<p>I am thinking about which career paths i should take, and i LOVE math and science, so i figured I would like engineering. I still have yet to take physics yet but I will take AP Physics B next year as a junior. Anyways, which type of engineer has the largest pay? and, if i go to georgia tech, the school im aiming for, will it make it easier for me to get a job anywhere in the country?</p>
<p>Pay: Try Google? I guarantee you will find the answer within the first couple of links.</p>
<p>GA Tech: Somewhat.</p>
<p>[Georgia</a> Institute of Technology :: Salary Reports](<a href=“Georgia Tech | External Redirect Landing Page”>Georgia Tech | External Redirect Landing Page)</p>
<p>Georgia Tech is a commonly visited school by those employers who travel to recruit interns and new graduates.</p>
<p>Some companies (particularly smaller ones) may not travel, or travel less, so being at a school local to them is an advantage as far as those companies go. I.e. Georgia Tech will likely have an advantage with such companies in the Atlanta region, but a disadvantage in other regions.</p>
<p>If you’re looking purely for the major which will set you up with the highest paying job, it depends how smart you are. Right now, it seems that the highest salaries are at firms which hire a lot of CS majors, so CS. But those are very hard to get jobs. If you are just an average guy, then I think ChemE would give a better salary than CS.</p>
<p>“which type of engineer has the largest pay?”
Petroleum engineers.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to keep in mind that part of the reason why petroleum engineers are offered higher salaries is because they often have to work weird hours at distant locations. A friend of mine was offered a very lucrative job offer a few years ago, but he turned it down because he would have had to work on an offshore oil rig and work weird shifts (don’t exactly remember the hours and days but it was something like 12 hour shifts, 12 days on and 5 days off).</p>
<p>While different types of engineers will have different pay scales, the highest paid of any type is always the best engineer. While this is obvious, the implications are aren’t as obvious. Engineering requires first and foremost that you understand the physical system you are trying to design/analyze/test. Some people understand one field of engineering but may not be as good in another. </p>
<p>For instance, I retired as a senior structural engineer. I also could hold my own in several related fields: dynamics, heat transfer, materials and computer programming. Chemistry didn’t come as easy to me and I would have made a horrible chemical engineer. So, if ChemE’s were the highest paid, it would be a moot point for me. I would have never reached a senior level position and would have been stuck at a lower paying job.</p>
<p>If you want to go into engineering, find which branch you do best at and go with that one. Pay scales are always changing with supply and demand and it is hard to predict with any level of certainty which field will be in demand when you would be graduating with your degree.</p>
<p>If you live in Georgia, go to Georgia Tech. If you live in Colorando, go to Colorando School of Mines. Two Payscale lists to check “Best Engineering colleges by salary potential” which lists Colorado 4th right under MIT and Georgian Tech at 8th. And " Top State Universities by Salary Potential" which mixes in other majors but still the engineering salaries hold everything up. That one lists Colorado #1 and Georgia Tech #3. And trust me people all over the world know these school. Some companies may not travel to Georgia Tech to hire new grads, but most (all but the snottiest) would be happy to have a Georgia Tech grad join them if you have the grades and experience. In other words yes, it has the reputation to make it easier for you to go anywhere in the world. Do make sure you graduate with top grades. State schools are known for letting almost anyone in, but then weeding out, rather that the selective approach. Graduating at the bottom of a non-selective means very little. Granted it is still better than quiting after only 2-3 years. But the best jobs always go to the best students. So don’t think for a minute that getting in means you are set for life.</p>
<p>thanks for the help guys, and HPuck, i really love chemistry (im taking it this year) so i think might like ChemE. Also, I have a long way till this, but in senior year should I take AP Chem or AP Physics C to prepare me for engineering? I’d be taking AP Calc BC that year as well as a couple other APs. I actually might have room to take both, but would that be extremely hard to handle?</p>
<p>Its a big mistake to pick a school based on the average starting salary- don’t choose Colorado School of Mines over Stanford. </p>
<p>The average starting salary says almost nothing more, than what % of the graduating class majored in engineering.</p>
<p>Engineering’s for suckers. You should go to MIT or Stanford, get straight A’s and then get a job in finance. That’s where the real money is.</p>
<p>Just to piggyback on the average starting salary ratings… Mines(and I am a student there) is going to be a bit inflated because the “softest” degree program here is economics. Everything else is engineering or science. On top of that, Mines also offers undergrad in Petroleum Engineering, that is also going to inflate starting salaries.</p>
<p>But James Madison, if you live in Colorado and can get in-state tuition and between the student working, mom and dad and scholarships can graduated from Colorando School of Mines with no debt; but Stanford is such a reach that you would be wasting your money to pay to apply then the decision become very easy. BTW Stanfard didn’t even make this list. So I guess they aren’t consdered “an engineering school” by PayScale. I didn’t print the top salary over all; just engineering and state, it must be on the top salaries for private even if they are loaded with humainities grads. Heck one of the schools is ranked higher than they really should be because their nursing program is fantastic and nurses are being well paid (finally). Their engineers are not that hot. So yes look at all the data you can find. And consider the weaknesse of each method.
