<p>I have already applied to the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M and chose to major in electrical engineering. I have been accepted into both programs. I am thinking about pharmacy now because of the job security. I've heard that there is not much job security in engineering as you can get laid off easily and companies can hire people from other countries such as India and China. I am good in math and I like it more than any of the other subjects. I am pretty good in chemistry too but I don't know if I like it or not its just ehhh. I am very hardworking and if I set my mind on something, I think I can achieve it. I am pretty sure that I can get into pharmacy school but I don't want to do something just because it has good money and job security. I had a horrible physics teacher so I don't really know if I like it or not because he did not teach at all he just gave us the equations and it was a very easy class even though it was AP Physics (I got 99s or 100s every grading period). Everyone in my class ended up getting a 1 on the AP exam. I don't know any electrical engineers so I can't really ask them what's it like to be one. I also love technology and I love to do stuff on the computer such as learn about new cell phones, computers, new technologies such as Intel Core 2 Duo, etc. I also like to work with programs such as photoshop, macromedia flash, etc. I also want to make in the $80,000-$100,000+ range as soon as possible (within 2-3 years after completing all the education). The education for electrical engineering in my mind is getting a bachelors degree and then masters degree. For pharmacy it's obviously the PharmD. degree and passing the board examination. Any advice for me? Please feel free to tell me anything. I am in desperate need of help and advice.</p>
<p>Anyone? Please feel free to say anything relevant.</p>
<p>EE and pharmacy are completely different things both in what you'll learn and how you'd apply that education. I think you should go with what you're most interested in. Also, plenty of engineers enter business after a BS degree and don't get a MS degree so understand that the MS degree really isn't a career requirement but an option.</p>
<p>I won't comment on the pharmacy route as I am not familiar with it. </p>
<p>In regards to EE:
I have noticed in a couple threads where you seem fixated on job security, and I understand why. Yet, IMO, it is wasted energy. What I mean by this is that any job can be lost, i.e. Ibankers, managers, contractors. An engineering degree won't save you from this, but it will never hurt you. An engineering degree, and more specifically an EE degree provides an awesome foundation for you to go any route in your career. </p>
<p>Just a couple examples of where an EE degree can take you. This is from my own experience as I have researched each of these options and what might be best for me. </p>
<p>Wall Street - Maxwell's equations for electromagnetics can also be applied to investing
Patent Law - One of the best degrees to have is an EE
Bio-engineering - EE is the closest to how our body functions since it is basically minute electrical signals
Medical - EE help design new medical devices (Don't quote me, but I have heard that about 50% of UCLA's medical school acceptances are from engineering)</p>
<p>Your starting salary after obtaining your Bachelor's is one of the highest for any major. I will pass on a little saying that my professor used to always tell us, "Engineering won't make you rich, but it will always provide for a family." </p>
<p>Hope this helps. I would strongly recommend following what you are passionate about, and if you do decided to pursue the EE route, keep your UG education broad. Do not narrow your scope or subject until you decide to pursue an MS or PhD, that is what they are for.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the advice. When you say to keep my UG education broad, are you saying to not specialize in a particular field such as telecommunications, electromagnetics, power systems, etc.? I think you have to choose a specialization during junior or senior year but I'm not sure. You're right that any job can be lost but it is very unlikely for a job in ANY medical profession to be lost. There is so much demand for these medical jobs (pharmacist, nurse, doctors) that I believe there will never be an abundance and therefore people in these careers would never have to worry about being laid off or having their job outsourced. Like right now a newly graduated student from pharmacy school can find a good paying job just about in any city with a Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, HEB, etc. This is typically true for most medical careers. From what I've heard, engineers do not have excellent job security but if they become managers and other high level positions then they can be pretty safe. I think EEs have to search for jobs and apply to many different companies before they can get work and even then they are not secure. Regardless, I think I will try it out for 1 year and see what happens. I wish my high school would offer courses like digital electronics or circuits or something but they don't which sucks. They only offer Robotics but it's too late to take it because it's a full year course and I'm a senior right now.</p>
<p>If you're really interested in exploring and want to start now, you could always head to Radio Shack and pick up a couple of educational electronic kits to enable you to put together some electronic circuits and maybe learn a little more about it. They have an electronics learning lab kit for $89 to learn a bit about basic circuits and they have a microcontroller basic stamp kit (also $89) where you can learn a bit about microcontrollers.</p>
<p>Disclaimer - I haven't used these kits but they should help you understand a bit more if you haven't been exposed to electronic circuits at all.</p>
<p>I would be impressed if you got in the 80k-100k range 2-3 years out of undergrad as an EE. I know the median MS wage at graduation is 60-70k here, but obviously factors such as location affect what that means (the South is dirt cheap in general). A median is just a median, of course.</p>
<p>If you want to do EE but also want job security, look into power systems. Working at an electric company is about the safest EE job I can think of.</p>
<p>gthopeful: ive read that EE's starting is the highest out of the gate, and it doesnt take long to jump up to 80 -100k.</p>
<p>Pharmacy is more stable, only if you like pharmacy because it can be boring(I'm not a pharmacist).
BTW, at a recent family reunion, the pharmacists were quite happy discussing their careers while the engineers were quite fearful of loosing their jobs.</p>
<p>If you want to do pharmacy for the money, you better be sure that money will make you happy. Otherwise you will be miserable counting pills for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>I was in the EXACT position you are in. Even the same major and same school! I couldn't decide between pharmacy and engineering butI have decided to major in EE at ut Austin</p>
<p>EE PhDs out of the top schools are the only ones that make ~100k quickly (e.g. Illinois' starting PhD salary is 97.7k). M.S. starting salary in high cost of living areas can be close to 100k. Other than that, it'll take 5-10+ years to get to 100k.</p>
<p>
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If you want to do EE but also want job security, look into power systems. Working at an electric company is about the safest EE job I can think of.
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But also the lowest paying. The money is in computers, communications, and solid state.</p>
<p>What I mean by keeping your undergrad education broad is do not necessarily focus on one field. I understand you have to pick a specialization in a specific field, but choose one that will not limit you. Say if your school offers biomedical, communications, computer systems, micro-electronics, controls, etc. Choose something such as communications instead of biomedical. The specialization in communications or computer systems won't limit you, whereas the biomedical could. If you wanted to do biomedical than that is what your graduate studies are for. Now some people might argue with this, and to each their own, but this is the advice that I have received from most of my professors.</p>
<p>Oh I understand. Thanks for your advice. I'm going to go ahead and try EE for my 1st year at UT. Hopefully I love it enough to pursue a career in it.</p>
<p>Also, will it be harder for me (take me more time to understand concepts/more studying) if I have no background or experience in circuits, programming, and other stuff that EE's typically deal with? The only thing that I have experience with is Calculus.</p>
<p>^^ Don't worry, lots of the incoming students will have no experience in these areas. Few incoming students will have much experience with EE other than what might have been covered in HS Physics. Most colleges have plans to allow one to succeed given no experience. Some students will have some experience in programming as a hobby or in AP CS which gives them an edge up front in those courses (or hinders them if they learned bad techniques) but this will generally level out after a couple of quarters. Check the website of the particular college to see if they highly recommend a programming course prior to starting or not. Some have options for those with zero programming experience yet offer an accelerated course for those with some experience. Again, it'll level out after the first 2 or 3 software courses.</p>
<p>
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Also, will it be harder for me (take me more time to understand concepts/more studying) if I have no background or experience in circuits, programming, and other stuff that EE's typically deal with? The only thing that I have experience with is Calculus.
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That's why people go to college. To learn. Heck, I went into M E with no experience with calculus, and I'm doing fine.</p>