<p>My youngest (junior in high school) thinks she wants to major in mechanical engineering with an inkling that she ultimately may want to go into product design. As this seems to be a major found at many schools, I'm wondering how we start to learn about the different programs. I have two older kids in college and one's in a different discipline of engineering so I'm quite comfortable with the college search at a higher level and even engineering in general but I don't know much about ME. </p>
<p>Do the programs differ from school to school? If so, how? Are some programs more hands on, for example, or emphasize certain things more than others? I was talking to my nephew who's a sophomore ME major and he's required to take what seems like a high number of electrical engineering courses; I'm not sure if this is standard or more of a focus of his particular school.</p>
<p>I did try to search as this topic may have been discussed previously but I was unsuccessful so any guidance would be much appreciated. I'm hoping to go on a college trip with my D over her February break and, now that she has a focus, I'd like to help her start to select schools to visit but, not knowing much about ME, it's a little overwhelming.</p>
<p>Mechanical Engineering is one of the most diverse disciplines. In other words, there are many things you can do with it. </p>
<p>Sure there are differences in programs. And yes, some are more hands on, some offer more application opportunities or actual co-op opportunities than others. Some have better laboratory facilities and many have different organizational structures which affect the learning environment. And you just have to visit and research to find out which school fits your needs the best.</p>
<p>US News and World Report ranks Mechanical Engineering Schools - of course, remember that the ranking system is not the end all/ be all by any means, but it should give you a starting place.</p>
<p>Those two tools can get you started. Then make a “short list” and do some more detailed research and visits. That’s what we did. My daughter will be at Texas A&M next fall as a Mechanical Engineering major.</p>
<p>As far as the electrical content: A Mechanical Engineering degree requires strong electrical. Different schools handle the content different ways. Some have cross-over classes between electrical and mechanical students. Some have classes specifically for mechanical students that include the electrical portion they need. Almost all have one or two principles of/fundamentals of type classes for electrical content. But rotating equipment has electrical components and some education on it is required.</p>
<p>You would have to give us more details about where she wants to go to school, size, rural/urban etc to give more opinions.</p>
<p>It you look at the rankings, they are divided into programs where a PHD is the highest and a BS degree is the highest to look at one general division of programs. The BS ones are supposed to be more focused on undergrad education since those types of schools may not even have Masters programs. Some are more hands on than others, some have coops, some are more research oriented etc.</p>
<p>There are a few that have a product design option. Stanford is one and RPI is another. Or some schools have ME programs and MS programs in Industrial design. I believe Georgia Tech is one.</p>
<p>I know there are a couple schools like Rose Hulman and CalPoly SLO which are more oriented toward the teach by doing. They make you weld and use a lathe etc. While schools like Berkeley are more on the theoretical side, if you wanted to gets hands on experience you would have to join a club such as engineers without borders or concrete canoe.</p>
<p>If she’s interested in product design the route I think of is through Architecture and Industrial Design, which encompasses product design. My brother actually did this many moons ago and went on to have his own firm overseas and teach graduate level classes in the country he lives.</p>
<p>My son is now currently studying mech’e (second year), however his interest is more automotive or aero. I can tell you regarding what we found during his search is there will be schools that approach how they teach engineering differently. It’s apples and oranges, and although some will try to tell you one is better it really depends on what fits your daughter better. If she looks closely enough into the programs she will learn which she is more comfortable with.</p>
<p>You might want to look into schools that offer an actual program in Design. That way, your daughter could major in something like MechE if she has more of the engineering mindset, but still get a minor or take a handful of classes from within the design major. You could take a look at Carnegie Mellon for a school that has both strong engineering & art departments.</p>
<p>I too have a junior DD who wants ME. A couple of resources we found very useful are:</p>
<p>-A great book called “Is there an engineer inside you?” by Celeste Bainehttp://<a href=“http://www.engineeringedu.com/CelestesBlog/”>www.engineeringedu.com/CelestesBlog/</a> The author goes into great detail about what to look for in a college. It was recommended to my DD by the COE enrollment director at Clemson</p>
<p>There are a couple of interdisciplinary mechanical engineering + product design programs out there (Stanford has one I think). But in practice, there’s all kinds of things going on.</p>
