What Electives should I take? (Structural Engineering)

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on a Civil Engineering student entering their third year, focusing on structural engineering and selecting electives. The student is considering a range of courses, including Structural Theory II, Advanced Structural Design, and Experimental Methods in Structural Dynamics, among others. A key piece of advice emphasizes prioritizing courses that teach applicable methods over those focused on specific content, as methods can be more broadly useful in various engineering contexts. The recommended high-priority courses include Structural Theory II, Advanced Structural Design, Experimental Methods in Structural Engineering, and Computer Aided Structural Design, while Strength of Materials II and Green Engineering are suggested as medium priority. The conversation highlights the importance of strategic course selection to enhance skills relevant to structural engineering.
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Hey guys, so if you've seen my other thread I've decided to stick with Civil Engineering. I'm going into my third year and I'm going to start taking my technical electives. I've already decided to make my degree a structural focus but there are so many electives I can take and I have to narrow it down to 5 additional classes plus a design course. As far as within structural I am interested in all aspects of it, but here are the possible electives plus some other non-structural ones I'm interested in...

-Structural Theory II (Indeterminacy conditions for structures; slope deflection method, etc.)
-Strength of Materials II (Unsymmetrical bending, shear centers, etc.)
-Experimental Methods in Structural Dynamics
-Advanced Structural Design
-Timber Design
-Prestressed Concrete Design
-Computer Aided Structural Design
-Flow Routing
-Green Engineering (since everything's going green)
-Soil Mechanics Lab
-Soil Stabalization
-Rock Mechanics and Design

Any advice would be very beneficial and thank you as always
-nick
 
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Well, I'm no Civ-E, but...

If it were me in your situation, I would stick to classes that teach methods rather than specific content, unless I had a special interest in the content itself. Methods are generally applicable across content, whereas content may not teach methods applicable to other content and the content may be very focused.

With my limited knowledge, I would say that based on my advice, the following courses sound most appealing to me:

High priority:
- Structural Theory II
- Advanced Structural Design
- Experimental Methods in Structural Engineering
- Computer Aided Structural Design

Medium priority:
- Strength of Materials II
- Green Engineering

Low priority:
(the rest)
 
Hey, I am Andreas from Germany. I am currently 35 years old and I want to relearn math and physics. This is not one of these regular questions when it comes to this matter. So... I am very realistic about it. I know that there are severe contraints when it comes to selfstudy compared to a regular school and/or university (structure, peers, teachers, learning groups, tests, access to papers and so on) . I will never get a job in this field and I will never be taken serious by "real"...
Yesterday, 9/5/2025, when I was surfing, I found an article The Schwarzschild solution contains three problems, which can be easily solved - Journal of King Saud University - Science ABUNDANCE ESTIMATION IN AN ARID ENVIRONMENT https://jksus.org/the-schwarzschild-solution-contains-three-problems-which-can-be-easily-solved/ that has the derivation of a line element as a corrected version of the Schwarzschild solution to Einstein’s field equation. This article's date received is 2022-11-15...

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