Considering Switching from Physics to Computer Engineering

[jazzlynkait]

Hi everyone,

I’m a first-year physics student currently taking my end-of-semester exams, and I’ve been feeling really discouraged. Physics isn’t what I thought it would be, and I’m struggling to stay motivated. My courses include Calculus, Linear Algebra, General Physics, Programming, and Chemistry. The only classes I truly enjoy and feel confident about passing are Programming and Linear Algebra.

Every other class is a nightmare. While I’m surrounded by brilliant classmates who seem to pass with ease, I’m stuck barely understanding anything. I’ve failed exams, put in countless hours of effort, and yet I can't even get close to the minimum grade. It’s exhausting to work so hard and still feel like I’m falling behind.

I started studying this major hoping to uncover the “why” behind the physical world, but the reality has been disappointing. The material feels overly theoretical, rushed, and chaotic. At this point, I don’t even care to understand it anymore. I’ve even spent a lot of money on private lessons for both Physics and Calculus, but I still don’t feel passionate about what I’m learning.

Before starting university, I already knew that classical physics wasn’t my favorite area, but I didn’t expect it to be this overwhelming. Lately, I’ve been considering switching to Computer Engineering. It’s something I’ve always been interested in, especially topics like simulations, 3D animations, programming, and software in general.

You might be wondering, "If you dislike Physics so much now, why did you choose it in the first place?" Well, here’s some context: I used to excel in Physics. I consistently earned top grades, participated in competitions, and was even invited to exclusive school meetings for high-achieving students. All of this made me believe that Physics was the right path for me. I’ve gone from being a top student to feeling incredibly stupid. And when I was first accepted into Physics, I was so excited. I kept reading the program’s syllabus, thinking how interesting it all sounded. Now, just four months in, I’m questioning everything.

Computer Engineering has always been my second option because, as I mentioned before, studying Computer Science was my biggest dream when I was younger. Over time, I developed an interest in environmental topics, things like climate, cloud formation, tornadoes, and volcanoes, which gradually pulled me away from Computer Science.

But now, I can't help but question myself: Would I really enjoy studying subjects like atmospheric physics, environmental physics, or meteorology when I struggle to understand and feel passionate about simpler topics like fluids or thermodynamics? What if I switch to Computer Engineering and end up feeling the same way? What if I’m stuck watching others move forward while I’m still unsure of what I want to do with my life? I also worry that I’ll regret changing paths, especially since I used to be so excited about Physics.

Right now, I feel so disappointed with my initial experience that everything else seems more appealing and easier than my current degree. I have to admit, no matter how much it pains me to say it, maybe I’m not smart enough or curious enough for a Physics degree. At the moment, the idea of studying Computer Engineering and specializing in something like software development, maybe even video game design, excites me much more. But what if I make the switch, and then Physics starts to seem appealing again?

I know it’s common to feel lost during the first year of university, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I’m hoping to hear from others who’ve been in similar situations—engineers who started with Physics and switched, or physicists who once considered leaving but stayed. Any advice or insights would mean a lot right now.

Thank you for reading.

 

[berkeman]

Welcome to PF.

I’m a first-year physics student currently taking my end-of-semester exams, and I’ve been feeling really discouraged. Physics isn’t what I thought it would be, and I’m struggling to stay motivated.

First year at uni in the technical fields can be rough. Here is what I said in my PF Mentor Biography about my university experience:

What were some of your biggest challenges in completing your Masters in electrical engineering?

The MSEE part was probably the easier part; the BSEE part was much more challenging for several reasons. The high school in Calistoga was fairly small, and I was able to graduate salutatorian without having to study very much. This meant that I didn’t have good study habits when I went off to college at UC Davis. So I got my butt kicked the first semester, getting a C in chemistry and not much better in Calculus. Yikes.

