It will change too as he learns more. There are lots of things you can do in both. For now he just needs to pick a lane. Transportation is broad from directly designing roads and bridges to overarching traffic flow planning, GIS and logistics. It sounds like civil would be a better match.
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I have a feeling that is where he will end up eventually, assuming he can get through the first few courses in engineering and enjoys them. He has talked about graduate school in the past and will go to UA with about 30 credits, so a combined BE/ME degree is a possibility. UA has a program called AMP. I wonder if for some jobs that might make him overqualified? I am not an engineer and donāt have close family members either that are engineers.
But like the overwhelming majority of posters on this thread, I think he will make his own decision in due time. I will report back in a year or two or more.
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I think you have to get with an advisor and find out what fits and doesnāt. My son started a sophomore but with course sequence it still took four years. One of his friends did 3.5 but only one he said.
So all credits arenāt the same. Of course, my son also got a WD in Calc 2 and had to repeat. He got an A. He said the prof was horrible but at School of Mines, all the kids on the panel said if you have a core class to engineering, take it again - donāt take the AP credits.
Most kids, of course, donāt want to repeat so would take the credits.
I canāt remember who but someone on here said that at UA you canāt go back and claim AP credit if you attempt a course. In which case, my son has completed Calc BC and should be done with both introductory college level Physics courses. He will start with Calc 3. Schedule is looking like this so far:
Engineering intro ā 3 credits
Chem E seminar ā 1 credit
EPIC scholar honors class ā 1 credit
Intro Chem 1 ā 4 credits
Calc 3 ā 3 credits
Easy Elective ā 3 credit
I hope the intro engineering will give him exposure to the field and help him narrow down his interest. Does your son have any thoughts? Others with kids at UA?
Scores on AP exams? Probably most students with 5 scores are ready to move on, but many students with 3 scores would struggle in the next course.
He may want to try the collegeās old final exams for calculus 2 to check his knowledge based on the collegeās standards.
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Mine was only Calc AB - maybe that was the issue.
My son started down the path of 2 minors - geography and math - but fell two classes short on math. His GF is minoring in English.
I think a double major is possible if your student has interest and certainly a couple minors. My son loves atmospheric science - and thatās in the geography department. The work was like an hour a week and he said all the b school kids griped how hard it was 
My son has always had passion for aviation and automotive. He was in ecoCAR and interned automotive but will work in aviation.
He went in as a MechE and I could ask, but iām not sure that anything helped him narrow.
But give your son time - he will find his place over the year. There is no need to rush now.
He will be exposed to school, clubs - he will find his way.
And in the end, heāll apply to available jobs - hopefully with descriptions or industries that appeal to him. Thereās a lot more jobs than there are students!!..At least today.
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Best advice ever received on the forum. Thanks!
Take the test, timed. If itās all foreign, repeat. If itās easy move on. Rusty, brush up on Kahn over the summer.
There are huge advantages to being ahead if ready.
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He got 5 on Calc BC as a junior. So, has not taken a math class this year but taking Calc based Phsyics 1 and 2 through DE. Got A+ in Phys 1, so far A- in Phys 2 with senioritis biting hard. Lol. At least he is not completely out of touch with calculus. Does not care much for Phys 2 materials (most of it anyway) so EE or Computer Eng is def out of the question!
Great idea about old exams!
Our son started in Calc III, Physics II and got out of Chemistry with DE credit.
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If calculus-based physics 2 includes E&M, it is better to have multivariable calculus (calculus 3) prior or at least concurrently. Otherwise, students may need to learn it while applying it to physics (usually from something like Div, Grad, Curl, and All That).
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Plan was to take Chem 1 through DE this summer with an eye on NC State CODA but he wonāt do that now because he is not going to NC State. He was admitted for spring and is not happy about it. Feels a bit jilted. Lol.
We chat about course work pretty regularly. So far, only integration and some basic matrices stuff has been required for force field calculations and such plus differentiation. No problems.
If chem E is still an option, your son may want to talk to an advisor about using AP credit to skip general chem. At some schools advisors donāt recommend skipping.
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He took Hons Chem as a sophomore during covid and got an A. Schedule did not work out for AP Chem. ChemE is on the table and he will start with Chem 1 in college.
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True. Not all chemistry is created equally. Our sonās AP was a DE with the university. It was pretty rigorous. He also took organic and biochem in HS. The most chemistry he needed was in materials. I think he would have been fine if heād extended the collegiate series, but I like the ucbalumnus method. 
The only caution Iād give is that Chem E may require more credits than civil. My daughter was originally accepted for ChemE but after looking at the courses decided to do general engineering for a semester. After that semester, she decided on civil. ChemEās had to take 17-19 credits per semester to meet the requirements while she, in civil, āonlyā had to take 15-17 credits per semester. I donāt remember the exact different, but she needed 131 credits for civil, and I think ChemE was like 138-140. If you had finished your gen ed in high school, you could get away with taking fewer credits per semester.
For her, that was the way to go because 1) she had no credits going in so had to take all the gen ed courses and math/chem from the first levels, 2) she was an athlete so had really busy spring semesters and taking 15 credits was enough of a challenge, and 3) she had scholarship money(athletic, merit, state grants) that would only pay for 8 semesters. In fact, the state Bright Futures grant ran out at 120 credits, so her last semester cost more. Having to take an extra semester would have cost $25k (and we didnāt have it).
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The warning for those who took calculus AB in high school, or those who took AB and BC over two years in high school, is that college math courses move much faster than that, so it is easier to fall behind. Adjusting to the faster pace along with other adjustments to college may be more difficult for some students if they do not realize it beforehand.
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If Ace is Ace mentoring my son loved it but never thought about Civil etc engineering. He just loved the process of thinking and collaboration. It is a great program in Chicago
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At University of Alabama, where @1dadinNC 's student appears to be going, chemical engineering requires 127 credits, while civil engineering requires 124 credits, assuming no useful credit from high school (AP, etc.). A student with useful credit from high school can replace the courses skipped with free electives (probably later in the program, since the student will move courses from 2nd or 3rd semester to 1st semester to complete prerequisites easier and have more options later).
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Correct!
He had a lot of fun and met kids like him. This years project was designing a Zoo animal enclosure in collaboration with NC Zoo. They have externship programs with local firms and also offer small scholarships to participants. Overall, a very positive experience and I would recommend it to anyone with a kid interested in engineering.
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Just cautioning that just like it is harder to transfer into engineering from a non-engineering program, it may also require more classes to switch within engineering after freshman year and require extra terms. Alabama requires fewer credits for engineering than my daughterās school, but still requires more for ChemE than civil.
Just our experience. Needing 3 more credits might not be a big deal but 8-10? That may be a summer or an extra semester. My daughter did not want that. Sheās very happy with civil although may have made more money in chemical, which was how this thread started. When she met with the chemical engineering dept head, he was trying to convince her that everyone should be in chemical, work on an oil platform with a schedule of 2 weeks on/2 weeks off, making double the salary of land based engineers, pocketing it all as there are few expenses, until you couldnāt stand it any more (about 2 years). My daughter, who gets seasick, had zero interest in that - just getting to the platform would have done her in.
I do know a woman who did this, with her boyfriend, off the coast of Singapore. Loved it. Made a lot of money, traveled around Asia for about 2 years during her 2 weeks off breaks. Then wanted a land based job.