Major with least math/more design orientated? Designing airplanes/vehicles/products/electronics, et cetera? Or just switch to a design major or architecture?
Thanks
All engineering majors will include some engineering design, which is based on engineering science, which is based on math and natural science.
So, if I wanted to design cool looking airplanes and spacesuits to used, I should just look elsewhere?
If you want to design cool-looking airplanes and spacesuits, you will need to come to terms with the fact that it is going to involve math. Lots and lots of math. Planes and space suits aren’t designed for aesthetics; they are designed to perform a function in harsh environments under a lot of stress, and there is a lot of science and engineering that goes into them. If they happen to look cool as well, that is secondary.
If I put all my heart into learning mathematics and acing all the classes despite my very unfortunate understanding of it, will it still be worth going into such a field? Or is it just going to be a repetition of advanced mathematics and less design-related problem solving?
The entire point of engineering is to take mathematical and scientific principles and use them to help solve real world problems. With that in mind, the answer to your question is “yes”. There are engineers who do a whole lot of math and don’t have a lot of direct participation in design of actual products. There are engineers who don’t do hardly any math once they enter the field and do a lot more design or hands-on kind of work. Even those engineers have to go through the whole math sequence, though. If you don’t understand the physics governing how a product must perform, you aren’t likely to be a very good designer. Which path you take is largely up to you, but regardless, your actual studies will involve math and science en masse.
That said, there is no reason you can’t learn to be better at mathematics. It would require some dedication and development of effective study habits, but there is nothing preventing you from learning it.
OP, so are you afraid of Math? I am a graduate of business school but in college I took lots of higher Math as electives for fun. I took as far as Linear Algebra and those calculus (differential and integral, derivative, limit etc) which I don’t need any of them. However, those Math classes were becoming handy when my son was in high school as I was able to break it down and explain the concepts of calculus. It was also helpful in solving problems/homework in finance classes or understanding the graph and formula used in economic classes .When my son was in college, I helped him a bit with Linear Algebra.
If I am going back to school again, I probably would like to take Topology and other math classes. I love topology and I have read a bit of such text book moons ago. Math is your friend and not your enemy.
The most design-oriented major along these lines would Industrial Design. Some schools have it in the engineering department, others consider it part of 3D-Design.
You’ll have to read college websites carefully and see where you fit.
You will need math and science. Good industrial design isn’t just making things look cool.
Definitely consider Industrial Design at a place like Carnegie Mellon, SCAD, or Art Center. You’ll get some mechanical engineering rigor while making aesthetically pleasing objects.
OP said: Major with least math/more design orientated? Designing airplanes/vehicles/products/electronics, et cetera? Or just switch to a design major or architecture?
I would say: Architecture does not design “airplanes/vehicles/products/electronics”. Correct me if I am wrong. I guess if you need to design airplanes/vehicles/products/electronics, you should major in Mechanical Engineering to be on the safe side; especially to design airplanes, it is seriously mechanical engineering world like concentration in aerspace engineering.
You have to decide if you want to design the function or the form, they are frequently not the same. In the classic adage “form follows function,” some things are cool looking merely as a result of their great functional design process. A classic example…the paper clip. That’s often not the case though. Take the desk lamp iMac. It’s a very functional machine in a really cool looking package. The package though has virtually nothing to do with how it worked. Ig would have had the same function in a gray box with a monitor plugged in. In fact, we have that now. It’s the Mac mini. So, before anyone can suggest how you meet your goals, you need to further clarify them.
OP: do you think you like to design? just watch this video and it will open up your mind about Mechanical Engineering in terms of design, hands-on, creativity etc. Click this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNejutAMiTE
OP: if you watch that video, you will find that in reality, you don’t use higher math for work; perhaps only for specific jobs, research jobs, projects, etc. But, for school purposes, you need to pass the math classes with high grade (in turn will result in better GPA) so that your will have high paying entry level job.
Georgia Tech has a great Industrial Design major which integrates engineering, art, business and computers. GT students graduate with a BS in ID, so they do have to take differential and integral calculus as well as linear algebra and physics The major branches out into three areas: Product Development, Health and Well-Being or Interactive Product Design. The program is accredited by NASAD, but there is a strong emphasis on technology and engineering.My DS is currently in the program and spends many hours in the studio but also spends quite bit of time touring companies and interviewing designers to learn about the business/marketing aspect of the field.
Friendly advice. I am not trying to put down GTECH engineering school. it is a very good school. However, this video is showing otherwise. It is a fact. He made only a meager salary ($24 per hour) and now doing a day’s trader and quit engineering job. I know a degree will not guarantee you a big buck job and cool job. The question is what happens if you don’t get that glamorous job? It is up to you to find that dream job, right?. Take a listen to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3NfbkQn9Wg
It seems you’re more interested in “design” versus engineering design. Perhaps pursue a more arts-related field – like the design major you mentioned. Designers are needed for the next good-selling computer mouse as well as a space suit or air/space craft. If your strengths aren’t in math and physics, you should pursue the former and not the latter.
It’s one thing to design a cool pen. It’s another to design a flange with critical safety specs where failure isn’t an option.
Architecture also requires a goodly knowledge of physics and materials too. Have you taken time to actually SPEAK with designers or architects or engineers? Perhaps that’d be a good investment of your time.
@Tulanefan101 You really need to stop watching that channel (or at least stop interpreting and sharing it as a fair representation of mechanical engineering). The guy who runs it is a bit of clown and largely just interviews likeminded people. That is not a representative sample of people in mechanical engineering or of alumni of Georgia Tech. We’ve been over this in several threads now.
Further, this last post of yours contradicts itself. You start out saying GT is a “very good school” and then immediately afterward say it is not.
I agree the guy is a bit of clown as he finished psychology major and went to ME then now quit engineering run a youtube show. But, the good thing about this is that kids will have open mind that not all ME jobs are dream jobs with high paying salary. They can do lots of things with ME degree too that is into Sales Engineer, Teaching at colleges (required Phd), or banking as analyst using their higher math, etc.
Also, regarding MT, not all GT grads have high paying jobs. So, if they don’t get their dream job or got a job with low paying salary what they will they do?.
Once again, I am not try to present rosey pictures of ME grads since job market for high paying salary is pretty tight for entry level jobs.
Of course not all jobs are dream jobs. I don’t think there are really all that many people out there who actually think that. The issue is that the guy on this channel (and most of your posts the last few days regarding his channel) implies that his experience represents the norm for mechanical engineering, and that simply isn’t true. It is presenting just as skewed a picture of ME employment as those who would have you believe that everybody goes and builds rockets for SpaceX.
I feel that I should note that out of the three things you list here, two of them (professor and banker) are generally only available to the most elite graduates who would otherwise be the ones working on the “dream job” positions. One of them (banker) generally requires not only that a student be an elite student, but also that a student come from an “elite” program as well. That industry is one that heavily values pedigree. Given the second quote here, I am not sure how these examples are supposed to make your point.
I suppose what they will do is they will just do their job and make their average $60,000 starting salary and go home perhaps a little bored but with a lot more financial stability than the average person. What an awful life.
What about Cornell’s DEA program (design and environmental analysis) in the School of Human Ecology? I know less about engineering than almost anyone on the planet, but I am a Cornell alum and know about this program.