I am currently a freshman at the University of Utah, and the next semester starts Monday. When I began college, I thought I had my major narrowed down to chemical engineering or biomedical engineering, so I took the intro classes for both majors. However, I have been introduced to so many different majors, and now I am extremely indecisive about my major. I’m hoping I can tell you a little about myself, and maybe someone can give me some advice about a major. (I’m a girl, btw.)
I am creative, and I like writing. I enjoy thinking about ways to help people, but I always find myself thinking in a very “big picture” way, and not technically. My favorite science classes have always been biology because it is all about living things. I am good at science and math, but I am also good at history and English. I have never received less than an A in a class, and my friends would probably call me a perfectionist. I enjoy watching the entrepreneurs on Shark Tank. I would love to be part of a small business with a great product, but more importantly, I want to directly help people through my work. I learned during my first semester that I am not really interested by the science of heat flow, thermodynamics, or spectrophotometry. However, I could probably make myself interested in these concepts if I was using them in a real-world situation to invent a product or process to help people. I also worked with MATLAB for the first time last semester, which I think is relatively fun. I have been leaning away from biomedical engineering (even though it interests me) because it has a more specific focus than other majors, but I will have to narrow down my interests at some point, and now is as good of a time as any.
Thank you for reading this, and I appreciate any advice or comments.
Just about any engineering degree can open up fields where you can “help people” in some way or another. If you look for the Engineers without Borders club at your university, you will find students who are interested in doing just what you want. Furthermore, if you are interested in entrepreneurship, engineering is a good way to approach that too. It is not so much your degree that counts but how you approach problems and think of innovations. Plenty of engineers start their own companies.
Of course, you can do all this from any major but engineering is an excellent place to start in general because of the technical background that is so much a part of startup companies.
As for your choice of majors, my recommendation would be Chemical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering (which also has thermodynamics) as these majors have more internship and job opportunities than Biomedical Engineering at this time. If you decide that graduate school in BME is the right way to go you can get into such programs from Chemical or Mechanical Engineering.
Industrial Engineering would be the closest thing to using MATLAB, which you thought was “relatively fun.” It uses modeling and statistics, and is an interdisciplinary role geared toward helping management run aspects of the business better and more efficiently, so you could find yourself using your people skills and writing skills. What you’ve learned about business models from Shark Tank could actually help you be an effective industrial engineer. These engineers work in all types of industries, so you would not feel overly focused on one industry. I recommend checking out Industrial Engineering.
The ME department at the U has an innovative curriculum called the Spiral. They also have nice facilities. ME is a broad degree, with MANY possible avenues to follow. My son was offered direct admit to ME at the U and strongly considered it, before ultimately choosing Cal Poly.
As for English and writing in general, look Cal Newport. He’s a theoretical computer scientist at Georgetown (PhD from MIT), but he’s just published his 6th book, none of which have been on CS.
@xraymancs , Thank you so much for your advice! I did some research on Engineers Without Borders, and it looks like something I would love to join. Although biomedical engineering looks like an exciting field, I think I will probably stick with chemical engineering because it seems more established with broader opportunities. There is also a biochemical engineering and living systems emphasis in the chemical engineering department, which I could choose to pursue. You said, “It is not so much your degree that counts but how you approach problems and think of innovations.” I hope you are right about that! I do not like choosing a major because it makes me feel like I am closing the doors on so many other interesting fields.
@mommyrocks , Thank you for your advice! Industrial engineering has always been my favorite engineering major, and I could definitely see myself studying it. I got into the program at Georgia Tech and a few other schools, but unfortunately, my family and I couldn’t make those schools work financially, so I ended up going to university that does not have an industrial engineering program. I occasionally think of transferring or an IE graduate program, but for now, I need to choose another major. I am leaning toward chemical engineering because it seems the most like industrial engineering. My school’s ChemE program also has emphases in management and/or process control. I will look at some industrial engineering curriculums and try to take technical electives that relate to IE.
@eyemgh , Thank you! I’m sure I would like the creativity and innovation of ME. I guess I chose chemical instead because ME makes me automatically think of cars, planes, robots, LEGOs, etc, which I’m just not very interested in.
Thank you for introducing me to Cal Newport! “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” seems like the perfect book for me. In high school, one of my coaches constantly nagged me about finding my “passion” and said that I would never be successful without one. I started reading a preview of Newport’s book, and I hope he is right! I am definitely going to stop searching for some kind of “passion” epiphany and just do what I think is best.
I really appreciate all the help I have received from you! I am very happy at the U, and some of your older posts helped me choose this school. Thanks again!
