<p>Computer science, math, business (especially finance), economics, actuarial science (if school offers it).</p>
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I’m a physics/EE guy, but this sounds funny to me.
I don’t know where you went to school, but at one of my alma maters these are also ME courses. It’s part of mechanics. They also teach statics and dynamics in physics if you recall. All sorts of things are subject to Newton’s laws, not only buildings and highways. See MAE130</p>
<p>[MAE</a> Courses](<a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/courses/MAE.html]MAE”>Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)</p>
<p>Material science is often included in ME. OTOH, thermo can be part of ChemE.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of overlap in these disciplines, you can’t always fit a class into some category or other just by its name.</p>
<p>My older son started in engineering, but will be graduating as a math major. He loves math. There are plenty of jobs for mathematicians.</p>
<p>re: bovertine: the ME’s at my employer definitely have a material science background. They identify the material to be used in something they are designing based on thermal properties, etc. of the material.</p>
<p>Another option might be nuclear engineering. Strong physics and math backgrounds and very different than ME.</p>
<p>I agree with others that using AP credits in engineering is not wise. Son’s school won’t even allow that. They saw too many students get chewed up taking that route over the years.</p>
<p>Bioengineering D and EE husband also had to take Static/Dynamics. Both loved the courses. Would either of those engineering disciplines interest the OPs son?</p>
<p>DD will graduate with an engineering degree but has decided that it’s just not the field in which she would like to work. Too bad…lots of jobs for women in engineering. Maybe she’ll change her mind!!</p>
<p>Bovertine: </p>
<p>Every school is different. But the courses that he is struggling with are general engineering courses and not specific to mechanical engineers. As a EE, you likely took Statics and Dynamics and your version of material science (and probably hated both as well).</p>
<p>The point is the classes that are specific to mechanical engineering (fluid mechanics, mechanisms, machine design, senior design project, measurements and instrumentation) he hasn’t gotten to yet. He is still in what we like to call the “weed out” classes in engineering.</p>
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<p>That’s why material science is one of the classes that mechanical engineers take. But it’s not a “mechanical engineering” class like fluid mechanics or thermodynamics.</p>
<p>^^^
I guess it’s semantics. THere’s a difference between taking a survey cross discipline course and taking an intro course in your major department.</p>
<p>As far as I know, mechanics is crucial to machine design. Don’t you need to know a lot about torque, rotational dynamics, stresses and strains to do machine design? THat’s what the MEs at work tell me. In fact, in the ME study book for the PE exam there are several sections and equations similar to the CE book. When taught in the ME department it is a mechanical engineering class. I suspect if you don’t like it or “get it” early, things are not going to get much better in upper division. It’s not like you can generally get an F in mechanics and ace a decent machine design class.</p>
<p>I took an introductory class in electrical circuits, that I used for Design classes. But it was still an EE class, and one that I used frequently in my advanced classes. If I didn’t like or understand that class, things got worse, not better. It was completely different than when I took my breadth survey classes in statics and thermodynamics for a general requirement. I could have failed that class entirely and still done okay in EE.</p>
<p>I would try EE/CS or maybe just pure/applied math or physics.</p>
<p>Nephew1 started out in Ag. Engineering, but wiped out in some of the filter courses. He switched to a more applied program with a name something like “Ag. Systems Technology”, which I take it will be a B.S. instead of a B. Eng. Something like this may be available at the OP’s kid’s school.</p>
<p>The very happiest Engineering College drop-out that I know finished up a two year program in Engineering Tech. at a community college and now makes a very good living fixing environmental protection equipment for a major energy company. He has told me that the engineers he works with appreciate that he has a solid base in their subject area (he can “talk the talk”). For a hands-on student, this can be a good option.</p>
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This is great for people who want more of an “action” job, as opposed to a desk/cube farm job. (Not to say all engineers are in cube farms, but that’s more the trend.) One has to be careful, though that they are realistic about the possibilities for advancement. One guy I knew who went that route was very bitter because he felt he knew as much as the engineers in the firm (he didn’t) and couldn’t advance or get paid as much as they did.</p>
<p>Bovertine:</p>
<p>My opinion is the course of statics and dynamics is most aligned with structural engineering, which is a subset of civil engineering. Structural engineers are the ones that design the i-beams, bolted joints, concrete footings of buildings and do extensive static and dynamic analysis of those buildings. In many states, designing large buildings require a structural engineering license, which in turn requires a undergraduate degree in civil or structural engineering.</p>
