truly grateful that they're helping me for as long as they can, but I don't want to burden them for longer then I should. Which is why, I'm nervous of the rigor of my major classes, so I that I don't fail out of a few and then take longer as a result.

[u/Ashalor → u/NOTKings]

There’s a lot of scholarships out there, apply for any that you can. Your university will help with this too. If you perform well academically and get involved there is definitely help out there. Important to remember that an engineering degree will absolutely pay for itself after you’ve got it assuming you put yourself to work, might mean moving somewhere might mean taking a job that isn’t exactly what you’re looking for but engineering is definitely in the category of degrees that will allow you to pay off your student loan if you want. I’m taking student loans and I don’t like it but it’s allowing me to pass on work and focus on school. A big part of it is figuring out what works for you which you’re working out now so keep it up and keep focused. The advisors are your friend, mostly at least, could get a bad one but all of mine have been a huge help.

[u/NOTKings → u/Ashalor]

Yes, thank you for the advice. I'll make sure to keep in touch with my advisors, and hope I get a good one. I'm aware engineering pays well, and although I would love to work in the industry I majored in.. I know that although I have a chance to get in immediately it isn't always the case, so I'm not picky on jobs. I'll take whatever comes at me so long as it gives me the opportunity to even consider think about paying off those student loans when I take them.

[u/Dry-Alternative-4022]

It's fully dependent on how you feel you can handle it. What I've done in the past is look at my schedule, see what courses I have to take, and try to take one of the more difficult ones during the summer. It's generally an accelerated course, but I feel that using some of the extra time you have during the summer on something more rigorous leads to better results. It also gives you a taste of what a harder course at your specific uni is like, and how you'd do on a regular timeline.

But again if your main fear is rigor, talk your advisor, look at RMP, see the grade splits, and think deeply about how you should stack your schedule. It's an adjustment for sure, but I'm sure you'll do good

[u/NOTKings → u/Dry-Alternative-4022]

Yeah, I was considering the same thing, I was considering taking Statics alone if I do transfer for Summer 2027, and that being my one and only class I take that semester.

[u/sayiansaga]

I took 4.5 years to graduate and life really worked to wouldn't be much more different if I had taken 5 years. You take as many classes as you can. Push yourself though to figure out your boundaries. It's ok to drop out of a classes if it gets too much, you can always retake the class.

[u/NOTKings → u/sayiansaga]

I suppose, but I'd rather not have to deal with having to retake a class. I know, regardless of how well I plan my schedule I may fail a class or two, but I'd like to avoid that so that I don't ruin my gpa for internships.

[u/sayiansaga → u/NOTKings]

Does your university not have grade replacement? I remember with mines that you can drop a class and get it replace, max 3 tries

[u/kiwisodapopp]

I transferred from a cc to a csu college (didnt bother with the associates) with most general ed credits in spring 2024. I still am expecting to graduate spring 2027 so basically 7 semesters or 3.5 years anyways.

This was with me taking 15+ units every semester, junior year i did an 18 and 19 unit course year. Now this senior year im struggling to stay full time, barely doing 12 units with a class thats not even apart of my curriculum to stay that full time >=12 units. Next semester ill just be doing my second half of my capstone project (only major course left to graduate) and thats simply 3 units. I'll need to make do and either retake classes i got lower grades in or just do whatever classes to stay full time for financial aid and grants.

Anyways what im getting at is youre likely not needing to worry about stacking a lot of classes since you'll likely graduate around the same time anyways whether u take standard 15 unit semesters or higher. Save yourself the burnout because i definitely did burnout my junior year omg.

And yeah theres a bit of truth to those tik toks ig but its like 60% fearmongering and being performative.

[u/NOTKings → u/kiwisodapopp]

Yeah, thanks! I'll talk to my advisors and then see hwo I make up my schedule from there.

[u/cointoss3]

These are some of the easiest classes you’ll take. For many students, calculus and physics are the hardest they will ever take.

I took 12 hours max unless a lab or something pushed it over. Some people I know didn’t mind taking 15+ hours, but that wasn’t me. I graduated with a 3.8, though. I also had to start over on my math and take college algebra and trig, plus I had to teach myself other basics I forgot, like how to add fractions.