<p>We make electronic products for the masses. We have product design people who design the product (the user experience) and the hardware (shape and such) There are mechanical engineers who design the actual physical box and mechanics of it - buttons, plastic, metal, etc). There’s electrical engineers doing the guts, software engineers doing the code, and so on. So, product design may mean different things to different people.</p>
<p>Depending on what day of the week it is, I am either part of the user experience team or the software team. We get to sit in mech. eng. design reviews and are always amazed how someone can run a 2 hour meeting about what type of plastic to use for a faceplate (plastic, duh :)) or the hundreds of materials for the screen… There’s lots of CAD, lots of analysis, especially if you have funny conditions to worry about, lots of vendors to deal with (suppliers usually), and so on.</p>
<p>Pure industrial design is fairly tough - school wise - and as mentioned GA Tech is an awesome program; the usual design heavy schools have very good programs also (Pratt, UCinci, and the like). Ohio State is very good also. (but ultimately it’s all talent, one of my guys is from our community college but he could do the Library of Congress in his spare time…) The schooling is about as time consuming as architecture (lots of studio hours, reviews, the design ‘look’, and so on. For ID you also have choice of some art focused schools that have good programs. </p>
<p>I would advise towards an interdisciplinary approach - Mech Eng + ID, ID + Software, and so on. Software of all kinds is very important since with the right tools (i.e. Altia) we can whip up a product simulation for a client or run a clinic with little effort…</p>
<p>Thank you for all the responses. Have spent the week-end with D looking at MechE, Industrial Design and other programs…RPI offers a major called Design, Innovation and Society and Tufts has an option within the engineering school called Engineering Psychology/Human Factors. </p>
<p>Turbo or anyone else, if you know of other interdisciplinary programs, I’d love to hear as D is very open at this point and those sound particularly appealing to her. I know Stanford has an excellent program but that will not be an option. </p>
<p>Haven’t checked out Georgia Tech yet but D would want to make sure it’s not more of a commuter school where kids leave on week-ends. We’re from the west coast and she’s very much looking for the ‘full’ campus experience with an interest in playing club/intramural sports and, while not a deal breaker, is hoping for a school with Greek life.</p>
<p>ITSV, thanks for the book recommendation–D just ordered it.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if it was just wording, but I’ll just let you know Ga Tech is most def not a commuter school. They do have Greek life, although I’m not sure how the students find time for it. When we visited we stayed in Atlanta and walked to campus…somehow right through Greek housing. Excellent. Lots of hot tubs and beach volleyball courts at several houses. I had to refocus my son who was impressed by the amenities. Their program is notoriously difficult and students rarely finish in 4yrs. Their 4yr graduation rate is fairly low. It is one of the top e’schools overall. My son decided it wasn’t what he wanted for an undergrad experience, however he has two classmates there who are doing quite well, working very hard, and like it a lot.</p>
<p>My son is majoring in ME and had also had an interest in Indust design so I did research for schools on the east coast where we live. RPI does have an excellent program but note, it is a STEM school and the M/F ration is 70:30. I believe Lehigh has engineering and you can minor in product design and Drexel has engineering and you can minor in product design. </p>
<p>RIT has an industrial design program that is more tech oriented and they also have engineering though I don’t know if you can take courses in ID if you are in engineering. </p>
<p>Both Drexel and RIT are coop schools so coops are mandatory.</p>
<p>RIT is going to have the same disproportion of M/F ratio that RPI does, and is also only STEM focused. There is Greek life, however it is a fairly small percentage at about 12%.</p>
<p>Not exactly, RIT has many tech majors and creative ones eg photography, ceramics, graphic design, etc which brings in more girls and creative types. RPI is very engineering like.</p>
<p>Just rereading collage1’s post. If your daughter want Greek check out Lehigh. Their greek population is over 40% of the students.</p>
<p>More great info. Will check out Lehigh. Visited with middle D three years ago and it was a terrible visit so we (middle D and I) really ruled it out and developed a negative impression but it was one of those experiences that could have been written up in the “things that made me cross a school off the list” thread that really could have been specific to that day/those few individuals we encountered, etc. In addition to our experience that day, I believe I’ve read on CC that Lehigh’s party atmosphere has ramped up which doesn’t thrill me…I know there’s partying at all schools and certainly at the two my older girls attend but…if anyone has positive things to say about Lehigh, I’d love to hear (and, of course, can search elsewhere on CC too). While we saw Lehigh on the list of schools with MechE, we didn’t put it on the list but D and I will take a look now.</p>
