Anyone else burned out on your undergrad major?

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surftheiop

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I came into undergrad wanting to be an engineer, then after a year and half realized how impersonal it was and after alot of searching/shadowing/talks with people, etc. ended up discovering medicine towards the end of sophmore year.

Now as a junior Im stuck in engineering (not going to pay for another year tuition), but I did atleast manage to change majors to biological/biomedical engineering which is atleast slightly more tolerable (but is still essentially 90% math with some random physio/bio vocab thrown onto variable names).

Im just so burned out on it, I can't stand just grinding through meaningless problem sets all day that do nothing but test my math skills. The only thing that keeps me from blowing it off is that obviously my GPA is really important.

Anyone else in similar situations?
Any suggestions for surviving tons of classes that are A) Really hard B) You have zero passion for?
 
surftheiop said:
I came into undergrad wanting to be an engineer, then after a year and half realized how impersonal it was and after alot of searching/shadowing/talks with people, etc. ended up discovering medicine towards the end of sophmore year.

Now as a junior Im stuck in engineering (not going to pay for another year tuition), but I did atleast manage to change majors to biological/biomedical engineering which is atleast slightly more tolerable (but is still essentially 90% math with some random physio/bio vocab thrown onto variable names).

Im just so burned out on it, I can't stand just grinding through meaningless problem sets all day that do nothing but test my math skills. The only thing that keeps me from blowing it off is that obviously my GPA is really important.

Anyone else in similar situations?
Any suggestions for surviving tons of classes that are A) Really hard B) You have zero passion for?
Click to expand...

I was in a similar situation, and I agree with you, the higher levels you get to in engineering the more specialized the subjects become and they become more and more removed from medicine. Engineers I know told me that you only use 10% of what you learn in college as an engineer, the rest you learn on the job because it will be very specific to the task/project you are working on. He said the only reason they make you learn so much in engineering undergrad is to prove that you are able to learn.

Sorry I can't really offer much good advice other than to just push through it, but I too used to be in your position
 
find a hobby that you look forward to doing.



doctors play golf, ever wonder why?

hell, maybe one day you can be this guy..



stockphotopro_105824fky_media_drv4_radiu.jpg





or be operating on him..
 
anonymousername said:
find a hobby that you look forward to doing.



doctors play golf, ever wonder why?

hell, maybe one day you can be this guy..



stockphotopro_105824fky_media_drv4_radiu.jpg





or be operating on him..
Click to expand...

I actually played golf first first time in awhile other day, definately is an emotional roller coaster of a hobby! When you hit a good shot you feel like your king of the world, then you proceed to miss a two foot putt.
 
lol yeah and when you start out you only feel like a king for 2% of the time.

You tee up and think that you hit a remarkable shot that just stopped short of the lake 70 yards to your right. That is until "Terrence" the elderly gentleman who has arms thinner than a 5 year old out-drives you. Then for next 17 holes you ask yourself "why did I pay fifty bucks to hang out with some old guy who keeps telling me how to move my hips?"
 
I know how you feel, surf. I'm a returning student, so I probably have more to lose and am *theoretically* more grateful for the opportunity to be in school than traditional students. The truth is, I'm sick of jumping through hoops to prove that I deserve a bachelor's degree in something that is merely a precursor to my real dream of becoming a physician. I never admit that, either...I just keep plugging through and trying to justify this as part of the journey. I actually love my pharmacology major, and I'm taking classes that will definitely ease my transition into medical school. But even my pharmacology classes are oriented toward the theory behind designing drugs, rather than their clinical uses.

It's not that I don't appreciate the fact that I'm learning something relevant from an angle that will probably enhance my understanding of medicine. I've just found that these days, all I care about is achieving A's to prove myself, and I hate this mentality. I have no aspirations to gain a slot in a top-tier residency in cardiothoracic surgery. I just want to excel as a physician. As a pre-med, I've gone into "survival mode," worrying more about getting top scores than actually retaining material. If in med school I get mediocre grades but truly retain everything I need to serve my patients, I'm fine with that. I'm just looking forward to studying with a purpose in mind that reaches beyond just getting into med school.
 
Everyone has to play the same game. It sucks sometimes.
 
I'm in the same boat as the O.P.

Or maybe the opposite boat?

I love mathy things, and have realized that engineering / a more quantitative field would probably have made me a happier panda.

Alternatively, I love reading and discussions. Consequently, my non-science GPA is sky-high...

I guess I just hate labs / certain kinds of bio. Meh.
 
OP, you're telling my story. I'm in my last semester of undergrad now, and I have nothing but contempt for my engineering classes (ESPECIALLY senior design) because I know they're totally and completely useless to me now. Just hang in there.

33 days until graduation!
 
surftheiop said:
Im just so burned out on it, I can't stand just grinding through meaningless problem sets all day that do nothing but test my math skills. The only thing that keeps me from blowing it off is that obviously my GPA is really important.

Anyone else in similar situations?
Any suggestions for surviving tons of classes that are A) Really hard B) You have zero passion for?
Click to expand...

