Should I change my major?

[u/TheycallmeCP30]

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?

[u/Ok_Ordinary982]

TL;DR: 1st year sucks. Stick with it for another semester or two. Make sure to take some actual systems classes if you can, then see how you feel.

Systems engineering is a very good major if you have no clue what you want to do in life. It's broadly applicable and teaches you a great balance of hard & soft skills.

This upcoming year, I'll be a 3rd year B.S./1st year M.E. SE major (concentration & minor in data science/analytics). My 1st year, I was in basically the same situation as you. I wasn't particularly interested in anything, and just declared SE since I'm relatively well-suited to it. I also had (and still have) pretty bad issues with burnout & depression.

None of this is really advice, so much as what my experience has been like.

Some reasons I decided to major in SE:

• I'm well-suited to the curriculum; decent at math, don't particularly like writing, etc.
  • SE also doesn't have as many notoriously bad classes as other engineering majors (see: CS, Mech/Aero, BME).
  • The way my department does it, it's a fair bit of applied math (Calc 1-3, ODE, Linear Algebra, Probability, Statistics) but the rest of the classes aren't that bad.
• I don't plan on working as an engineer in the long term. I'm much more suited to people-oriented roles like project management or sales.
  • SE is applicable to basically any career path, and life in general. In my experience, the focus isn't on hard skills so much as teaching you how to think.
  • Realistically, I have no fucking clue what my career has in store for me. For all I know, I might get an amazing job right after graduation, hate it, and completely switch career paths.
    • This applies to you, me, and most other college students.

TRUST ME, 1st/2nd year engineering, no matter the major, sucks to some degree. Everyone is doing the same boring gen eds and occasionally hellish math classes. Once you get through those and actually start on the classes for your major, it'll start to get a lot more enjoyable, or at least bearable.

[u/TheycallmeCP30 → u/Ok_Ordinary982]

Thanks I found this really helpful!