Engineering after FIRST [Archive]

Nick Mac

26-01-2004, 19:31

I was just wondering that if when most people are done with highschool, if they will be going to college with some kind of major in engineering or science and technology. I was just thinking, that despite FIRST's impact on my life, I'm not going to be majoring in a science. Just wondering anyone eles's thoughts.

Aignam

26-01-2004, 19:36

gsensel

26-01-2004, 20:45

I'm a biology major and I'm planning on attending medical school. I always knew that engineering wasn't for me becasue I had known for the longest time I wanted to be a doctor.

R2K2D2

26-01-2004, 23:48

I'm a biology major and I'm planning on attending medical school. I always knew that engineering wasn't for me becasue I had known for the longest time I wanted to be a doctor.

Haha, this is almost the exact opposite for me. I thought that I always wanted to be a doctor and then I got involved with FIRST and found that I really really like engineering, however I still have a great affinity to the biology/medical world. However, I have noticed that many students on FIRST Teams go into engineering and technology fields. I'm a mentor on 461 and I think that most of the students graduating this year are going into the engineering and/or technology field.

Jeff Waegelin

26-01-2004, 23:52

I'm currently a student in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan, largely because of my experience in FIRST. Before FIRST, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, but FIRST gave me a direction and a goal for the future. I wrote an entire essay on this for my application, because it's absolutely true. I don't think I would be here in engineering without FIRST.

Redhead Jokes

27-01-2004, 00:30

Last year's female captain - co-driver - worker at machine shop, is studying teaching at college.

A female from last year is at a college studying engineering, stagecraft and photography.

This year's captains want a liberal arts education before deciding what to do.

Past students are studying animation in college, own their own web company, a machinist.

Wetzel

27-01-2004, 07:00

I'm a biology major and I'm planning on attending medical school. I always knew that engineering wasn't for me becasue I had known for the longest time I wanted to be a doctor.

Bio is still science. FIRST is mainly about engineering, but remember the name! For Reconition of science and technology.

I found through FIRST that I'm not the best and don't enjoy the nitty gritty of the design. I like the brainstorming and the actuall manufacture far more.

I'm now am EMT, and continuing in Emergency Medicine. Hands-on stuff keeps my attention, and I have to think creativly almost as much as I do for FIRST.

