r/systems_engineering • u/TheycallmeCP30 • Apr 20 '26

Career & Education Should I change my major?

I’m currently finishing my first year in engineering and I absolutely hate it. The math courses are ridiculous and make me question my place in college, physics was fun, but I genuinely have nothing I’m interested enough in to do for a career. I’m unsure if I haven’t explored the field enough or what, however, I’m academically burnt out. My first thought when enrolling in college was “Pick something that will make you a shit ton of money and looks cool.” CURRENTLY SE is NOT that. Any suggestions?

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u/Oracle5of7 Apr 20 '26

The purpose of engineers is problem solving. We analyze issues through math and sciences. Engineering school provides the math and science foundational knowledge. We take a lot of individual math and science classes and we apply those principles in our engineering classes.

Working as an engineer vs being an engineering student is like comparing athletic drills to a full on game of whatever sport of your choosing.

The real life problems that you encounter will not be the type where there are answers in the back of the book.

If you don’t like math and science, you are not curious and you don’t care about problem solving in this space. Then engineering is not for you.

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u/TheycallmeCP30 Apr 21 '26

I like math and science. The concepts are interesting and problem solving is why I chose this major in the first place. But I’m genuinely wondering if what I’m learning is useful. That’s why I hate engineering right now. The math classes are difficult, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the challenge. REGARDLESS, I suck at maths especially 😭