<p>I cant decide what to major in; my choices now are aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, or chemical engineering. Note: if I choose one of the last two, I will probaly go for a masters in BME afterwards. </p>
<p>I know that all engineering degrees involve math, but which one of these fields would involve the least math? I don't necessarily hate math; I'm good at it though, so I guess I am able to tolerate it. However, I don't want to spend my whole career crunching numbers. </p>
<p>Another thing: in which career choice (BME or AE) is the engineer involved in the whole project and not pidgenholed in his/her specialty? (i.e. aerospace engineer involved with the whole design of the aircraft, BME with the chemical engineering background involved in the whole design of the new biomedical product).</p>
<p>Also, which one of these degrees is the "safest" when it comes to finding (and keeping) a job? Thanks.</p>
<p>I don't know which one is the "safest" but I think mechanical and chemical engineering are more broad subjects. Aerospace is just like a branch of mechanical. All the course work is going to be really math intensive. In industry, it would probably depend on your exact duty whether or not you're crunching numbers or not all day.</p>
<p>All of the majors you mentioned will have levels of maths in the form of differential or fluid forces in ASE/ME, thermodynamic properties for ChemE and biological reactions for BME. I'd argue that ASE and ChemE have more math but nothing that will completely eclipse ME. </p>
<p>As for the number crunching, all engineers will inevitable have to crunch some numbers, be it budget for management level engineers or to the nitty gritty forces as a research engineer. I'm not saying engineers are walking computers who live for digits but calculations are inherently a part of our field. </p>
<p>Also you need to keep in mind that very few engineers are going to design the entire product by themselves--that task would be overwhelming and it is far more efficient and safer to have little teams that specialize one on individual part. Of course this varies with the size and scope of the product as well as your rank--the head of a research group might oversee the entire project but by no means does he start at the drawing board and do it all by himself.</p>
<p>As the others have said, ME is one of the big 3 (ME/EE/ChemE) and will be very safe. It is very versatile and with graduate work you can easily fill a niche field, be it BME or even ASE. </p>
<p>My advice is for you to try out an engineering that is based on your interests and then make a choice. Do you like taking things apart or have a natural intuition for things mechanical? Have you always wanted to fly or perhaps be a doctor? Make a choice based on your interests and i'm sure you'll be happy in the long run.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Civil Engineering can be seen as an extension of ME.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You have it backwards. History demonstrates that all engineering disciplines -- except military engineering -- are specialized subsets of civil engineering. </p>
<p>The first two recognized engineering disciplines were "military engineering" and "civilian engineering". When ASCE was founded in 1852 (as the first engineering society in the US), civil engineering encompassed all non-military engineers. Eventually, "specialty" groups like ASME, AIChE, and IEEE were formed, but not until decades later. </p>
<p>In some European countries, the term "civil engineer" still has the original broad meaning.</p>
<p>I agree with you in a historical sense. But I am looking at it in terms of physics. Civil engineering is based on the physics of mechanical engineering. Which ever engineering came first is irrelevant, the physics was always present.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Which ever engineering came first is irrelevant, the physics was always present
[/quote]
True enough, but this would turn both civil and mechanical engineering into branches of physics, which doesn't seem like a particularly useful categorization.</p>
<p>The fact is that civil and mechanical engineering are distinct disciplines in practice. CEs and MEs are taught in different departments, pursue different career paths, take separate licensing exams, and join different professional societies. For real-world purposes, they are as separate from each other as each is from ChemE or EE.</p>
<p>According to the US Dept. of Education's "Digest of Education Statistics", the most common engineering BS degrees conferred in 2003-2004 were as follows:</p>