PIcking an engineering field

[jai6638]

Hey there..

I am currently a freshman engineering major and I'm struggling on deciding what to do.. I am deciding between civil, mechanical and Industrial... My aim is to do my MBA and hopefully work in the business sector using my engineering problem solving skills unless I really land up liking my engineering field and sticking to it.

Civil: Since my dad had a business in cement and I'd go to construction sites, I was rather fascinated with the whole construction process...

Mechanical: Basically, from what I hear, its so broad so I could probably use it to my advantage.. I'm a pilot so I could potentially work for Boeing too and work on planes which sounds great.

Industrial: Since I want to do business, this is the closest I could get and it is something which isnt too technical. I can do math/physics although I dont really enjoy it per se.

Here's my prob: I find majors like Civil,etc interesting but I don't know if I really want to study it.. For example, the course names might soudn all fancy and cool, but if the course is really hard and boring to me, it doesn't do me any good.. so not sure how to decide. Plus, I'm an average math/physics student so not sure if I'm selling myself short by picking Industrial because I'm not great at math/science and I didn't like playin with my legos when I was a kid

Any help is mch appreciated.. thanks

 

[KillerCharlie]

Mechanical is by far the most difficult, rigorous, broad, and prestigious of the three. If you were an ME you could pretty easily do Industrial and probably Civil engineering work. You could also do lots of aerospace stuff (like flight structures, though it'll be hard to get into aerodynamics competing against aerospace engineers).

I had a similar tough decision to make four years ago. Somehow I realized I only wanted to do aerospace... I'm not sure how that helps you though.

 

[jai6638]

I'm not sure,however, that the courses I'll take in mechanical will be manageable ( in terms of the math/science skill needed ) and whether they will really interest me or not. doh... how'd you realize you wanted to do aerospace? We don't have that in our school..

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

There's a major called Construction Management which is like what you want to do in Civil. Mechanical is a good all around degree because it lets you work anywhere you really want to. Then industrial engineering is more like creating parts to make machines run more efficiently..

I'm a first year Aerospace Engineer but I've known I wanted to do that for a long time.

 

[KillerCharlie]

I chose aerospace because I wanted the challenge and really like airplanes and spacecraft. I decided I couldn't see myself doing computer or chemical engineering the rest of my life.

If you're worried about the difficulty of Mechanical and want to work in business, it might be a good idea to avoid Mechanical and focus on something like Industrial. From what I remember, the coursework was identical for all three at my school for the first two years. The best thing to do is structure your courses to have the least amount of impact should you decide to switch.

If the coursework is pretty similar, you've got another full year to decide. During that year, check out as many different classes in the different disciplines as possible.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Wow a lot of Aerospace Engineers here.

 

[jai6638]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
If the coursework is pretty similar, you've got another full year to decide. During that year, check out as many different classes in the different disciplines as possible.

How would I do that since my schedule for fall is currently packed with 2 industrial engineering class ( Intro to Indus. Engg and Engr. Prob & Stat ) and math/science courses.. Basically just sit into some of the core civil / mechanical engr classes? However, since these are upper level courses, I probably wouldnt be able to understand much in these courses anyways eh?

 

[FleshLight]

It depends on what part of physics you like. If you're an E&M person, then CE or EE is for you. If you're a statics person, then CE or Structural is for you. If you're a dynamics person, then mechanical or aerospace is for you. If you're good at general physics and chemistry, then chemical, materials, or biomedical is for you. If you suck at physics, you will fail the core classes and will suck as an engineer.

 

[FleshLight]

Originally posted by: jai6638

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
If the coursework is pretty similar, you've got another full year to decide. During that year, check out as many different classes in the different disciplines as possible.

How would I do that since my schedule for fall is currently packed with 2 industrial engineering class ( Intro to Indus. Engg and Engr. Prob & Stat ) and math/science courses.. Basically just sit into some of the core civil / mechanical engr classes? However, since these are upper level courses, I probably wouldnt be able to understand much in these courses anyways eh?

The core CE/ME engineering classes are essentially the same. They have to go through statics, dynamics, and thermodynamics and branch off from there. So as long as you plan on going into CE/ME/MAE, you will have to take those classes anyways.