That's engineering for you (Electrical Engineering right here)

Just keep the goal in mind. Also, what helped me is thinking that I will have a degree in Electrical Engineering, so once I am done, ppl will call me out on it/ask me stuff. I should be able to answer them (ie, what does this component do, etc), and to be able to answer someone else, you gotta know your stuff; I don't want to be the guy who "went to medical school and forgot everything". For me, this desire to really know the material itself has helped me in doing better.

You are a BME, your material is super interesting and has more direct applications as well. I took a biomedical imaging class and found the stuff interesting.
 
I was so tired out that I detached myself from the thought that I was doing this to get into med school, took a simpler semester than my previous semesters (getting additional pre reqs out of the way that aren't too chem heavy, was saving them as fillers for senior year) and then I'll jump back in the game. I didn't care if it kept me in school longer, the truth is I needed to lessen my load a little bit because I was just stressing myself out more than I should have been. Hang in there, I know it's easier said than done but the whole time I had this thought that graduation was still so far away, and now that I'm a junior I realize that telling myself that now isn't so true.
 
I was very burned out the first semester of my senior year. I was taking 2 engineering classes not related to BME, a history class, and the first half of senior sequence which was the essentially the business/regulation side of biomedical devices. My roommate, who had the same schedule, and I would come up with creative ways to kill ourselves on the way to and from class. Horrible, I know, but it was a good/mostly comical stress reliever. We also drank. A lot.

My roommate had the cops called on him for shouting "F*** thermo!" over and over again in a residential area.
 
I understand where your roommate is coming from. Thermodynamics was dreadful.
Click to expand...

sorry you guys feel that way... I actually love it. I'm in a grad-level thermo class now, and am doing well and enjoying it.

*sigh*

again, i think i should have been a physical sciences / math / engineering major.

I have nothing but hatred for certain kinds of biology, and test tubes/graph paper notebooks make we want to punch babies.
 
I'm fired up, not burned out. 😎
 
Quantum Mecha said:
I understand where your roommate is coming from. Thermodynamics was dreadful.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I actually managed to get the engineering department to count 2 semesters of physical chemistry in place of thermo, probably my greatest triumph as an undergrad.

Also to those talking about BME being interesting - yeah it definately is, the problem is you still have to take all these other really time consuming engineering classes that greatly decrease the amount you can learn in the actually interesting classes.


Glad to see Im not the only one in this boat!
 
I'm completely burned out. As an anthropology major, what interested me in the field was studying fossil hominids and human evolution. Consequently, I took every class in the major that pertained to those topics in my freshmen and sophomore years.

Now, as a senior, I'm left with taking classes about archaeology and pre-revolutionary Chinese gender roles. No sir, I don't like it. 👎

Fortunately, I still have a few bio classes to take to keep me sane.
 
I'm not burned out...I've just lost interest!
 
surftheiop said:
I came into undergrad wanting to be an engineer, then after a year and half realized how impersonal it was and after alot of searching/shadowing/talks with people, etc. ended up discovering medicine towards the end of sophmore year.

Now as a junior Im stuck in engineering (not going to pay for another year tuition), but I did atleast manage to change majors to biological/biomedical engineering which is atleast slightly more tolerable (but is still essentially 90% math with some random physio/bio vocab thrown onto variable names).

Im just so burned out on it, I can't stand just grinding through meaningless problem sets all day that do nothing but test my math skills. The only thing that keeps me from blowing it off is that obviously my GPA is really important.

Anyone else in similar situations?
Any suggestions for surviving tons of classes that are A) Really hard B) You have zero passion for?
Click to expand...

I started undergrad as a Music major, but after 6 semesters, I heard Medicine calling for me, so I switched degrees, and now im doing a dual degree in BioMedical physics, and Biochemistry.
 
mrivera said:
I started undergrad as a Music major, but after 6 semesters, I heard Medicine calling for me, so I switched degrees, and now im doing a dual degree in BioMedical physics, and Biochemistry.
Click to expand...

Unless your really excited about majoring in those fields your could always just finish the music degree and then take med school pre-reqs after you graduate. A doctor I know did this and got into med school just fine.
 
surftheiop said:
Yeah, I actually managed to get the engineering department to count 2 semesters of physical chemistry in place of thermo, probably my greatest triumph as an undergrad.

Also to those talking about BME being interesting - yeah it definately is, the problem is you still have to take all these other really time consuming engineering classes that greatly decrease the amount you can learn in the actually interesting classes.


Glad to see Im not the only one in this boat!
Click to expand...


Why wouldn't they otherwise count that physical chemistry class? At my university, the engineering thermo class and the pchem class that chem majors take are interchangeable - life is equally hellish for all of us.

Pchem is thermo anyway, that's all I've seen so far...some kinetics starting soon, but meh
 
Be aware about engineering and premed. I am an engineering major and I thought that a slightly lower GPA would be ok because I have almost double the number of math/science courses than biology majors. I got asked over and over again during one school's interview about why I took so many classes (in a negative way), why I got so many B's, and why I took so many upper level engineering classes. The school was not lenient at all toward the fact that I took grad level courses, took over 20 credits a semester usually, and improved. All the school cared about was why my GPA was not a 3.5.

