Where can mechanical Engineering take me in college and in the future?

Mechanical Engineering can lead in several different directions -- design and analysis of mechanism and structures, power transformation in engines and turbines, analysis and application of wind and water movement, project management and economic analysis. It applies basic mathematical tools and physical laws to solve problems, create products and/or improve processes.

In my case, I started in power transfer and turbine engines, then moved to design and management of consumer products and finally into healthcare management. Although this latter assignment did not involve physical principles my training and experience in finance, project and organizational management and quality improvement were all very valuable.

My comments are always about knowing yourself and your passion.

If you are creative and like to make things, design is really interesting. There is a broad range of products and components, they each have their own challenges and rewards.

Similarly, there is a sustaining engineering role that supports existing products in productions. This is a critical role of keeping a product in production and working through long term reliability of a product.

MEs also go into production engineering, working with everything from factory floor layout to fixture design.

Tooling Engineers design the injection molding tools, die cast tools, and stamping tools to make the parts in mass production

If you have a passion for analysis, there are the Reliability Engineering role that can test the products, or FEA to simulate the parts and loads.

HVAC also uses MEs to design the building Heating and Air conditioning for a building.

Some MEs go into sales to support companies that sell components into the engineering teams.

Learn the fundamentals in your classes, reach out to learn from existing engineers either through companies visiting your campus or reaching out to companies and asking to come in and do an informational interview, and participate in engineering related activities on campus.

A bachelors in mechanical engineering will give you the basics to being a mechanical engineer. The experience through internships will give your specialties in the areas of mechanical engineering that can formulate your path. Projects in college also give you the experience to land you internships in your fields of interest. You can also use your engineering degree to be the basis of becoming a Dr. or a teacher or researcher. Most universities have paid teaching or research positions to cover costs for graduate school. My path was to have a project related to the SAE formula race car and my modeling work through that project, as well as good grades, landed me an internship at Xerox one summer then I worked at a printing press company for a year before heading off to graduate school where I was a teaching assistant. I got another summer internship at FOrd where I worked on Madymo program to model vehicle crashes and passenger/air bag interactions. Then I got a job at the US EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory where I have been for 25 years. I like it a lot for it incorporates engineering knowledge (but not research) project management, writing and I get to attend conferences and be the person people want to talk to (or avoid) because I am from the EPA and our regulations encourage use of emission reduction technologies. There is an ORISE program through which students can apply for internships at various government locations across the US. Best advice: be an engineer who can write!!