Engineering Major Students.... Check this out.

i was chemical engineering at CU boulder, but i switched out. it sucked ass basically. but if engineering is what you want to do then go for it.

i started out as an engineering major at cal poly which is the best undergraduate non-doctoral program in the west and it was really tough. This was partly due to a really bad education from public schools in oregon and because I found out I hated physics. The work load is definitely something you can handle though especially if you are into engineering. Most of my friends are engineers and they have no problem living a perfectly normal life.

Umm, if you are going to school and don't really want to worry about the actual school side of things and want to have lots of fun, then engineering probably isnt for you. You could always spread it over more years though.

i'm a chemical engineer and my roomate is a civil engineer. it is difficult and time consuming. you are almost guaranteed a good job out of school though.

ya, its hard and takes a lot of effort, but you can still have a good time if you budget time well.

Mechanical engineering is where you gotta be yo....but im taking a automovtive mechanics course because getting a job in engineering is like finding a girl friend that looks like jessica alba, that shits money, and is willing to buy everything for you....its rare. Not to mention it really gives you great basics in many things like Hydrolics, fulid dynamics, physics of electricity, meterology, mechnical physics....stuff like that. Plus if you get higher then a 3.5 gpa in college your pretty much guarenteed a spot in the university program ( well in many schools ive seen in canada anyways).

just Go Big!

I'm not and engineer but I work with all engineers. From what I hear its a rigorous curriculum, good engineering schools in Ontario (Queens, Waterloo, UofT) are gong to load you up with about 40 hours of IN CLASS work, plus what ever studying it takes you outside of class to learn that material. The first 3 years a "weeding" years ie only the strongest survive. And if you make it to your Senior year its usually pretty chill. The pay off is huge, you can get a job in any industry you choose. My company is giving new grads about 50K CAN a year. and we pay lower that most. If you want to work in the oil sands in Alberta you are looking at around about 85-100K your first year. No other university degree is going to pay you more. Well maybe Finance degree and work in investment banking or something.

Doctorate pays more.....well your lucky every engineering grad ive ever talked to is poor, and looking for work.

Civil Engineering, 2.5 years left, University of New Mexico.

Waha who the fuck are you talking too?  Tons of people that I talk to here at UBC already have jobs lined up for them for when they're done, and these people are in 3rd/4th year.  I was talking to a 4th year mining engineering student the other day.  He said that before he accepted the job that he wanted to take for after he graduates, he turned down 3 jobs from major companies that were willing to pay him $70,000+ per year.  Now he'll be working near Vancouver for most of the year and he'll be getting paid to travel on business for 3 or 4 months of the year.  I talked to another mining engineer a few days ago, he graduated from UBC and is now 44.... he's been to 159 different countries because of his job.  If you ask me, I think that's really cool, and I'd love to visit all sorts of different places in the world, even if it was for my job.  Oh, and you can do this with any specialization in engineering, not just mining.

"Doctorate pays more".... lets disect this statement for a while... actually it shouldn't take very long...

         1.  A doctorate in what?... please specify.
         2.  A doctorate takes a LOT more time than a BASC in engineering, and therefore costs you a lot more money to get.

You shouldn't even try to draw a comparison between the two.  Besides, a person with a BASC in engineering can still get a doctorate.

I was gonna refrain from adding a "dumbass" to the end of this part of my post, but I don't think I will refrain after all.

dumbass.


Anyways, back to the original subject of the thread...

Engineering at any school is gonna be a ton of work.  For example, last semester i had an 18 credit courseload, while it only takes 9 credits per semester to be "full time."  I averaged 21 hours of class/tutorial/labs per week.  This semester, i again have the potential to earn 18 credits, but I now spend 27 hours per week in class/tutorial/labs.  Oh, and I'm in first year engineering, which, at UBC, is the same for everyone, with specialization taking place at the beginning of second year.

That said, I still have time to party, ski, and just generally have a good time.  Sometimes you'll feel like the work never ends, but it will, and you just have to slug through it and do your best to get it all done.  Personally, I'm pretty much always tired due to general lack of sleep, but that's probably my own fault for going on NS all the time instead of doing my work during the day, and therefore forcing myself to do it until late hours of the night.  If you concentrate on getting stuff done, you'll have plenty of time to do whatever you want.    If you budget your time well, you should have no problems with the workload.  If you don't, you'll eventually be lacking so much sleep that it'll be like you're wide awake all the time.... trust me.  Oh, but try to avoid that, because there's a big crash at the end and it sucks when it happens during finals. 

If you think you'll enjoy it, give it a try.  There's no harm in going to school, discovering that you don't like civil engineering, and switching into another type of engineering, switching into another faculty, or just leaving university/college in favor of a trade.


hmm... that was kinda long.

wtf is that? i dunno, i'm tired (and sick, but that's because i'm living in residence and everyone else on my floor got sick), and having problems typing i guess.

I'm at a pure Engineering school, we get skiing, but unlike most, you aren't starting the weekend on wednesday. Fridays and Saturdays are the fun nights, you ski when you can. School has got to be you're focus, or you will probably hate it.

