College major

[KaiineTN]

This sparked my interest: http://www1.umn.edu/bme/info/undergraduate_program.html

Biomedical Engineering.. interesting, meaningful/fulfilling, cutting edge, plenty of potential.. Maybe I should look into it further. Anyone know much about the field?

[Parv]

I got degrees in mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering. Mechanical engineering especially can give you a broad background to apply to a number of jobs.

People say pick a major based on what you enjoy, but I don't really like to view it that way. Decide why you're going to college first - to educate yourself on things you like, or to help you along in getting into a career path - and then pick your major. I love music and history, but I didn't major in music or history; I wanted to work in engineering. For me college was about getting a leg up in my career, which I love. If I wanted to learn for the sake of learning though I would have done history, and from there decide how I would support myself. Determine your priority, learning or job/career, before selecting a major.

An MBA should be pursued after working for a few years and getting the technical skills behind you in the industry you're interested in. Otherwise you won't know how to apply a lot of what you learned in your MBA to your career.

Learn SAP.

QFT

-parv

[KaiineTN]

I was actually looking into mechanical engineering the other day.

http://cset.mnsu.edu/mece/me/

That school isn't too far from me, and they claim to be ranked among the best engineering schools in the US, and have small class sizes, etc. I've heard from a couple other people that it's a good school too.

So Parv, what types of jobs do you think you could get with that mechanical engineering degree? Just shoot out a few different ideas about the types of work you could be doing.

When I think "mechanical engineering," I think about machines, robotics, vehicles, stuff like that, what else is there?

[Parv]

Anything that involves manufacturing or design - basically think of everything that is manufactured, an ME likely designed that part, the assembly/construction process, the factory that it is made in, the individual tools used, and even the raw materials. There's also HVAC, fluid flow, and petroleum industries that hire heavily MEs. Energy generation/transfer like MEs too since that's a core idea behind much of the studies.

Overall your skillset will include lots of mechanics (forces and movements of anything mechanical), materials (properties of, how to make them), fluid motion, heat transfer and thermodynamics. You'll also touch on machining and manufacturing processes. Think of stuff that involves mechanical things moving and under dynamic stresses, fluids, heat systems, material design, and the processes in making them, and you can see there's a lot you can go into - the hard part is trying to narrow it down some and find what you really like. Instead of trying to find a job to fit your degree, fit your degree into a field you enjoy. Like cars? Make a better part to it. Like alternative energy sources? Design and build more efficient windmills. Like music? Figure out the acoustics of a concert hall.

Myself, I do a bunch of part design & modifications, I also understand the forces and motions of the mechanical, fluid, and thermodynamic elements of our tools when in use, and I use that knowledge both in design of systems for customers or to troubleshoot them when something goes wrong. The petroleum side covers all of the reservoir side of things, but a bunch of that can be learned from ME experience.