whats the most lucrative engineering field

<p>My school offers Architectural Engineering and Construction Management, you can do either as a four year degree or double major in five years. It ends up being very much like a civil engineering degree in the end. AE also has a choice of a speciality I believe these include electrical systems, structural, and a couple others. I wouldn't go so far as to say employers don't know where to put these graduates considering the AE degree here has a 100% placement rate...then again so do all the engineering majors here lol. </p>

<p>As far as payment goes I don't think AE makes any more than other engineers. A person who goes into construction management isn't really an engineer anymore anyway but they can end up making quite a bit of money.</p>

<p>Studying architectural engineering won't get you hired as an architect, but it can get you hired as an engineer. I just looked at Penn State's list of companies attending their career fair specifically to recruit ArchE majors and it's pretty extensive. There are some structural engineering firms, some contractors/construction mgmt firms, and plenty of others. Penn</a> State Department of Architectural Engineering</p>

<p>I think it opens up more doors than it closes. The difference between a civil engineering major concentrating in structural and an architectural engineering major concentrating in structural is negligible (based on my undergrad curriculum and PSU's ArchE curriculum).</p>

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I wouldn't go so far as to say employers don't know where to put these graduates considering the AE degree here has a 100% placement rate...then again so do all the engineering majors here lol.

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<p>Didn't mean to imply that Architectural Engineering grads don't get <em>hired</em>, it's just that they don't get hired by <em>everybody</em>. If you want to design buildings, and if you want a lot of flexibility and to be hired by the shiniest firms, you'd be best off getting a degree in either architecture or structural engineering. There are a few programs out there (I know Illinois has one) where you can get a dual masters in both... That would be probably the best you can do if you don't want to decide between the two, but deciding between the two would give you the most options.</p>

<p>And I'd disagree about civil engineering majors concentrating in structural being about the same as an architectural engineering major concentrating in structural... I haven't encountered <em>any</em> architectural engineering graduates over in my neck of the woods...</p>

<p>I'd be wary, is all. It's not the 'best of both worlds' that it's touted to be.</p>

<p>You probably haven't encountered any architectural engineering grads simply because there aren't that many around. PSU's program has 2 semesters of steel design and 2 semesters of concrete design, which is 3 more semesters than what I had in my civil engineering program. They take statics/dynamics and mechanics of materials. The main differences I see is that you won't take transportation, environmental, or hydrology courses. The one important thing I see lacking for a structural engineer is the lack of geotech courses.</p>

<p>The reason I keep using PSU is that they're the only ArchE program that I'm familiar with. Maybe it's not as good elsewhere. Or maybe some of the structural courses get cut out at schools where it's only a 4 year curriculum instead of 5.</p>

<p>I wouldn't say it's the best of both worlds either. It's not really all that different from civil engineering. In civil, you get a hodgepodge of structural, geotech, water resources, construction courses. In ArchE, you get a hodgepodge of mechanical, structural, lighting/electrical, construction courses.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone
Also Cu-Coulder has a great AE program.
JW what was your GPA and SAT scores Ken285 b/c PennState is really hard to get into and AE program only takes 100 students/yr.</p>

<p>"I meant CU-Boulder "(Colorado U at Boulder)VVVV</p>

<p>I never attended Penn State, despite what my posts may seem to suggest, haha. I never actually even really knew what architectural engineering was until after I finished my undergrad. However, based on what I've seen in their curriculum, the one grad that I know, and some of the senior theses that I saw, it's a pretty good program.</p>

<p>By the way, I think the problem with architectural engineering is the name. People think it's half architecture and half engineering, when it's really just engineering. It should be called buildings engineering instead... but that reminds me of janitors being called building engineers.</p>

<p>so the number of petroleum engineering jobs would be a really small number in 4 years?</p>

<p>lol it did seem that way.
Where did you go to school and for what major?</p>

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Well, from whatI've seen, IE's have any advantage in getting into finance/consulting than over other engineers.

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I disagree. I think CPE/CS beats out IE. A complicating factor being that CPE/CS grads actually can get comparable offers doing actual engineering work.</p>

<p>Of course, I think this entire "consulting/finance" industry is going to go into an incredibly steep downturn shortly (or now, really).</p>

<p>What about aeronautical/aerospace engg. </p>

<p>btw wat is the full form of IP, CPE/CE</p>

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Quote:
Well, from whatI've seen, IE's have any advantage in getting into finance/consulting than over other engineers.</p>

<p>I disagree. I think CPE/CS beats out IE.

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<p>Actually, what I meant to say is that IE's don't have any advantage over any other engineering degree when it comes to finance/consulting. Basically, I forget to type the 'don't', but it should be obvious by context.</p>

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Of course, I think this entire "consulting/finance" industry is going to go into an incredibly steep downturn shortly (or now, really).

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<p>I agree. Whichi is why I have always said that CS (or EECS) is probably the most flexible major you can pursue these days. </p>

<p>Wall</a> Street's collapse may be computer science's gain - Network World</p>

<p>what abt aeronautical enngg?</p>

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Actually, what I meant to say is that IE's don't have any advantage over any other engineering degree when it comes to finance/consulting. Basically, I forget to type the 'don't', but it should be obvious by context.

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True. My mistake.</p>

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lol it did seem that way.
Where did you go to school and for what major?

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The Cooper Union for civil engineering</p>

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so the number of petroleum engineering jobs would be a really small number in 4 years?

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Compared to the number of engineering jobs in other fields, it's already few. What you should be wondering is the ration of PetE grads to PetE positions. It isn't such a bad thing to have few positions, but also few applicants.</p>

<p>lol am i being ignored in this forum :-P</p>

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lol am i being ignored in this forum :-P

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<p>Here, I'll pay attention.</p>

<p>The offers I got to go into aerospace were a good 10K less than what I was offered to go into structural engineering, which isn't considered to be that lucrative a field.</p>

<p>Granted, these were for manned aerospace fly-me-to-the-moon sorts of jobs, rather than for defense aerospace, which will garner you a good measure more.</p>

<p>is structural engg done after doin civil engg?</p>

<p>Yes, structural engineering is (academically, at least) a subset of civil engineering. I have a bachelors and masters in civil engineering with a concentration in structural engineering.</p>

<p>so wats ur pay?(uts a very personel q lol).... and another q i heard ppl saying that doin MBA after engg makes u pay much more what do u all say</p>