<p>The foundations of statics and dynamics are used to prepare a mechanical engineer for later courses in mechanical and machine design, just as physics is used to prepare a student for mechanical engineering. Certainly, the course belongs as part of a mechanical engineering program. But a student doesn’t have to “love” the statics course to enjoy the later courses in machine design. In fact, many students who hated statics later loved courses in the mechanical engineering curriculum and also love being a mechanical engineer.</p>
<p>Martina, the same goes with material science courses. Some mechanical engineers enjoy this course while others hate it. Both can be very skilled engineers.</p>
<p>To the OP: I wouldn’t let the fact that he didn’t enjoy this year’s courses cause him to change majors, and especially so if he only has 4 more semesters left (or so).</p>
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I got to disagree with the first statement, nuclear engineering takes a lot of classes that mechanical engineers take.</p>
<p>But I do agree with the second statement, APs may not be the wisest choice for engineers. </p>
<p>Someone mentioned a counselor at the college. That sounds good. Math might be an option or Computer or Software Engineering. He has probably taken an electronics course or two already and can make a decision on whether he wants to do EE.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son. Engineering is definitely a calling.</p>
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<p>She might want to try it first. She may find that the job is better than the schooling. I loved the schooling, but the job had different rewards which I also loved. She could also look at Sales Engineering jobs - a lot more people oriented, but still a bit technical. Best of Luck!</p>
<p>A friend’s D majored in engineering, didn’t like it so went to work for a bank, then Mary Kay and is now a partner in a cupcake shop!!!</p>
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Mechanics includes dynamics as well. I certainly think that’s not more important to MEs than SEs or CEs. With the exception of vibration analysis, I think most SEs would be fairly troubled if their structure became a dynamic system.</p>
<p>I think the students you mention here are rare. Most kids who hated the intro courses at my school would have dropped out or switched to the “technology” tracks.</p>
<p>I’ll agree that you do not need to “love” these courses. But you do have to understand them well and do reasonably well in them. And you cannot detest them. Either that, or ME is completely different than EE. I can only give an example from EE - we intensively studied Fourier transforms, LaPlace trransforms, circuit analysis, etc as lower division students. When we got into upper division coursework this stuff kept coming back over and over. Lot’s of difficult, calculus based stuff. It’s not like we hit junior year and suddenly were doing nothing but fiddling with amplifiers in the lab. If I detested and performend miserably in the lower division stuff I would have been completely lost. </p>
<p>Most kids who were technically inclined but hated all the rigorous math switched to EET. And they could become fine engineers in the workplace, but generally not by staying in the EE department - upper division EET was nothing like upper division EE. But, like I said, maybe the ME department is completely different.</p>
<p>I do agree that there are plenty of engineering jobs for which your lower division work, and in some cases even your upper division work, will be fairly irrelevant.</p>
<p>We seem to be assuming that your kid disliked those classes because of the content. Is that the case, or did he resent the amount of work required in a class that doesn’t come naturally?</p>
<p>If it’s the math that he loves, and not so much the technical part, then I second the suggestion of actuarial science. The actuary career is a hidden gem in the workforce. Lots of hype (deservedly) goes to engineering, but most people have never heard of an actuary. Not to oversimplify, but actuaries do the math of risk and insurance. Demand for actuaries far outweighs supply–always has, always will. Very few people have the math skills needed for the job, so there are only a few thousand in the country. Yet every insurance and pension company requires them, and it’s not a job easily outsourced to Asia. I’m talking nearly guaranteed job security (I have never heard of an actuary being laid off) with six figure income, typically starting in the high 5 figures. And don’t forget benefits–these folks work for insurance and benefit companies, so their own benefits are usually top notch. If you love (and are good at) advanced math, check out the actuary field.</p>
<p>Did anyone say - statistician. (IMHO, more interesting than being an actuary) Applied statistician. Lots of jobs available, lots of variety.
[American</a> Statistical Association Career Center: Which industries employ statisticians?](<a href=“http://www.amstat.org/careers/whichindustriesemploystatisticians.cfm]American”>http://www.amstat.org/careers/whichindustriesemploystatisticians.cfm)</p>
<p>The OP disappeared 8 days ago.</p>
<p>It’s a shame the OP bailed on this thread … lots of really good ideas being offered. My family … extended family actually … is a family of engineers, both males AND females. The field is changing for sure, but the basic appeal remains.</p>
<p>The OP’s S may not be cut out to enjoy engineering. But I agree it was probably a mistake to use AP credit instead of taking Freshman courses. That observation is two years too late to be of any help … unfortunately.</p>