Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

hehe, I'm gonna "Chicken Out" of the whole process....

I can not even begin to handle Biomedical Engineering Medical School Track anymore.... so, I'm going to attempt a major chang-up to IST!
:o

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

IST?

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

And that is new.....my recitation teacher is a low talker (refer to Seinfield episode) on top of speaking very little English....."do you understand?" is his favorite phrase...we all just stare blankly back at him

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

Actually, RIT has a quite well respected business program. It's not just an engineering school (we also have the country's best photography program).

You know, I wonder if the fact that Babson has one of the highest average workloads has to do with the fact that Babson is hard or the students are slow? ;)

Matt

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

ME is a tough major, as are all other engineering curriculums. Yeah we made fun of civils and joked that that management majors couldn't handle real classes at WPI. It's an engineering thing that goes something like this:

The Chem Es and EEs all think the MEs are slackers. The MEs think the Civils are slackers, and the management guys never leave the bar.

Any way the point I wanted to make is if your an ME take as many hands on manufacturing and materials labs as you can. You would be surprised by the number of engineers who never participate in something like first or learn how to fabricate anything before they graduate. If your going to be an ME learn to turn handles weld and program CNC so that you know the limitations of design have a lot to do with manufacturing and fabrication. At WPI we called the class where you did this "Grunge". You learn more useful information from a class like this than "diffy screws", which is still easier than calc 3. Also, for the record Fluids is an evil course.

Pete

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

Actually, I paid for alot of my college by playing piano at the school of music while going to school for my BSME. I played for 2 of the Choruses, voice lessons, recitals, juries, etc. plus played at my cousin's recording studio on occasion.

Of course back when I went to school we did our computer programming on punch cards and I was thrilled to buy a calculator that did trig functions. And we had to build our own computers, yeah that's it. And I had to walk uphill in the snow 5 miles to class. At the University of Florida.

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

Why is it that every engineering school seems to be built on a ridiculous hill? Or is it just the North East?
:confused: Pete

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

yeah, ever been to tufts or lehigh?

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

Yeah, I was going to go for ME at Michigan Tech ... but thinking about it, I'm not so great in the math department and I hate physics. Sooo I changed to Scientific and Technical Communications (and probably a minor in German or Journalism. Or both.) I'll only have to take Calc I now! :D

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

I have no clue how im gonna make it through college because I'm struggling with high :ahh: school

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

Ummmm.... whose joking I just checked at (hopefuly) my future alma matter (Virginia Polytechnic Institue) and for CE there is no requirement for thermodynamics! how can you not say they are slackers.... then just forget and the enviromental engineers too

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

I remember going to dinner with a bunch of new friends the other night and I asked them all what majors they were. There was a double E, a computer engineer, a civil engineer, and a civil gone business major. When I told them I was an ME, they looked at me (me with all my five foot, one-ness) in complete awe. "That's the one of the harder majors, you know right? You're just asking for it with statics, dynamics, thermo, etc etc. I wish you lots of luck." Ah, being reminded over and over again that I'm taking a really hard major... good times... hahaha

I'm only a first year at the moment and my classes are already beating me to the ground as it is. I remember the days when I thought taking a double major combination of ME and EE was a good idea, oh man I'm glad I gave up on that idea. It's so hard to look at 201 units for ME's (quarter system at Cal Poly btw) and then consider the additional units for EE. Gah... that was just scary.

Speaking of units, for ME majors, what's a good number of units to take a term (quarter or semester) so as to not lose your mind? Then, what if you're super involved in stuff?

So far, I'm loving my major. People say that I'll switch out, that I'll get tired of it, that I'll lose all mentality and won't be able to go on with it. There have been times where I'd be doing my statics homework (I know statics isn't that bad) and I would question why I'm an ME at all. I know it's a lot of work with little sleep, but I knew all that from the beginning, it's fun if you let it be fun, and I know it'll all pay off in the end. Now it's waiting for that end, but hey, no rush right now. :)

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

If by units you mean credits, I would say the average (5yrs ago) was anywhere between 14-17 credits per semester (not sure about quarters). That's including the electives along with engr classes.
I think they pile you up freshman year with all the "freshman engr" courses (calc, chem, comm/english, etc) to be about 18/sem, but I would never ever suggest doing it after freshman year, since most of the classes would be core engr. But some can do it!
Just make sure you talk to an advisor and get the low-down on what courses involve, but also talk to TAs or older students that have already taken them. As an ME, we had a EE lab that was only 1 credit, but it was a 3hr class, twice a week, with a lot of work. You don't necessarily have to take courses in the "suggested order" either, just depends on what the pre-reqs are. You can rearrange them to fit better.
If you're not in any hurry to graduate, you can take 12 credits/sem, I think that's typically the minimum to be full-time student (or is it 9?)

Anyways, you just have to balance knowing what you can handle, knowing what's involved in each class for workload, and how the curriculum is set up. Try to balance it with some fun electives (whatever you're interested in) and don't get in over your head. Better to take fewer courses and pass them all, than to take too many and have to retake them later! Especially if you're super involved outside of classes... And, you should have a period of time that you can drop a class if you're in over your head.

And just some other advice - be sure to develop a good study group of friends, and get to know your TAs and profs EARLY. They're not as unapproachable as they might seem, and will help you more than you can imagine.

Yeah, realizing how many different engr disciplines have evolved over the years, ME may not be the easiest, but definitely the broadest (imo), with many sub-disciplines.

Re: Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
 

I thouroughly loved my first engineering lab class. However, when I started to struggle in Chem 12 (Chem I possibly?) and had to take 6-8 levels higher; and the Math Dept. kicked me when I took three semesters of Calc in high school, and then I suddenly had to do everything in my head without a calculator. One of my closest friends is at Penn State with me, and he is still plugging away at ME, and another is in attempt of an archE - I feel for them and the rest of you, its one long journey.