engineering and running

Kevin Sullivan - Michigan - 1500m Olympian for Canada

If you can't get at least a 3.6 in engineering with 0 time spend studying you aren't cut out for college.

At least two of the Wisconsin XC guys (Brill and ?) are Engineering majors (Civil?); they also have majors in biology and other difficult areas.

A couple of years ago Wisconsin's track team had two Academic All-Americans who were decathletes, probably the most time-intensive event. One was an First-Team All American engineering major (and 2nd at NCAAs), the other was the overall top Academic All American and he was a fifth year student who was in his first year of med school; he was leading the Big Ten decathlon until nh in the PV).

The best advice I can give is take your time. I took too many hours so that I could graduate in four years (no summer classes), and it hurt my running once I got into the design courses. The first few years were cake, but the design courses are too time consuming to take a lot at once. I had to miss a lot of practices and run alone whenever I could fit it in.

I'll have to agree that civil engineering is easier than mechanical, but I'm not sure why people are implying that civil engineers aren't as smart mechanical. Most chose it because it interested them more, not because they couldn't cut it in mechanical. The engineering disciplines take a lot of the same courses for the first couple of years anyway.

For the last 25 or so years, EE/CS has had the highest admissions standards for undergraduate students, at least at Berkeley and MIT. Civil is at the other end of the spectrum.

Is this another one of the Letsrun patented anonymous Biggest D*ck contests?

All should be thankful of the opportunities afforded to them to pursue such an education and should categorize their successes with humble perspective. You aren't smart, you're privelaged. Get it right!

*privileged

EE ME ChemE PetE have the highest entrance standards, not CS.

abetengr wrote:

our matlab system dynamics assignments are usually 10-20 hrs a week. thats just one assignment for one class.

You must have been a total moron

civil is not necessarily easy. i don't think you can categorize each engineering discipline into "easy" or "hard". all are tough compared to liberal arts and all require a good understand of math, physics, chemistry, biology, computers, coding, etc. plus, all engineers take the same classes for the first 2 years anyway.

engineering is what you make of it. it can be very interesting so pick a field you like. if you use your time wisely and plan ahead, you should have time to run. just don't take too many credit hours in any given semester.

EE ME ChemE wrote:

EE ME ChemE PetE have the highest entrance standards, not CS.

Who cares? A person should choose a career they are passionate about, not because of some perceived status of elitism they will enjoy by being in that career. Many engineers I've worked with lack the self-awareness to realize they look and act like complete douchebags (this thread is a good example). A lot of engineers are not very smart, but they want you to think they are.

civil wrote:

civil is not necessarily easy. i don't think you can categorize each engineering discipline into "easy" or "hard". all are tough compared to liberal arts and all require a good understand of math, physics, chemistry, biology, computers, coding, etc. plus, all engineers take the same classes for the first 2 years anyway.

engineering is what you make of it. it can be very interesting so pick a field you like. if you use your time wisely and plan ahead, you should have time to run. just don't take too many credit hours in any given semester.

I think the point of many posters is that if you find engineering very difficult than you might not have the aptitude for it. I ran and did mechanical engineering and almost never studied. Was it as easy as the physical education major that all my friends did maybe not but it really wasn't that bad. Let this thread be a lesson to all of you high school kids out there, major in what you are good at and college will be easy. If it takes you 10-20 hours to do one matlab assignment than you clearly were not cut out for engineering.

Yeah a-hole, because Matlab programming is only for uber-talented geniuses such as yourself, as opposed to an easily acquirable skill for ANYBODY who wants to learn it....as is the case for anything you were taught in your ME program. Just keep telling yourself that you're 'talented', and you 'have what it takes.'

FU wrote:

Yeah a-hole, because Matlab programming is only for uber-talented geniuses such as yourself, as opposed to an easily acquirable skill for ANYBODY who wants to learn it....as is the case for anything you were taught in your ME program. Just keep telling yourself that you're 'talented', and you 'have what it takes.'

I can't even think of what you would do in matlab that would take 10-20 hours each week.

It depends on the assignment....I remember doing projects that would take weeks to write code for and analyze. Majoring in any engineering discipline at any respectable university will be very time consuming compared to what you would encounter in most other majors. Anybody who tells you that they didnt have to study either went to a school that has low standards or is just completely full of it. Most classes will require students to develop new skills, and sometime apply them while you're still learning, that arent in the least bit intuitive...matlab for example; there is no course of reasoning or logic that will allow you to write code if you dont put in the time to learn it. Much like learning a new language, anybody is capable, it just takes effort.

How exciting -- nerds arguing with each other.

daniele meucci

european bronze in 10000

half marathon in 1:02

FU wrote:

Yeah a-hole, because Matlab programming is only for uber-talented geniuses such as yourself, as opposed to an easily acquirable skill for ANYBODY who wants to learn it....as is the case for anything you were taught in your ME program. Just keep telling yourself that you're 'talented', and you 'have what it takes.'

Hey bro I'm not saying anyone who has trouble with mat lab is an idiot. What I am saying is that everybody has apititudes. If I had majored in English or something like that I would have spent 10-20 hours writing papers every week which is why I majored in ME. I'm not claiming that I never studied or that I am some genius. I just said I majored in engineering, rarely studied, and ran. My advice to you is calm down and major in something you find comes naturally to you. If you really find everything in engineering so difficult try some thing else. Good luck

Just major in math.