<p>Im a senior in HS and applying to UCB,UCLA, and UCSD </p>
<p>For now, i really have no idea what ppl do in their diffrent field of engineering.
Im considering ChemE, ME,EE, BME, and computer science. I know EECS is most competitive in UCB and i have about 30 percent chance to get in. lol. Im trying to put my major among ChemE, ME, BME, Comp sci and Undecided/pre-business L&S. </p>
<p>Can you guys recommend me which field of engineering is most attractive?
which means it makes a lot of money :)
I am pretty good at all sciences and math. i like chemistry best tho.
My driving force is making money btw. </p>
<p>Oh, and tell me what grad course i should take;</p>
<p>I'd suspect that on average the engineer that makes the most money is the one that completes their engineering degree then switches into the financial sector of the market, though this may only be true from engineers from top schools. Engineering degrees of all types demonstrate to financial/consulting firms that you are very good at problem solving and you will thus be a very attractive candidate to them. </p>
<p>If you are concerned with money and are already considering getting involved in pre-business this might be the best option for you. Sticking with the engineering route leaves pretty much every door open and gives you very high earning potential. On the one hand you can always stick with engineering, which will pay well, or you can decide to switch into the financial sector, which can potentially pay better. There is always technical consulting that is a decent mix of engineering and business work as well. </p>
<p>So I think any engineering field could be the "most attractive" in your case, go with what interests you the most. And if you dont even know what you want to do for undergrad, I'd hold off on what grad course you should take for the time being.</p>
<p>Business has the potential to make the most money. That being said, if you're interested in chemistry you'll probably do best as a chemical engineer. You can then go to grad school, get your MBA, and get on your way.</p>
<p>Really though, do what interests you and if you're good at it the money will come.</p>
<p>Not only does ChemE pay the most out of college, but it also gives you more opportunities, industry wise. ME and EE are close second for that. Still, if you like ME and EE work you could eventually work your way into their realms via industry work.</p>
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Not only does ChemE pay the most out of college
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<p>Well, actually, Petroleum Engineering pays more out of college, especially these days with oil nearing $100 a barrel. </p>
<p>The reason why you rarely see PetE on the salary scales is that it is such a specialized major that not many schools offer it, and consequently not many people earn degrees in it. But you can see here that in 2005 PetE's made significantly more than do ChemE's. They make even more these days as oil has become even more valuable. </p>
<p>being a Chem E myself, I actually find the career field is quite narrowed if you are not planning on getting an MBA and cross over to management.
If you want to stay technical go for EE.</p>
<p>I think chemE has the fewest opportunities actually. While pay is good, there aren't opportunities everywhere like mechE and civE. BLS says there are about 29,000 chemical engineers employed in the U.S., as opposed to the 236,000 civil engineers. There are 217,000 mechanical engineers, but that figure doesn't include all those people with mechE degrees that decided to go into biomechanical engineering, aerospace engineers, and other related fields.</p>
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for some reason, berkeley's CS grads make BY FAR the most money out of all the majors.</p>
<p>I believe the most recent report for CS had ~76k average salary (what the hell), chemical engineering had ~54k, and EECS had ~67k
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<p>Well, it's not "some" reason. There is an actual very good (although tricky) reason. Basically, Berkeley CS (until just recently) was an impacted major, meaning that you couldn't just start off as a CS student. You had to take a bunch of tough lower-division CS coursework, usually including some weeders, and then try to get into the major, with no guarantee that you would. A lot of people who had relatively decent grades in that lower-division coursework (i.e. around a 3.0) nevertheless were denied from entering the major. </p>
<p>In other words, when you look at Berkeley CS salaries, what you're really looking at is only those salaries of the top guys - i.e. the ones who were good enough to do well in that lower-division work to get into the major. The ones who weren't good enough are obviously not even counted in that CS salary tabulation because they couldn't even get into the major in the first place.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that now that Berkeley CS is unimpacted, everybody can get into the major. But what that means is that the salaries will inevitably drop (or at least, won't rise very fast), for the simple reason that the CS program will end up graduating some people who aren't that good. Granted, they'll be at least good enough to pass the classes, but in the old days, these people wouldn't have even gotten into the major at all. These people are likely to wind up with relatively lower salaries, hence pulling the average salary figures down.</p>
<p>It depends on your viewpoint. From where you sit in NYC, I agree that job opportunities for chemical engineers aren't great. Go further south and into Texas and the west, and the opportunities become much greater.</p>
<p>I wasn't even thinking from my viewpoint, but rather was basing it off the national numbers I saw. ChemE jobs tend to only be available in certain areas of the country, while mechanical and civil engineering jobs are available practically everywhere. There definitely are more chemical engineering opportunities in Texas and the west, but I doubt that they outnumber the other engineering fields (though I could be wrong?).</p>
<p>The thing is, not many schools have chemical engineering programs...while most colleges have a mechanical, civil or electrical department.</p>
<p>I agree that Mech E, Civil E, and EECS have the most employment opportunities.</p>
<p>But, Chem E definitiely has more opportunities available than Biomedical and Nuclear engineering. Although, all engineering fields will see strong demand...a lot of engineers are retiring.</p>
<p>wow, I'm surprised that most UCB engineers make average 60k / year for starting salary. That's kinda low? given the fact that cnn posts starting average salary for engineers around the nation with BS is 50-55k / year.</p>
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wow, I'm surprised that most UCB engineers make average 60k / year for starting salary. That's kinda low? given the fact that cnn posts starting average salary for engineers around the nation with BS is 50-55k / year.
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<p>And that doesn't even account for the higher living costs at Berkeley. Hence, you could probably say that Berkeley engineers make only "average" salaries, once cost-of-living is factored in.</p>
<p>But don't pick on just Berkeley. The same is (sadly) true of engineers at most of the top schools. In fact, it speaks precisely to something that I have been saying on other threads - that engineering really isn't that good of a career for the 'top' students, because the difference in pay between the top people and the bottom people is not very large. </p>
<p>Don't get me wrong. I think engineering is a great deal for most people, and in particular, for all of those people who graduate from average schools with average grades (and this comprises most people). Let's be honest. For them, a starting salary of 50-55k is a very sweet deal, as it's better than what they probably would have gotten doing anything else. But engineering is sadly not a very good deal for the top people.</p>