I will say that post college having that degree has allowed me to travel all over the country. Sometimes unwillingly... hahaha.
Engineering Degree
- Thread starter isucyfan
- Start date
Yeah, 3.5 seems tough. I just double-checked to make sure I was right:
National Merit Scholars | Undergraduate Admissions | TTU
I'm not an engineer, but I work professionally with many. I'd definitely support the recommendation to get a look at the everyday work for the various schools of engineering (e.g., internships or job shadowing).
If that doesn't lead to a conclusive decision, I would also suggest using classes and internships to identify what he is particularly good at compared to his peers (both in engineering and other courses). Liking the job certainly helps, but being good at something can be just as important starting out even if you're uncertain of your future in a particular field. I've worked with many-an-engineer that have changed fields over the course of their career (some to very non-engineering roles). Having an engineering degree and a bit of successful work experience can really help in opening doors to a pretty wide range of business sectors, especially if they have some developed skills in problem-solving and working with people.
If that doesn't lead to a conclusive decision, I would also suggest using classes and internships to identify what he is particularly good at compared to his peers (both in engineering and other courses). Liking the job certainly helps, but being good at something can be just as important starting out even if you're uncertain of your future in a particular field. I've worked with many-an-engineer that have changed fields over the course of their career (some to very non-engineering roles). Having an engineering degree and a bit of successful work experience can really help in opening doors to a pretty wide range of business sectors, especially if they have some developed skills in problem-solving and working with people.
He does enjoy Chem. My other boy is in school to be a HS Chem teacher, so maybe chemistry is the way he will go.
Did he have a favorite science area in high school?
Chemistry - Chemical engineer
Biology - Bio Medical Engineer
Physics - Civil/Structural Engineer
Environmental Studies - Civil/Environmental Engineer
Astronomy - Aerospace Engineer
Computer - Electrical/Computer Science/Software Engineer
These are just a few examples. Frankly there are so many engineering fields these days. For example a Civil Engineer can focus on soils, hydrology, water treatment, environmental, and structural as a degree focus and that was 40 years ago. Electrical can be high voltage, think power plants or low voltage like cell phones. Mechanical Engineers get hired by just about every industrial business. And Chemical Engineers can work in refining, petro chemicals, food and beverage, cosmetics etc.
My son liked computers and is a software engineer in the defense Industry. My daughter is a Chem E and works for Molson Coors making beer. You never know where the degree may take you.
Congrats to him for picking engineering. Take the year to get his foundation requirements done and then let him decide. He is fortunate to have a parent that is willing to provide some guidance and wisdom along the way.
Chemistry - Chemical engineer
Biology - Bio Medical Engineer
Physics - Civil/Structural Engineer
Environmental Studies - Civil/Environmental Engineer
Astronomy - Aerospace Engineer
Computer - Electrical/Computer Science/Software Engineer
These are just a few examples. Frankly there are so many engineering fields these days. For example a Civil Engineer can focus on soils, hydrology, water treatment, environmental, and structural as a degree focus and that was 40 years ago. Electrical can be high voltage, think power plants or low voltage like cell phones. Mechanical Engineers get hired by just about every industrial business. And Chemical Engineers can work in refining, petro chemicals, food and beverage, cosmetics etc.
My son liked computers and is a software engineer in the defense Industry. My daughter is a Chem E and works for Molson Coors making beer. You never know where the degree may take you.
Congrats to him for picking engineering. Take the year to get his foundation requirements done and then let him decide. He is fortunate to have a parent that is willing to provide some guidance and wisdom along the way.
I'm an engineer at an electric utility company. I'd say the 101 course played a part in getting me to talk to the advisors and professors that helped cement the decision for me. It's been over 15 years, but I think I remember picking it because I saw it as a career where I'd be doing something useful and meaningful, along with the career being very secure.
Piggybacking on some of the other comments, I was very into video games coming out of high school and didn't have many friends. I didn't know anyone when I got to ISU, but developed a great social life there. I had no idea how to balance a social life and studying though and nearly had to drop out. I 100% would've lost my scholarship if I had to keep a 3.5.
I think it'll be combination of doing your/his own research and talking to people especially the alumni (not the recruiters) because they can give you honest opinions. I have a similar situation (son is a junior in HS) and I also usually speak in front of HS students regarding their career choice.
One thing that will be critical is getting not just the future of the major (how much you'll make etc) but also the price of admission to be successful there. This is one area where people overlook the most: they are enamored with the salary but don't understand what it takes to get there.
