should i major in engineering at uiuc?

[epdog]

I got in to the U of Illinois at Champaign for August. I am considering engineering, but I don't know the difference between different types of engineering fields and what I would do after school. I should be able to handle the course load for whichever field I choose.
Thanks.

[Shadowrun]

engineering is tough at uiuc out of everything you choose.

assuming you dont have a ton of transfer credit, i would pick engineering just b/c if you dont go into it at the start it it can be hard to transfer in.

P.S. Engineering campus is amazing.

[Carded]

Civil Engineering- buildings, streets, bridges.
Aero Engineering- Airplanes, satalites, spaceships
Mechanical Engineering- Cars, planes, bikes, tvs, pretty much everything thats made.

Electrical Engineering- anything that uses electricity.

I would choose: Mechanical, cause after you graduate you can get into pretty much any field you want afterwards.

[scotchnrocks]

Good advice from Carded. UIUC is a top tier engineering school. Check the catalog for an intro course. I took a 1 semester hour course my freshman year called intro to engineering which pretty much covered what you would study and what kind of work you would do in each discipline.

Also, I highly recommend getting an engineering degree in anything. You will learn a lot of cool stuff and experiment with cutting edge technologies. A lot of work at times, but it only helps to make you a more thorough and intelligent person.

[bluesbassman]

I have B.S., M.S. (Virginia Tech), and Ph.D. (Univ of Texas @ Austin) degrees in aerospace engineering. So, obviously I'm biased towards that discipline. I work for an aerospace company designing guidance & control systems for spacecraft. It's pretty interesting & challenging work, and it's cool seeing the product of my efforts work in space.

Since aerospace vehicles are usually unique and/or state of the art, the undergrad aerospace engineering curriculum tends to emphasize general, fundamental engineering science: applied math, fluid mechanics, structural mechanics, flight dynamics & control theory, numerical methods & programming, etc. In fact, at some universities the aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics departments are merged.

So, it's easy for aerospace engineering grads to get jobs and develop expertise in industries other than aerospace. Depending on what technical electives you choose, an aerospace engineering degree can be very similar to a mechanical engineering degree. (And at some universities those departments are also merged.)

If I were you, I'd just look at the course offerings and requirements for each discipline, and choose whichever interests you the most now. If you develop an interest in a certain discipline or industry during your studies, you can probably emphasize courses to support that regardless of whether your major is, for example, aerospace or mechanical engineering. If you want to design bridges, however, you had better go with civil.

[txag007]

Bluesbass is right. Once you get into your core curriculum (statics, dynamics, etc.), it should help you decide which way to lean.

I'm a civil engineer, and we design roads, bridges, airports, parking lots, pipelines, culverts, wastewater treatment plants, etc. We also perform drainage studies and issue hydraulic reports.

I know it sounds REALLY exciting (sw!), but if you are into it, it can be a lot of fun. The drawbacks of civil are that we are one of the lowest paid (on average) among the various disciplines of engineering. This is primarily because we perform quite a bit of public works projects, which means we work, in one form or another, for some level of government.

Something else to be aware about before you pursue an engineering degree is that obtaining your P.E. (professional engineering license) can be a tedious process. Once you obtain your degree, you must take an 8-hour exam called the FE Exam (formerly the EIT). After that you must obtain 4 years of design experience under the supervision of a Professional Engineer before you can apply to sit for the PE Exam. Applying to take the PE Exam involves documenting your years of experience in a paper called your Supplemental Experience Record (SER) and obtaining references from various PE's familiar with your work. After this is complete, you can finally sit for your PE Exam, which is another 8-hour test.

Engineering, whatever discipline you choose, is very rewarding, but you need to make sure you know what you are getting into as well.

Oh, and something a college professor once advised me of: Attorneys deal with death, but they cannot kill a person as part of their job. Doctors, on the other hand, can only kill one person at a time. But engineers, in a single decision, perhaps at a distracting time such as when the phone rings, can kill hundreds and hundreds of people.

It's an extremely rewarding career, but not a decision to be taken lightly. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or ask in this thread.

Good Luck!

Txag007

[epdog]

The only problem I may have is that I applied to the actuarial sciences (las college) and then considered engineering. Does anybody know how tough it would be to change majors? I have pretty solid course work from high school and spent the last five years in the army. Great infromation in this thread. I appreciate it.

[New001]

[ QUOTE ]
I got in to the U of Illinois at Champaign for August. I am considering engineering, but I don't know the difference between different types of engineering fields and what I would do after school. I should be able to handle the course load for whichever field I choose.
Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]
For what it's worth, I was a nuclear engineering student there for a couple of years and for reasons that would likely be at every good school ended up leaving. If engineering is what you want to do, UIUC is a great school for it.

Good luck.

[scotchnrocks]

[ QUOTE ]
The only problem I may have is that I applied to the actuarial sciences (las college) and then considered engineering. Does anybody know how tough it would be to change majors? I have pretty solid course work from high school and spent the last five years in the army. Great infromation in this thread. I appreciate it.

[/ QUOTE ]

If your course work from high school contained physics and calculus and you had high grades, along with your army experience, that would probably allow an easy major change.

If you can't change majors just yet, take whatever classes you can that can count for actuarial and engineering (probably calculus and statistics) and try again in a semester or two. If your grades are good I don't see how they could say no.

[duracell]

[ QUOTE ]
I have B.S., M.S. (Virginia Tech), and Ph.D. (Univ of Texas @ Austin) degrees in aerospace engineering. So, obviously I'm biased towards that discipline. I work for an aerospace company designing guidance & control systems for spacecraft. It's pretty interesting & challenging work, and it's cool seeing the product of my efforts work in space.

Since aerospace vehicles are usually unique and/or state of the art, the undergrad aerospace engineering curriculum tends to emphasize general, fundamental engineering science: applied math, fluid mechanics, structural mechanics, flight dynamics & control theory, numerical methods & programming, etc. In fact, at some universities the aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics departments are merged.

So, it's easy for aerospace engineering grads to get jobs and develop expertise in industries other than aerospace. Depending on what technical electives you choose, an aerospace engineering degree can be very similar to a mechanical engineering degree. (And at some universities those departments are also merged.)

If I were you, I'd just look at the course offerings and requirements for each discipline, and choose whichever interests you the most now. If you develop an interest in a certain discipline or industry during your studies, you can probably emphasize courses to support that regardless of whether your major is, for example, aerospace or mechanical engineering. If you want to design bridges, however, you had better go with civil.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd be interested to hear of your experiences in the field so far. I've had my eye set on a career in aerospace engineering for about ten years.

I'm a senior in high school this year, and I've already been accepted into Georgia Tech (with aerospace as my major), and I'm still waiting to hear from the University of Michigan and Princeton.

I also plan to get my Ph.D.

I guess some advice would be appreciated. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

(Sorry for the hijack. Although I'm certainly not an expert, it seems like it is easier to get a job coming out of college with a degree in engineering than it is with many other majors.)