| Great responses.
#2 I didn't think about it that way. Thanks!
#3 I do enjoy teaching actually, and could see myself teaching a college level course. I think I'd be more engaging than some of my professors, and make lecture fun. Only problem is, dragging myself through all that work is not something I can honestly say I want to do, especially since my interest in the field isn't as strong as one would like.
#4 I have looked at ME, but switching to that would mean graduation in 2.5 years. Right now I'm on pace to finish my SE in 1.5 years, and if I end up going into a different field altogether, it may not be worth it to invest that extra year, when I could gain work experience.
#5 UCSD does not have industrial engineering. We do have management science under the economics department, but that would mean another year tacked on to my schooling.
#6 The 3 open electives have to be chosen from a specific technical list. The list is pretty much any upper div course in SE, ME, and 3 courses from urban planning.
#7 I've read almost ALL your posts on this forum aibarr, since you are pretty much what many of my peers will soon be, work/education wise. While I agree with you that there are lots of fields outside of just steel/concrete, the bigger problem is that I'm not really into design at all. I don't think about things I'd like to design or building models I'd want to implement. The MBA option is always a strong sell, and it doesn't necessarily mean I have to enter management of an engineering firm, it can be any firm.
Specialization wise, if we had transportation courses, I would go that route. I hate traffic and I would love to work on ways to get rid of vehicle overload combustion. Today I was sitting in traffic on the way to school and it was probably the 20th time I internally lambasted UCSD for not having a civil program.
The problem is that, ~95% of the students here choose civil structures (design of steel, RC, PC, seismic design). Thus, the department tends to focus its resources on that specialization. If you check out the focus sequences ([link]http://structures.ucsd.edu/?page=academics/undergrads/course_offerings[/link], you'll see that Renewal and Aerospace share 2 courses, and the 4th class for the Geotechnical Focus is not even offered next year. Not to mention the fact that one of the Renewal courses was supposed to be offered this year but did not happen. Thus, it's kind of hard to pick something else, knowing that a course I need might not be there. And since I have no preference over which focus, I'd rather settle with civil structures and ensure that I'll be able to take all the courses.
After all this, I'm definitely going to stick with the accredited SE. As for what happens after college, at the very least my engineering degree, as other have mentioned, will give me a broader base of careers to choose from. If industrial or transportation were offered here, that would be nice, but I don't see why I can't go into those fields after a couple years, should I choose to stay technical. |