<p>Hello, I am a CE student in my junior year. The school ask me to pick my concentration as either Structural, Geotechnical, Water Resources/Environmental, or Transportation.
I have taken some classes in each of those area. I got to say I like & dislike them equally.</p>
<p>I really need some help / idea on what to pick. I know no one can make that decision other than myself. But can someone give me some ideas on: how did you pick your concentration? what encourage / discourage you from a concentration? what does it look like in the market / industry now?</p>
<p>ANY HELPS ARE WELCOME!!!!!!</p>
<p>What I thing...
Structural:
Kinda interested on designing stuff and see they stand;
Don't want to sit at the desk and read the code manual & design;
The industry is kinda not on the bright side now (not many companies are hiring).</p>
<p>Geotechnical:
Kinda interested on the foundation design and seepage / dam design;
Don't want to sit at the desk and read the code manual & design;
The industry is kinda not on the bright side now (not many companies are hiring).</p>
<p>Water Resources/Environmental:
Not a big fan of chemistry - but still be able to do well;
Interested in treatment plan design;
The industry is seem to be doing fine (many companies are hiring).</p>
<p>Transportation:
Not a big fan of statistics - again, still be able to do well;
Interested in the roadway design;
The industry is seem to be doing fine (many companies are hiring).</p>
<p>Sounds like one for aibarr... I think she does structural stuff. </p>
<p>Lacking any knowledge of the industry or your major, have you tried talking to your adviser (if relevant), or a few of the profs who taught your classes about it?</p>
<p>1) Don't choose a field exclusively based upon what it's doing right <em>now</em>. There may not be a ton of construction at the moment, but that'll change. It's not like architectural progress is going to cease forever. If the market still sucks by the time you graduate, you might want to consider applying to grad school... It's a good move for structures or geotech anyhow.</p>
<p>2) Both structural and geotech are WAY more than just using the codes. It's not like I sit here, look something up in the code, calculate something, write it down, repeat. There <em>is</em> a lot of calculating involved, and I do pretty much sit at my desk all day when I'm not consulting with my colleagues trying to figure out solutions to problems, but this is not the only type of structural engineering job that there is. There are plenty of gigs that get you out on job sites all day.</p>
<p>3) I think the big problem is that you don't know which one you're interested in, and I can't help you with that, because I don't want to be like "Wow structures is the best!!" and have it end up being that you don't really like it. I can only debunk myths and encourage you to go out, look at the types of jobs available with each subfield, talk to professionals in your local ASCE chapter and find out what they do, and talk to your professors. Look at the long-term, figure out what sort of work you want to do (inside? outside? labs and testing? calculating and critical thinking? consulting? construction? meeting with people?), and find a job that fits that. Then figure out which subfield would be the most applicable to that type of work.</p>
<p>Just because you pick a concentration doesn't mean you can't branch out to other civil field. My emphasis for undergrad was structural. Although I am doing my ms in structural, my work have nothing to do with structures. I design street, storm drain and sewers ... nothing complicated, really...
IMO, concentration/emphasis don't really matter for undergrad. Just take a couple of extra classes if you wanna learn more.</p>
<p>Your concentration in undergrad doesn't matter too much career-wise. I started out interested in structural, worked in transportation during undergrad, took mostly geotech courses for my technical electives, and went to grad school for construction engineering & management. </p>
<p>My advice... take a closer look at each of the fields and see what interests you. If you're interested in more than one concentration, then just pick one. Ask questions about each of the sub-disciplines to get more information.</p>
<p>I'm surprised you already took courses in each of those areas. Is this your first semester of junior year? What courses did you take?</p>
<p>Don't make a decision based on the market now. It may be very different by the time you graduate.</p>
<p>"If the market still sucks by the time you graduate, you might want to consider applying to grad school"
My expected undergrad graduation is spring 2010. I wanna go for a master's degree right after that, because it's required to have a master's degree (or equivalent work) to sit for the PE after Jan 2015. So, the concentration I pick is really affecting my grad school concentration and application...</p>
<p>"go out, look at the types of jobs available with each subfield, talk to professionals in your local ASCE chapter and find out what they do, and talk to your professors"
Will work on these suggestions.</p>
<p>"IMO, concentration/emphasis don't really matter for undergrad. Just take a couple of extra classes if you wanna learn more."
That's what I am trying to do - take the classes for other concentration as my technical electives.</p>
<p>"I'm surprised you already took courses in each of those areas. Is this your first semester of junior year? What courses did you take?"
Yes, this is my first semester of my junior yr.
Taken: Statics, Dynamics, Mech of Materials, Mech of Fluid, Material Engineering I
Taking now: Structure Analysis I, Geotechnical Engineering I, Transportation Engineering I, Environmental Engineering I</p>