What should I take in consideration when choosing an engineering major?

Hi Logan!

When I got to the point in high school where I was facing college applications, I knew for certain I wanted to pursue engineering but I had no idea what branch of engineering I wanted to major in. This had a huge impact on the school I chose to attend. I found a university that had a fantastic Freshman Engineering Program. The way it worked at this particular school:

-  you start out in a General Engineering course that met every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You choose two 'focus areas' from a list of Electronics, Robotics, Structures, etc. to learn more in depth over your first year. Your general engineering class is then tailored to those focuses and your Monday and Wednesday lectures are focused on that area. For example, I chose Robotics and the project I worked on was done by programming a robot to complete certain tasks.

- At the same time you are focusing on two disciplines, you are also being introduced to all the branches of engineering.   On Fridays we heard presentations given by the respective heads of the departments for each branch that was taught at that university. So even though I chose more electrical engineering focuses in my project work, I got to learn about the civil, industrial, chemical, biomedical, etc engineering programs that I could choose to major in.

-At the end of the Spring semester we had a Decision Day were we then declared the major we wanted to pursue and the more major specific classes started in the fall of Sophomore year.

This program allowed me the time to explore all the branches of engineering and start my general college classes like fine arts, math, writing etc (that you take no matter your major) without the pressure of having to choose something before I even set foot on campus.

There are MANY schools that follow a similar process. If this sounds like something you would like, I would suggest looking into schools that have some sort of freshman engineering program.

Although some would disagree with me, I think most would agree. There is a tremendous amount of overlap between engineering disciplines. The range from practical to more theoretical has to do with the range from a two-year degree all the way to a doctorate. But basically, you'll be dealing with a discipline that's essentially the way theory is put to practical use and making stuff work. If you like science and math and taking stuff apart and fixing things, you can't go wrong with any of them. Right now, I'd suggest computer engineering, since you'll end up with a skill set that pretty much everybody needs. You may specialize in something like, say, petroleum engineering. But since all engineering tends to pay well, the primary consideration (and I may be pilloried for saying this) is which one is the most fun for you. I began in mechanical engineering simply because I always liked working on machines, particularly cars. But as cars evolved, I ended up more in electronics and computers. But my mechanical background always came in handy. Another thing you'll find is that there are actually engineers who did not spend a lot of time actually making stuff as kids. My daughter was building machines long before she went to school, and as a result, she was the "go-to" person for broken stuff in the workplace. I think of it like what one famous author said about "becoming a writer" when asked by a fan. He said, "You don't *become* a writer. You either are or you're not, and if you can't help but put words on paper about everything you think, you're already a writer. You can't help it." That's what I think about engineering. Try out some stuff. When you can't help but think about taking stuff apart, how it works, fixing stuff, how circuits work, what sort of programming would solve a problem... you'll know. Go with that. I tell my students, "You'll like what you're good at, and you'll be good at what you like." If everyone could take advantage of that advice, good things would always happen, and you'd see a lot of smiling faces everywhere, all the time. So use that as your barometer.

This has an excellent breakdown of what different engineering majors are:

https://www.collegexpress.com/interests/science-and-engineering/articles/studying-sciences/engineering-breakdown/

Read over those and pick out which sound most interesting to you. It's also worth considering things like job growth, salary, and versatility. For example, mechanical engineering is probably the most versatile of all engineering majors as you could go into biomedical, electrical/computer, aerospace, petroleum or oil/gas industries, architectural, etc. Electrical/computer engineering is also fairly versatile and they are also the best paid. Depending on where you live or hope to live in the future, electrical/computer engineering may be the best in terms of job availability if you live in California or other tech-heavy areas. Civil engineering gets paid the least, but they also typically have more government jobs which result in the best benefits and stability. You may also want to consider the university you're going to and which engineering programs within them are well-funded and/or known for being a good program.

Personally, I would choose either electrical/computer engineering because of salary and job growth or mechanical engineering because of versatility. But that's based on my own priorities, so do some self-exploration before you decide for yourself.