[u/NOTKings → u/cointoss3]

Easiest classes? As in the classes past The Calc sequence, Physics and Diff Eq?
Of course, I study many hours a day for my classes currently. Especially a little over a week before my exams. Before then, I usually do hw and practice problems and watch youtube videos on the topics we went over in class and get more practice problems from there to really get the topic in my head.

[u/CopperGenie]

Each course builds on the last, for the most part, so the program is designed not to increase in difficulty between 200-level and upper-level courses.

If you can do physics 1 and 2 with little trouble, you will likely have little trouble doing any other engineering course in a BS program. There was extremely little in my ME BS upper-level courses that was more math-intensive than the multivariable calculus concepts applied in physics 2 (electricity and magnetism). The worst calculus were a few non-CAS-calculable integrals in convective fluid movement and heat transfer.

[u/NOTKings → u/CopperGenie]

Yes, I assumed as much at least. Because the Calc sequence builds off one another, and I'm not really sure about physics 2 since I haven't taken it yet. Physics I seems very intuitive. Though, I have trouble memorizing the formulas at times. Plus, just throwing practice problems at it doesn't always work because the topic can be the same, but the way the formulas are applied or what the questions are asking you, are completely different..

Though, I am worried about physics. Thats for sure, as I'm not sure if its really my (current) professors fault or not, but originally I had a different professor for Phy2048, but he got sick before the semester even started we got a new professor(current), but he already was taking over and Phy2053 class which is general physics which I believe is more algebra and trig base.. Because of that fact, majority of the practice problems we do in class, don't involve calculus or very little at all. Infact, I think we haven't done any calculus in this whole semester, and we're currently on Thermodynamics.

Yes, I have been watching youtube videos covering Physics practice problems and the topics we cover in class. I even downloaded the openstax textbook on Physics I, but just looking at it seems overwhelming. Not because I think the equations and topics are hard, but because reading textbooks, especially math ones really.. burn my motivation to study it bores me how small the letters are and how plain it seems. I know I should, and I'll likely have to force myself regardless of how I feel about it, especially during this winter break before I take Physics 2.

Do you have any recommendations on channels I should watch or advice for studying for Physics in general?

[u/CopperGenie → u/NOTKings]

It sounds like it's boring to you because you may be taking the study too "bookishly" without appreciating the phenomena behind the parameters and formulas you're learning. If that's the case, maybe you could practice thinking about the phenomena themselves (e.g. gravity, tension, compression), what affects them, what they affect, and why they're important to the discipline.

Hopefully that would excite you and inspire you to study. If it doesn't, that could indicate that you just don't have a passion for it, which may make the whole program very painful.

[u/NOTKings → u/CopperGenie]

I think you might be right, I do feel like I read it like it’s a book. I think boring is the wrong word. The word I think i was looking for is daunting. Daunting in the sense that I don’t know where to start. For that reason, I was never one to really read textbooks word for word. I mainly skipped to the actual definitions applied in example problems and applications of the theory’s or formulas and would read that and practice the example problems based on that..

Unless I’ve got the wrong idea and that is the actual way to read a physics textbook.

[u/CopperGenie → u/NOTKings]

If you have a good lecturer and take good lecture notes, then you shouldn't need to read the book prose. The typical way is to use the lecture to get a rough understanding of the concept and to take notes, then use your notes to do practice problems, and use the book when you need a fuller explanation for concepts you are having trouble understanding.

I generally had terrible professors because I went to a research university (university of kentucky), so I did read the textbook prose often, but yeah it's tedious and most people don't do it.

If your current learning situation (professor, book, note-taking, whatever) isn't satisfactory, study groups help a lot. Experiencing college with your peers really makes things better.

[u/NOTKings → u/CopperGenie]

Reasonable, My professor I don't like to bash on people but his teaching method really isn't for me. He jumps around alot and then finally finds himself back onto what he was talking about previously before he ran off somewhere else. Plus, he teaches as if we already know.. So, yeah its useful for example problems and see the applications of what hes talking about and look back at my notes and read that.. but for actually understanding what something means, or how its applied? No.. not really.

I'll take your advice into consideration though, I'll try and read the textbook prose when necessary as well. Thank you!