Mechanical engineering graduate transferring to civil engineering

[gringoman@hot]

i completed my mechanical engineering degree in 2004. having spent a while backpacking i returned and have been working for a friends civil engineering company as a labourer. i spent a while thinking about retraining after i got back and am now looking to study civil engineering. I am interested in anyone else who has been in this position and any advice they could give me on which subjects from the mechanical discipline helped most studying civils (applied mechanics was my strongest subject), the reality of joining a masters programme and the most suitable level of programme to begin studying at?
Also info on the civil engineering course content would be great. What kind of practical solutions do you work through? How mathematically based is it?.
I have a lot more questions but ill leave these ones out there and see where we go with them. cheers folks.

 

[ztluhcs]

This may not be too helpful, but I have a friend who is currently doing structural engineering in the civil engineering department at Stanford after doing a bachelor of engineering in mechanical and a couple years of work experience at a mechanical-oriented company, so I think this transition should be pretty easy for you, although I do think some graduate-level civil engineering coursework may be in order.