I mean why do colleges tend to make engineering their hardest major? I mean whats the point with all this weeding out students? People who love the topic and subject are denied from pursuing it as a career because they made it unneccesarily too hard. I really wanted to become a computer engineer. I took a calculus class. I was literally putting 20 hours a week into it and got a C. Whats with that? I only got a C because that was the only class I was taking aside from entry level english. I've known some students who have failed dynamics three times in a row. They are 26 yeard old and still a sophmore in engineering. I mean I feel so depressed, I dont feel life has a point since I cant pursue my love. Recently Ive just been picking up programming books and studying it myself since I love it, but whats the point if I cant make a career out of this. I dont want to do some career I have no interest. Some people tell me to go to accounting since its easier, but I think its dry and boring. But engineering is way too hard. So depressing. I mean would it be a crime to make studying engineering fun, intuitive and enjoyable rather than the regurgitation/rote memorization fest it is right now? Whats your opinion on how colleges/universities teach engineering? Agree/disagree?

Removed, because misread part of original post.

Difficulty depends on how compatible you are with the teaching methods. Colleges can't accommodate everyone's preferred form of learning, so the burden is on students to adapt to the way things are taught.

The point of the calculus classes in tech colleges isn't to teach you how to solve integrals - it's to force your brain to adapt more ways to reason about abstract concepts. All STEM fields rely on you being *very* good at abstract reasoning. Knowing how to integrate will likely never be used again in your career, but suffering through the classes will permanently improve your ability to think.

The point of weeding out students is to prevent polluting the job market with people who aren't very good.

I mean why do colleges tend to make engineering their hardest major? I mean whats the point with all this weeding out students? People who love the topic and subject are denied from pursuing it as a career because they made it unneccesarily too hard.

It's not hard - I breezed through a Bachelors and a Masters in Computer Science, with only a single B- to my name. Many others do the same.

Unfortunately (as with any other discipline), some people have a much greater aptitude for computer science than do others. If it truly is your passion, then by all means stick to it, but if you have even the tiniest flicker of doubt, I'd recommend you search for a field where you have both aptitude and passion.

Ask yourself: what is it about engineering that makes you passionate about it? if you can answer that question, we might be able to suggest a related field that would play to that passion equally well.

You're entitled to do basically whatever you want for your own reasons, and no one can tell you how to pursue it or to what extent, but this is called a hobby. Hobbies can be very fulfilling and enjoyable in and of their own making.

However, if you wish to be a professional at whatever it is you have a passion for, then you have to also achieve a base level of knowledge and ability, just like everyone else in that profession. Plenty of kids wanted to fly fighter jets but had poor eyesight, or to be an astronaut but were too tall. Be grateful that calculus is probably something you can work at long and hard enough to overcome if that's the path you want, but you're not entitled for anyone to make it fun or easy for you. Some people have more natural ability or uptake at certain activities. That's life. Some people are dealt a hand that plays into their goals, and others aren't. Some into riches, and some into dirt.

That said, if you want to be a programmer, you usually don't need a great deal of math beyond algebra, trig, linear algebra. Knowing enough calculus to work through a problem with references is helpful, and the more-skilled you are, the better. But it's not like you need to be able to recall the hundreds of calculus identities from memory or you'll be worthless.

Calculus 3 is about where I started having difficulties, but I've still used applied calculus in programs, and it's never been a roadblock to anything I wanted to achieve.

You're entitled to do basically whatever you want for your own reasons, and no one can tell you how to pursue it or to what extent, but this is called a hobby. Hobbies can be very fulfilling and enjoyable in and of their own making.

However, if you wish to be a professional at whatever it is you have a passion for, then you have to also achieve a base level of knowledge and ability, just like everyone else in that profession. Plenty of kids wanted to fly fighter jets but had poor eyesight, or to be an astronaut but were too tall. Be grateful that calculus is probably something you can work at long and hard enough to overcome if that's the path you want, but you're not entitled for anyone to make it fun or easy for you. Some people have more natural ability or uptake at certain activities. That's life. Some people are dealt a hand that plays into their goals, and others aren't. Some into riches, and some into dirt.

That said, if you want to be a programmer, you usually don't need a great deal of math beyond algebra, trig, linear algebra. Knowing enough calculus to work through a problem with references is helpful, and the more-skilled you are, the better. But it's not like you need to be able to recall the hundreds of calculus identities from memory or you'll be worthless.

Calculus 3 is about where I started having difficulties, but I've still used applied calculus in programs, and it's never been a roadblock to anything I wanted to achieve.

/sign I guess your right. It

You're entitled to do basically whatever you want for your own reasons, and no one can tell you how to pursue it or to what extent, but this is called a hobby. Hobbies can be very fulfilling and enjoyable in and of their own making.

However, if you wish to be a professional at whatever it is you have a passion for, then you have to also achieve a base level of knowledge and ability, just like everyone else in that profession. Plenty of kids wanted to fly fighter jets but had poor eyesight, or to be an astronaut but were too tall. Be grateful that calculus is probably something you can work at long and hard enough to overcome if that's the path you want, but you're not entitled for anyone to make it fun or easy for you. Some people have more natural ability or uptake at certain activities. That's life. Some people are dealt a hand that plays into their goals, and others aren't. Some into riches, and some into dirt.

That said, if you want to be a programmer, you usually don't need a great deal of math beyond algebra, trig, linear algebra. Knowing enough calculus to work through a problem with references is helpful, and the more-skilled you are, the better. But it's not like you need to be able to recall the hundreds of calculus identities from memory or you'll be worthless.

Calculus 3 is about where I started having difficulties, but I've still used applied calculus in programs, and it's never been a roadblock to anything I wanted to achieve.

*sign* i guess your right. Its just not easy dealing with a shattered dream, but I'll get over it eventually

Where are you? Computer Engineering is very different from Computer Science at the university I went to, and is much more about designing electronic components (like electrical engineering) than writing software for them, which is presumably what you want to focus on for game development.

Have you checked around for other degree programs that involve software development?

If it makes you feel any better I went through hell to get my degree but I still came out on the other side with a 3.1 GPA and a bachelors in CIS. I love writing software but the math part was very difficult for me. I had to retake one math course three times before I passed with a decent grade. I now have a professional job writing automation software that pays well and is very fulfilling most of the time.

The point I am trying to make is that it IS possible to prevail in the face of tremendous adversity. I recommend you make the sacrifices necessary to continue pursuing your dreams. Don't give up till the bitter end.

I don't know how much I relate as I never took any pure engineering courses, I got my undergraduate in Mathematics and am now pursuing a PhD in the same field.

But I find that a lot of fields that are as rigorous as mathematics, physics, or engineering, a lot of people have trouble coming to terms with the first time they are expected to work out methods of solving problems, instead of using given methods to just plug into. The first foundations of analysis class that I took had a bunch of people taking it for the third time, it was known as one of those 'weeding out' courses.

I hit that point where it seemed like what I thought I loved was too difficult the first time I took a serious course on Partial Differential Equations. I later retook it after much more study and many of the things that gave me trouble were because I was over thinking it.

You have to know your calculus for most scientific and engineering fields. If you truly love engineering you will be willing to put the work into it. Don't worry too much about it.

By no means should you be discouraged if its what you want to do, you just have to be prepared for the fact that you're going to have to work harder, and that you might not reach the same echelons that someone with greater natural aptitude might. You can do quite well on aptitude or hard work alone, but the truly great usually have a good measure of both.

Maybe you don't have the success you would hope for, but you've only got one life to live, so give it all you've got, and if you fail, do it over again just to be sure.

I didn't pass every college course I took either, the first time through.