<p>I wanted to be an actuary in high school. I eventually moved into something else (because who really knows what they want to do with the rest of their life at 16? I don’t even know at 23 and I’m in graduate school!) but from what I remember, that’s a very stable job with a great starting salary.</p>
<p>But engineers have good starting salary. I also like how you say they “cap off early at $90-100K” as if there is something wrong with that. The majority of workers in the U.S. will never make that much money, and that’s more than enough to live even somewhere expensive like New York City (and I should know, because I’m living here on $27,000).</p>
<p>Besides, you never know what you might decide to do in the future. You may decide to work for a few years and get a law degree and increase your earning potential. You may decide to get an MBA and become a consultant or i-banker with your engineering background. You may even decide to get a Ph.D and be an engineering professor, and they get paid very well as well. And even if you don’t $90,000 is most certainly upper-middle class and you can afford a nice home in the country and vacations, especially if you are in a dual-career couple and your spouse is making decent money.</p>
<p>anothermom2, even with a “downgrade” of universal healthcare physicians will be doing very well. The current average salary for many specialties is in excess of $200,000 a year. Even in Western countries with universal healthcare, physicians are some of the best-paid professionals in the workforce.</p>
<p>There’s a great poem by Max Ehrmann called the Desiderata. In it he writes “do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and stars; you have a right to be here.” There’s more, but that’s enough to start.</p>
<p>You are about to leave family, friends, familiar places and a history of success – for a complete strange place, with strange people, strange foods, strange ways of doing things – and no guarantees of success at all. It is normal to feel nervous and overwhelmed. Take a minute, now, to write down your fears. This will make for some wonderful reading six months from now. </p>
<p>I had a friend, years ago, who told me about her move from Columbia to the US for college. She had dutifully researched and knew that the US had cold weather, particularly in fall and winter. So, she boarded her flight in early September wearing a wool suit. She about died of heat stroke because her destination was Miami . . . and when she got there, she sat in an airport lounge for almost two hours because she was terrified to cross the red line on the floor that marked the official entry to the US. </p>
<p>Things that seem huge now will seem small in six months time. Somethings will not be resolved but much more will be known. Good luck!</p>
<p>If you think you might be interested in engineering, you’re better off starting there and transferring out if necessary, rather than trying to move in the opposite direction. Most quality engineering programs will demand pretty much a full four years of your time (with room for a few electives), with lots of courses in sequence so it’s hard to make up lost ground later without taking extra years. But it’s pretty easy to switch from an engineering major to a liberal arts/science major, as long as you’re at a school that offers a full range of subjects.</p>
<p>And it’s quite easy with an undergrad engineering degree to add an MBA or JD, positioning you for a fast-track career in management or, say, patent law.</p>
<p>^^Agree with that. S1 transferred out of Engineering (to a major that would be far less lucrative). When he requested to change majors, he was told to be very,very sure he wanted to leave the college of engineering because it would be very difficult to get back in should he decide he had made a mistake.</p>
<p>Accountants, actuaries, economists, pilots, medical doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, college professors… all have salary ceilings. It’s up to you to break it. You can go into management, become an independent consultant or inventor or branch out to something completely different than engineering. Frankly, $100K is not that bad to live in an average American city. But, first, let make sure that you like chem E and can survive it. It is one of the toughest engineering majors.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies… but i’m just gonna show yall one of the comments that had me really worried</p>
