Pretty self-explanitory. I go to a school that doesn’t offer engineering, but I have to stay here due to financial reasons. I was planning on majoring in math then getting a graduate degree in Civil Engineering. Is this possible? And if it is possible is this a good idea?
Industrial may be more doable than civil.
Civil undergrad includes more courses that are unlikely to have similar math or physics courses. There is also the issue of ABET accreditation that is more needed for civil than other kinds of engineering.
Does your current school offer physics? That is easier to use as a basis for a graduate degree in engineering than math.
Sure, it’s possible, people make the jump from other fields such as math and physics pretty frequently. However, there’s a bigger issue at hand:
This is absolutely key. Civil engineering is one of the fields where having a PE can be very important. Laws vary from state to state, so you might want to check, but generally, getting the PE requires having an ABET-accredited Bachelors degree–a Masters will not suffice, as most engineering Masters programs are not ABET-accredited. This has nothing to do with the quality of a program, it’s something about the way in which ABET-accreditation works.
If you want to work as a civil engineer, you really should go to a school where civil engineering is offered as a major for your Bachelors degree.
Do all engineers require ABET accreditation? I’m not dead set on civil engineering. I’ve also considered Industrial
I work with a guy who claims to have a bachelors in mathematics and a masters electrical engineering.
Applied math, IIRC.
Agree though, that Industrial or Systems would probably be a lot simpler.
I would agree with @boneh3ad that majoring in physics would make for an easier transition to engineering. From there the Mechanical, Electrical, and materials Engineering degrees would probably offer the smoothest transition.
It’s not the ideal path. But talk with your adviser. Maybe you can find a way to make that (or another suitable progression) work. Good luck!
For industrial you should be OK. My wife did undergrad in Comp Sci (the math heavy option) and an MS in Statistics then went on to an MS Industrial Engineering - Depending on the school you may be issued a slightly different MS (MS Engineering vs MS Whatever Engineering) specifically because undergrad is not engineering (mine was so I followed the same path and got slightly different diplomas from the same school).
Math + Industrial Engineering MS would be ideal incidentally… Lots of synergy there but also take lots of computer classes…