<p>I have narrowed my choices of engineering major to either industrial or materials. I will probably be going to UF. From what I understand, industrial engineering is a little bit easier than materials, but materials engineering at UF is a very strong program.</p>
<p>I am concerned with keeping at least a 3.5 GPA, but materials engineering seems like a better choice. How much harder is materials?</p>
<p>What do you think? Industrial engineering or materials engineering?</p>
<p>Why do you need a 3.5 GPA?</p>
<p>It’s my goal.</p>
<p>Your goal should be to major in something that you like, not to major in something that you can get a 3.5 in.</p>
<p>My point is that I love both of these subjects. I am trying to decide which one to pursue. To me, GPA counts as a factor for picking.</p>
<p>2 out of 3 students who start engineering don’t finish. I wouldn’t worry about your GPA and focus on simply passing your classes (until you get settled in.)</p>
<p>Well said.</p>
<p>Okay, I am sorry being a little bit arrogant/worrisome. I will try my hardest to get good grades in my classes, and hopefully graduate.</p>
<p>I wish the school I am going to attend offered an undergrad materials degree.</p>
<p>Go to a different school then?</p>
<p>Why don’t you tell us other interests/career choices you have in mind? In the end, how well you do in either major would depend on how you learn. It really comes down to what you want to get out of the experience, and there is no way we can tell you which will get you a higher gpa. What we can do is give you advice on which would be better in the long term. If you really want to know which you’d do better in, why don’t you look at some of the materials or take a few courses in the majors if you can, and decide from there?</p>
<p>If you’re interested in Materials I’d recommend taking a look through this book: [Amazon.com:</a> Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction (9780470419977): William D. Callister: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Science-Engineering-William-Callister/dp/0470419970/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1268092494&sr=8-3-spell]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Science-Engineering-William-Callister/dp/0470419970/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1268092494&sr=8-3-spell) </p>
<p>Well, maybe not that exact edition, but you can get a few editions old for pretty cheap, or even take a look at it in the library once you get to school (or even use Amazon’s look inside this book feature).</p>
<p>In my undergrad career I had roughly one semester-long class for each chapter in that book.</p>
<p>ahh but it isn’t a big deal, I thought it would be a nice option at one point but staying in state was a bigger priority for me.</p>
<p>Well I know Rice has Materials Science as an undergraduate degree and is an excellent engineering school.</p>
<p>Did not put in an application to Rice. Probably should have, but I do not think I would even be competitive for admission.</p>
<p>aggieengineer, you do know Texas A&M has labs that do materials related stuff, correct? My friend works in one specifically where he deals with piezoelectric materials. You don’t have to major in materials to work with them.</p>
<p>The majority of engineering students say that the freshman and sophmore year of engineering is the first time they have had to study. Generally high school math and science classes are relatively boring for a lot of future engineering students and then the difficulties of the classes slams them like a wall.</p>
<p>That’s why I come down pretty hard on people who have a specific GPA in mind. They think, oh I got a 4.0 or a 3.9 or 3.8 in high school, I should get at least a 3.5, right? </p>
<p>Well, I got a 3.9 GPA in high school and breezed through every math class with an ‘A’. Then I got to college Calculus and all of a sudden I was struggling to get a C! It was an eye opener for me.</p>
<p>After you take a year or two of college classes, you’ll start to see where you lie with GPA and then you can pick a number to challenge yourself and encourage yourself to do well. But to say that “I won’t do xxxx major if I can’t get a 3.5” isn’t really a good strategy because 99.99999% of college graduates don’t get their college GPA tattooed on their forehead and after college virtually nobody knows what your college GPA is and generally people don’t care. (Your first job is an exception; however, there are engineering jobs for people of all GPAs.)</p>
<p>Also, I think what a few are trying to say here is that you should do what you love the most. Loving what you are doing will make you want to study and make you want to learn more, that is what will get you your good GPA.</p>
<p>that’s a good goal to have if your considering Mat E…materials is one of the stronger programs at my school and what I have noticed is Mat E is very research oriented…</p>
<p>the take home message is that opportunities in Mat E seem to be centered around academia and R&D…and these positions have a higher GPA expectation 3.5-3.7…vs. industry where it is generally 3.0-3.3…</p>
<p>but if you are way off your goal in the beginning don’t give up and start making excuses…you’ll have plenty of time and opportunity to improve and reach it.</p>