Engineering Difficulty

FØB Zero

FØB Zero

Enthusiastically American
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Jul 30, 2019
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i’m considering doing engineering (major) at a SA. At USAFA, their engineering majors are the hardest, most time-consuming ones there. Are the engineering majors at USMA exceptionally difficult too (relative to other majors)?
which majors in general are the most difficult and is the rigor weighted into class rank?
 
I am not sure about engineering but I became good friends with a USMA 2020 graduate and I asked him this same question. That somebody who was a history major vs engineering would typically rank higher in the class. He said all classes are weighted the same and equally hard.For what it is worth.
 
Historically Electrical Engineering has been considered by many to be the most challenging. USMA Engineering Dept has a very high national ranking so I would expect it to be just as challenging as USAFA.
 
It is good to do in-depth comparative analysis of majors. Please reassure us that you are also doing the same kind of analysis on finding your best potential fit in either the Army or Air Force, where you will be spending at least five years of your working life. Then reverse engineer to the best commissioning source for you. Research the top engineering schools with ROTC units, if an engineering major is a must-do for you. Assess the comparative elements of SA vs university, as they matter to you.

The long pole in the tent is which service culture you will find your best fit with and what you see yourself doing in various career paths. The SA or university is an educational pit stop, though a very important one.

If you have any interest in the Navy and nuclear engineering, check out the NUPOC program.
www.navycs.com

Nuclear Propulsion Officer Candidate Program

The basic requirements for selection to the Nuclear Propulsion Officer Candidate Program (NUPOC). Program leads to appointment on active duty as a Navy Ensign.
www.navycs.com
 
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First off I am biased as a ME myself. But engineering and other STEM intensive majors anywhere are by consensus considered more challenging than traditional liberal arts degrees.

The only way to really prove this statistically would be to have graduating SA class rank by major for multiple years [like at least 10-15] and look at mean and median GPA/class rank by major. I am pretty confident you will find a statistical bias against engineering grads.

Not suggesting any major is easy at any SA, and everyone has STEM core for 2 years, but engineering course material can be pretty brutal.

Lemme put it this way - regular college engineer grads get higher starting salaries, if it was just as easy why wouldnt everyone do it . . . Basic economics at work. And yes -- SAs are different and you cannot compare state school poli-sci grads to USMA etc. But differential equations vs term papers ? Has to be some recognition of level of difficulty.
 
MidwestDad said:
First off I am biased as a ME myself. But engineering and other STEM intensive majors anywhere are by consensus considered more challenging than traditional liberal arts degrees.

The only way to really prove this statistically would be to have graduating SA class rank by major for multiple years [like at least 10-15] and look at mean and median GPA/class rank by major. I am pretty confident you will find a statistical bias against engineering grads.

Not suggesting any major is easy at any SA, and everyone has STEM core for 2 years, but engineering course material can be pretty brutal.

Lemme put it this way - regular college engineer grads get higher starting salaries, if it was just as easy why wouldnt everyone do it . . . Basic economics at work. And yes -- SAs are different and you cannot compare state school poli-sci grads to USMA etc. But differential equations vs term papers ? Has to be some recognition of level of difficulty.
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Not sure about today but for quite a long time, Diff EQs was a required (core) course for everyone at USNA. That includes the English and History majors, etc.
 
Branch selection was recently changed to account for the difficulty of majors. In the past when branch selection was purely class rank those with more difficult STEM majors were often “punished” for taking tough majors. Now there is more to branch selection than just your class rank.
 
The hardest classes for any student are the ones that they aren’t interested in or don’t understand. I suspect my son would get an A in any stem course before he would get one in a humanities course he found boring.

Find your passion.
 
College students often change majors. Many changes are from one STEM major to another STEM major and non-STEM to non-STEM.

A look at any university will show that when the flow goes between STEM and non-STEM, it is usually one way - from STEM to non-STEM. When I changed from non-STEM to STEM my advisor was shocked and told me I was the only student he had ever encountered that did that.

A1 Janitor's comment on interest is spot on. Although I did well in History, Economics, and other non-STEM courses, I was completely bored with Philosophy and my grade showed it.
 
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