I’m about to start my senior year of high school and I used to want to study design or journalism, but I’ve been reconsidering this past year. I know I can draw well, take good photos, and write a story, but it doesn’t interest me as much as the thought of engineering does. I love working with technology, I love disassembling and reassembling things, I love robots, etc.
My problem now is that I’ve spent my past 3 years of highschool taking art classes. I have taken advanced maths and sciences and excelled in them, but none of my electives have been remotely related to engineering.
Will college teach me all I need to know about engineering or am I better off sticking to graphic design?
Yes. They assume you know absolutely nothing about engineering when you start because the vast majority of students starting engineering programs know absolutely nothing about engineering.
Advanced math and science is more than remotely related to engineering.
If your high school has engineering related electives, you could try taking one, but it’s not a necessity.
Does your school have a robotics team? See if you can join next year for the experience. But most high schools don’t even offer engineering classes, so you won’t be at a disadvantage.
Yes! There is a program called Ace Mentoring. See if your local has it. It goes from like Oct- April. You work on engineering fun projects once a week with almost one on one with real engineers.Each group has like 20 kids and about 7 teams. The companies in Chicago were all world class companies. This was made for like civil and architecture but in Chicago had all engineering disciplines. My son’s final project was an actual shopping center project that was being build at the same time. You get to work in different groups like your group might be electrical and work with the structural team etc. The problems that occur are pretty life-like. Collaboration is key. How one group not being on time or budget affects your team’s success or plans being redrawn at the last minute etc. There is also some scholarship opportunities for college, they have connections to colleges and looks great on a resume. They even provided transportation with train, bus cards and dinner.
Most high schools do not offer courses related to engineering. If yours does, great feel free to take advantage of that opportunity, it can demonstrate interest and prepare you for the curriculum, but there is no pressure to do so.
Depends on the college. Not true that, “They assume you know absolutely nothing about engineering.” Some will have you apply directly to their school of engineering, some will have a supp asking you to explain your interest, what you’ve studied and your experiences, etc. Some will want to see stem AP scores.
Choose college targets wisely, be informed what they offer and expect. I’m not even sure OP is interested in engineering, per se. It could be some other form of tech.
As for a hs engineering course, not all hs offer this. Physics and math are what matter. And depending on the college, some collaborative stem activities, to show you’ve tested this interest.
You’re interested in STEM, it is yet to be seen whether you will be interested in engineering, because you haven’t been exposed to engineering. That’s ok, because the vast majority of students entering BS level engineering programs haven’t been exposed either. Focus on STEM classes, make sure you’ve taken the toughest math and science classes you can, and you will be as prepared as 90% of the student in your classes. Yes, there will be that one student who has already had multiple summer internships, and wrote 4 apps that are currently bestsellers, but that’s not the norm. I would apply to universities that have good engineering programs, but also offer other alternatives, in case you get through those introductory engineering courses and discover it’s not for you. Not all high tech jobs are in engineering. You want to work with technology, but do you want to design and build technology? Until you take those intro courses, you won’t really know.
My D went to a Catholic girls High School that offered zero engineering. The closest she came was each year when there would be practical science challenges, like the egg-drop or building a balsa wood bridge. She loved those and we knew she was an engineer at heart. She had good grades and test scores, applied to large engineering programs and got into a couple. She’s graduating this year and couldn’t be happier with her degree choice. Many of her FYE cohort (at Purdue) came from high schools with STEM focused classes and pre-engineering programs. She said they had a slight advantage at first but by sophomore year the playing field had been leveled. Don’t let anyone tell you that your high school classes or ECs disqualify you for engineering. If you have a love for math and science and the work ethic needed for the program, you will do great.
By the way - one of the most successful scientists I have ever met originally went to Brown to study art. Life is funny like that.
Don’t worry! Really engineering schools are looking for advanced math and science courses. I never did anything growing up remotely close to engineering but haven’t found that to be an issue at all.
Your art and design experiences, will make you a more interesting applicant. There are some programs that combine your interests. Think along the lines of working for Pixar.
If you wanted something in Engineering, you could do a Coursera course such as the IOT set of classes thru UC-Irvine. You get exposure to Raspberry Pi and Arduino. That would be a good intro to Engineering. In reality, good math and science courses are the backbone of what you really need, particularly Physics and Calculus.
I concur with the sentiment expressed by many of the other posters; I have never even heard of a high school offering bona-fide engineering courses before. {Granted, I can surely Google to find some, but I have to believe that they are few and far between.} I think the OP should be fine with the advanced math and science course that he/she has excelled in.
{Off-topic aside: Ironically most engineering careers outside of R&D barely require any advanced math/science knowledge whatsoever. For example, after a few years of working, most practicing engineers no longer remember how to compute derivatives and integrals, or how to determine quantum energy states. Hence, we have the irony that many high school students are actually more proficient in science/math than most practicing engineers.}