Take public accountants as example: their salary might be good but IIRC they have to work minimum 2,200 hours per year (not 2080). Rookies are expected to be on stand by for inventory observations between Christmas and New Year (and some companies do have them on December 31st). They have to work around 55 hours during busy season (November - May)
I planned to major in Oil and Gas Engineering but after talking to a friend whose brother was already in the field, I decided not to. Ended up doing accounting despite having zero experience in HS in accounting
One thing that will be critical is getting not just the future of the major (how much you'll make etc) but also the price of admission to be successful there. This is one area where people overlook the most: they are enamored with the salary but don't understand what it takes to get there.
Take public accountants as example: their salary might be good but IIRC they have to work minimum 2,200 hours per year (not 2080). Rookies are expected to be on stand by for inventory observations between Christmas and New Year (and some companies do have them on December 31st). They have to work around 55 hours during busy season (November - May)
I planned to major in Oil and Gas Engineering but after talking to a friend whose brother was already in the field, I decided not to. Ended up doing accounting despite having zero experience in HS in accounting
This is great, thank you. Part of his "problem" is that he has liked all of his science classes. That's a good problem to have, but doesn't help to tease out what to go into at college. He feels he would be good at anything (I accuse him of being cocky about that, but he's sincere, not arrogant about it).
We saw a presentation by a engineering prof at a different school that outlined the myriad of things you can do with an engineering degree, and that's what really sold him on going into it
I started out as computer engineering and took one math class, said **** that and went into the Business school (Management Information Systems). Best decision I ever made lol.
That's a nice feeling to have. Be ready to support him if (when) that feeling goes away.
What was the other school? Agree with others, that 3.5 for 8 semesters is pretty high.
The other was University of South Florida. He also looked hard at University of Texas-Dallas. Both of those only require a 3.0. I guess a 3.5 will keep him plenty motivated.
Absolutely. We've thought for a long time now that things will get "hard" for him and he's proved us wrong at every turn. College is a different game, though. He's done very well on all AP/ACT/etc. exams, so hopefully that translates to college aptitude.
Ok, I was interested how the other options stacked up against Tech. Tech isn't the best academic school out there, but I think there is something to be said about big, known universities. Not that South Florida isn't but I think Tech would be better known. But this line of thinking is probably minor to potential employers.
Being good at math but not loving it probably suggests no on the actuary.
My advice is to look at the research going on at the university by the different faculty members in the engineering departments (and maybe beyond engineering). Even if he has no or little interest in grad school, it can give him a feel for the area he wants to pursue, maybe find some faculty or grad students to mentor him and possibly employ him.
The range of jobs within an engineering discipline are wildly diverse. An ME grad might be doing process engineering, they might be doing product design, or they might be doing computational fluid dynamics.
So I think which discipline in engineering is probably not the place to start, but rather look at research by different faculty, find some areas of interest, and talk to that professor.
The point is the experts in a field at a university might not be in the department you would expect. Two examples at ISU right now are that the renewable fuels expert is in ME, and the plastics recycling expert is in food science.
My second bit of advice is related and somewhat contrary to the advice here a bit, is that once he finds something he's interested in and a professor engaging in work in that field, he should try his damned to get a job working for the grad student and/or professor. Do that for a couple of years and it will dwarf almost any summer internship a kid gets in the eyes of a future employer, that is unless the internship is with that future employer. So I disagree with the view of taking multiple internships. The reality and view by many employers regarding internships are:
- They can range from terrific to completely worthless. That depends on the company, and who a kid is working with in the company. Years ago I worked for a company that had tons of ISU interns. Some got great experience, some were a complete waste of time because the people that committed to host them either left the job, forgot, or didn't have anything for them to do.
- To completely flame out of a summer internship, you have to be pretty horrible. You can be pretty bad and make it through a summer getting by. Not to mention a company might look and say, "this guy interned at Company X. If Company X doesn't want to hire him, he must not have been very good."
Conversely, if you work for a professor in a field for two years, you not only bring great experience, you have a track record that shows you are a good employee.
I'm the poster child for good AP and ACT scores not translating to a good GPA in college. I skated by in high school without having to study much, but that didn't work in college. Like I mentioned before I nearly had to drop out because I didn't know how to manage my time. Once I realized I needed to get out of my dorm room/apartment and find somewhere quiet to study and get work done my grades rebounded.
That was his thinking as well. I think that USF and Texas Tech's engineering programs rated out about the same. He just felt like a better fit at TTU.
I disagree 100%. Internships were very valuable to me to get better internships and job offers the following year and after graduation. And as an interviewer, a job with a grad student tells me nothing how you would be in a "real world" setting.
If you're going academia sure but I'm hiring the guy with two internships over the guy who stuck around and did stuff with a professor for two years almost every time.
Yeah, my ISU roommate freshman year got like a 34 on his ACT and flunked out real quick, since all he did was game. And this was back in the 90s when the games didn't even have graphics.
