please help me choose a major

goldandblue92 · 10-05-2011, 12:59 AM

im a freshmen engineering student, but im currently undecided about my specific major and its driving me crazy. we start scheduling for next semester in a few weeks and i cant really do my schedule until i choose a major.

interests:
>solar energy
>hydrogen fuel cells
>alternative fuels
>cleaner fossil fuels
>plug-in hybrid cars
>solar cars
>basically anything energy related

currently im taking chem 1, calc 1, intro to engr and engr orientation (along with some gen eds). in high school i loved chemistry but im have a little bit of a hard time with it now. i have a B, but it doesnt seem to come very easily to me. calc i think i have an A. in high school i got a 5 on ap calc ab. i love both of my engineering classes, A's in both so far. i havent had a college physics class yet, that will be next semester.

so far some clubs ive joined on campus are society of women engineers, engineers without borders, and the solar decathelon solar house team. once i choose a major i will join a club specific to that major.

i want to get involved with some research in any of the above fields of interest. im not a tree hugger, this is just stuff im really interested in. i think these are going to be growing industries in the upcoming years. i want to be part of the solution to many of today's problems, and i think this is the right way to go for me.

in the past i have considered chemical, mechanical, or electrical. im starting to doubt chemical now because of my chemistry class. the doubt i have about mechanical is ive never really built things like i think most mechanical students have. the doubt i have about electrical is im not sure if it deals more with energy or electronics.

im having a hard time deciding because different ones go along with different interests. could you help me? what majors would work with which interests? ill add more details as i think of them. sorry if this is a little jumbled, ive been working on homework for like 5 hours now lol. thanks in advance!

RacinReaver · 10-05-2011, 10:06 AM

Have you looked into materials engineering?

GLOBALTRAVELER · 10-05-2011, 10:09 AM

The BEST major in the world is applied mathematics with a solid concentration in computer science.

Why?....because I said so. :-)

Dreburden · 10-05-2011, 10:18 AM

GlobalTraveller...I wish there was a "like" button on College Confidential

goldandblue92 · 10-05-2011, 12:04 PM

My school doesn't have materials engineering, at least not undergrad.

goldandblue92 · 10-05-2011, 12:22 PM

And I'm not saying I want one major that covers ALL of these fields, I just want to know which majors you think would go with which fields and any other info you think can help me.

lightblade · 10-05-2011, 12:25 PM

I see you did not list Software Engineering in there. You might want to take this into consideration. Software and IT industry is one of the few industry in US that has unemployment under 4%. It's an industry that can't find enough people when everyone else can't even find a job.

Think about it.

aegrisomnia · 10-05-2011, 01:36 PM

His interests don't really align with software/CS. Seems to me like Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical or Materials would suit him better.

FutureMarine94 · 10-05-2011, 04:21 PM

electrical, chemical, and if your really interested in energy look at nuclear engineering

goldandblue92 · 10-05-2011, 11:44 PM

yeah im not really interested in cs/software, but thank you for the input!

could both electrical and mechanical do solar stuff?

BanjoHitter · 10-06-2011, 12:29 AM

Quote:

could both electrical and mechanical do solar stuff?

For the actual energy conversion aspect of solar technology, you'll want to stick to Electrical, Chemical, or Materials. If you have interest in other areas of renewable energy, such as wind power, then Mechanical comes into play.

Edited to add: Application of solar technology usually involves Mechanical Engineering. However that's often not the "sexy" part of solar technology.

I don't see it mentioned, but you might want to look into Biochemical/Biological Engineering. There's considerable research into using bacteria to generate fuel sources. Here's a quick hit from Google: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2...into_power.htm