Which Engineering Field Should I Choose?

[ludi_srbin]

When I look at all different kinds engineering I just get lost and don't know which one to pick. I wish I had time to study them all but unfortunately I don't. I was always obsessed with the airplanes and always wanted to be a pilot. Well I'm to tall to be a pilot so I got to change to something else. Aeronautical Engineering seems pretty cool, but this situation with 9/11 sucks, especially for people in the aerospace industry.
Electrical Engineering sounds good also, and since I'm from Serbia Nikola Tesla is regarded there something like a Godsend. I was always fascinated by him, so much that I was the only kid that knew the answer to the first question that my teacher in 1st. grade asked us "Who invented the electricity". Well maybe my teacher and me were wrong but still fascination by Tesla led me to go for 2 years into an Electrical High School named, offcourse, Nikola Tesla.
Nuclear engineering also seems to be pretty cool. The topic of nuclear fussion is really amazing, and It would be great to work on some project that might end up solving energy needs of the World. Wow, I guess that would be unbelivable.
Civil Engineering? Going to some place overseas and working on some amazing project that is going to fascinate people long after you are gone sounds amazing. I can only imagine the feeling when some engineer seas some magnificent bridge, building or dam which is a product of his ideas.
I mean all those sound really good but I would like to ask you what is the best choice for the future? Which one of these stands out. Where is more jobs and more opportunity to develop your career? Which one did/would/will/ you choose and why?

 

[morry]

I chose mechanical engineering because I am fascinated with things like cars and planes etc. I've always liked to understand how things like that worked. I think Id enjoy a few disciplines though.

 

[tehfrr]

I went with nuclear because I have been fascinated with nuclear energy and radioactivity since I was a kid. My advisor tells me it is very easy for a nuclear engineer to land a job (and one that pays well too) due to a shortage of people studying it. I don't know for sure on that though, I am still in year 3-4 of my undergrad.

If I wasnt going to do nuclear, my second choice would be chemical engr for sure.

 

[brewnog]

Only you can make the decision, but I think it's nice to see why other people chose what they chose; it might get you thinking more about what you really want to do. One thing, - don't choose anything just because the job prospects are better, or because it pays well, you have to really be passionate about it (but it seems you don't quite know which you're most passionate about anyway!).

In any case, I chose Mechanical, because it's such a broad field, and aspects of it can be found in most things you can think of. I've also always had a very inquisitive mind, I was one of those kids who wouldn't stop asking "why?" or "how does that work?", I don't think I've grown out of that either.

 

[Clausius2]

Do not choose engineering. Unfortunately you will have to study a lot, you will remain in your sat on weekends studying while your friends are out there flirting with girls, you will be very sad when your friends tell you they have a party and you cannot go. Also, you will come into your class and only see guys, none girl. In summer, while everybody is on holidays you will have to study some course you didn't pass, or you will have to do your undergraduate project...like me.

You only have to listen Brewnog, Fred, Astro, or me, we are examples about the madness caused by engineering. :rofl:

Have I said something inappropriate?. It is this damn project, I am not able to solve it... , damn Matlab! (Upset)

 

[LeonhardEuler]

Do not choose engineering. Unfortunately you will have to study a lot, you will remain in your sat on weekends studying while your friends are out there flirting with girls, you will be very sad when your friends tell you they have a party and you cannot go. Also, you will come into your class and only see guys, none girl. In summer, while everybody is on holidays you will have to study some course you didn't pass, or you will have to do your undergraduate project...like me.

You only have to listen Brewnog, Fred, Astro, or me, we are examples about the madness caused by engineering. :rofl:

Have I said something inappropriate?. It is this damn project, I am not able to solve it... , damn Matlab! (Upset)

Engineering is really hard, but I'm going into my junior year and I still really like it. It's true that I'm not partying every weekend or anything like that, but I was never really into that sort of thing anyway. It all depends on the kind of person you are. I don't think I would be as happy doing something else. He does bring up a valid point though, and you should think about it first. It isn't true that there are only guys in engineering. I think in my school its like 65:35. It's not perfect, but there are still a significant number of girls.

 

[ludi_srbin]

Do not choose engineering. Unfortunately you will have to study a lot, you will remain in your sat on weekends studying while your friends are out there flirting with girls, you will be very sad when your friends tell you they have a party and you cannot go. Also, you will come into your class and only see guys, none girl. In summer, while everybody is on holidays you will have to study some course you didn't pass, or you will have to do your undergraduate project...like me.

