any zilvians studying engineering in college?

[crzycav86]

Originally Posted by drftmark

Anyone go to Texas A&M? I am graduating high school this year and will be in either ME or EE at A&M, and I can't decide which major to go with.

I'm about to finish my 3rd year at A&M, ME major. I do a lot of FSAE volunteering, and I'll be going to Detroit in May. If you want to work in the industry, you need to join the formula team. We have at least two guys going to work for a star Mazda race team next year, and at least two others were offered jobs at GM. (out of about 20 on the design team) If you want any more information about the school, send me a PM.

Anyway, I agree with everything that's been said.

In a nutshell, mechanical engineers are fortune-tellers. They predict how things will respond to physical inputs. Using that, they can tell you when and how things will fail, and they design with that in mind. And yes, you can apply a lot of what you learn to your car.

If you want this power, you're on the right track.

[axiomatik]

BSME - Arizona State, '03
MSME - Stanford, '04

Getting my Master's in under one year nearly killed me. Stanford is on a trimester system, so each trimester is only 10 weeks long, meaning you have to learn an entire semester's worth of graduate-level subject matter in only 2/3 the usual amount of time, and I took 5 classes/trimester. I wouldn't suggest going that route. Most people took 5 trimesters, 3 classes/trimester.

Classes that I had the most difficulty with: Calc III (not a very good teacher), Fluid Mechanics (I was always kind of lost), Physics II (electricity/magnetism, I don't know, I just never got it), Partial Differential Equations (worst class I ever took).

Easy stuff: Calc I & II, Mechanics of materials, Deformable Solids, Thermo, Heat Transfer, Mechatronics, CAD, Linear Algebra.

Engineering is definitely a more intensive course of study than pretty much any other major. I literally had on average ~3 hours of homework every night. My wife was a biology major (she has her PhD now), and never had any homework. Everything was done in class or in lab, so she always had way more free time than I did.

Now I'm an engineer for a company that designs and builds Packaging Equipment. I was hired on as a Controls Engineer about 3 years ago, and this past year was promoted to a manager position, and I pretty much have used only a tiny fraction of what I learned in college. It's kind of depressing, what did I spend all those years doing? But, on the other hand, I enjoy what I'm doing, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

[Lith]

I graduated from EE about 4 years ago.
I've been doing pretty much all power transmission/generation stuff (i.e. Power Plants, and Substations/Transformer Stations). If anyone is interested in that stuff, just PM me

[pwhitersxs]

Originally Posted by Lith

I graduated from EE about 4 years ago.
I've been doing pretty much all power transmission/generation stuff (i.e. Power Plants, and Substations/Transformer Stations). If anyone is interested in that stuff, just PM me

that's funny you mentioned that. I have a power concentration in EE. Power generation/ transmission/ distribution is awesome stuff. I just got done reading the "Annual energy outlook for 2007" for a graduate class. Interesting stuff, but boring reading through pages of numbers. I hope to land a job with power generation/ t & d.

[Lith]

Originally Posted by pwhitersxs

that's funny you mentioned that. I have a power concentration in EE. Power generation/ transmission/ distribution is awesome stuff. I just got done reading the "Annual energy outlook for 2007" for a graduate class. Interesting stuff, but boring reading through pages of numbers. I hope to land a job with power generation/ t & d.

I haven't read that paper, but I'm pretty sure it says that we will be in deep shit if we don't do something drastic, lol..

There are so many jobs in Power/T&D right now that most companies can't find engineers that are trained to do these jobs. We can't even keep up with the projects we have right now (which are in middle east, Europe, North America, etc..).
Problem lies in the fact that in the last 20+ years very few things have been upgraded properly. Now that most Transformer Stations, Generation Plants etc.. are nearing the end of their life expectancy and people are running around trying to upgrade everything at once. We have a huge problem here in North America with this.

Just to give you an example, I went to a transformer station that had 4 750MVA transformers which were 30 years old. They were falling apart and yet they still were at 100% load. I couldn't believe it.

Good thing is, if you looking for work in this field, there will be enough to go around for at least 10 years. This goes for Middle East, Europe and especially here. I know that because the projects we work on, are basically just waiting in queue.
There's definitely going to be enough work considering it takes at least 18 months to design/build/commission a transformer station with switchgear, and we need to build tons of them.

[gmarzan]

Graduated with EE and Chemistry (Rutgers), I was going for chemical engineering, but I cant handle anymore math. For the people who decided or want to take chemistry or chemical engineering, watch out for Physical Chemistry. That class was probably the hardest class i have ever taken. It is also about WHO (professor) YOU TAKE, some professors can teach and some can't.

[SC_S13]

first year ME at UCSB. sciences kick my ass, i hate it, but im hoping my knack at physics in high school will help out :-D thermodynamics suck tho :-(
How many classes did you guys have to take before getting to stuff like design and CAD?

[chibo]

Originally Posted by SC_S13

How many classes did you guys have to take before getting to stuff like design and CAD?

