Interested in a new career in engineering... would love some advice

[Kate82]

I'm a 31 year old female and after a decade of working in the communications and marketing fields, I've decided I would like to work toward a career in biomedical or environmental engineering.

Problem is, I'm not sure of the best route to go about this. I have a B.A. in Communications and during my time in college, I only took college algebra and statistics. I have never had trig or calculus. I'm just unaware about the way someone in my unique situation should go about acquiring the engineering knowledge and ability in the most accurate amount of time, and I can't seem to find the answer in any of my web searches.

So should I get a second Bachelors in my engineering field of choice or could I take some pre-requisite math at a community college and go for a masters program?

I live in Georgia, so options for me include Georgia Tech, Georgia State, UGA, etc.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[Cake of Doom]

Hi Kate and welcome.

If you've never undertaken any trig or calc class, the Bsc/Eng degree would still be a struggle for you. This is all stuff you'd be expected to know. Whilst lots of universities offer remedial studies, Engineering is hard enough as it is without any extra work load.

My advice to you would be to take the classes before you start on the degree. Trig, Calculus, Engineering/Applied mathmatics will all stand you in good stead, especially if you're looking at the biomed sector.

Good luck.

[Kelly_Bramble]

My advice to you would be to take the classes before you start on the degree. Trig, Calculus, Engineering/Applied mathmatics will all stand you in good stead...

x2... yes, math is very core to the the degree field of study and the profession. If it turns out the Kate loves and is good with the math she should do well in engineering.

[wilsonr]

Get a Bachelors in engineering. It would be extremely difficult to try getting a masters in engineering without first having the basic engineering knowledge that a Bachelors in engineering gives you.

You don't have to take calculus before you start taking classes toward a bachelors in engineering. I never had calculus in high school so I just had to work a bit harder than everyone else.