@ThankYouCC, what I love about that book is that is not simply opinion, but clearly backed up with great examples, Steve Jobs being the classic one. He always preached “follow your passion” but didn’t have a clue what his really was until he was well beyond what would have been college graduation age (I say that because he didn’t. He was a wandering soul early on).
With ME you can do a bazillion things. I’m sure that anything physical that interests you now that has a mechanism involved, large or small, an ME had his or her hands on at least some of it. Help people? How about super cheap rural solar? Affordable water desalination? Body part replacement, large and small? ME will take you anywhere your mind will let it. You just need some skills under your belt before you’ll be any good and to give you enough time to decide what you really want to do. Engineers are pretty mobile now days. Staying in the same job until you retire is rare. Don’t worry about figuring it all out now.
If you sailed through first semester engineering with all A’s, then you are probably a good candidate for any of the specialties. Which classes did you like the best?
In the 1980s, I ended up switching from Civil Eng to Mech Eng, which seemed to have much broader job opportunities. There’s a lot you can do in any field with good problem solving skills you’ll hone in your classes. The experience from collaborative projects will be helpful too.
ChemE and BME will both require a course in thermodynamics, at least it is that way at umich. For ChemE, you will actually study the subject in depth. For BME, it will be more like getting a survey of different areas of engineering and how they can be applied in a biological context.
Most people don’t see BME as a major for people who actually want to be engineers. At umich, only very few students who major in BME have the intention of working as an engineer. At least half of the students are actually pre-med, and another 25% or so are some other type of pre-health (e.g., dental). Many of them seem to have more difficulty finding internships and full time jobs than those in other engineering majors, probably because recruiters often realize what their actual goals were.
If your goal is to get a job in industry, your best bet between the two is ChemE. However, you won’t know whether or not you will be able to do a certain engineering major until you have taken a course offered by that department. For freshman year, you are probably taking the basic math and physics courses. Those courses don’t give you any hint regarding whether or not will actually like a certain engineering major. Take an actual ChemE course and see if you a) enjoy it, and b) have the ability to succeed in it.
Keep in mind that it is very important to be able to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA, even though the average engineering student may graduate with a 2.8 or 2.9 GPA. Many companies will shut you out of engineering job opportunities if your GPA is under 3.0 or if you refuse to put it on your resume. Thus, with a sub-3.0 GPA, your chances of obtaining a well paid job will be no greater than if you had gotten a liberal arts degree. When you try your first ChemE course, make sure that if you don’t feel that you can maintain at least a 3.0 if you continue in the major, you change majors. You wouldn’t want to invest a significant amount of energy into getting an engineering degree and then not get the return you hope for.
@Colorado_mom , Thank you for your response. My favorite class was my biomedical engineering class, but I am not sure that I should choose a major because I like the classes better. The general consensus that I have heard is that biomedical engineering does not have as many job opportunities. I met with the BME advisor, and she talked about the fact that BME program is ranked much higher nationally than my school’s ChemE and ME programs. She said this causes the BME program to attract higher quality students. This is another reason that I was leaning toward BME. I could take BME and ChemE courses again this semester, but that would fill up my schedule more. You said you switched majors because of the job opportunities, and broad job opportunities are exactly what I’m looking for, too.
@umcoe16 , Thank you for your advice! Fortunately, I did take a very good chemical engineering course my first semester. We learned some of the basics of kinetics, reactors, circuits (using Arduino), thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and other ChemE topics. I also got some great experience with MATLAB, and we built basic spectrophotometers to track simple reactions for our final project. After this course, I know that yes, I will be able to succeed in ChemE, but I would not say that I enjoy it. I have an academic scholarship that requires a 3.6 accumulative GPA. I was worried about that at first, but after a 4.0 this semester, I think I will be able to keep it. I am also considering taking classes this summer to help spread out the course load.
BME at my school is about the same statistics as UMich with 50% pre-med. However, I was surprised at the spring engineering career fair to find many companies looking for BME majors. That might mean that Salt Lake City has many more biotech companies than most places. I did notice that the BME department seems more focused on research than internships, which might indicate a more pre-med focus. Although the BME classes are more interesting to me, I agree that the best option is probably ChemE.
@ThankYouCC at umich, BME does seem to be a bit more focused on research than industry as well. At a career fair, a good number of companies will say that they are willing to consider BME majors. However, they likely consider other majors as well and often times, they would rather offer the position to somebody who did a more traditional discipline and took bio and orgo. If you’re partly interested in the BME stuff, I think ChemE will also require bio and orgo. You may be able to take some BME classes as tech electives too!