My school started design first semester of college, CAD was during my second semester.

[SC_S13]

btw, how much of the calc you learn do you actually apply in the real world....say designs and engine work?

[Timeattack]

My dad is electrical engineer >>>> that man knows his math<<<<

[drift_student]

I am 2.5 into my ME degree here at the University of Texas at Austin. There are so many girls here. Its hard to concentrate. Also, don't try to rush graduating, everyone can go at their own pace. I am on the 4.5 year plan lol.

[duffman1278]

ME major here, from Cal Poly Pomona. I'm a sophmore but right now at my company, the ME here, and even others have told me that usually what you learn in school is a SMALL amount of what you apply in the field. The math isn't too bad, for the most part, I'm 1 class away from finishing up my math courses and imo, it gets easier as you go. At least for the math courses required for engineering. Physics was another story, as I never took it in HS, and I should have.

Some of the professors at my school are really helpful though. I've had friends who have bad professors and can make an easy class hard and vice versa. GL with your choice though.

[skylindrftr]

Originally Posted by duffman1278

ME major here, from Cal Poly Pomona. I'm a sophmore but right now at my company, the ME here, and even others have told me that usually what you learn in school is a SMALL amount of what you apply in the field. The math isn't too bad, for the most part, I'm 1 class away from finishing up my math courses and imo, it gets easier as you go. At least for the math courses required for engineering. Physics was another story, as I never took it in HS, and I should have.

Some of the professors at my school are really helpful though. I've had friends who have bad professors and can make an easy class hard and vice versa. GL with your choice though.

same here, i am just starting out =) too bad i got owned on the math placement exam i had to start in 105.... if they woulda ignored that and gone off my sat score i could be in 115 right now...

[DirtyS14]

Mech Eng soph here. University of Colorado.

Its not that bad so far.

[Dirty Dee]

I'm a junior in Electrical Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. I hate signal processing and am leaning towards power and energy and also circuit design. Currently taking a solid state electronics class and electromechanics. Trying to get an internship for the summer but its hard with my gpa being a 2.8

[flip3d]

I'm majoring in Social Engineering

[Tenchuu]

I'm going for EE here, almost done with my first year. I am on the 5 year plan.

[g6civcx]

I finished a computer engineering degree back in 2001. I realized that you can make a decent living, but won't be wealthy so I went back for a business degree. Now I'm heading to law school.

Engineering was a good base, but the average person isn't going to become wealthy from a regular engineering job. Still though, the background helps a lot because most lawyers don't know anything about tech stuff.

Just stick with it and work hard. Then look for opportunities to make a name for yourself. It will pay off in the long run.

[Tenchuu]

don't know about you guys, but i am looking at allot of EE jobs both state and federal that start at 50-100K and higher managerial EE jobs that are 100-200K. not that i expect to jusm into one of those but you can make a pretty good living off of about 100K

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by Tenchuu

don't know about you guys, but i am looking at allot of EE jobs both state and federal that start at 50-100K and higher managerial EE jobs that are 100-200K. not that i expect to jusm into one of those

Sure you can. It depends where you go, but at some places you can make 6 figures your first year if you work hard.

Are you willing to relocate? Are you hard working? Do you persevere? Are you smart? Do you write well (most engineers do NOT)?

If yes to all I say you'll be fine.

Originally Posted by Tenchuu

but you can make a pretty good living off of about 100K

I don't know about all that. $100k may be a lot to some people, but for others it's never enough.

[Sway500]

Mechanical Engineering Major at University of North Carolina in Charlotte here

[snowmansent2hel]

im currently a senior in high school and am thinking about going to VT for ME anyone currently there?

[Moncef]

It depends on what you wanna do. And most people work a 40 hour week, so essentially you would be eating, sleeping, working, the occasional shit and then pay your bills.

I'm going for an MBA after a Bachelor in Engineering, and I'll be starting an investment plan before college. I'm going to reach for managerial/executive positions after I hold an engineer position. I love engineering and I love cars, but I also love business. Because that's how products reach customers, through proper marketing.

Moncef

[millworkman]

Civil here, Just getting into it.

[nani]

if you dont get a scholarship, do you just get a loan for all your tuition expenses?

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by nani

if you dont get a scholarship, do you just get a loan for all your tuition expenses?

Grants, donations, work, beg.

[nani]

i've done the math and it really scares me. Im sure its worth it but i always wonder what if something goes wrong?

[crzycav86]

Oh yeah. Don't expect to get paid a ton unless you get an advanced degree.

[EDz s14]

Im in my first year for ME at Cal Poly,

MFE class sucks balls lol

[duffman1278]

Originally Posted by EDz s14

Im in my first year for ME at Cal Poly,

MFE class sucks balls lol

You transferred from MFE to ME? That RARELY happens at CPP. Lol but I ask cause I did the same thing. I know/heard of a bunch of people at CPP that have done the opposite though.