Wetzel
~~~~~~~~~~
FIRST gave me the experiance to understand a design cycle.

Adam Y.

27-01-2004, 11:00

I'm now am EMT, and continuing in Emergency Medicine. Hands-on stuff keeps my attention, and I have to think creativly almost as much as I do for FIRST.
I always wanted to be a forensic scientists. Unfortunately, I can not handle blood and gore very well. That is why I am becoming an engineer.

c-squared_2006

27-01-2004, 12:19

I haven't decided what I want to pursue as a career, I'm thinking about something in the medical field. Possibly a radiooligist, (I really can't spell, sorry about that) :)

Dick Linn

27-01-2004, 19:01

Hey, folks, do a little research on Biomedical Engineering. If you can manage a degree in engineering (tough row to hoe) and still have the will to go to med school, I'm willing to bet that the acceptance rate is a lot higher for engineers than a lot of other disciplines. I know at Virginia Commonwealth University, Biomed engineers get some hands-on experience at MCV (white coats, all that) early on. Just a thought.

ngreen

27-01-2004, 19:21

I'm currently a ChemE Major at K-State. I've thought about biochem but I think I would really like to go into a nanotechnology field. Really cool stuff and the university has a nanoscale materials company right here in Manhattan. I'm thinking internship. That is of course if NASA won't let me go intern their, I'm sure they could use a ChemE to help with the new moon initiative. Now to think of a highly effective and innovative way to get all the helium-3. Sounds like a great game for either FIRST or FLL in 2005. Sub-level gases we have to collect and move, sounds like a real world problem.

Ryan M.

27-01-2004, 20:26

Bio is still science. FIRST is mainly about engineering, but remember the name! For Reconition of science and technology. Good point! :)

I'm planning on a technology/science type major.

Nick Mac

27-01-2004, 20:32

Beausif

06-02-2004, 14:10

While i am in FIRST i did not manage to make it onto the Cyber Blue 234 team
But i hopefully will make it next year... I plan to major in a engineering/ technology course

Beausif

07-02-2004, 21:18

yes sry i was thinking of other posts as i was typing and meant to put PLTW in stead of FIRST sry thx

Jon Anderson

08-02-2004, 07:48

I'm planning on going into Engineering... however the field I'm still not certain on. I'm thinking about Computer Engineering.

Erin Rapacki

08-02-2004, 11:16

FIRST 'inspired' me to go into engineering, but when I think back... moreso it helped me decide on a major that I could go into, know what to expect, and succeed in. I don't think I'll ever by the 'typical engineer' (if there's even a definition) but I do not regret my decision. Mechanical Engineering is a degree that you can spin off of in any way (could become a lawyer, doctor, teacher, entrepaneur, etc), and you learn how to problem solve. It's also fun and interesting.

Nobody should feel bad about not deciding to get into science or engineering. I think FIRST does a better job of training leaders, and in-turn... those leaders will know how to appreciate the job the scientists and engineerings are doing.

You don't have to be a 'geek' to love FIRST :D .

Jessica Boucher

08-02-2004, 12:08

Nobody should feel bad about not deciding to get into science or engineering. I think FIRST does a better job of training leaders, and in-turn... those leaders will know how to appreciate the job the scientists and engineerings are doing.

You don't have to be a 'geek' to love FIRST :D .

Absolutley. If you fall into that non-engineering major category, please visit this thread http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23526&page=1&pp=15
to find people who feel the same way.

akaria

09-03-2004, 13:53

I know that I definitely plan to major in engineering in college, before FIRST I had planned to go in to physics, now it’s mechanical engineering, still a lot of the same things but now I will get to tinker!^_^

Jessica Boucher

09-03-2004, 14:04

What's interesting about these poll results is that its 3 out of every 4 people want to major in science when they graduate HS...and in the 03 annual report it was 1 out of every 2 people (with roughly the same question posed). So you can infer that either FIRST jumped a whole bunch in that statistic, or CD has a higher concentration of technical-focused students (which I honestly thought was the opposite, but hey).

MOEmaniac

09-03-2004, 14:44

the biggest reason i got involved with FIRST and MOE is because i love building things then thinking of ways to impove it and keep improving it. that is wat engineering is basically all about.....right?

Pierson

18-03-2004, 02:11

I have always loved to build. In college, I am looking for a cross between Business and Engineering with a small emphasis in IT.

GregT

20-03-2004, 13:34

I have always loved to build. In college, I am looking for a cross between Business and Engineering with a small emphasis in IT.

http://www.iienet.org/public/articles/index.cfm?cat=840

Greg

Pierson

20-03-2004, 14:36

http://www.iienet.org/public/articles/index.cfm?cat=840

Greg

Cool... Thanks!

cvhsrobotics

13-07-2004, 20:40

I got 3 years to worry about this, but I hope to work at JPL/NASA

Paul H

13-07-2004, 23:33

When I was little I always wanted to be an engineer because my uncle was one. I didn't even know what an engineer was! As I moved through high school, I changed to wanting to be in business. Then came FIRST. I joined as a junior, and junior year went by and it was cool, but I thought nothing more. Then came this past year, senior year. Somehow I got inspried. A bunch of my teammates complained abour Dave Lavery's speach at VCU, but I listened to it and it actually made me start thinking about engineering. I look back on it, and the two best parts about FIRST were the engineering/building aspects and the competitiveness.