This dude actually hit Colorado School of Mines pretty well, and as far as I can gather most Undergrad engineering programs

I was going to write a good response like that about how pretty much everyone I know in engineering has managed to find a good paying job out of college.  So thanks for making my life easier... now I can spend more time on this heat transfer program I ahve to write up in C....

YO im an engineering major at Miami Universit

   1 the girls down here are fucking hot my point being you should be concerned wiht many things not just partying so think about how the girls looked in your tour

   2 im taking 19 hrs which is more then the business students are allowed to and yes its fucking hard but you deal

   3 i blaze and get drunk all the fucking time and im doing fine

   4 if your concerned about partying over leaving college and making 70 grand which will be double what you would get leaving as a business major then your fucking dumb and you probly wont enjoy your career
  
    5 pick a place with a wide spread of programs so you can decide later and make sure you can get to go riding or you will go out of your mind i dont have a car and it sucks instead of riding i smoked its gay

overall enjoy it dont think about partying first it will be hard if you do engineering but your starting your career so dont fuck it up do well in school but also get super fucked up when you can just watch out for 8 ams or even classes at noon if you get really fucked up

dude you should do it. its definitely worth the time and you can always still have fun if you work for it.

haha no problem.

i'm learning C as well, but right now we're only doing simple calculations... so prinf, scanf, double, float, comments, etc.

Here is the truth: Engineering sucks!

If it's money you are after, then you might be stoked. If it's job satisfaction, then you might not be too stoked.

so pretty much what you are saying is you want to go to college and not do any work, but still get a degree? I think you are mistaken.

yea engineering is quite a lotta work, i'm in biomedical engineering here at UW, fucking tough, lots of competetition too... just be ready to work a lot

sounds pretty worth it to me... ill most likely be at Utah, so i could go skiing alot to take my mind off that shit.

Want to have the worst college experience imaginable? http://www.usmma.edu/academics/curriculum/marineengineering.htm

Yeah and if you read local utah papers engineers are way in demand and they are expecting a big shortage...plus the first couple of years of college are fun, its not until you get into the major specific classes is when it starts to get a little more,,,,whats the word "focused".

Both my Parents are Engineers. My mom's first job out of school as a mechanical engineer was working for 125 000$/year working for Schlumberger. She got to go to france, italy, spain, thailand, germany, australia, newzealand and a whole bunch of other companies.

im an engineering freshman at michigan. the competition is ridiculous, and the workload is tough. i work my ass off for mediocre grades. i still have time to relax though. and yes the ladies are hideous

my sister went to michigan for chemical engineering.  two years out of college, she makes more money than both of my parents combined.

yeah if you think about it that way...

1)You are in school for about 3 months at a time, busting your ass
2)Then you get like a month off for christmas break
3)bust your ass for another semester
4) Summer break

After doing that for 4 years, which really isnt that long, then you will get hoooked up with a sick job and be making good money right off the bat

dude those courses look pretty sick, hater

A: i live in ontario....its pretty damn hard to find a job, and if you do have a job out of college then you've been picked by a company and are pretty much one of the best in your class.

B:the engeneering students i talk to go to Laurention University in sudbury, U of T, and Waterloo.

Now a doctorate in medical sciences, general pratice, bio engineering, bio engineer....ALL pay better. Especially if you add up incentives. Yes it may take longer, but we are not talking about lenght, we are talking about money, and they get paid better.

The University Of Alberta has an awesome Mining Engineering program. Mining will let you work anywhere you want pretty much. For the next 8 months im working at a coal mine in the rocky mountains right near fernie ski resort.

I'm just finishing up my junior year at Gonzaga.  Engineering is pretty hard, but not that hard as long as you keep up.  Its a pretty big time committment.  for me, sunday night through friday afternoon is pretty much constant class or homework or projects.  Some classes are a lot harder than others, it all depends on what you are interested in.  I'm going into civil engineering, which is a broad field so I take classes on all sorts of different shit, some of its cool and interesting like structural analysis, and some of it sucks, like all of the math that you have to take, (4 semesters of calculus for me plus stats and some more I cant remember).  You should probably be pretty good a math too, almost all the classes are math based. 

All this being said, if you are looking to party every night, engineering is probably not for you.  But, you will easily have time to party on the weekends if you use the week to get your shit done.  My first two years of school I partied and skied almost every friday and saturday and managed to get decent grades.

The cool thing is though that with most engineering degrees there are tons of different companies that do tons of different work so if you find something you like in college, odds are you will be able to find that kind of work when you get done with school. 

If you are interested in engineering then go for it, if not you will probably not get through the first year (happened to my roomate).  Hope some of my disorganized thoughts will help you make a decision.  Good luck whatever you do though.

Its not even that bad. I just finished my junior year doing computer science at the University of Michigan. Aside from a few nights of non stop programming it wasn't bad at all. I slack off like crazy and played more guitar hero than should be possible. (I'm getting pretty damn good)

1. Don't be a software engineer
2. It has a heavy course load, but definetly manageable.
3. No one parties harder then engineers

I'm personally not engineer, more of a chem type of guy, but I have a bunch of engineer friends and they love it.

