Is EE right for me?

<p>Hey everyone, first post here. I am a freshmen in electrical engineering and am now wondering if this choice was right for me. I was just wanting to know from some of you that are either in EE or have any input, what are the reasons/components/qualities of EE that drew you to it?</p>

<p>I know I want to be in engineering, and I chose EE mainly because of the large degree of innovation and the broadness of the major.</p>

<p>I am doing this kinda backward, instead of posting my interests and asking for a major that matches them, I would rather have some input on interests that are associated with EE. Any help would be appreciated.</p>

<p>It's not very difficult for a EE major graduate to find a job.</p>

<p>You can learn something useful by majoring in EE. The math you learned,the skills to solve problems will all help you even if you do some jobs other than engineer.</p>

<p>Some of them are power production, electronics, computers, signal processing, and telecommunications.</p>

<p>Its probably one of the hardest if not the hardest major offered by most colleges. If you can survive that, you can survive anything.
It pays well, and its not particularly difficult to find a job.
The math and physics are a lot of fun.
You are exposed to a major component of the modern world, and new/developing technologies.
You probably have more (good) opportunities waiting for you at the end of your undergrad than any other major: Well-paying jobs, grad-schools in multiple fields like law, medicine, or business, and further possible opportunities in entrepreneurship.</p>

<p>Guys i heard that you need a 3.7+ gpa to get a technical job with a good company like Electric boat, Boeing or Lockheed. I dont want to file papers because that would be a waste for my degree. i am currently a freshman.</p>

<p>electrifice, could you explain some of the physics concepts related to EE since right now I am just in Mechanics.</p>

<p>I'm a Computer Engineering graduate from Georgia Tech (at tech EE/Cmpe are almost identical programs). I always had an intresest in computers/electronics so I figured this would be a good major for me once I got to school. I knew that it would pay well and chances of finding a job were great. However, it wasn't until the end of my sophomore year, when I started taking the major classes, that I realized I didn't like it that much. Of course it was too late by then to change majors, for me atleast. I liked the digital design part of the major but it was too heavy on the IC device physics. The only classes I actually liked was VLSI and I really didn't like it that much. Like someone else said, if you do get your degree in EE, you will need a good gpa. Of course this varies depending on what school you get your degree from. Also, don't forget there are select areas across the U.S. that favor that kind of work so you might have to move. On the other hand, having the EE degree will just open the door to do other kinds of work.</p>

<p>Is 3.7 IN EE so tough?? (i mean if u r genuinely interested)</p>

<p>Depends where you go to school and whether you are competing against other students for grades.</p>

<p>this means a batch of students may be useless nomatter how high gpa they have becuz of no competition??</p>

<p>what other people get have no effect on your gpa, atleast i think so.</p>

<p>If you attend schools like GaTech or MIT, I would believe that 3.7 would be near impossible.</p>

<p>"this means a batch of students may be useless nomatter how high gpa they have becuz of no competition??'</p>

<p>That question has many answers. It doesn't mean a person is useless just because your program doesn't grade you against other students, but large engineering companies aren't targeting you primarily because this is how the top engineering schools operate. </p>

<p>At top engineering school, teachers only give a certain % of A's B's etc. There is no traditional grading scale that you get in the syllabus where you get an "A" if you have this score or a "B" if you get another. Typically the grades are so low that just the top x% get A's and %B's etc. I had many classes where a test score of 30-35 out of 100 was considered an "A", I think a "C" was from 16-24. </p>

<p>"what other people get have no effect on your gpa, atleast i think so."</p>

<p>True, other peoples overall gpas don't have any influence on yours. However, if you have to compete for grades, as described above, those individual grades in your classes will effect what your gpa is.</p>

<p>Wow... there're a lot of weird rumors out there. I got offers from Boeing and Northrop Grumman to design manned spacecraft and nuclear submarine turbines, respectively, and I haven't had a 3.7 since high school!</p>

<p>Facts:
You can (almost certainly) get <em>some</em> job as an engineer if you have an engineering degree.
It will (almost certainly) pay enough for you to make a fairly comfortable living.
All engineering degrees are hard.</p>

<p>The real question is, do YOU want a job as an electrical engineer? We can't tell you that! =) </p>

<p>Join the IEEE, talk to other electrical engineers, figure out whether that's the type of problem solving you enjoy. You can do innovative stuff in pretty much any field these days. You liked the breadth of elec... Electrical engineering's a really broad major, true. Mechanical's a really broad major, too, though. (For that matter, civil's a really broad major!) It's just a matter of determining whether the breadth of a particular major encompasses what you like to do. </p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

<p>Currently, the ME department at my school is locked up for my year, so that conplicates the problem since that is the major I would most likely transfer into if I wanted to transfer. I'm pretty sure I will just stick with EE since I don't want to wait to transfer till my sophomore or junior year.</p>