I Need Some Advice

<p>I am an international student with a passion for cars, i want to go to school to study something to do with them, but i do not know any thing. i would like some advice on.</p>

<p>My options in terms of courses of study
Would my international status make life more difficult for me get into a school,pay tuition etc
The best school to study at
possible feilds of endeavour subsequent to my departure</p>

<p>A response would be greatly appriciated thank you.</p>

<p>Mechanical engineering is probably the best route to go. The international status should HELP you to be accepted into a school, but tuition will be rough.</p>

<p>i dont know how passionate you are about cars, but there are A LOT OF students (mostly male) that decide to go in2 mech E because they 'like cars'. usually a lot of them drop out once they realize the amount of work and difficulty of the material in ME. i actually had a similar mindset (except i knew what i was up against), but i dropped out in less than 2 months and switched to BME because i really hated working with autocad/CATIA/ and modeling programs. i was fairly passionate about cars, scanning the internet and textbooks for stuff on thermodynamics, and mechanics, but i really hated the design aspect of mechE too much.</p>

<p>grems go to penn state......if cost is going to play a major role in all of this.......they have one of the top engineering programs(in terms of the variety of engr. programs offered and arguably, the top curriculums) and tuition is a great bargain...... if your parents aren't affluent, you 'll probably get some aid.......plus, if you're smart(and im assuming you are....judging from how articulate you are) then you can get into the schreyers honors college and get an automatic 2500 dollar yearly renewable scholarship..........</p>

<p>mind you the schreyers program is one of the most renowned honors programs in the country...</p>

<p>then again, my opinion might be biased lol.......</p>

<p>hdotchar- What didn't you like about the design aspect of ME? I'm going into it because i would love to design something...so is ME more design-related than other engineering fields?</p>

<p>ME & CivE are both pretty design-intensive... CivE, more so, since you end up with a design course for every medium (I personally will have taken Steel I, Steel II, Steel III, Concrete I, Concrete II, Masonry, and Wood Design courses before I'm done...!) so if you don't like design, you might want to take that into consideration.</p>

<p>"Design" is too fluffy a word for what the courses actually teach you, though... It's pretty different. Lots of calculations, lots of things to keep in mind, lots of interrelations... Ends up being like a big number crossword puzzle. <em>I</em> really like it...</p>

<p>i hated the visual design aspect of ME. i like mathematical modeling, and a more quantitative way to design something, rather than actually drawing stuff out. i had a class entirely comprised of the latter and found out that there would be a number of advanced courses somewhat dedicated to this and switched. </p>

<p>and believe me i was as into cars (still am, but i have less time to peruse random sources for information about cars) as you could possibly be. i had at least 5 magazine subscriptions and probably read every single article i ever came in contact with about cars. hell i read an entire section in my AP physics C textbook on thermodyanmics, specifically to understand one chapter on engines (this is stuff physics C doesn't cover). i've convinced a lot of my friends and parents' friends about what cars to purchase, what's special about them, etc... hell 2 weeks ago i just pretty much convinced my friend to buy a mitsubishi evo 8. i'm not trying to dissuade you from pursuing ME, its just that 'being into cars' is a hard thing to justify being in ME for IMO. even more so, most people i've met who are 'into cars' are merely into surface level aspects of cars (etc. they like big rims, big spoilers, and a lot of shiny stuff) ask them how an engine works and they're at a loss.</p>

<p>Well I do like cars, and I used to love them. I never read a lot of magazines and all that, because the money aspect of cars turned me off. How am I supposed to modify my car off a minimum wage job salary? haha. I'm not going into ME for the cars, and I actually thought most people were, so I felt somewhat guilty... I'm going to major in engineering, and specifically mechanical, because I want to know how things work. Is this a good enough justification and worth the hours of study? Maybe. While using things I always subconciously wonder about how the tool might work or how it could be made better.</p>

<p>I also used to love drawing. When I was younger I was really into it, so I don't mind (and maybe I'll actually like) drawing the stuff out.</p>