Keep changing my mind between Nursing and Engineering?

[Iodyn]

Hey, I'm new here to these threads. I am currently attending community college. I came in as an engineering science major at my cc. To start things off, I dropped out of high school when I was 16. I felt like my high school was a joke which it was. I never learned anything. I was suffering from depression/bipolar disorder. I hated the people at my school. I was doing average in all of my classes. Math class I had a good teacher but she spent more time yelling at the students. I never found math interesting. I failed GED math twice because I was unmotivated for life and didn't care. Then I took GED math classes and passed. I had this tutor who inspired me and made me love math. Due to me never finishing Algebra 2 in high school I had to take Intermediate Algebra at my college but passed with an A and enjoyed it. I tried out PreCalculus during the summer time and ended up dropping it due to it being too hard, my professor was horrible, everyone in the class seemed smarter than me, and I felt dumb. Again I felt discouraged and started thinking I am too dumb for engineering. Over the summer I was also thinking about doing Nursing but that also has it's downfalls for me. My mom is a nurse and she comes home miserable. My cousin is a nurse too and she hates it. I like engineering because you get to build things and that sounds cool! But I just feel like I'm dumb and have an embarrassing past with math- never doing well in it when I was in high school and failing the GED math test twice. But then I think, "That was the past this is the future." I'm just confused and angry because I can't make up my mind!

p.s sorry for the typos. I was in a rush.

 

[wukunlin]

why are your relatives miserable being nurses? idiotic patients? horrible diseases on people? more importantly, do you believe you will go down their paths as well?


the thing that caught my attentions the most is:

everyone in the class seemed smarter than me, and I felt dumb.

no, you will be amazed how easy (at least for me) it is to appear smarter than you are. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that you didn't take the "normal" route of getting all passes in high school and happily accepted into college etc etc.

from what I know, college is not a continuation of high school in terms of their materials, those who got wonderful marks in high school can be banging their heads against the wall from the very first lecture and those who barely got accepted can be cruising through their degree. In most universities I know their should be more than enough resources to help you get through every course.

another thing i noticed among my fellow class mates, 90% completely forgot what they learned in high school.


My point is, if you care enough to worry about your academic progress and whether other people in your class are smarter than you. That mindset along should set you above a large chunk of the class, as long as you are up to date with the materials in your lectures you will be fine.
If you are struggling, in maths for example, look for TA's to help you, they are paid, most likely from the fees you paid, keep bugging them (not at the cost of other students...) until you are confident about the stuff you are learning.


Another thing I would like to point out: engineering, especially electrical and software related engineering (they only ones I've done) is not difficult.
Really, they are not. If you have a solid mathematical basis, there shouldn't be any trouble at all (except for the very technical stuff like reading smith charts, but that's what the lectures are for)


So basically, ask your relatives and try have a clear idea of what it is actually like to work as a nurse and see if that is your cup of tea. If not, engineering is not a bad option, just be prepared to work hard on your maths :)

 

[smashbrohamme]

Look I am not going to sit here and bs you, I am going to tell you exactly how you need to hear it.

it seems you are making excuses for yourself/ lack of motivation.

You got your GED because you hated your school/ and the people, and you say you have a bipolar disorder. it seems to be excuses to me.

You dropped your precalculus class because you say your teacher was not to your liking.

Math is not fun by nature, it only gets fun when you start to use it in application to solve real world things.

you need to stop taking all other classes/ stop thinking about nursing and engineering, and take the math class, make sure you can pass that, then tackle other classes.

 

[Ivan92]

Now now. It is great that you have this idea that you want to be an Engineer, which is great! Let that be your motivation. Math is not easy but it is not impossible. You want to do well? Work at it! Very few people are born with an ability to do math naturally. Everyone had to work at it and that's how one gets good at it.

I noticed that you mentioned the people in your class seemed smarter than you. Maybe they are and maybe they aren't. However you are in the same class as them, so doesn't that tell you something about yourself? You are in a class with intelligent people. You worked your way up there. You deserve to be there. Life is not always a smooth ride. It will shock you what can happen. It is how you pull through that counts.

I believe you can be an engineer. It is not easy at all but if you pull through it is a major accomplishment. If you need help, ask for it! Do not be afraid! If you want to change, do it now!

 

[VikFloyd]

I'm not bad in math. I actually helped my sister with her GRE math. I think I will do good in the math part but I heard once stuff like the calculus based Physics courses come along things go hard. I like the idea of mechanical engineering.

And no I am not making excuses for myself. I know I lack confidence. I have a lot of motivation. If I didn't have motivation I wouldn't even be in college. I see math as fun. It's probably the only subject I can sit around doing the homework for without getting a headache. I like how math you have to think and solve. It's like a puzzle.