<p>I just finished up my first semester in community college with a 4.0, and I want to have my major set so I know where to transfer. I've decided I want to be an engineer and I was wondering what engineering majors will be big for the future. I read some of the biggest ones will be biomedical, petroleum, environmental, nano, and computer engineering. Are there any other ones that will be big? I heard aerospace in particular will be hard to get into.</p>
<p>Betting your degree on the market is a fool’s game. No one knows for certain what the market will look like in 5 years and what will go up and down.
Pick something safe enough (not overly specialized) and stick with it. Job speculation is a dangerous game.</p>
<p>There are things you want to know going in – like, biomed is supposedly hard to find employment without an advanced degree or whatever – so that you don’t make a decision without having a good picture of reality. But I think if you really don’t care enough about which field you get into that you are just looking at nothing but job security or money or w/e, you probably need to hold off on picking anything. </p>
<p>When I started looking at it, I wanted to to MechE. Someone convinced me that Structural was going to be blowing up huge and that I should do that, so for like a month I thought I would. Nothing about it appeals to me, and when I would look at engineering sites and forums and see cool Mech stuff and unappealing civil stuff, I would feel lousy. Then it occurred to me that I can just pick a major I like. It’s stupid now, because I think my friend was probably wrong, and I don’t even want to be a MechE anymore anyway, but my point is, something should stand out as most interesting, and if it’s not a more compelling case to you than someone’s best guess as to who will have an edge in the market half a decade from now, you probably need to rethink your approach. Or maybe most people don’t really care that much how they spend their daylight hours until they are 65 years old, and I am just weird and idealistic.</p>
<p>BME (Bio-Medical Engineering) is not hard but to find a job you need Phd to be competitive in the job market, not undergraduate degree. And to apply for BME grad school (Master or Phd), some schools require cumulative GPA of 3.4 or 3.5. I am sophomore (BME) at a very selective school and have cumulative GPA 3.8 but unfortunately for some reasons I dont like Biology and am switching to do Dual Degree Programs (Eng. Physics and Mechanical Eng). So, I believe in choosing a major in undergraduate, you have to like what you do then go to grad. school. If you really good at what you do in school with stellar records at any very selective schools then finding a job should not be too difficult. In fact, recruitment from big companies will come to your school and show them what you have.</p>
<p>Electrical and mechanical will probably get you the most bang for your buck. I keep hearing that petroleum engineers make the big bucks but I haven’t seen many jobs that hire petroleum engineers.</p>
<p>Not too sure about other engineering fields, but right now CS/CE is in pretty big demand. There are boom/bust cycles, of course, so be careful. IMO it’s much better for job security and salary potential to be really good at a field you are passionate about than to be decent at a field you only have a passing interest for.</p>