That statement is blatant hyperbole. Of course you’re better off with a better GPA. A 3.5 is better than a 3.0 is better than a 2.5, but there are PLENTY of engineers out there who had sub-3.0 GPAs. Once you make it through your first job, it matters even less.
Do the best you can to keep your grades up. It sounds like you are. The idea however that you need to bail if you go below 3.0 is simply ludicrous.
@ThankYouCC, why would you say this: “I agree that the best option is probably ChemE” if you’ve already said this: “I will be able to succeed in ChemE, but I would not say that I enjoy it”?
BTW, keeping a 3.6 is hard regardless of how easy your school may or may not be, how much grade inflation they may or may not have and how intelligent you are. Engineering gets harder not easier. Keeping a 3.6 in a major you don’t particularly like will be exceedingly challenging.
@eyemgh, I ask myself that sometimes… I know it sounds ridiculous, but yes, I am planning to major in something, even though I do not enjoy the classes. I love learning and going to school in general, and I wish I was more interested in physics and engineering concepts… maybe I eventually will be. I know that college is a great opportunity, and I do not want to waste it. I think that majoring in engineering opens many doors, even ones that are not necessarily positions as an engineer. I’m good at learning, understanding, and remembering things, so I think it would be a waste of my talents to not study in a STEM field. From what I have learned, engineering is statistically the most worthwhile major, not because of the return on investment. It opens the door to meaningful jobs, which help people in big ways. It also would be a good undergraduate major for almost any graduate program. I am going to give engineering my best try, and hopefully I will grow to like it. I will have plenty of time to read my history books for fun, but I have the opportunity to study engineering now, and I am going to take it, even if it is not something I would consider fun.
Yes, I know that keeping a 3.6 GPA will be hard, but I think I can do it. I am trying to keep a 4.0 as long as possible to make up for some lower grades as the major get harder. I am realizing that I am never going to find an engineering major that has classes I love to take, so I am now just trying to choose the major with the most diverse opportunities. Mechanical Engineering might be even better than Chem E, but I like that Chem E incorporates business concepts and is more about large-scale processes than building machines.
@colorado_mom, I took AP Calc 1 and 2, physics, and biology in high school (along with AP history, gov, lit, and language). My first semester of college, I took a calculus class that covered Calc 2 and most of Calc 3. I also took chemistry, intro to ChemE, intro to BME, professional negotiations, and an honor’s class, since I am in the honor’s college. I thought the honor’s class was a waste of time, so I do not think I will complete my honor’s degree, even though I was dead set on it at the beginning of the semester. I will take physics, ChemE & lab, and chemistry & lab next semester, which leaves room for another class to get up to around 16 credit hours. I am ahead in math, so I am thinking of skipping a semester of math and taking a BME class instead, or maybe a gen ed from the business college.
@ThankYouCC, honors colleges are quite variable. At some schools there are tangible benefits where honors classes are substitutes for regular curricula, taught by full professors in much smaller classes. That doesn’t seem to be the case at the U. My son was a direct admit to ME and the honors college, but based on his assessment, he would have skipped the honors component. At Oregon State however the HC is great, especially for engineers. Their intro classes are small and continue on the honors path well into the curriculum path. What is undeniable about the U is that the honors dorm is awesome. Not surprising though. Most of Utah’s dorms are well above par.
I wouldn’t counsel you to give up on engineering, but rather to choose the field of engineering you like best. It sounded to me, and still does, that you’re not a fan of ChemE. BME isn’t a great stand alone engineering degree TO BE AN ENGINEER. If you want yo go into law, or business, or any number of other things with and engineering degree, but NOT PRACTICING ENGINEERING, that’s a different story. For instance a BME plus a JD could parlay into a pretty powerful patent law combo. If you want good employment with a BME degree, yes, even from Michigan, you’d be better off with a masters. Since it’s hard to know for absolute certainty that you’ll even want to go to grad school, the safer route is UG ME with BME masters, as opposed to both BME.
I think when the rubber hits the road, most every engineer and engineering student will tell you that there are aspects of an engineering education that are simply hard, will never rise to the level of being called fun, and more likely could be plainly labeled as drudgery. And…those experiences are different things for different people. The good thing is, you get to decide which path to follow.
Keep plugging away in a way that is applicable to multiple degree flow charts while spending as much time with upperclassmen in the degree paths that you’re interested in and it will eventually come to you.
Thank you all! I decided to take the next ChemE and BME classes next semester (along with physics and chemistry) because I am still not quite ready to close the door on BME.