You only have to listen Brewnog, Fred, Astro, or me, we are examples about the madness caused by engineering. :rofl:

Have I said something inappropriate?. It is this damn project, I am not able to solve it... , damn Matlab! (Upset)

Well you kinda scared crap out of me. The worst part is my plan is to take one as major and another as a minor. I am into partying. Not like some people but I like to go to club from time to time. I like engineering because it is very broad and it is cool to see something that you imagined and figured out work in a real world. I think I would die if I was working in some office 40 hours a week for the rest of my life...Compare that to going to work on some big project overseas and meeting all those nice foreign women! I think the advantage is obvious. The only problem with engineering is that it is hard and compared to some other professions it is not paid well, but it takes much more studying and knowledge. I like to see what made other people go in engineering. I'm pretty shure I'll go into engineering only I have no idea which one to chose.

 

[LeonhardEuler]

I decided to go into chemical engineering because when I took thermodynamics in freshman year, I loved it. Sometimes I think I should have gone into electrical engineering because they do more math, and I like math. I make up for that by just taking math electives. I would say go with whatever interests you the most. Now that I am taking advanced thermo courses I always blow the curve away and do awesome in the class because I like thermo so much that studying for it isn't even work for me. It's really fun. Find what you like doing the most and you'll do well in it.

 

[brewnog]

Well you kinda scared crap out of me.

I'd be willing to bet that Clausius, given his time again, would choose engineering again. His post just illustrated how frustrating such a challenging course can be at times! Matlab, eurgh!

Good to see that he didn't put you off anyway!

 

[Antiphon]

Go electrical if you like electrical stuff.

I've been at it now professionally for 20 years and I still love it.

Sometimes I'll be driving to work laughing because I'm thinking of my client:
"Huh? You want to pay me huge amounts of money to do what I would be doing anyways? It doesn't get any cooler than this!"

 

[sniffer]

majority of rich people and successful businessmen did not even go to college.

 

[HappMatt]

It isn't true that there are only guys in engineering. I think in my school its like 65:35. It's not perfect, but there are still a significant number of girls.

I hope to end up going to Uof W madison where their Biomedical engieering program is something like 55/45 girls to guys and those are odds i like.

 

[sniffer]

that's no surprise for biomedics.

 

[morry]

If you want chicks in your class, do enviro or something girly like that. My mech class is mainly guys, but enviro has a lot of girls in it.

 

[Danger]

From the viewpoint of the uneducated, I'd have to agree with Brewski on this (and not just because he's my hero). It appears from a layman's perspective that Mechanical prepares you for almost anything. Once you have that, you can be a millwright, an automotive mechanic, a structural engineer, a demolitions specialist... and you can design new and better toys for your girlfriend to keep her occupied when you're too busy studying.

 

[Clausius2]

I'd be willing to bet that Clausius, given his time again, would choose engineering again. His post just illustrated how frustrating such a challenging course can be at times! Matlab, eurgh!

Good to see that he didn't put you off anyway!

Yeah! I need a HOLIDAYS!

I have two laptops in front of me. One of them is calculating a jet flow with Matlab, and the other is employed to programming at the same time. By the way, why am I not at the beach?

EDIT: and both of them are Toshiba (a bit of advertisement ). I am definitely becoming crazy here.

 

[brewnog]

From the viewpoint of the uneducated, I'd have to agree with Brewski on this (and not just because he's my hero). It appears from a layman's perspective that Mechanical prepares you for almost anything.

It's because it doesn't teach you how to do things, but how to work out how to do things.

you can design new and better toys for your girlfriend to keep her occupied when you're too busy studying.

Ha, you don't know how true that is!

 

[Lisa!]

Do not choose engineering. Unfortunately you will have to study a lot, you will remain in your sat on weekends studying while your friends are out there flirting with girls, you will be very sad when your friends tell you they have a party and you cannot go.

Your situation is better than physicists anyway!

Also, you will come into your class and only see guys, none girl.

Sounds pretty cool for girls! More men, more options! Less rivals, more likely to win!(I should recommend my ugly friends to study engineering!)

You only have to listen Brewnog, Fred, Astro, or me, we are examples about the madness caused by engineering. :rofl:

Oh good! That's better than listening to people whom you can never understand what they're saying!
By the way, Who else he has to listen to?

 

[Astronuc]

From the viewpoint of the uneducated, I'd have to agree with Brewski on this (and not just because he's my hero). It appears from a layman's perspective that Mechanical prepares you for almost anything. Once you have that, you can be a millwright, an automotive mechanic, a structural engineer, a demolitions specialist... and you can design new and better toys for your girlfriend to keep her occupied when you're too busy studying.

For that Danger, I'll give you an honorary engineering degree. And don't call yourself uneducated.

I know a lot of people without degrees, and they know a heck of lot more than many with degrees.

I started in nuclear and astrophysics, but went into nuclear engineering. I also did courses in electrical, mechanical, aerospace engineering and materials science - all disciplines supporting my interest in nuclear propulsion for spacecraft - but they are also useful in understanding any nuclear system and how it performs. Most of my work is modeling nuclear fuel and core components, and analyzing the performance of materials in nuclear environments, and developing models of materials and structures.

