Engineering at RMC with weak Math

[ACS_Tech]

Can anyone tell me if I am completely loco for planning on applying for UT into AERE or CELE with a weak math background?  I have been aspiring to go officer for some time now and I've determined that I'd be happy as a CELE or AERE officer.  However, I have been traditionally weak in math, hovering around the mid 60's all the way through high school.  Physics wasn't much better, although in my defense I moved from ON to BC in my last year of school (ON didn't offer physics in gd 11 at the time and I had to do both gd 11 and 12 physics in BC during my last year.)  In my last year, I even applied for RMC but the recruiter stopped short of laughing in my face and told me, that I would be an ideal candidate for RMC if it weren't for my gd 12 math and physics marks.

Any RMC cadets/grads (or Civy U, for that matter) who have any input on the subject would be appreciated.  Do you know anyone who went through Eng with a weak background in math and made it?

Would it be worth it to go back to night school and redo my high school math and physics?  I was a good student in HS otherwise, probably 85% avg without math and physics thrown in.  I know I'd probably succeed in applying for a BA and becoming a LogO or something, but my experience as an ACS Tech makes me want to stay in the same field...ideally I'd LOVE to have a structures specialization in a MechEng program.  I'm also currently getting my requisite courses to apply for UT...I've done 2 Comp Sci courses at Athabasca and I'm waiting back on whether I'll be starting an on-campus Calculus course at Queen's in a few weeks.

 

[GINge!]

Well, I found it hard to do a BA in History at RMC, and I had very high marks in Calculus & Algebra in Gr 13 - even the artsmen have pass obligatory math / chem / etc courses at RMC, so the LogO option you are considering won't completely avoid the math issue.

What going to nightschool will do, in addition to increasing your marks, is demonstrate to the recruiter that you have taken it upon yourself to improve your education on your own time & nickel. That speaks volumes about your character & drive.

 

[SupersonicMax]

Good Day ACS Tech.  I'm a 4th year Enginneering Student at RMC (Mech Eng).  For myself, I was very strong in Math (90+ average).  My education was in Quebec.  For me, I found calculus very hard.  Not so much 1st and 2nd year, but third year was hell for me.  I still passed with a 80 average in the course but I worked hard all the way through. 

Doing Math courses wouldn't hurt.  I think It would actually help since you probably haven't hit the book for a while.  I would start with very basic maths then going into pre-calc then calc (differential and integrals).  That would give you a huge help I think.  From what I've seen with UTs, they have a hard time with 1st and 2nd year but then, finish their undergrads well above average.  So if you hit the books again before you actually get there would undoubtfully help you.

If you have any question, whatsoever, write me.  I can also direct your questions to RMC UTs (4th year Engineering)

Max

 

[mhawk]

Im currently in my 2nd year of Mechanical Engineering @ UofM,and goin to take the Aerospace Eng.  I myself had very high grades in all the required courses, ie physics math and chemistry, and now i find it hard to even keep up with the math based courses.

Nearly all the courses for Aerospace Eng are math based, especially the Fluids courses and generally you dont want to be continually falling behind b/c ur still having trouble with simple function even without the derivatives, double, triple integrals and all sorts of riduculus math names.

As ur interested in the field Aerospace technician, and working with the planes in a technical manner, the best suggestion for u would be as a Aerospace technician.  Unless wise if through Night School u grasp the math better, and become more interested in math then it'll be no problem for u to go Aere.

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Please refran from using MSN Speak.

MSN and ICQ "short hand" -  http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/33247.0.html

Regarding the use of "MSN speak" versus the employment of prose which is correct in grammar, spelling and punctuation, please see: http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/34015/post-260446.html#msg260446

 

[labcity]

I would give try doing a university level Calculus or Physics course as a first step then go see your career mgr with your how you've done.  Math at RMC is heavy in Engr programs.

 

[tjt1205]

I'm a first year (about to be a second year thank god) and I started the year in engineering to do chem eng. I failed math miserably and am now in the political science program. Coming in my grades in calc and algebra were both in the 70s so if you're not good at math i wouldn't reccommend engineering. That being said a lot of the results are highly teacher dependent. As with everything some of the teachers are very good while others are the worst teachers I have ever run across in my life. Some of my friends that had other teachers are still in engineering although their math was weaker than mine at the beginning of the year. Some dropped into arts with me. Either way i would highly reccommend coming to RMC, its a good time. If you have any other questions regarding this place or want to talk to some of the first year UT's I can most likely put you in touch with some of them. One of them actually failed engineering and switched with me, so he's probably someone to talk to. Either way my e-mail is s24377@rmc.ca. Good luck.

 

[Kat Stevens]

I can't comprehend this.  What POSSIBLE use would an engineer have for a strong math background?  Or physics for that matter?  I mean, come on now, it's not like lives could be lost if the decimal point goes a few spaces right or left on a bridge design or something, is it?

 

[Bobert]

I'm a first year (about to be a second year thank god) and I started the year in engineering to do chem eng. I failed math miserably and am now in the political science program. Coming in my grades in calc and algebra were both in the 70s so if you're not good at math i wouldn't reccommend engineering. That being said a lot of the results are highly teacher dependent. As with everything some of the teachers are very good while others are the worst teachers I have ever run across in my life. Some of my friends that had other teachers are still in engineering although their math was weaker than mine at the beginning of the year. Some dropped into arts with me. Either way i would highly reccommend coming to RMC, its a good time. If you have any other questions regarding this place or want to talk to some of the first year UT's I can most likely put you in touch with some of them. One of them actually failed engineering and switched with me, so he's probably someone to talk to. Either way my e-mail is s24377@rmc.ca. Good luck.

Didn't the move to another department affect your MOC? Unless you were ATC, Armour etc. ?

 

[acclenticularis]

I wouldn't assume that a BA would get you into Log.  Just going Log is not as easy as some seem to think.  There is a fair bit of competition and a lot of people with commerce degrees apply.  Aeons ago I took a BSc. with heavy math, physics, and chemistry and did fine.  I went back for grad. degrees in commerce that I just finished last summer and the math is different, however, it was still challenging.  Best to talk to a recruiter.

 

[DVessey]

Engineering at RMC is heavy in math, and for some unknown reasons we seem to have a lot of math profs who might be geniuses, but we sure can't tell.
That being said, however, it's always easy to get help. ROTP probably a bit more so than UT, I would imagine, since we all live together. We had a study group of about five people going in my room for pretty much a solid 3 days before our second year calculus (and battle math, at that) final.
Mech Eng is also starting an Aerospace specialization... I don't think it's open to my year(even though I'm Comp), but I believe it will be open to the current first years.

If you end up taking a few night courses and still can't get your head around it, then engineering might not be the best road. I'm usually pretty optimistic though, and I figure if you really want to get a degree and go officer, it's possible. The biggest problem I've seen that people had with calculus this year was not really understanding material throughout the year. People would sit in class, take notes, but nothing would really stick, then hobble through assignements, just plugging in formulas but not really understanding them. Then we'd get to tests and the final and the prof might through a few curve balls that might not have been too tough, but tested understanding of the material rather than just plugging numbers into a formula.

That's my two cents and some rambling. Hope it helps!
Good Luck!

 

[AmphibousAssult]

I've applied to engineering at RMC and one of the high school courses that I've taken is basic calcuas, this is a very, and I stress, very basic course which teaches you very simple things, (power, product,quotient, and chain rule, junk like that) basically it teaches you the first two weeks of a university calculas course over the course of a semester so that you REALLY understand whats going on, migh be a good idea to try and find something like that.