Mines isn’t the only school to offer Petroleum at the undergrad level. It also isn’t the only school to be almost strictly STEM. That is one reason I pointed out both lists. Then there are also other lists like USNews, but I figure people know about those. If dirtysocks lives outside of Georgia and/or can get into MIT or Stanford, then I agree the decision gets a lot more complicated.<br>
But the concept that Georgia Tech might in anyway limit your ablity to get a job “anywhere in the country” is just nonsense. It is a very well respected university. I beleive that was part of the original question. And what exactly was implied by that other response? Maybe I read it wrong. I suppose if you go to school in Georgia you will have a better shot at working in Georgia than in Silicon Valley. And if you go to school in California you will have a better shot at working in Silicon Valley than in Georgia. So if there is a part of the country you want to work in when you graduate it might be a good idea to find a school in that area because there are smaller compies everywhere who lonly recruit and the nearby schools. But if your goal is just to get the heck out or move around frequently Georgia Tech won’t be the limiting factor. Your grades might - which I pointed out - but the school’s reputation is solid.</p>
<p>Picking a school-- look at what kind of jobs you want to do when you graduate, and see if these companies actively recruit from your school. The location of the school is not always a big concern.</p>
<p>Highest salary-- Computer science for sure. Average CS majors at my school can make around $70k, with some of the higher salaries starting in the $100k+, and this is fresh out of college. Most other engineering majors make around $50-70k.</p>
<p>“Computer science for sure.”
Uh, no…</p>
<p>Here are the median salaries for the most common engineering positions:</p>
<pre><code>Aerospace Engineers: $92,000
Biomedical Engineers: $77,400
Chemical Engineers: $84,600
Civil Engineers: $74,600
Computer Hardware Engineers: $97,000
Electrical Engineers: $82,100
Environmental Engineers: $74,000
Health And Safety Engineers: $72,000
Industrial Engineers: $73,800
Marine And Naval Engineers: $74,100
Materials Engineers: $81,800
Mechanical Engineers: $74,900
Mining/Mineral Engineers: $76,000
Nuclear Engineers: $97,000
Petroleum Engineers: $108,000
</code></pre>
<p>Petroleum engineers top the list once again, with a starting salary over $83,000, followed by chemical engineers and mining/mineral engineers at over $64,000, computer engineers at over $61,000, and nuclear engineers over $61,000.</p>
<p>[Engineer</a> Salary - How Much Do Engineers Get Paid? | EngineeringDegrees101.com](<a href=“http://engineeringdegrees101.com/engineering-info/how-much-do-engineers-get-paid/]Engineer”>http://engineeringdegrees101.com/engineering-info/how-much-do-engineers-get-paid/)</p>
<p><a href=“http://cew.georgetown.edu/whatsitworth/[/url]”>http://cew.georgetown.edu/whatsitworth/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm[/url]”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp[/url]”>http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp</a></p>
<p>Computer Engineering usually has a lower starting salary than Computer Science, but Petroleum is typically the highest of them all.</p>
<p>Computer science is not great if you are average.However,if you are extremely smart it is the most rewarding financially</p>