<p>I will be a junior in highschool this upcoming year. I am trying to sift through majors, but am stuck between industrial and mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>Industrial
I once wanted to major in accounting, but I wanted something more hands on.
I love buisness and engineering, that's why I thought industrial engineering would be perfect for me. I've also heard IE isn't as math heavy which excites me. I love math, but I don't want to be doing mathematical analysis all day. My question for IE is, do they create anything, or is an IE's job souly to make a process more efficient?
Side note, I would get my BS in Industrial Engineering, go to grad school for quality control.</p>
<p>Mechanical
I love creating things and tinkering. Being able to design and build things from the ground up excites me. I've heard ME is tough, but I think I could do it with the right encouragement. How hard is Mech Engineering?</p>
<p>IEs can create a whole new process, if the original one was that bad. I would assume if that were the case, they might evaluate new machinery and see where that would fit best. It appears to be more business-related than “traditional” engineering. Creating a new thing? No.</p>
<p>If MechE was easy, everyone would do it. I think a lot of people would love to design a new phone, or work on the up and coming technologies like the Google glasses. Most people are too lazy to pull through the schooling, or simply can’t do it because of the math or whatever. I’d say engineering takes a certain person, and out of anything, it takes someone with perseverance and dedication (so with that said, you should be fine as long as you don’t procrastinate studying for physics or something). As far as the math goes, it is for two years: Calc 1 and 2, Vector Calculus, and Differential Equations. After that, no more Math classes. However, your classes may involve some of these foundations–there’s a reason they’re required, right?</p>
<p>I’ve heard from a lot of engineers that their job was never as difficult or never used HALF of the stuff they learned in college. I could see this in MechE, a degree that is so broad and you eventually specialize. We have calculators, right? Of course, it’s always good to check your work. I doubt it would be math 24/7. Just some food for thought. And as far as business goes, you can move up into management from being a mechanical engineer. Quite a bit of engineers have gotten an MBA after being in the work force for a few years…</p>
<p>Nothing is too difficult to learn and study, if you’re motivated about the subject.</p>
<p>Comparatively, I think engineering is generally more easily motivated and thus easier than science and/or math, because engineering is primarily motivated by practical things (engineering study is traditionally “the working man’s schooling”), rather than scientific or theoretical things, some of which are honestly very complicated and certainly non-trivial. It (the practical aspect) seems to motivate most people (e.g. “learning how the iPhone is made”, “learning how the electricity grid is made” etc. etc.), and certainly there are more job opportunities for people with practical skills in the current economy, whereas they can’t necessarily comprehend the point of experimental physics labs or pure mathematics, which have a slightly different focus, although deal partially (but only partially) with the same scientific concepts.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineering can be as mathematical as you wish. Structural analysis and fluid dynamics is the “mathematical part” of ME, whereas a lot of the specializations are primarily practical (e.g. automotive, aviation, marine, industrial machines etc. etc.), about grasping and knowing how to utilize basic physics concepts and reinforced by regulations, rules of thumbs and formulas. Plus, obviously learning as much as you can about the specific types of machines or constructs that you wish specialize in.</p>
Of course, it’s always good to check your work. I doubt it would be math 24/7. Just some food for thought. And as far as business goes, you can move up into management from being a mechanical engineer. Quite a bit of engineers have gotten an MBA after being in the work force for a few years…</p>