Ask an Engineer

I think it's very natural when undertaking a long and (sometimes) difficult task, to feel overwhelmed and want to give up. It is especially helpful to determine your purpose.

Are you going into engineering to create innovation that will help the world ...

Defining and refining your Purpose is crucial to continued focus and success.

In business, a company must define their purpose, mission and vision for existing. These are the statements that can be used to reflect back on when the business hits a bump in ...

Great question! There is A LOT to deal with these days.

I think you first need to understand your personality and what gives you a sense of accomplishment – do you need short term goals, long term, other? Also, what are the things you like to do that ...

Hey! It's awesome that you're interested in engineering and that you're strong in math and science – that's a fantastic foundation! Seriously, those skills are super important for becoming an engineer, so you're already on a great track.

Your sister does ...

I won't lie to you: the better you are with words (reading and writing), the stronger your impact as an engineer will be! I cannot imagine an engineering job in which you won't need to communicate your ideas, plans, and accomplishments to other people. ...

You do not have to be good at every subject. I would encourage you to look for STEM in subjects that you aren’t great at. You’d be surprised how much STEM plays a role in history, and you can find books related to your interests or find STEM in the books ...

If you are passionate about engineering, then I wouldn't let a stumble in a class deter you from pursuing your dream of being an engineer. I know plenty of engineers who have received a C in a class and continued on to be highly successful in their ...

Absolutely! I was a lot like you when I was in high school. I was never great at math. I understood the concepts but when it came to apply it, I would always get lost. Then I was then diagnosed with dyscalculia my freshman year of college. Many students ...

YES! Who says you are not good in math? Your grades? These are skills that you develop as you use them. If you learned to play an instrument or a sport, you know that those things take practice. Math is no different!
You learn to use math and the more ...

This question is always a difficult one to answer. It depends on what you mean by excel. If it means you don't enjoy math and science, then engineering may be difficult for you. If it means you enjoy math and science, but find it difficult, then ...

I would polish up on my writing skills and communication skills early on during college or even in high school.  I would learn acting skills that would help me with presentation and dealing with difficult people.  Emotional Intelligence and how to win ...

My advice: don’t hesitate – speak up and share your ideas. Everyone has a voice, use yours when you know you have a valid point.

Until I was a junior in college I thought the people who volunteered to do things in class knew what they were doing, even if it was a new subject. I finally asked a young man how he was going to do the problem the professor had asked someone to do? He ...

If you enjoy science and math, I don’t see why you should stress about taking chemical engineering as a major!

Engineering, as many other majors, requires hard work, but this doesn’t mean you need to leave your social life behind. Engineering offers a ...

While the curriculum involved in pursuing engineering is rather difficult, I have found that it did not make me any less social. In some cases, it made me more social! In my junior and senior years, I worked more in our engineering building with fellow ...

This is a fair question and I think a lot of people are scared off from majoring in engineering because of this and also fears of the difficulty of engineering classes. First, I would absolutely recommend you pick chemical engineering as a major, since ...

This is a complicated question that requires a complicated answer! The short answer is: I would encourage you to separate your feeling of whether or not you enjoy engineering and whether you find engineering easy. It’s possible to still take joy in ...

One of the things that makes engineering such a cool field is that it keeps getting harder and harder — and more and more interesting! You move from basic math and physics courses to higher-level topics like fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, mechatronics, ...

You should not sell yourself short on the option to keep trying! Keep going…at least for right now. Sometimes we have a little hurdle we need to clear and then all is good again.

I was a straight-A student for my entire K-12 school years, then I went to ...

Hi!  Materials science and engineering is inherently interdisciplinary, with strong connections to physics, chemistry, math and the engineering fields.  When I was in high school, I did well in math but did not like chemistry or physics very much.  But, ...

Hi Emma! The path to becoming an engineer typically includes obtaining a 4-year college degree from an accredited engineering program at a university. Some go on to obtain a 2 year master's degree (to get some more specialized education before starting a ...

This is a question I can relate to. In high school, I failed math miserably and was even told to drop calculus by my teacher. I had a hard time learning until I found out I’m auditory. I have the ability to remember sounds (like others with photographic ...

Let me start off with my two experiences.

In my junior year in college (very intense Electrical Engineering department), I realized that I am “average”. I studied and studied but my scores were always average. So, I decided to quit. I called my dad and ...

I got a D in thermodynamics in college as my final grade in the class. At the time I was HORRIFIED! I didn't get D's ever. I was an almost straight A student. But looking back I wear it as a badge of honor that despite the D, I still graduated and am a ...