<p>I am closing in on the end of my first semester as a Mechanical engineer (well actually mech/aero dual). From the beginning, I have planned on attending business school for my MBA in finance after doing some engineering work after my undergraduate.
So far everything really clicks for my classes, but I am looking at the future, and electrical engineering just seems to have a a bright future with our advances in technology. It also seems like I could use it for so many different companies.
I do not see myself as a "grunt worker engineer," as my older friends call it, in the future. I want my MBA so I can either work my way towards the management, hopefully even the executive level some day. With regards to this aspect, does my engineering major really matter? I say this because I have been doing some research with alumni at my school, and many of the engineers went on to B-school to become investment bankers, or executives in companies. </p>
<p>I know that both mechanical and electrical engineering can be very broad, but I am looking for the field with the most earning potential, and the best outlook. </p>
<p>Lastly, some questions for those of you who are/did study electrical engineering:
How heavy is the chemistry? I am taking some for mechanical/aero, but chemistry is not my strongest subject.
What are some of the subjects that differ from my current major that I will need to be strong in?
It looks like my school only requires a computer science 1100 course for the major, but how much programming/compsci material would I need to be prepared for? As a mechE I would only need a basic intro to programming course. </p>
<p>You will only need to be concerned with chemistry if you choose to study certain areas of solid state electronics. There's hardly any chemistry in circuits, signal processing, control theory, communications, power, or computer engineering. The amount of programming depends on the school's curriculum and what you choose to specialize in so I can't answer that.</p>
<p>And this may seem like a stupid question, but what exactly will be the major differences with what my strength should be between electrical engineering and mechanical engineering? I am just trying to base part of decision on how well I can perform in it. So far I feel comfortable with everything taught for Mechanical engineering. </p>
<p>And yes, my school's EE program only requires a Computer science 1100 course, which is basically one step above the intro to computer science that I would take as a mechanical engineer. </p>
<p>Is there anyone here that transfered into or out of electrical engineering? Advice? </p>
<p>I think you are going about it the wrong way. You seem to be persuing electrical because you percieve it to be an area with better opportunites and money.</p>
<p>Well, if your ultimate goal is to land up in management or another field, why not study the field that interests you most?? That way, you will do much better in college, and better grades mean a better B-School, which means better job opportunities.</p>
<p>Also, dont rule mechanical out as a "pioneering field." Remember, we are possibly approaching an energy, "green," revolution, and mechanical engineering is already playing a huge part in that process.</p>
<p>EE is hard, and if its not your thing, your grades will suffer and getting into a B-school will get harder.
There is very little chem in EE (just one course at my school), but they both tend to entertain abstract concepts (ie: they're relatively more abstract than MechE from what I can tell).</p>
<p>
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And this may seem like a stupid question, but what exactly will be the major differences with what my strength should be between electrical engineering and mechanical engineering?
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I'm guessing you haven't taken physics yet. Engineers take mechanics and e&m in the physics department. If you find that you enjoy mechanics more and that e&m concepts are too abstract for you, then you're more suited for ME/AE. If you find that you don't like mechanics, but find the e&m concepts more interesting, then you're more suited for EE. This is how I was able to narrow down my choices between CompE/EE and ME/CivE; I find that I enjoy mechanics more because I can visualize what I see and work with. It's harder to visualize things at a quantum scale.</p>
<p>Yeah, agreed with the rest, just look at what you want to study more.</p>
<p>Mechanical Engineers are not "grunt work" engineers, and whoever told you that hasn't done their homework. Not only will a huge portion of the Green Revolution be carried out by ME's, but there is tons of research going into everything from fluids to combustion to material failure and modeling to mechanical design to control theory and everywhere in between and that is all mechanical engineering. It isn't all just analyzing trusses and beams and carts rolling down frictionless slopes.</p>
<p>You have to be good at the mechanics side of physics, you ought to be good at math, especially multivariable calculus and linear algebra for some of the higher up classes, and you ought to be good with computers enough that you can program simple to mildly complex programs in MATLAB or FORTRAN or something so that you can solve more complex problems (again relevant in higher level classes).</p>
<p>For ECE you need to talk to an ECE guy about that.</p>