Engineering or Mathematics

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I have a question about engineering and Mathematics. Fortunately, I love mathematics and continue to grow my love for the subject. Currently I'm an EE major but have considered switching to mathematics due to my love for it. Also, I have never been much of a tinkerer or builder, I have next to no experience building things or tearing things apart. I feel like I was pushed toward engineering because it's the marketable math/science related field. I was wondering if you had to be a tinkerer to really be an engineer or if there is a side of engineering that is nearly purely analytical and math based.</p>

<p>You do not need to be a tinkerer and there are sides that are heavily based in the theory and mathematics. You might also consider graduate school if you end up sticking with EE.</p>

<p>I was an engineering student who switched to math because I loved it. IMO both are good choices.</p>

<p>I’m just worried that I will be disappointed in much math I will use in my career. Math is something I always wanna be learning, but the job prospects of a math major are also concerning.</p>

<p>The best electrical engineers I know are also doubling in math, sort of a self selecting group in my opinion. I guess what I’m getting at is, why not do both? </p>

<p>Come to think of it the best tinkerer genius types I know are average students in the classroom. I don’t know that the two skillsets are mutually exclusive, perhaps just exclusive by time/interest. In the end neither the groups are interested in the same job types.</p>

<p>In general I do think that you will need additional education as a math major, but I do know of a person who graduated from RIT with a B.S. in Applied Math and is now doing work for the Department of Defense. The CoOp aspect of RIT helped a lot with her getting the position.</p>

<p>I preferred to make mathematical models that to tinker.</p>

<p>Smokinact, that’s how I am. Mathematical models are much more satisfying to me then simple tinkering. I have thought about double majoring but worry about how much time it would take to complete and the amount of course load. The department of mathematics actually approached me and encouraged me to either switch or double major.</p>