<p>Hey guys, I'm a freshman in college in my school's college of engineering studying chemical engineering. I wasn't very good at physics in high school (at least not first semester, with kinematics and such) but I love math and sciences and I want to get better at physics. I've taken Calc I and II this year and am doing OK and have earned AP credit for chemistry so I was placed into organic chemistry directly. Turns out orgo killed my passion for chemistry and have nothing but loathing emotions for it now...which is unfortunate because both of my parents were good at it and it makes me feel dumber. Bottom line, I want to look at other engineering majors, or a possible alternative to engineering. I have no interest in going into medicine or any kind of medical industry and want to avoid that realm altogether. One thing keeping me in engineering though is that I've always wanted to know how things work and be involved in the technology or alternative energy industry, and engineering is in high demand and I know it will get me a job. I've been thinking about mechanical engineering as an alternative, but want to expand my options beyond engineering as well. Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Mechanical Engineering is a very good degree that can open doors into a multitude of different industries. </p>
<p>You should consider that engineering relies on some of the most fundamental concepts you learn about in intro physics. Statics, Dynamics, and kinematics are not areas that you will avoid by going into a mechanical engineering major. In fact, you will most likely take a course titled: Statics and Particle Dynamics which will cover these concepts. You will not avoid energy conservation in your thermodynamics courses. Then, you will take all of these concepts and apply them to fluids: Fluid Mechanics. Therefore, you need to figure out why you are struggling with intro physics and improve that. This can often be done by making some simple improvements in your studying.</p>
<p>It is truly amazing how so many courses will all begin with basic concepts many schools teach in the first semester.
This is just one of the many beauties of physics. </p>
<p>Going to school to be an employee for someone else doesn’t sound like it will make you the happiest person does it? I mean really I think you should go undecided for a semester or a year and take a plethra of different classes. Find some thing you LOVE and then delve into that. You have a much better chance at becoming succesful at something you like than something you are in just for the pesos.
This is from a sophomore engineering student changing majors. Once you get into the higher level engineering courses you will notice how everything is about how to make money for someone ELSE. Ding, now that’s why employers LOVE engineers!!
I think IE is the most useful engineering degree because of its flexibility but that just me. Give it a look however.</p>
<p>I hate organic chem too. Darn near killed me. However once you make it through that, the rest of the chemical engineering curriculum isn’t that bad. I took Physical Chemistry and actually enjoyed it.</p>
<p>@aGGieENGiNeeR and @Sapere31 I was thinking about computer science as well…since that opens a lot of doors but I have no experience with programming and fear that I would be behind on the curriculum. @geo1113 it may get better but after doing a lot of research I think Mechanical engineering will be more interesting to me in the long run.</p>
<p>Go for it. ME is a versatile major. As for expanding your options beyond engineering, what are you thinking? An engineering degree will pretty much take all of your focus.</p>
<p>I have friends in CS and it is VERY difficult to get into it if you have no prior coding experience. Many of the people who excel in CS have been coding programs since they were little kids and just understand the theories of it. </p>
<p>@geo1113 I have no idea…but I like the concepts of ME because everything is related to each other. In ChemE it is a bit more difficult because of the added chemistry and from the research I’ve done, not much chemistry is involved in most fields but is more of a matter of mass and heat transfer and thermodynamics. and @Sapere31 I hear stories from both sides, but I’ll take your word for it. I’ve begun coding as a hobby but it is just scratching the surface and I don’t think I would want a career where I’m sitting for 8+ hours staring at a screen anyway, thanks for the feedback. I’ll do more research and see what kinds of opportunities are available in both disciplines. I’m going to close this thread by the end of today so if you guys have any last words of input I’d appreciate it! :)</p>