Electrical or Mechanical?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>(Questions at the bottom)</p>

<p>My name’s Chris, and I’m currently going to a community college where I’m taking the math and science classes necessary to transfer to a four-year. </p>

<p>The counselors at my school haven’t been very helpful so far, so I’ve mostly been referring to online sources for future college and career information.</p>

<p>I’ve tried getting mechanical and electrical curriculum/course information from the UC websites, but I seem to black out after I hit my fifth or sixth unknown technical phrase, often regaining consciousness somewhere in the Tuition and Fees section, only to black out again.</p>

<p>I’m trying to decide whether I should get into electrical or mechanical engineering. My worry is that my interests in those fields might only play a small role in the time I spend studying them in college.</p>

<p>While I’m not particularly against studying computer hardware, comp. languages, or robotics, my interests lie in other areas, like any kind of propulsion or power generation system (And the technical skills associated with them).</p>

<p>Though I like to think I’ll eventually get around to learning many different fields, I’m torn as to what the first one I study should be. From what I’ve heard so far, mechanical seems to be fantastic for propulsion systems, and pretty good for power systems, while electrical represents the other side of the coin (Heavy power, slight propulsion). </p>

<p>I often consider doing both ME and Aero, since that would stress propulsion, but I’m not excited about spending a lot of time on aerodynamics. I get it, sleek is good, but I don’t want to spend semesters on the subject.</p>

<p>It’s not likely I’ll get into it, but nuclear engineering has been in the back of my mind for a while now. While it seems to represent the fields I’m interested in, I’m worried the knowledge I’ll gain will be too specialized, and I hear you need a PHD to get into any kind of design related career which seems like a scary time-sink.</p>

<p>My main questions would be:</p>

<li>Which field (ME, AE, EE, -NE-) would you recommend, and why?
1a. How accessible are the power/propulsion fields of study within these areas?</li>
<li>How much or little do these programs stress technical knowledge and experience?</li>
<li>Could you recommend any UC for these individual majors?
3a. Can I attend a cheaper/small UC for undergrad knowledge, or do I need to go to a big one to get a good job?</li>
<li>What does EE and ME “Controls” specialization mean? How do they differ?</li>
<li>Would anyone recommend studying both EE and ME, from a purely educational standpoint?</li>
<li>Any addition info?</li>
</ol>

<p>P.S.</p>

<p>I plan on getting an MS in whatever subject I pursue, assuming there’s an interesting graduate program related to it.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading,
Chris</p>

2

<p>Firstly, go into what you think you're most interested in. EE and ME are quite different fields so think about which one you find most intriguing at this point. </p>

<p>Both EE and ME should afford opportunities at the BS level. NE - I'm not sure what the opportunities are like - especially for non-PHD types as you indicated, so that would warrant some research. AE - this is also a bit of a niche major. Even if you don't have an AE you can still go into development in the avionics and aerospace fields with a EE or ME.</p>

<p>Technical knowledge will be very important in these fields - it's what it's largely about if you focus on design and development.</p>

<p>Check the different UCs for the majors. UCB, UCLA, UCSD tend to be the top three ranked for various engineering areas but some of them don't have AE and many don't have NE. To see what they have, go to their websites, go to the 'college of engineering' website for the particular one, then check out the 'departments' within the college of engineering.</p>

<p>The other UCs are good choices as well but not necessarily much cheaper unless you commute from your parents house. CalPoly SLO is another good choice.</p>

<p>I think you should have one major in mind vs two. Start pursuing the one and see how it goes. Once you get a job you'll tend to specialize and narrow your focus after your general degree. Engineering majors at the top UCs (and probably the others as well) can be pretty rigorous so go ahead and get started before considering pursuing dual majors. I think some of the UCs won't let you double major within engineering anyway.</p>

<p>I suggest reserving the MS decision for later as well since you might change your mind on that. Getting a MS is fine but not always necessary in engineering.</p>