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Is it difficult to do well in an engineering major in college without any background experience?

I didn't participate in a robotics club or activities that involved designing and building anything, but I am a bit curious to explore it in college because I am undecided in what I want to pursue. Will it be difficult to catch up in college without any background knowledge or experience? Also, what are some good ways to explore the field by myself?

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engineering major extraccuriculars
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Ken’s Answer

If this is a career area for which your personality traits are a match with those of successful engineers, you should have no problem. However, it would be very important for you to do networking (face to face in person) with people who are working as engineers to confirm the results of the testing and confirm your feeling of comfort with that career area.


Congratulations on being interested in becoming an engineer. It takes a special person to enter this field and meet the demands which this career area presents. The first step is to get to know yourself to see if you share the personality traits which make engineers successful. The next step is doing networking to meet and talk to and possibly shadow engineers to see if this is something that you really want to do, as a career area could look much different on the inside than it looks from the outside.  

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
You will find these links vey helpful to learn more about engineering: ## https://www.engineergirl.org/ ## ## http://www.futureengineers.org/ ## ## https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zVcmTJSKM ## ## http://stemtosteam.org/ ##
Thank you comment icon Thank you for your detailed answer! I'll definitely look into some of these resources. Suet
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Ron’s Answer

If you are proficient in math and and have an "analytical" mind you should do fine. Required math classes (and physics) can weed people out of the major. There are many types of engineering so if you have an idea as to what you would like to focus on that would be grand, but not necessary. Go for it!!
Thank you comment icon Thank you for your answer and encouragement! I'll try those required classes to see if this is right for me. Suet
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Tasha’s Answer

Qualifications Needed to Enter an Engineering Program include four years of English; four years of mathematics– algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus; three years of science, biology, chemistry, physics and two years of social sciences. These courses are what typical engineering programs look for.
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