That was a real wakeup call for me! I resolved to study better and harder, and bring my final GPA up as high as I could, given the low initial value from the first semester. I buckled down and studied harder (and smarter), typically studying 40+ hours a week outside of classes. Things clicked much better with the extra effort, and by the time I graduated with the BSEE, I had my GPA back up to 3.67/4.0, with a 3.9/4.0 in technical classes.

One of my fondest memories from undergrad was when I got a 97/100 on a technical-track undergrad physics midterm exam, and the average was 50/100 on the exam. I felt great, and that was part of my falling in love with physics.

By the time of my senior year, I was feeling much better about school, and had most of my classes under pretty good control (it still took a lot of work to do well, but the stress level was lower). I ended up being the chairperson of our Student IEEE branch, and helped to make the group pretty active. That included organizing several field trips to Silicon Valley high-tech companies (the companies paid for the tour bus for each trip, as a recruiting tool looking for new-hire candidates), and I was able to get back to working out in the pool several days a week. Senior year was good.

Reference: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/interview-electrical-engineer-berkeman/

So how was your preparation for university? Did you go to a very competitive high school, or one where you could do well without much effort (like me)? What kind of study techniques and habits do you have?

At the start of each semester/quarter when you go to the university bookstore to buy your textbooks, when you open the books and look through them do you get goosebumps seeing the material you will learn and understand in the coming months? I did. If you feel goosebumps for one topic (CS) and not the other (Physics), that may be a good bellwether.

 

[jazzlynkait]

Thank you for replying!

I'm not from the United States, I live in Spain. Here, all students have to take the same university entrance exam. After that, each person applies for the degree program they're interested in. Based on the applications and the grades achieved, a cut-off score is determined, and only those who exceed it are admitted. So, if you want to get into a challenging program like Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, etc., you have to work hard from the start, since you never know how high the required score will be.

That said, I admit my study habits were (and still are) poor. I've never been the kind of person to study consistently from day one, and it didn’t help that, once I got into university, the content completely disappointed me. I never imagined Physics would be so extremely theoretical and abstract. Naturally, I didn’t make good use of my free time, skipped classes for the subjects I found hardest, and ended up overwhelmed by everything.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been pushing myself to the limit—day and night, non-stop—to try to catch up on everything I lost. I’ve handled it really poorly. What worries me is that maybe I do like Physics, but my lack of discipline makes it hard for me to realize it. Then again, I wonder—if I really liked it, wouldn’t I feel excited to understand it? Like you said, wouldn’t there be at least a small part of me that’s thrilled about discovering everything this field has to offer?

But, to be honest, I don’t feel that with Computer Engineering either. I mean, I AM really excited about the more specific and advanced topics, like learning about astronomy, computational physics, metereology, AI, software,... But the thing is, there’s a long and difficult road to get there, and I’m not sure if the right choice is to change paths or not :/

 

[MidgetDwarf]

From reading, one can get the impression you are moving towards Computer Engineering due to doing well in the course.

No one can tell you what you should study. But if you do not adress your lack of study habits, then it would be highly imposibble to get a degree in any stem field.

Maybe its too late this semester. Sometimes people need to do bad before they can do well. Try your best right now, reflect on what you could have done better after, then put it into action next semester.

 

[gmax137]

It’s something I’ve always been interested in, especially topics like simulations, 3D animations, programming, and software in general.

In my experience, simulating or animating real phenomena is a matter of getting the computer to solve the equations revealed by the physics. The computer engineers were good at unraveling / preventing spaghetti code, and making the thing run faster. But the guts was in the physics. Consider sticking with it for awhile.

 

[Orodruin]

As already mentioned, your study habits will have to be addressed regardless of what you choose. Studying a STEM field at university is significantly more difficult than high-school and you are definitely not alone in running into a wall - many students do.

As for your passion for physics, you mention that you want to know the ”why”, which also is a bit of a red flag to me. In physics there is no ”why” at the bottom, which is something one needs to be aware of. The purpose of physics is not to provide a ”why”, but to describe how things work as accurately as possible. (Then you can of course describe why for different phenomena based on a defined theory)