 

[nikola-tesla]

ludi srbin, you should not worry since you got a good background in high school. you will "fly" throgh your 1st yr. my father attended the same high school like you did and he says 1st two yrs at university were very easy for him.
btw i'll be studying EE and i am a girl.

 

[ludi_srbin]

Hahahahahahahaha...What a small world! Yeah. If you can do the math and physics that they teach you in my former High School and with the tools that we used, I mean without the tools that they use here, you can probably do it at any other place.

 

[complexhuman]

Engineering is beating the **** out of me! Oh GOD! why did I ever choose to study engineering! Law wouldhave been better! At least law students get to have fun while they make me learn weird stuff! Cant believe it...I am only in my first year!

 

[nikola-tesla]

complexhuman, don't give up bro, you can do it.

 

[Danger]

For that Danger, I'll give you an honorary engineering degree. And don't call yourself uneducated.

Good ol' Astro! Always in there with Brewski, Marlon, Clausius2, Evo, Lisa!, Moonbear and a few others to keep my ego from deflating too much. (Is that degree for my observation of ME universality, or for the dildo designing?)
But let's face facts. No high school diploma + grade 9 math education = uneducated. I've picked up a little bit about a lot of subjects through personal pursuits, and try to extrapolate it using common sense, but none of it would qualify me for the lowest level employment in a technological envirionment.

Law wouldhave been better! At least law students get to have fun while they make me learn weird stuff!

Look on the bright side: you'll have far more respect as a bad engineer than you would as a good lawyer.
(And I don't for a second believe that you'll be bad as an engineer.)

 

[FredGarvin]

Look on the bright side: you'll have far more respect as a bad engineer than you would as a good lawyer.

Well said!

 

[russ_watters]

Bump...

 

[Physics is Phun]

omg, I shouldn't have read this thread. Your scaring the hell out of me. only 26 day to go until 5 years of hell starts. YEAAAAAA. atleast I'm going into environmental, more chicks. You poor computer guys. hahahaha :)

 

[ludi_srbin]

Man I'll have time for females even if I double major in ME and EE and plus take some extra physics and math classes.

 

[Maxwell]

It's so true about the sausage fests that are engineering classes. Do NOT go into EE for the chicks -- LOL.

Yesterday, as I was leaving one of my classes, I noticed that right when the engineers left the classroom, the room started the fill with girls for the next class.

It's time like those, that for a second -- just for a second -- I imagine changing my major to Environmental Studies!

 

[FredGarvin]

omg, I shouldn't have read this thread. Your scaring the hell out of me. only 26 day to go until 5 years of hell starts. YEAAAAAA. atleast I'm going into environmental, more chicks. You poor computer guys. hahahaha :)

OMG...I almost spit out my coffee when I read that. Environmental? You poor poor lad...Whoops. Sorry about that. My jaded/cynical side is showing again. Good luck!

 

[FredGarvin]

It's so true about the sausage fests that are engineering classes. Do NOT go into EE for the chicks -- LOL.

Yesterday, as I was leaving one of my classes, I noticed that right when the engineers left the classroom, the room started the fill with girls for the next class.

It's time like those, that for a second -- just for a second -- I imagine changing my major to Environmental Studies!

Imagine the classroom is now a boardroom or meeting room...welcome to the rest of your professional life. :tongue2:

 

[rocketboy]

Is it not possible to meet girls outside of your class? Plus, having hot girls in your class might distract you from your work. Not only that, but without girls in your class there is more incentive to get your work done so that you CAN go out and party and meet ppl, and by ppl i mean girls.

I have no idea what I'm saying I'm just a HS kid.

Actually, yea, your right, what am I thinking, go into environmental and get some... :!)

 

[toxique]

Enviromental might suck. Go take a career in chemistry (NOT chem. engineering), or biology, or medicine or pharmacy or psichology or law, or architecture if you want to find many many hot chicks.

At our tech. institute, in electronics the ratio is about 30:2 (or worse), in chemistry the ratio raises to about 50:50. many chicks.

Anyways, keep in mind to study what YOU really love, not what your testosterone wants.

 

[ludi_srbin]

Is it not possible to meet girls outside of your class? Plus, having hot girls in your class might distract you from your work. Not only that, but without girls in your class there is more incentive to get your work done so that you CAN go out and party and meet ppl, and by ppl i mean girls.

I have no idea what I'm saying I'm just a HS kid.

Actually, yea, your right, what am I thinking, go into environmental and get some... :!)

I agree with that. However it is stronger than me. I will have to take some classes with bunch of chicks in.

 

[Serbian.matematika]

lucky me, I am a girl studying Electrical Engineering, come on guys you can do it. yes , it is a very hard program and that's what makes me (us) unique.

The title is sooooooooo attractive; Professional Engineer
Electrical Engineering