<p>Have you looked into the research going on in your university? </p>
<pre><code>Some schools have quite a bit on their websites. You can look into each department and see what research is going on or you can look at various profs and see the research that they are involved in. Often times journal articles and papers are right there for you to read.
See if there is anything going on that gets you excited. Then read everything you can about that prof and the research. Then go see ( best) or call or email the prof and ask if there is any way you can get involved in his research. Have a short one page description of your strengths ( possibly related to something in their research but not necessarily) and send it with an opening line of who you are . Tell the prof you will do anything. If they say no ask what skills you need in order to be considered.
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<p>If they say no you can always go back at the beginning of summer and introduce yourself again and offer your services again. Sometimes you just have to be a bit persistent but not pushy. ( fine line here). </p>
<p>In addition in Jan you can start looking at various REUs ( deadline is March). Often times these paid summer research stints are pretty cool. Ask your profs about them. Here’s a page that came up when I googled REU modeling and civil engineering. You can go to any school.</p>
<p>And of course try to get an internship in the summer…possibly at one of the companies doing modeling that you find while you are googling around this summer.</p>
<p>It’s all great ways to network and learn how to sell yourself. You have nothing to lose. </p>
<p>I found the first two years of civil engineering courses unexciting. At various points, I felt like I was just grinding forward to a goal I wasn’t even sure about. Junior year rolled around and suddenly I could take an upper division engineering elective or two that wasn’t predetermined.</p>
<p>Everyone gets to take physics, chemistry, the calculus series, statics, dynamics, thermo, etc. but eventually you get to start taking courses that help steer your career. It just seems like such a long wait because you have to plod through the prerequisites first. It’s painful, but I recommend waiting it out. Worst case scenario? You end up with an engineering bachelors and your career path heads a different direction. Engineering degrees are valuable - it’s really quite funny how many folks defer to my opinion merely because I’m an engineer. (Note: I personally hold doctors in the same regard.) It will open doors for you.</p>
<p>I got involved with our SWE and ASCE chapters in my junior year. We had a very scary male prof that was the SWE sponsor, but he took notice of two of us and sent us on to a wonderful leadership conference (which then gave me the confidence/ability to go for the presidency of ASCE and VP of SWE my senior year). Getting to know the faculty helped me land an internship my junior year. The internship was great- in that it helped me realize what I didn’t want to do, it paid well and gave me something for my resume. So get involved!</p>
<p>Where I work, we have all sorts of engineers. We have the nerdy, hyper-detailed folks. We have the creative problem solvers. We have the big picture management types. Don’t think that you have to have a pocket protector to be an engineer, and I mean that figuratively not literally. We really do need all kinds in our ranks. Folks that build models are able to see things differently, and that’s a valuable strength to have.</p>
<p>Try going to a professional society (i.e. ASCE) meeting. They love it when students come to their meetings, and engineers are really quite interested in talking about their careers :)</p>
<p>(I chose water as my concentration, and ended up with a B.S. In civil and an environmental PE.)</p>
<p>I have not read through the thread, but for op, do you have art talent? Architect mostly need art background mainly painting and sculpture. If you are good at those, it should not be difficult to make the changes.</p>
<p>These sentences caught my eyes because this is something you may want to start thinking about and putting together now.</p>
<p>My first tip-off was how you could spend the day creating and designing, and have done so in high school. Since you were not working for a company at that time, you must have lots of creative vision simply by looking at what was needed around you.</p>
<p>Second, if you are doing designing and creating on your own, you clearly do not need others’ projects to see ways to improve or create things.</p>
<p>Third, if you are doing the two things above, I ask, why not start a company now? This creates a structure for you to legitimately get your name out there way in advance and to license creations that may be more valuable and unique than you may think they are currently.</p>
<p>The advice given, as to internships, projects and groups to join, are all excellent. However, you could set yourself up corporately now, copyright your current designs and license your creations under it and start getting the word out about what you do. This will make branching out into a revenue-producing company much easier later on because you are already established.</p>
I’ve looked into the current research projects and none of them have peaked my interests. The majority I’ve seen are in the medical field or are uninteresting engineering projects. Unfortunately for me, my department doesn’t list the current research projects so I don’t know what the civil engineering department is up to. I will keep my eye open for next year, though. </p>
<p>I am in my college’s chapter of ASCE; although, I am not involved. Last year, their meeting times interfered with another one of my clubs so I never went to their meetings. This year, I plan on being more involved because 1) I’ll be able to meet more civil engineering majors. I only know probably five civil engineering majors. 2) To be exposed to some of the companies around campus through talks and seminars. 3) To be involved in one of their competition teams. </p>
<p>I don’t want to be involved in too much, though. Next year I have two semesters of 16 credits, a job, and two clubs. I don’t want to over-involve myself. Hopefully, what I am doing will add a nice touch of variety to get me through the required engineering courses. :)</p>
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I have thought of having my own Etsy account along with a Youtube, but that’s as far as I would want to go at the moment, while I’m still on college. It is a thought I’ve had for awhile, just for fun, but I don’t think I’m prepared for the time and effort that goes into a business. </p>
<p>@jym626 My college doesn’t have a list of senior design projects like UCF…at least not for engineering that I can find.</p>
<p>I am a humanities student and so am not knowledgeable about what kinds of engineering things you can do, but I just wanted to say bon courage. From what I can gather here on CC, you truly are a smart, resourceful, motivated person, and that will take you far. I think you can excel and do well in anything you set your heart on, so go find whatever “it” is for you. </p>
<p>I don’t know exactly what my “it” is either , but I’m always looking. I’m looking when I’m working and dealing with different kinds of people, I’m looking when I’m taking interesting classes, I’m looking when I’m talking to knowledgeable professors; I’m looking by just growing up and getting used to the world. </p>
<p>Like the others have said, take different kinds of classes, do different kinds of research/internships, talk to more experienced people, and just let it come to you. You’re better off with the engineering degree (I’ve gathered) since it can lead to more options, so I’d say to stay within that realm and to definitely NOT drop out. You’re too smart and motivated for that. You’re young yet and still have 3 more years (or however more), so now is the time to do your soul searching while you still have the precious time to do so.</p>
<p>Good luck, and I hope you find “it” in time. </p>
<p>If they have these poster presentations as USF <a href=“http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.368311376540109.81415.336484806389433&type=3”>http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.368311376540109.81415.336484806389433&type=3</a> (link is being truncated but its a facebook group of poster presentations) they have to have a way to find out about the projects and how to participate on a team. Another thing I highly recommend is to get involved with your school’s Engineers Without Borders . It is a fabulous organization with lots of great opportunities to get involved and make a difference. My s, when he lived in the area, was a professional member/volunteer with the USF chapter. He had been a student member at his University as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Yes, the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) does a great job at advertising research, making the steps towards your research team well known, and making the workshops accessible, but when I say the current research isn’t online. It isn’t online. The first step in getting paired with a research team is going to the coordinator or faculty member in charge of the research, but my department doesn’t have a list of current research like the other departments do. The only way to get to finding out who is doing research is an advisor in the department, but I have not talked to one as of yet. </p>
<p>Are you needing to find this out in the summer or can it wait til fall? If you are wanting to get some info now, why not send out a few emails to faculty/your advisor and make some preliminary inquiries?</p>
<p>btw- look up the proper spelling for “peaked” defined as you meant it.</p>
<p>Sounds like all of this feedback has helped you. Reading posts I am reminded why I majored in Chemistry and not Chemical Engineering. Many variations on majors to suit many interests. Don’t worry, things will come together.</p>