<p>The other thing I’m concerned about regarding STEM only schools is that D just turned 16…while she may end up in product design or some other field related to MechE, she may start taking classes and realize she wants something different. I’d want her to be able to make a change and not feel confined or that she has to transfer.</p>
<p>Re: Ga Tech, thanks for the info. The difficulty graduating in 4 years concerns me and, if it’s one of the top engineering programs in the country, it’s likely D won’t be able to get in. Nice solid stats but not tippy top. Will still take a look though.</p>
<p>Right now, based on minimal research, Tufts looks like an excellent option and Carnegie Mellon is another so we have Boston and Pittsburgh on our list for the February trip.</p>
<p>Lakemom, any other schools you came across in your research that you can recommend or, actually, not recommend?</p>
<p>Just a suggestion, since the schools that are mentioned seem to attract uber-good candidates based on academics, scores, etc. It might help if the student has an artistic eye and can put together a portfolio or display (via EC’s and the like) an artistic side. Many ID schools I believe require portfolio - I do not know the interdisciplinary ones (if they do). </p>
<p>The standards have been raised super high those days; I had a chance to review some student work at Purdue (Human Factors class related to product design) a while back (a class I had taken a dozen years back) and I really was blown away by the quality of the work compared with my days… It’s a truly interdisciplinary field where the more scout merit badges you have the better off you will be.</p>
<p>These are the schools that have industrial Design. You could go through the list, cross off any art schools eg Pratt, RISD and then see if those left have engineering programs. That is what I kind of did.</p>
<p>I can tell you the Syracuse offers engineering but their ID program is very art based versus RIT’s which was more tech based (my son and husband checked out both) and Syracuse does not really let you really minor in ID. It is also a 5 year program vs others that are 4. However, they have a big greek scene which may appeal to your daughter. </p>
<p>Virginia Tech is worth checking into. I don’t believe it is so heavy in STEM like RPI but it is in a very rural area.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has ID and engineering, not sure if you can blend them there. </p>
<p>Avoid Univ of Washington for engineering or ID because you have to apply to be accepted to the program after you have done your prereqs. Meaning you have no guarentee of acceptance which in my book is unacceptable after spending (literally spending the money) to go there for 2 years and may have to transfer.</p>
<p>There are a number of schools I did not research that are on this list that you might consider. Univ of Mich has a strong engineering program as do some of the schools in Chicago.</p>
<p>Wentworth is in Boston but I have heard it has more of a “high school” atmosphere but since you will be there seeing Tufts, it might be worth comparing.</p>
<p>Philadelphia Univ is supposed to be a nice place but is not a highly ranked school. I do have a friend whose daughter went to a visit and had originally planned to go there but decided on Drexel. She is a graphic design major. </p>
<p>I understand NC state is hard to get into if you are not instate.</p>
<p>In terms of Lehigh, the greek scene did not appeal to my son so it did not make it his final list. We never visited.</p>
<p>While MechE and Design at Carnegie Mellon has already been suggested (and I would echo that suggestion), another great option here at CMU for her could be MechE and HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), which is offered only as a second major for undergraduates. It might have more programming classes than she would be interested in, but I know MechEs who have done it and stuck more to the design side.</p>
<p>More generally, as others have said, keep in mind that MechE is a very broad discipline. In essence, my classes can be split into two categories - things like statics, dynamics, design, etc. classes and thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics etc. classes. While some people really do enjoy both equally, it is much more likely that they prefer one or the other. For example, I enjoy the thermal sciences side of things more than solid mechanics and design. That said, I definitely don’t hate that side of MechE - I like it as well; it’s just not my preference. Keep in mind that almost any school’s mechanical engineering curriculum will require its students to do significant coursework in the thermal sciences, so if that’s something she’s really not interested in, that should be a consideration.</p>
<p>Purdue has an excellent mech engineering program, super-d-duper industrial engineering (for human factors), good psychology program (they offer some very interesting cog sci/exp psych courses, sometimes cross-listed with industrial engineering), awesome computer science program, and an accredited Industrial Design program. </p>
