<p>When looking for jobs, how much of a disadvantage would having a BSc in general engineering be? When it is from a good school such as Swarthmore, or a peer school?</p>
<p>It likely depends on how you selected your elective courses as they relate to the specific area of engineering that the job is in, or the specific job in question.</p>
<p>So, if most of them are focused around CS, and I have a specific focus in Mechanics, and some research work related to mechanics, should that be ok for a typical MechE job? Or would I still be at a disadvantage?</p>
<p>At my school, general engineering is more for engineers who want to be more on the business side of a company but have the strong technically skills to do some engineering work if needed. Are you hoping to do more business work after you get your degree? If not, why don’t you just transfer into a specific field you like more?</p>
<p>The OP probably means at small schools or small engineering departments/divisions where all engineering specialties are taken as elective choices within a general engineering major. Of course, the specialties for which electives are available, and the course offerings within a specialty, may not be as extensive as at a bigger school.</p>
<p>Probable examples:</p>
<p>Dartmouth
Dordt
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Hope
John Brown
Messiah
Muskingum
Olivet Nazarene
Oral Roberts
Smith
Swarthmore
Sweet Briar
Trinity (CT)
Trinity (TX)
Union (TN)
Walla Walla</p>
<p>Some big companies seem to be very strict about “We only consider major XXX for this job” even when you could do it with a slightly different major. It’s something to consider.</p>