<p>Hey everyone, first post here, so I'm not sure if this is even the best forum, but anyway...</p>
<p>I will be a high school senior this fall, and that means college application time. I have a list of (mainly selective) schools I want to apply to, and I also know I want to major in a math-heavy, technical field. However, I don't have enough experience to know whether I want to choose engineering or physics. How do I decide? I was hoping to explore both fields in college, but some of the schools on my list (e.g., Cornell, I think UPenn and Columbia, others?) require you to apply to either their School of Engineering or their School of Science. How do I decide which school to apply to? How easy is it to transfer between schools if I realize I dislike the school I applied for?</p>
<p>(If it makes any difference, I'm thinking mechanical or civil if I went into engineering - but again, not much experience)</p>
<p>What are your goals? Do you want to work as researcher or an in industry? What are your general interests? </p>
<p>You mention you want a math heavy major, while both engineering and physics use math in the classroom, as a professional engineer the use of math almost ceases to exist at many jobs. So be warned that you may find yourself bored out of your mind doing tasks that you have no real interest in doing. I cant comment of physics but my guess would be it requires more use of math on a daily basis.</p>
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I’d also keep in mind that there are other fields which are math-heavy and technical… if this is really your only criterion, you might want to expand the scope of your search for college majors.</p>
<p>That being said, I can’t imagine a situation where a physics major would use LESS math than an engineering major, at a school with comparable programs in both physics and engineering. Then again, both of these areas share the somewhat troubling characteristic that mathematics is viewed as a tool, or a means to an end, and really understanding mathematics is viewed with a little disdain. I have observed this to cause some problems in instances where professors assumed they knew enough about using the math not to make mistakes, but succumbed to embarassing mathematical mistakes during lectures.</p>