<p>Collage1- we too are from the West coast and visited GA Tech last June. My DD absolutely loved it. Her brother goes to Ohio State and is in a fraternity there and wanted the completed “campus experience” DD wanted the same thing but with a school a bit smaller. (by the way Ohio State would also be a great option for your DD and they have wonderful merit scholarships. If you are in Southern Cal-send me a pm and I’ll forward you the admission rep for the area.) Ga Tech had the same vibe- it is a complete campus with the football stadium in the middle of campus and definitely not a commuter school. The admission rep responsible for California and recruitment of women is Amy Clines. We met her at a National College Fair on the west coast and I recommend you contact her if you are going to visit Ga Tech. Amy set up a fabulous visit for my DD that is now the standard for my DD’s college visits. We were on the campus from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. My DD met with the enrollment director of ME-Kristi Mehaffey and the enrollment coordinator for Materials Science -Sarah Johnson. Both meetings were about 2 hours in length and included tours of the labs; have students do experiments for my DD; visiting a class; attending a club meeting etc. Plus they gave her a lot of GA Tech loot (T-Shirts mugs etc.) Amy also set up a meeting with the Assistant Dean(or director) of the Women in Science and Engineering- Ann Blasick. One fun thing about that meeting was that it was at the top of Tech Tower. Everyone was very nice and gave my daughter a ton of information. My son loved fraternity row and ended up visiting the DX house at GA Tech where they invited him in for dinner. Also my DD plays 3 sports so having a college with clubs/intramurals is important to her too. </p>
<p>Since my West Coast DD wants to go to college in warm weather we also visited Clemson which she liked very much and Southern Methodist University. SMU has a brand new engineering school building which had the labs my DD likes. You might want to consider that as an option. They have merit money to offer and told us everyone in engineering gets a department scholarship. Plus they have a big Greek life and a great gym. They even have a “beach” on campus for the Californians which is a low pool with a waterfall where students sit in beach chairs. </p>
<p>On suggestion I have is for you to see if there is a local chapter of the Society of Women Engineers in your area. We have one in our community and they have been great at mentoring my DD. Our SWE hosts events for high school students and my DD learned a lot about colleges from the SWE members. [Home</a> | The Society of Women Engineers | <a href=“http://www.swe.org%5B/url%5D”>www.swe.org](<a href=“http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/]Home”>http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/)</a></p>
<p>Another thing you might look into is having your DD apply to STEM summer programs. There are a ton out there and many are free or at a reduced cost. If you look under summer programs here at CC you will get some lists but also google and research vor them. For example the Association of Material Scientists has a free one at several locations throughout the country. [Materials</a> Camps | ASM Materials Education Foundation](<a href=“http://www.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/foundation/materials-camps/]Materials”>http://www.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/foundation/materials-camps/) It is good to think about summer now because most programs have a deadline around Feb. 1. The other added benefit is that they are good test runs for college applications which in turn makes the process less stressful. </p>
<p>Do not be turned off for engineering programs that have graduation rates beyond 4 years. We have been told that taking longer to graduate is a plus because the student is getting practical experience though co-ops (GA TEch is big on them) internships and research. Both Clemson and GA TEch have their own campuses for study abroad (so you can continue with your engineering classes) and the added benefit is that they only charge in-state tuition when a student is on study-abroad (a savings between 10 and 15K). </p>
<p>If you are on the West Coast you want to avoid Cal Poly SLO and Poly because you can’t change you major once accepted to those programs. </p>
<p>Programs really do differ from college to college so always ask to see the curriculum guide for ME which specifies the courses required and the suggested order. My DD could look at it and see whether it was the type of ME for her. My DD loves robotics so she wanted a college that offered it as a sub-concentration that also had computer science. (She did a summer scholarship program this past summer at Caltech in computer science which she enjoyed a lot. Google sponsored her so most of the costs were covered.) </p>
<p>ME tends to be a male dominated major some things in particular to look for are:</p>
<p>–Any mentorships among the student body for ME females? At GA Tech they pair a junior Female ME with every freshmen ME as support.
–Living communities for Female engineering students-studies show that female engineering students do better when they live together the first year. Clemson and SMU both have it .
–Is there a GPA required to enter ME-for example at Clemson all freshmen engineering students take the same courses but only those with a certain GPA get to move on in ME.
–Job Placement rates for females</p>
<p>Those are just some factors but that book I recommended will give you more.</p>
Their program is notoriously difficult and students rarely finish in 4yrs. Their 4yr graduation rate is fairly low. It is one of the top e’schools overall. My son decided it wasn’t what he wanted for an undergrad experience, however he has two classmates there who are doing quite well, working very hard, and like it a lot.</p>