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Beldaran
10-07-2008, 12:21 AM
I did not enter Baylor as an Electrical Engineering major. I was going to do Computer Science because I had previously supported myself as a programmer and really enjoyed software development.

However, I felt like I wanted to do more math and explore new subjects like engineering and physics. So I made my major Electrical Engineering after my first semester.

Turns out I love the "Engineering" part of Electrical Engineering, but not the "Electrical" part. I really struggled with the first Circuit Analysis class because I did not enjoy the subject matter, and so I barely escaped with a C. I should have studied more, but I just didn't like it at all and I was horrible at analyzing anything but a basic circuit. Complicated networks with dependent sources, inductors, capacitors, and amplifiers were just a nightmare for me, given my already tepid interest level. Another class that had me dragging my feet was Digital Logic. I would not call working with VHDL "programming". It's just a codified method of describing hardware. It only looks like computer code, but it sort of isn't.

My favorite classes were math, science, and computer science, but my attention to them was constantly diverted by classes that made me feel increasingly stressed out by the proposition of spending my career measuring voltages and using the equation V = IR until my eyeballs fell out of my head. It wasn't the kind of "math" I fantasized about. A circuit network is like some kind of demented puzzle designed to prevent you from doing anything else that's interesting except staring at it and feeling irritated.

I began my junior year with the determination to get good grades and just try and plow through the electronics classes so that I could enjoy some of the other more actual math and programming challenges.

I got an F on my first Electronic Design test. Almost everyone else got at least a B. Many people got A's. Maybe I subconsciously failed this test on purpose as a sign that I am perhaps not doing the right thing. It's completely absurd to be JEALOUS of your friend's computer science homework. When you are jealous of someone else's homework, you are spending your time incorrectly.

Happily, I have dropped Electronic Design and changed my major to Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science. This allows me to have the same graduation date, as I have already finished half of the classes required for a math major. I want to write software, and I want to be knowledgeable in math and science. I don't want to read about circuits anymore.

I wouldn't be able to compete for a job with people who actually like electronics. In the world of analysis and software development, I feel I can be competitive and, most importantly happy.

That is all.

Zank_Tripper
10-07-2008, 01:02 AM
What made up my mind to major in Computer Science was something that Prof. Fry (a Comp Sci Professor at Baylor) told me when I first visited Baylor during my senior year of high school. At the time I was thinking I wanted to do either Computer Science or Engineering, but I wasn't sure. She told me that if I thought of computers as useful tools for doing Math and Physics, I should be an Engineering Major. On the other hand if I thought of Math and Physics as useful tools for better using computers, then I should be a Computer Science Major. I chose the latter, and haven't regretted it since.

Icey
10-07-2008, 01:09 AM
Yeah, you just described all the classic symptoms of being in the wrong major. It's a good thing you were able to realize this before it was too late, and to change your major. Sounds like you made a good decision, so congrats!

Modus Ponens
10-07-2008, 03:48 AM
It won't let me rep you because I repped you too recently, but congratulations on your new major. Now, go out there and get yourself an Erdős number!

Lilith
10-07-2008, 11:11 AM
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Pryme8
10-07-2008, 09:30 PM
^_^ bravo, let me know when your making millions on some obscure invention or observation....