I see the Jim and Tim, the two main engineers on our team, and I see all of the "big name" FIRST engineers on these forums like Andy Baker, Paul Copioli, Joe Johnson, etc. and they all seem like such great people, I want to be like them.

So yes, I think I will be giong into engineering. I'm going to spend my first year at Michigan State as no preference with mainly engineering classes, just so I can leave it open, but it'll take somethig special (there's nothing like FIRST in the business world that I know of) to sway me.

So consider me "Inspired"

Liz Smith

27-09-2004, 07:22

I just find it very odd that i'm so involved with FIRST and I love being there building the robot and stuff...but i want to go in a complete seperate direction and do political science and english...Hehe...i guess that technically is a science ;) !

I just became involved with FIRST last year, and now I am fully obsessed. I never really thought about going into engineering until FIRST, so... I have been looking at liberal arts schools where I can major in um... studio art, which is really a different direction. I love the building of the robot and everything else, so maybe I'll find a way to tie engineering in as well.

BandChick

27-09-2004, 09:26

I didn't think I was going to do anything engineering related. My mom always tried to push it because she's got a PhD in science, but I wasn't ever interested. In fact, before becoming a member of 1089, I was planning on being a liberal arts major (English) or a music major. Quite a shift, eh?

FIRST really put into perspective what being an engineer was all about, and I realized that I already had so many of the qualities that a good engineer possessed. Besides, all the stuff you learn, all the math and all the physics were things I was good at in high school.

I have NO interest in becoming a professional engineer, and yet that's still my Rutgers major. I know a lot of people look at me as though I have 3 heads when I say that, but I'm majoring in engineering because to me, it's fun. College is supposed to be the time you find out what you want to do and who you are. Well, I already know what I want to do, I decided to be a pediatrician when I was a lot younger. Now, I just want to have fun while I'm in school. Even if that means doing something completely related.

Do what makes you happy, do science, or don't. FIRST gives everyone something else, and just because maybe you didn't get the 'be an engineering major' bug, doesn't mean you haven't gained something else worthwhile. Besides, if we didn't have a few English majors the Chairman's essay would be a lot harder, wouldn't it?

Wetzel

27-09-2004, 10:04

I just became involved with FIRST last year, and now I am fully obsessed. I never really thought about going into engineering until FIRST, so... I have been looking at liberal arts schools where I can major in um... studio art, which is really a different direction. I love the building of the robot and everything else, so maybe I'll find a way to tie engineering in as well.

Architect. :)

Wetzel

aaronbr28040

27-09-2004, 11:36

I'm an engineering major at NC State this year. I graduated from NC School of Science and Math last year (Team 900) and moved right down the road to Raleigh. FIRST had a big influence on my final choice of majors.
-Aaron

suneel112

27-09-2004, 15:15

For me, there will never be engineering after FIRST. I will be in both at the same time. You can do FIRST in college, and still do it when you get a job as an engineer. You can even do it when you are looking for a job.
To diverge from that, does Engineering count as science, because at Purdue, the school of science is a separate entity from the school of engineering.

phrontist

28-09-2004, 09:35

88% of all 1418 alumni go to Virginia Tech. 6% go to CalPoly. 6% go to a liberal arts school. We have 15 alumni. ;)

mad_cloversc

26-02-2005, 13:52

I have been planning to be an engineer for a while before i got into FIRST (but then this is our first year), I can't decide on a specific branch, either civil, or mechanical. I really want to major in architectural engineering, but the school I want to go to doesn't offer it, I've been thinking about doing a double major in civil engineering and architecture (I like design). Robotics has really helped me confirm that I do want to go into engineering.

Dick Linn

26-02-2005, 14:34

Talk to students and staff at the school(s) and tell them what you think you want to do. Ask there opinion and see what their experience has been. You can get a better idea what the specialties are and how to get where you want to go. I started out in Architecture, got a degree in Horticulture and now work at a software development company. In a way, I regret not getting into mechanical engineering, or staying in Architecture/design. I love the creative aspects, too. Software is not so much fun, though it definitely involves design and a lot of detail.

jessjank.

27-02-2005, 19:27

I'm going to be majoring in Cognitive Science and am interested in a minor in either Robotics or Biomedical Engineering (which came about because of FIRST). I actually plan on going to med school (I've wanted to be a doctor most of my life) and becoming a doctor of Pediatric Oncology, also because of FIRST - I ended up shadowing Dr. Bart Kamen, Dean's brother who is a Pediatric Oncologist, two summers ago and that really helped me to realize what exactly I want to do.