Im not in university, but Im in marine mechanical engineering in college, there is a demand for marine engineers

2nd year in computer engineering at Michigan State. There's work involved, but if its something you're interesting in then the work isn't that bad.

im at montana state in the mechanical engineering major. yes it is very hard, but you can still ski on the weekends. and they dont call it mAntana for nothing...

I'm planning to pursue a career in mechanical engineering or petroleum engineering.
There are so many huge companies that need petroleum engineers.. I could snag a killer job right out of college and be set for life.


p.s.  No, it's not about the money.
It's about pursuing what I feel I should accomplish in order to make the most out of life -- by becoming successful in college and having a steady a career path that actually interests me.


Props to any other aspiring engineering students. Good luck.
Stick with it. It will pay off in the end.

I am studing materials engineering at CSM, it is tough and alot of work, but i find it inertesting and i will get a good job right out of school. Also is skied about 35 times this year and i know alot of people who skied more than i did.

It is a ton of work, but if its what you enjoy in school then fuck it, just do it. The biggest mistake you can make is letting someone else overly influence you on your major choice. Fuck all of that x major has x jobs and pays x money or oh if you do this major well that field will be dead in ten years blah blah. Try to branch out and maybe youll love engineering, maybe youll love politcal science, whatever, but if you enjoy it dont back down from it for any reason. Your gut will tell you what is best~

You go to school with me are on newschoolers and arent on our regionals... tsk tsk~

its very possible he meant Wisconsin and not Washington.

I'm civil at suny buffalo. just finishing up my freshman year. so far it has been a lot of gen ed classes, with basic introduction classes. If looking to do engineering just for money, don't go into it. something like 60% of the engineering class has already dropped within the first year. If you are into it, then it is one of the coolest things to learn more about. Look at the types of laboratories schools have to give a good representation of they're programs. My school has lots of optional programs for first year engineers to help you out, like mentors and small groups where they do hard classes like calc, chem, and physics with like a 20:1 student to professor ratio that are really helpful if you are nervous about not doing well. No matter what you major is, you will still have lots of work, so just make sure it is something you can enjoy doing.

I'm an engineering major at Northeastern U in Boston. Freshman year is when you're going to want to have all your fun. I just completed my freshman year and I had a lot of fun still. It's doable. But it's definitely a tough curriculum. But. Engineers are in serious desire right now. Coming out of college you are almost guaranteed a job. People coming out of top schools with good experience often are now recieving signing bonuses just to go work for big companies.

So basically. I say go for it. I love being engineering. As long as you are into maths and sciences. you'll really like it. And you'll get over the need to party allllll time time by sophmore year.

You are probably right, fucking wisconsin...

I graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (5 years ago). It is the best undergraduate school (without PhD program) in the US. You can look at the rankings at US News and World Reports.

I am a 5 year Chemical Engineer who works in Africa for a major oil company.  A couple of things:

1. The kid that said his mom worked for slumberjer right out of college and was making $125000...lol. Right now oil companies are paying approximately $60k - $70k depending on the location. If you work overseas you get an "uplift" or bonus for hardship locations. ie, africa gets a big bonus. France = no bonus.  Also this is the current market...Im not sure how old your mom is, but unless she had you when she was 12 and is under 30, then yea maybe...but I bet she's in the mid-40's? Which means she hired on during the oil crisis and oil slumps? They werent paying nearly as much and it was almost impossible to get a job in the oil industry.

2. If your only going into engineering for the money...quit now...why waste a couple years of tuition to realize you dont like engineering? and about 3rd year, you'll realize you can't stand it and quit anyways.

3. Civil Engineering is the easiest of the engineering programs. There is no arguing over it. Yea you can argue programming/software is but that is only because those kids make it look easy because its their hobby (it'd be like making a skiing engineering program, would be easy for anyone who skis)...

4. Civil Engineers typically are the lowest pay. Right now your probably looking approximately:  Chemical Eng = $45k - $70, Mech Eng  = $40k - $65k, and Civil $35k - $55k. There are a lot of factors: location of Job, your school, your grades, and obviously what industry/company. For chemical engineers the oil industry typically pays the best, working directly for an oil company again is usually the best.

5. At least for chemical engineers getting a PhD is pretty much a waste of time. Unless you want to go into research or teaching, you would be better off working.  A PhD takes at least 4 years, that same 4 years of work experience, bonus, raises will have you making more money then the PhD when they start working.  Fairly simple do a time value of money calculation. Money upfront (ie not getting your PhD) is worth way more then the little increase of salary you get out of PhD program.

As for the rest of you that said things like "its easy I light up and get drunk every night and do just fine" and "awesome money go for it"...I hope you never apply for a job at my company. You'd be weeded out within minutes.  The work is not easy, its not for the weak hearted.

At my school we had a motto: "Engineering isnt a job, it isnt a career, its a way of life." 


Oh as an example of why civil engineering is the easiest, here is an example of your final exam for your hardest class:

1.  Water + Dirt = Mud
2.  If Mud is too dry...add water
3.  If Mud is too wet...add dirt
4.  Can't push with a rope