<p>In general. I realize that the difficulty changes with the school, but every school should have the same courses as far as the majors.</p>
<p>How difficult is Mechanical Engineering? Thermodynamics doesn't look too fun.</p>
<p>Very difficult.</p>
<p>Hmmm, how are job prospects in NYC? For Mech and Civil Engineers? What do Mech engineers do anyway? I mean, it seems so broad, what's the job market like for them exactly?</p>
<p>Your level of interest will dictate the difficulty of the material, generally.</p>
<p>Hmmm, makes sense I guess. Though like I said, I'm not sure what kinda jobs Mech Engineers actually get. Being a Mechanical Engineer is not a job the way Chemical, Electrical, and Civil Engineer are. It's a major to be sure, but not a job in itself.</p>
<p>It depends on your school. I had friends who went to easy schools and thought it's the same at every school, but that's not true. Engineering courses are curved in every school I know, the better your peers, the harder it is for you to get good grades.</p>
<p>The thing about interest is certainly true, but some engineering majors are harder and some easier. Industrial Engineering is generally the easiest major in most engineering schools, Electrical and Computer Engineering are generally harder than Mechanical Engineering classes.</p>
<p>I completely agree with keefer.</p>
<p>Having better peers really sink your gpa. Especially when the group is small..</p>
<p>Not sure how it is at other schools, but at mine, civil, mechanical, and chemical engineers all had to take thermodynamics, so it's tough to avoid.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineers have many options when it comes to careers. Some go into aerospace, HVAC design, robotics, automotives, machines, biomechanics, etc.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Being a Mechanical Engineer is not a job the way Chemical, Electrical, and Civil Engineer are. It's a major to be sure, but not a job in itself.
[/quote]
I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. Even in other majors, not everybody does the same work after school, although they don't have as many options as mechE. You make it sound as if it is a bad thing, which it is definitely not.</p>
<p>Job prospects in NYC for civil engineers are excellent. There's just so much work going on, for both infrastructure and even real estate. For mechanical engineers, I'm not so sure. One of my roommates who was a mech engr major worked for an architecture firm one summer, working mostly as a CAD monkey. Two mechE friends of mine worked for a civil engineering firm, another 2 for a construction management firm, one for a developer, one for an investment banking firm, and 2 for mechanical engineering firms. So I suspect it's not as good as civil or these people weren't interested in working as mechanical engineers. Of course, this is a very limited sample size so take it for what it's worth. This is only what I've seen.</p>
<p>Well, 85th percentile at my school is 3.5 GPA for ME. I'd say of the average graduating engineer their SAT score was ~1250. That SAT guess is pure speculation.</p>
<p>ken, what type of work do you do? I mean, I know you're a civil engineer, and you live in New York, but...what what kinda civil engineer related jobs are out there? </p>
<p>I mean, is there some site that could give me a jist of the day to day workings of some civil engineers.</p>
<p>There are a lot of civil engineers in New York. I see them everywhere. They build buildings, fix streets, work on bridges...etc.</p>
<p>Specifically, I'm in construction management, which is actually more management than engineering. The only design that we do is for temporary structures. Our primary tasks are basically to manage, coordinate, and oversee the work being done by subcontractors. We have to ensure that the project gets built on time without any cost overruns. Day to day, problems always arise, and we are the people that have to fix them. I know that sounds vague, but it's just always different. It can be anything from being unable to physically build an area because of incorrect drawings to missing an exit sign that we need to pass inspection. So far, I've only been in the field, so I've dealt only with the physical construction. There's an entirely different aspect of the company that deals with the contracts and monetary aspects of the project. If you have any more specific questions about this, feel free to ask, but this is the basic and very general description of the construction management field, so I've left many things out.</p>
<p>This link has a general description about each of the fields within civil engineering: The</a> Sloan Career Cornerstone Center</p>
<p>I don't know if I wanna do Civil or Mechanical? Mechanical just seems damn hard though, considering all the physics that go with it, though I'm not sure how often you'd actually have to use those skills in class.</p>
<p>But with Civil Engineering, I'm not sure of the day to days of Civil Engineers, though I guess the same could be said of Mech. I dunno, very confusing between the two.</p>
<p>At my school:</p>
<p>Civil:
5 quarters of math
3 quarters of physics
2 quarters chemistry
statics
dynamics
thermo I
fluids I</p>
<p>Mech:
6 quarters math
3 quarters physics
2 quarters chem
statics
dynamics I & II
thermo I & II
fluids I & II</p>
<p>At my undergrad, the civil engineering and mechanical engineering courses are very very similar. Same amount of physics courses, math courses, statics & dynamics, thermo, fluids, all the same. </p>
<p>The jobs within civil engineering are all so diverse so you won't be able to find a typical day to day routine of a civil engineer. For some jobs, you spend the entire day in the field, for some the entire day in the office, and for others a combination of the two. The same can probably be said for mechanical engineering, so the day-to-day life shouldn't be what you're basing your decision on. Decide based on the type of work you'd like to do.</p>
<p>The forum should have a sticky or two answering these very generic questions: what is "X" engineering like, how hard is it, blah blah blah.</p>
<p>Yea definitely. An FAQ would be pretty helpful.</p>
<p>If you are 100% sure you want to work on buildings or structures, do CivE. If not, then go with ME. Like people say, it's much more broad. That does mean you'll have to take a wider variety of classes like thermo, fluids and dynamics, but, at worst, it will be a 1-2 course requirement in each discipline. You can forge through that. </p>
<p>If your main concern is the physics involved, then you should be more worried about dynamics and statics. The Mech. E. level of thermo doesn't really go in depth on the underlying molecular dynamics.</p>
<p>I'm mainly just concerned with the difficulty of Mech Engineering. I'm at a CC right now, and at first I wanted to do Business, but eventually I just felt it was too generic. Too common. But at the same time, I don't wanna attempt to go down Mech Engineering and flunk out, and when I hear people here saying it's hard, I get doubtful of my chances.</p>
<p>Right now I'm taking Chem and Physics, but they are 101 courses, and I don't even know if they would apply to a engineering degree. I mean, I hope they do for the bottom stuff. Otherwise, ugh.</p>
<p>MechE is hard, but if you <i>want</i> to do it, you can. You might have to work harder than others, but don't get discouraged by other people saying that it's hard. </p>
<p>Chem and physics courses, depending on the level, should apply to an engineering degree, but even if they do not, they'd be pre-reqs for higher classes.</p>