Art and Engineering Double Major?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

****Want the quick version, read the 1st paragraph and Last paragraph and answer the questions

Hello. I’m a Junior in high school who wants to go to Texas A&M. I want to go into mechanical engineering for a degree so and I want to design technology (preferably in CAD). Rather then choose something like Industrial Design, I want a Mechanical Engineering degree because it allows me to design and have many alternatives

…That being said…

I know I will be coming into college with about 30+ dual credit (not to mention AP & IB credit) hour. I verified that the credits transfer. So I was building a degree plan for a Mechanical Engineering major, but I noticed that because of all the strict pre required courses you need to take before you can take another class, I can only take a few hours sometimes each semester. Sometimes 10, or 8 or 3. All while graduating in 3 1/2 years. I intend on earning a masters in engineering as well (Civil most likely), and with TAMU’s fast track BS/MS program it will take 4 1/2 years (with a 32 week Co Op).

I can’t do that major because a (if I earn any) most merit aid scholarships at TAMU, require the student take 12+ hours each semester.

Because I have so much free space during my graduate and undergraduate degrees my school counselor told me that normally her students in my situation do a double major and still get out in time. So my film teacher recommended I try TAMU’s Visualization program… a combination between drawing / 2D art / 3D Art / Game Designing / Film Making. It sounds scattered but with their electives you can create pretty much anything. Besides the art classes, they both have some cross over science classes(like Engineering Calculus and Physics) because this major has 2 main focuses, art and science.

I do enjoy studying both majors. If I take 2 classes in visualization each semester, I will be taking about 15-17 hours each semester with the BS & MS. (which is the average for TAMU engineering students). When I wrote a plan that incorporated the double major I saw that Visualization will take 5 years to complete along side my BS and MS in engineering. If i do the double major I can graduate in 5(maybe 5 1/2 if they change the requirements) years, with a BS in Visualization (20 week Intern) and Mechanical Engineering, and a Masters in (Civil) Engineering (10 week Co Op)

  • Is the double major worth it? (keeping in mind that I want to design technology in my future)
  • Do you think I could moonlight/freelance the Visualization major and make my day job be an Engineering job?
  • What would you choose, 5 year plan or 4 1/2 year plan

5 - 5 1/2 year plan

  • Double major BS
  • 20 weeks of Co Ops in Visual
  • 10+ weeks of Co Ops in Engineering
  • Keeps me eligible for scholarships

4 1/2 year plan

  • I can drop the masters and graduate in 3 1/2 years if i choose to later
  • 32+ weeks of Co Ops in Engineering
  • I could double major in something else and still graduate in the same time.
  • Easier engineering curriculum
2

Why not just add desired art courses in your elective space rather than trying to check all of the boxes for a second major?

3

It’s rarely ever helpful to double major, especially if it will require you to stay longer.

Moreover, there’s a lot more to mechanical engineering and engineering design than just CAD.

Perhaps, more importantly, you’re a junior in high school. It’s good to have some plans for your future, but these plans are so specific as to be meaningless. Things rarely work out the way you plan them. You’ll gain a better understanding of what college work entails once you actually enter college, and the feasibility of various aspects of this plan, as well as a better understanding of your own preferences and goals once you’ve gotten your feet wet in these areas.

4

Hello @ucbalumnus I did consider that. But Tamu doesn’t let you take more then 18 hours in a major unless your in the major. But I guess i could take a lot of random electives

Hello @AuraObscura You have a good point as far as getting very specific on the degree plan this early, but what do you mean by “especially if it will require you to stay longer”? By one semester? Becuase if time is the main issue would you advise summer school? Also, would it be better to personally pay for being an quarter-half time student knowing i couldn’t qualify for most merit aid? Or what other benefit is their to leaving sooner?(I really don’t know)

I appreciate the commentary! I should be less detailed. So as far as a direction goes, how does this 1st semester look for college, rather then a degree plan

Course Name Credits
CHEM 107 - Gen. Chem. for Eng. Students 3,4 4 hrs
ENGR 111 - Foundations in Engineering I 2 2 hrs
MATH 152 - Engineering Mathematics II 1,4 4 hrs
PHYS 208 – Electrics and Optics 4 hrs
VIS – Intro to Graphic Design 1 hrs
Total Credit Hours 15 hrs

(VIS is full of those 1hr classes)

Normally 1st year engineering majors take 16-18 hours. It tends to be similar to this my freshman and sophomoree year

5

Regardless of if i do the double major, would you say that these classes 1st semester would be a good way to “get my feet wet” in both?

Or Perhaps this (which would get me out in the same time frame)

Course Name Credits
ENGR 111 - Foundations in Engineering I2 2 hrs
MATH 151 - Engineering Mathematics I1,4 4 hrs
PHYS 208 – Mechanics 4 hrs
VIS – Design Communication 3 hrs
VIS – Intro to Graphic Design 1 hrs
Total Credit Hours 14 hrs

6

You’re a junior, no? Why are you creating schedules two years in advance? The classes might have changed by the time you actually attend college.

