What is it like to be an engineering major?

Hi Lauren,

Being an engineering major is like being the envy of all your friends because most people think it's a very hard major. There is some truth to that. Seriously though, being an engineering major means doing a lot of work in an area of science and technology that you enjoy working with such as chemicals or machines or electricity or buildings. As an engineering major, you will certainly have a lot of laboratory classes which will earn you 1 credit for about 8 hours of work per week and the typical engineering major will have at least one lab class per semester and sometimes two. The labs are fun though and you get a chance to see the practical application of the theories you learned in class. This is a great segue to your question about what kind of people are engineers.

Engineers are curious people. As kids, many future engineers tinkered with all kinds of devices like coffee makers, radios, motorcycles, model building, etc. Engineers want to know how things work, how to take something apart and how to put it back together again such that it works as good or better than it did before. If this sounds anything like you, then initially, you have the right stuff to be an engineer. Engineers are also problem solvers. No matter what field of engineering you may decide to study, the goal of every engineering curriculum in college is to teach future engineers how to solve problems in society. Problems such as: How can we transport goods across this river? Or, how can we make this chemical cheaper? Or, how can we build the tallest building possible to resist tornadoes or even plane crashes. If you enjoy solving problems, if you're not afraid of word problems in mathematics, then again, you have a chance of being a very good engineer.

Lastly, if you enjoy creative writing (I certainly do), it could be a terrific addition to an engineering major. As mentioned above, engineers solve problems. Sometimes, the best solutions are the simplest ones and it takes a creative mind to come up with such solutions. Anything that gets you to think outside of the overly cliched box will be useful to you as an engineer. However, while you certainly can take some classes in creative writing, having that as a minor may not make you quite as marketable upon graduation as would, say, a business major, or even an engineer who minored in a related branch of engineering (e.g., major in mechanical engineering and minor in electrical engineering). But, you get the idea. Always look for ways to express yourself creatively as this trains different parts of the brain to complement the occasionally and otherwise rigid engineering brain when it comes to solving problems.

Good luck!