<p>"My father was an engineer, three degrees from MIT, my brothers were engineers, Ga Tech, Bell Labs. UA Huntsville. I have an Masters in Civil, an MBA, a hand full of PE licenses, forty years of experience, led several prototypes designs worth some $2 Bn, have led hundreds of engineers, and worked a decade assessing advanced technology in energy and materials, e.g. nanotechnology. I would not recommend engineering to anyone who seeks a stable well paying career. It is irrelevant whether you were first in your class or anchor man, when top management lays off ten of thousands of engineers. I know many engineers, scores or hundreds, would were forced at mid-life to drive cabs, become bulldozer operators, plumbers, stock brokers, real estate agents, run motels or gas stations, even a janitor (his wife had MS, benefits were needed) I never met one talented engineer who made a good income relative to doctors, lawyers, or even journalists. In any technology which is highly controlled, e.g. nuclear or fossil power, you will have zero autonomy unless you become a regulator. You will be an employee, who signs away all rights to any killer app within the first hour of employment. You will not go to career defining meetings, you will not sit at the table with decision makers, but you will work long hours recovering from stupid decisions by others. I worked in fields which were dominated by politics, so my experience is limited. If your future technology is controversial, e.g. coal, oil, or nuclear energy, the F-22 fighter, do not enter it. Also exclude the green energies( they will never work well). Beware of engineering bubbles: the NASA space race, or Dot Com - Silicon Valley experience. When an entire industry is laying off, your experience is a huge negative. No one hires an over qualified expert at a beginner’s salary in another field. Your presence is a threat to a payment plan. With current legal policies, and cost structures, engineering and hard science work will move to Asia from the US. A nascent reverse brain drain of Asian engineers has already begun. The prime reason is that the US is no longer considered lucrative for engineers. It is a dysfunctional profession in the US. "</p>
<p>Starwarsfan: you are trying to predict the future and it will drive you crazy doing so. No one can say how your life will turn out 10-20-30 yrs from now. Do not beat yourself up because you are feeling abit unsure of yourself & your plans right now.
Follow your academic interest and see how it works out during your first year in college.
Use advisors and career center at your school if you have questions. Re-evaluate as you go along. Take things a step at a time!</p>
<p>Don’t get worried over a single experience like the one you included in your post #26. Whoever wrote that is doing a disservice to young people like you. What happened to them personally in their career doesn’t necessarily (and probably doesn’t) apply to individual others. </p>
<p>Also, don’t make the term ‘engineer’ overly generic since there’s a big difference between a civil engineer, EE, chemE, CS, ME, etc. What’s happening in the industry for one of these doesn’t necessarily apply to the others.</p>
<p>Regarding the statement of not meeting one good eng. who made a good income relative to doctors, lawyers, journalists, this is laughable - maybe some of the journalists or those very familiar with that field on CC could chime in on what most journalists can be expected to earn. Personally, I’ve known engineers who have done very well including becoming multi-millionaires. Thousands of engineers who were at Microsoft, Oracle, Qualcomm, and other firms have become millionaires through stock options (and timing and sometimes luck). Many other engineers are earning well over $100K. Some others are patent holders who do well on royalties (if their invention was on their own). But of course, there are also examples of engineers who didn’t move ahead, who wouldn’t relocate to where the good jobs are at the time, who failed to recognize opportunities, and some who just plain had a bout of bad luck. But that’s true with most professions.</p>
<p>There are many engineers who have managed to continue to work through all of the challenges that occur as the business climate and technology changes. They don’t all make it through, and simply having a degree isn’t going to be enough (re - the ‘3 degrees from MIT’) but there’s no artificial ceiling. </p>
<p>No one here can tell you what the industry and prospects will be for chemE 30-40 years from now but then they won’t be able to tell you what almost any other industry will be like then either - including MDs, law, etc.</p>
<p>the thing that was worrying the most, really is that with the school i’m going to, it’s pretty much impossible to transfer between engineering programs (i.e. out of chemical and into mechanical etc;),
however, i did some searching on another university’s website and im not sure if i understood this correctly but it seemed as though you can do a master’s/phd in a different field. e.g. with a Bsc. in chemE you can do a master’s/phd in aerospace engineering etc;, so yea… i’m pretty much all set now, just still angsty about leaving but that’s normal, i guess :/</p>
<p>There is no profession or job that is absolutely stable, whether it’s lawyers (think Wall Street massacre) school teachers, even university profs (even sometimes with tenure), firemen, policemen, etc…
As for salary, it will depend on the industry and demand. One former CC poster did an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering, worked for a couple of years, then went to law school. She should have her law degree by now.
What you seem to be having is cold feet about going to college. It will pass.</p>