Engineering is just applied physics, only we have specific concentrations (Aero, Mech, Chem, Civil, Nuclear). As for applied physics, why anyone would major in that beats me. What is applied physics? I guess it means you know a little of everything and a whole lot of nothing because applied physics is not the same cut as an engineer who is specific to an area. And guess what, research engineers study the
physics of problems. It's just a different area of focus.
Eh, I guess I am just cranky about too many people around this place thinking all engineers do is plug away into formula and they don't know what their doing physically...
Don't listen to that load of BS.
And another thing, don't fall into that trap that I hear people too often saying: "Oh, its not important if we don't know it well, they will teach you when you get a job"...those are the same people who get B's and C's.
WRONG, they will expect you to have a strong foundation in what you learned. There not going to hold your hand and teach you what you should already know, so make sure you pay attention from day 1. They will help you out at work, but they are not there to teach you!
Trust me when I tell you this, your sucess is going to depend on how well you master those concepts from your freshman courses. I've seen lots and lots of people struggle because they have weak foundations due to classes from freshman year. This bites a lot of people in the ass later on. What I did to prevent this was review all the material over the summer break. By review, I mean reread every chapter and solve every problem in the back of the book. If you do that after your freshman year your going to be fine. It's the people that don't review on their own time that always struggle when the summer ends. Study habbits are super important.
/bias.
Another new building they put tons and TONS of money into.