Need some advice for a Junior in Mech E

[Patar99]

Hello everyone. Knew to this forum :)

So I have a big problem. I'm in my Junior year of Mech E. I thoroughly enjoy engineering, have a 3.6 overall, do very well for myself. Have all the maths, physics, chemistries, as well as fluids, intro to materials, mechanics of materials, applied thermo, etc.

I love problem solving, and I really enjoy learning new things in my classes, especially how to apply our previously learned math, physics, and engineering to new types of problems and situations.

My fluids professor asked me, "What are you really passionate about in engineering?" And I lied to him, I said aeronautical just because I was afraid to tell him the truth. And that truth is I have no real passion. I find engineering interesting, and I enjoy it...but I don't have a passion for something specifically, like marine engineering or nuclear engineering or designing trains or control systems.

I mean, I would never do another major, because I find most other majors would be excruciatingly boring to me. But this worries me, especially because I've always wanted a graduated degree. I feel left behind, not in my math or engineering skills, they're great relative to my grade in college.

I'm worried about the future, about where I'm going to want to work, about developing a real passion for something specific in engineering. It seems like everyone has their "thing" that brought them to engineering. For me, it was just having a talent for math and science in high school, and my father being an engineer (and the smartest person I know.)

Where do I start looking? I know I enjoy the mechanical side of things more (I had to really get my determination up to get a good grade in circuits, because I enjoyed the other engineering classes that semester much more).

I'm set in my major, I'm going to get my mech E degree no matter what. So this isn't about academic advice, it's more what I really want to do in my professional life after college. What I want to do at the graduate level. How am I going to find that passion?

I'm afraid to tell my adviser or people I go to school this, because they all seem to have that "thing" that really gets them excited about engineering. I don't. I just enjoy it in general.

Sorry for the giant wall of text. And thank you for your valuable time.

Patar

 

[Dr.D]

Continuing being evasive/faking it. Sooner or later, you will find something that really excites you, and then you will have your answer.

 

[Shaun_W]

You don't need to have a "passion" for anything in engineering. Finding it interesting is more than sufficient, and you've said yourself that there is nothing else you'd rather do.

Ultimately, how many people genuinely have a "passion" for their job? Probably very few. I reckon that if you at least find it interesting, then you're ahead of most people...