It would depend on the school too. There were interviews where I was asked 0 questions about my GPA.

So I would be careful and research schools to apply to based on if the schools like/enroll a lot of engineers and if they are not GPA heavy.

I loved engineering. I felt burned out in the beginning, but once I found my niche it felt amazing.

I say if you don't even like engineering at all, take the MINIMUM, easiest classload to get the highest GPA possible so applying to med school would be easier. It is not as impressive as people think to have taken tons of classes and get B's. Bette to take dirt easy ones and get A's. That is a mistake I made, but I liked the courses so it was ok.
 
roaming said:
I loved engineering. I felt burned out in the beginning, but once I found my niche it felt amazing.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree 100% here. I started off doing biomechanical engineering, and my advisor asked me to try out a computing class to see if I liked it, and BAM. I found my niche. Switched to biocomputing engineering, and I am going to get a minor in biophysics. Biomedical imaging FTW!

It is much easier to study in classes when you know what you want, and how your passion applies to this class.
 
avo said:
Why wouldn't they otherwise count that physical chemistry class? At my university, the engineering thermo class and the pchem class that chem majors take are interchangeable - life is equally hellish for all of us.

Pchem is thermo anyway, that's all I've seen so far...some kinetics starting soon, but meh
Click to expand...

Its because Chemical Engineers have to take Pchem and advanced thermo, but other engineers dont take Pchem but do take a more basic engineering thermo class.

Because I switched majors I had taken Pchem but not the engineering thermo, everything worked out in the end though.


Also I have been slightly rejuvinated by taking Organic Chem, its so refreshing to take a class where if you sit down and learn the material your going to do well.
 
roaming said:
Be aware about engineering and premed. I am an engineering major and I thought that a slightly lower GPA would be ok because I have almost double the number of math/science courses than biology majors. I got asked over and over again during one school's interview about why I took so many classes (in a negative way), why I got so many B's, and why I took so many upper level engineering classes. The school was not lenient at all toward the fact that I took grad level courses, took over 20 credits a semester usually, and improved. All the school cared about was why my GPA was not a 3.5.

It would depend on the school too. There were interviews where I was asked 0 questions about my GPA.

So I would be careful and research schools to apply to based on if the schools like/enroll a lot of engineers and if they are not GPA heavy.

I loved engineering. I felt burned out in the beginning, but once I found my niche it felt amazing.

I say if you don't even like engineering at all, take the MINIMUM, easiest classload to get the highest GPA possible so applying to med school would be easier. It is not as impressive as people think to have taken tons of classes and get B's. Bette to take dirt easy ones and get A's. That is a mistake I made, but I liked the courses so it was ok.
Click to expand...


Did you eventually get accepted somewhere or are you still trying?
 
surftheiop said:
Its because Chemical Engineers have to take Pchem and advanced thermo, but other engineers dont take Pchem but do take a more basic engineering thermo class.

Because I switched majors I had taken Pchem but not the engineering thermo, everything worked out in the end though.


Also I have been slightly rejuvinated by taking Organic Chem, its so refreshing to take a class where if you sit down and learn the material your going to do well.
Click to expand...


Ah, I see what you mean. The chem track here is two semesters of pchem, and one semester of lab. I think the engineering track replaces the first semester of pchem with an engineering thermo class and they have their own labs.

It's tough work, but I *LOVE* my pchem class. Easily the most interesting course I've taken in college, apart from maybe my inorganic chemistry class.
 
avo said:
Ah, I see what you mean. The chem track here is two semesters of pchem, and one semester of lab. I think the engineering track replaces the first semester of pchem with an engineering thermo class and they have their own labs.

It's tough work, but I *LOVE* my pchem class. Easily the most interesting course I've taken in college, apart from maybe my inorganic chemistry class.
Click to expand...

Inorganic is Satan's spawn.
 
avo said:
Ah, I see what you mean. The chem track here is two semesters of pchem, and one semester of lab. I think the engineering track replaces the first semester of pchem with an engineering thermo class and they have their own labs.

It's tough work, but I *LOVE* my pchem class. Easily the most interesting course I've taken in college, apart from maybe my inorganic chemistry class.
Click to expand...


ugh I dont understand you chem people. Im loving organic but thats because it doesnt feel like chemistry, its more like logic/visual puzzles or something
 
surftheiop said:
ugh I dont understand you chem people. Im loving organic but thats because it doesnt feel like chemistry, its more like logic/visual puzzles or something
Click to expand...

I love chem! Sometimes it makes me want to curse and throw things at the wall (and i have to constantly remind myself of my end goal...), but then when I figure out a problem it is like the best feeling in the world 😀 I relate it a lot to medicine & diff dx in that way, it's like a giant puzzle and you just have to figure out what info to use out of what you have collected and how to solve the problems from that information.
 
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