<p>I am currently a curriculum-deferred freshman in Engineering at uPenn and just took a semester's worth of general classes. Looking at classes to register for next semester, I'm not sure which branch of engineering I would like best. It seems that mechanical engineering is mostly "physics" and materials science and engineering is mostly "chemistry-stuff." So, I just need some help deciding between the two for now. What do students basically learn about in each of the majors? (I looked into the required courses, ME was like thermodynamics, fluids, vibrations, etc. and MSE was like nanotechnology, quantum physics, etc.) Right now I'm really unsure of which I'd rather go into. And, if it helps, which of these majors is generally "easier" in terms of amount of work and difficulty of the concepts (I know that which one I'm interested in would be the 'easiest' but at this point I have no idea)? Which of these two are least stressful and most likely to be able to be completed in 4 years without having to take courses over the summer? Just some questions I'd like to know, but if you have any other input it's much appreciated, thanks!</p>
<p>I don’t have much experience with either of these majors, but I I’ve read that UPenn’s MSE department is quite nano-focused. Like extremely nano-focused, even though it’s a hot topic in MSE right now. If this is what you like, that’s great, but otherwise you might lose out on some breadth in areas like polymers, metallurgy, ceramics, and bio-materials, which are where most of the jobs in MSE are. </p>
<p>Of course you should go talk to some of the professors in both departments to see what the curriculum focuses on. They might try and reference you to an undergraduate advisor, but I find if you really want to know what’s going to be taught, you should talk to the people who are teaching it.</p>
<p>Have you taken chemistry and physics yet? Which one did you enjoy the most? Which one came easier to you? Why? What did you enjoy the most about these topics? Answer these questions and go from there.</p>
<p>I’ve taken both intro chem and physics, but the thing is that both were equally interesting. Sorry, I’m just in a very confused state right now, maybe I should just stick with an MSE curriculum and see if I like it, if not I can switch? and thanks for the info TaciturnType, but I might try to go onto other jobs (like in business, etc.) not related to MSE or engineering when I graduate, just not sure of where to go and thought engineering would be a good foundation</p>
<p>Clearly there’s a lot of overlap of the two, and Mechanical Engineering is very broad. We attended an admissions open house at a State University with a strong Mechanical Engineering (and Electrical) department. The Dean of ME explained that he received his PhD in Materials Science from MIT.</p>
<p>thanks for the info. I’ll probably stick with curriculum for MSE for now, going to talk to a professor about what it’s like, and then we’ll see how it goes.</p>