7

Maybe you could do art on the side. If you focus on an engineering major, you could dedicate your time and energy into that during the day, and at night/spare time you could do what you like in art. Is it painting? Animation? What do you like to do with art, and what is your goal with becoming an art major?

8

If all you want to do is design parts in CAD, you don’t even generally need a 4 ear degree for that. If you want the more theoretical aspects of design, then get the engineering degree but running CAD programs will likely be a small-ish part of your job, not the largest. There are technicians for that.

Also, summer school is not a good idea. You are far better off spending that time getting experience through internships. That will help you a lot more down the road.

9

I guess I did a bad job in the original post as far as background information goes. Sorry I’m use to thinking on here everyone would read my past posts. I do enjoy math and science a lot more than I enjoyed art, and I would like to design things understanding physical properties that each team has… however I’m thinking my career maybe more design oriented, such as structural civil engineer .

I am mostly interested in the physics portion of mechanical engineering. The visualization major requires you take similar math and science classes to the engineering programs, that’s why it was appealing.

Wait internships over summer? I though those were only for juniors and seniors. And I was planning on using one of my summers to study abroad( and get college credit) would you advise against it? Instead spend the time looking for an internship? Cuz that would shorten my degree plan, cuz I had it factor in when planning the time.

Thanks for pointing out how I shouldnt worry about details this early. Can I also learn about physical properties, thermodynamics, and Fluid mechanics? If you know to your problem, could you please recommend it to me?

And yeah, you’re right I can just do it in free time… But as far as filling up my degree plan so I can remain a full time student goes, rather than take a bunch of random classes, what would you suggest to fill that space? Is you take out the core curriculum and one entire summer studying abroad coming I have about 30-36 spaces of credits. And that’s for graduating early.

Is there a useful way he’s about space? Besides double major? Please recommend

10

For what its worth, the primary tool of structural engineers is math. It also generally requires a graduate degree if I’m not mistaken. As far as I know, it is not exactly the “artsiest” of engineering specialties.

In my (admittedly limited) dealings with members of the visualization department at TAMU, it seemed to me like they were primarily concerned with things like computer vision, not so much with things like CAD. The example I saw that was really cool was methods for taking a number of 2D images of an object and using them to reconstruct the 3D image. They really get into the nuts and bolts of algorithms like that. I am not really sure if that is what you are really hoping for, but perhaps it is. I am sure there is more to it than that but those were the people I dealt with.

Internships generally occur over the summer (co-ops usually span a summer and one semester). It is certainly easier to find them as a rising junior or rising senior, but it isn’t unheard of to find them as a rising sophomore, and if you can, they are going to serve you far better than summer school. I’d also argue that getting involved with research is more useful than summer school as well, though in theory I suppose you could do them simultaneously.

Study abroad is great and you should do it if it is something you would like as part of your life experience, but it isn’t likely to change your employability in any way in the vast majority of cases. For the most part, it is just for your own enrichment.

This is kind of the point of a mechanical engineering degree. There are basically three broad fields within mechanical engineering: materials and structures, dynamics and controls, and thermal fluid sciences. You will end up taking a set of core courses (math, physics, statics and dynamics, basic solid mechanics, etc.) and then some additional introductory courses in those three areas I mentioned (e.g. basic materials science/engineering, vibrations, controls, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, etc.). The exact names may vary from one school to another but the topics will all be covered. Whether you choose to specialize in any of those (or areas that combine several) is up to you, of course.

Honestly, you can take a few different routes. You could simply graduate early. You could take additional electives to specialize in something that strikes your fancy (you don’t have to know what that is just yet, of course). Additional math courses are never a bad idea. Some electives in visualization could be fun given your interests. Doing a co-op for one or two semesters instead of classes could fill up that space, pays well, and usually leads to at least one job offer by default at graduation. All of that would be better than a double major. The BS in visualization (from what I can tell) only has a handful of courses that might ever be useful to you. Why not just cherry pick those and use the rest of your time to become a better, more employable mechanical engineer?

11

@boneh3ad

Thank you very much for that for the answers! It gave me more options. For now I think I will just take 1 VIS elective and see how fun it is. I guess I was kinda blinded by how it was one-two extra classes each semester to get a double major. I admit I was trying to avoid Co Ops during the school year since their are apparently strict rules about it.

Thank everyone on this thread so much. For now I won’t get into specifics about courses during the Fall and Spring, and might have some ideas for the summers in between.

My original plan was to use Sophomore year’s summer for studying abroad (since i’d have junior classification with my number of hours), Junior and Senior year summer for Co Ops / Internships, and 1 Graduate research for a fast tracked masters. That left my freshman year summer open, so Idk what to do with it.

My last question on this thread (hopefully): should I try to look for internships during my freshman year summer, or do some summer school during my freshman summer to get ahead of my class? Because I was thinking I should stay on campus to maintain any kind of job I get (I mean like another job, not just work study).

12

I say maintain a job, because I would imagine that I would need to save a lot to study abroad. (especially since A&M can let their students travel abroad during Maymester, Summer 1, and Summer 2