<p>I'm currently trying to decide where to go for my undergrad, and I hope that you guys can help me out.</p>
<p>I was wondering if there's any chance of being accepted to a good engineering grad school out of Amherst College? They don't have an engineering program, but they do have physics and math majors. Would that be enough? Or would I completely discard any chance of engineering grad school if I decided to go to Amherst?</p>
<p>It might different from one engineering discipline to another, but I don't think you'd have too difficult of a time transitioning into a materials science & engineering grad program. We get lots of physics people, and if you're interested in electronic materials or other types of materials which involve lots of higher-level physics going on, you'd have a definite leg up when it comes to actual research time.</p>
<p>I'd be sure to try and get extra research in, and, if possible, get summer research experiences at different universities in the type of engineering department you're interested. Your best bet for finding them might be via REUs through the NSF (just google them and you'll see what I'm talking about).</p>
<p>It happens a lot for those who are determined. One of my profs went from Harvard math to Berkeley engineering and 3 of my friends went from Williams physics, whitman math, and princeton math to stanford engineering.</p>
<p>I went to a LAC for undergrad in Chemistry and had no problems getting into my pick of graduate schools for MSE. Some people might argue against me on this, but I think there are a lot more opportunities at a LAC for undergraduate research. I started researching as a sophomore and did two summers of research as well. You just need to be proactive if you go to Amherst. Seek out the opportunities to give you the most experience. As RacinReaver said, REUs will be in your best interest if you want to go to grad school to get that Research One research exposure.</p>
<p>^so where are you heading?</p>
<p>I'm going to a school which has majors in both physics and engineering (general one).. if I were to choose to major physics, can I still get into an engineering grad school?</p>
<p>As already stated, yes.</p>
<p>I think I asked my question wrongly.. what I wanted to know is would it be much much easier to head to engineering grad school with a major in engineering instead of physics? Would I get into a better grad school if I major in engin instead of phy?</p>
<p>That is debatable. From what I've seen in MSE, people with physics and chemistry backgrounds are better prepared since they have solid foundations in the fundamental sciences. With an engineering degree plan, you often take less of these fundamental courses in physics. I don't know about other areas of engineering, but I don't think it makes a huge difference whether you came from an engineering background versus a physics background. You need to decide which program will give you the best preparation for research in your field.</p>
<p>I personally think Physics will open up the most doors. From what it sounds like, you go to a school with a general engineering degree, which means you are going to get what you pay for: a general engineering preparation. When you get to grad school, you will have to take the fundamental classes for that field that you won't be getting with your general engineering degree or your physics degree. I'd do the Physics degree, but take some Engineering courses to get that feel for engineering.</p>
<p>My school will let engineering majors specialize in a few areas.. mechanical is one of them.. let's say I want to do mech eng.. should take up eng then? I just one to go the way which can keep all options open, including grad school qualities and grad school subject choices..</p>
<p>Don't base your decision off of something you might be doing four years down the road. Without having any higher level science courses will you be able to know that you want to do graduate level engineering? Go to the school that will give you the best four years of education, and which you will enjoy the most.</p>
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That is debatable. From what I've seen in MSE, people with physics and chemistry backgrounds are better prepared since they have solid foundations in the fundamental sciences. With an engineering degree plan, you often take less of these fundamental courses in physics.
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<p>I'd say this is true for all undergrad engineering except for people that did MSE and possibly ChemE.</p>
<p>I'd say the biggest advantage to a physics undergrad degree over one in MSE is the extra degree of math you'd be exposed to, though, in exchange, you tend to lose out on understanding the "engineering aspect" of certain problems.</p>
<p>Just commenting, since I'd say my friends here in grad school are equally split between undergrad in physics, chemistry, and MSE.</p>
<p>Edit: Of course, it really matters what you're doing within MSE. If you're going to be dealing with mechanical properties of materials, I imagine an undergrad in MechE or CivE would be a lot more beneficial than an undergraduate education in chemistry or most parts of physics. Just like I don't think you'd see many undergrad MechEs switching over to doing projects based around semiconductor growth or superconductors.</p>
<p>RacinReaver, you're doing MSE?</p>
<p>Yep, feel free to drop me a PM or hit up the MSE thread over in the engineering forum: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/494406-ultimate-materials-science-engineering-thread.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/494406-ultimate-materials-science-engineering-thread.html</a></p>