My late blooming son has been exploring possible majors and one of interest is materials science/engineering. He’s already been at community college 3 years (part time) and would need at least another 1.5 years of math, physics and chemistry in order to meet transfer requirements for engineering. He’s got a 4.0 GPA thus far (doing great in Calc. 2 now) and says he is up for the challenge.
Wondering if there are Engineering majors (or actual engineers) who might pipe in. Are you happy you chose this major/career? Would you choose differently if you could go back in time? Any other thoughts appreciated.
I don’t necessarily regret my major but boy does it suck at times. Nights will be spent in the library just going over concepts you probably won’t ever understand, then failing all your tests but still passing because you did better than the average.
All in all - if he’s interested and puts in effort, you’ll get through it. Definitely a challenge. I personally would’ve stayed as an EE if I had to go back and pick. It gets to the point where solving circuits is sometimes fun…
Right now he is taking Math/Science courses part time…will he be able to take a full time load when he is at a 4 year school?
although I majored in EE, I work as a system engineering in the telecommunications industry…still needing a technical/logical/problem solving background but not hands on circuits. In Engineering you take many courses that are general backgroung (e.g., statics, thermodynamics) and your major specific (circuits, physical electronics), and you learn which area is the most interest to you. I learned I was not super hands on.
I don’t regret my major.
It is useful having the technical major and there is so many things you can do with material engineering like: