<p>I'm coming in as undecided, but was thinking about material sciences or Chem E. Mu ultimate goal is to get into nanotech.</p>
<p>MSE has several nano classes. I really like MSE since it's pretty small here (around 30 people per year do it) so you get to know everybody and everything. Whenever you get on campus you should come out to a MEPS (its the MSE student group) meeting; if you show interest they'll take you out to dinner and try to recruit you. It's fun.</p>
<p>That sounds like exactly what I've been looking for. How hard is MSE (I'm assuming material science engineering) academically?</p>
<p>Well, the material (no pun intended) can be pretty difficult. It's some pretty fundamental stuff that you're learning and building on. I'd say the difficulty of MSE is pretty average compared to other engineering majors.</p>
<p>That said, remember, there are only about 30 people in any given class of MSE. That means one professor is teaching all of MSE. If he or she makes it so hard that a lot of people fail, well, we've got a big problem on our hands. So that just can't happen. Since they're the only ones teaching that class professors can fudge the grades however they want (giving make-up tests on tests everyone did poorly on or only counting a bad test for a very small portion of the final grade) and make sure people who understand the material get through.</p>
<p>Another selling point is that since it's so small you can really get to know your professors if you put forth any effort whatsoever. Most of them are pretty well connected so they can help you get research and internships. I've never had any problem at all getting an internship (I've had one for this coming summer lined up for months now.) I know several seniors and they don't seem to be having much trouble getting jobs. The most important thing is to be active within MSE and especially MEPS, because you'll meet a lot of people that can help you in a lot of ways.</p>
<p>My AIM is "bige1530" if you want to talk more about MSE, so that this thread doesn't turn into just that, haha.</p>
<p>If you're not really that big into partying or the football team (not necessarily obsessed with academics, but just not overly social) is it really hard to find a niche? Is it just a big country school that is obsessed w/ football and getting drunk, or am I totally wrong? I was sort of the loner in H.S. b/c a lot of the kids in my class were like this, and I'm hoping not to repeat the experience. I don't really know anything about the school's student life so any info. will be great!</p>