For me, it was the requirement to do so many calculus problems. I could have sown I was going to be doing comically difficult math problems out of school, and I don't think I've done a single calculus problem in nearly 15 years. Don't get me wrong, I've done tons of pretty intense math (mostly fluid mechanics), but I just expected calculus to have such a bigger footprint in the engineering world.

The nonconsensual sodomy.

Engineering school is a continuous onslaught of ever changing problem solving using complex math equations, abstract thinking, and lots of reference lookups.

Engineering work is a lot of reference lookups in between answering a 45-email-long chain about a supplier failing to meet company color aesthetic standards.

Followup edit: Joke aside. Engineering work often involves a lot more "solved problems" that mostly need slight tweaks to be applied to a new project, compared to doing homework or a senior project in college. The rest of the job is more managing vendor and intercompany relationships to make sure your shit keeps actually getting worked on.

It largely depends on your field. I do software in the automotive sector, and we use calculus quite a bit (specifically, control systems).

I do not envy your fluid mechanics math. Shit's wild.

I did a class in control systems years ago. I swore to myself I would never get into that field lol. To each their own. It's not as bad as you think, were primarily doing fluid flow along pipes and permeability stuff. Darcy Weisbach Equations, flow loss, and few dozen other minor equations. We primarily use mathcad to do a bunch of fuzzy math to get a decent estimate of performance.

Engineering school was mostly a ton of math to understand how models of the physical world operate.

Engineering work has mostly been dealing with the human element: nailing down exactly what the customer/user/product manager actually needs, dealing with supplies, creating piles of documentation, etc. Once in a while I get to design something.

Ha, I said the same about fluid mechanics. One of my professors in college asked if we wanted to see something "fun"--he proceeded to write an equation that fully spanned the 12ft whiteboard. But he wasn't done--it was an integral, and the limits were also equations that ran the length of the board. Apparently it was the equation for the volume of an air bubble as it rises through a rotating cylinder of liquid. Said he used it in propeller design. Scared me off for good.

I fondly remember a discussion with a student on r/vhdl. She had issues with her project, nicely asked for help (in contrast to others who barged in and basically demanded "make my homework"). So she got help to refine her project.

We discussed her work afterwards, and she asked what I think of it. I told her that I consider it a nice little project for a lazy Friday afternoon. She was totally shocked by that assessment. It was her bachelor thesis...

That was not me being mean. It was a honest assessment. Enjoy studying while it lasts.