kstrike

Is it really Payne? Could you please elaborate?

Mr Payne

Highest average starting salary; highest average salary (ie: not starting salary) when compared to virtually any other undergraduate major. Better experience for future graduate work (MBA admissions, etc).

aibarr

50/50 balance is possible. You just have to plan your time well.

When courses require that you work long hours on a problem set, put in the required long hours. On the other hand, if you want to set aside time for an extracurricular like art or music or something, you do that, and you make it your extracurricular time, and keep engineering out of it. Just have to set boundaries. As JohnWilkins mentioned, it's all about knowing when you have to buckle down and do the work that you need to do... I'm not sure that the OP has hit his stride in terms of figuring out how to balance work and life yet, from what he's stated. It took me a couple of semesters to work it out for myself.

I think it's got great career potential. I'm working long hours now, but I'm designing some ridiculously cool things, and I'm pretty fairly compensated for what I do. I'll never be a millionaire, but that's not really what I set out to be in the first place.

ish718

Seems as if you don't study enough, engineering certainly isn't the major for slacking.
What classes are you having problems with specifically?

tw14

Your program of study, EE, is accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board. In order to obtain this "stamp of approval" the university's EE department is required to meet the requirements of CEAB. which means that you will be required to meet standards that include a breadth of engineering (civil, mechanical, etc.) in addition to math, physics and chemistry.

You may not realize it now, but as an engineer you will have to interact with other engineering disciplines either within your employer's company or with your company's clients. Some professors realize that their entry level courses are taken by students from other departments, as well as by students in their department, and they make the course interesting by including real world applications (a very good reason to attend classes!). If your professors do not include example applications, ask them to make the class more meaningful...you are paying for the class.

One other point is that if you go on to take a PhD you will find that the same differential equations are used as the starting point to derive the equations you study as an undergrad in different courses of study. For example, water flow through an earthen dam can be simulated with an inexpensive electrical model.

I didn't particularly care for the EE classes I had to take, but I had good professors and small classes. I did my own independent reading to learn why transistors and op-amps were useful and what they replaced. During labs I continually experimented with the circuits we were to complete to understand the limitations of the circuit and the measuring equipment, for example. I asked myself, "where were errors introduced?"

I did obtain a greater understanding of circuits than most of the students in my engineering mechanics department and that paid off during my first year of grad school. We were using sensors and electronics in a large NSF project and no other grad student was interested in trouble shooting that aspect of the study. I volunteered and within a semester, I was invaluable to the research study. I was given full funding through each summer, in addition to the academic year. So my extra effort in a subject that most of my undergrad peers just took to get it over with, paid handsomely. Years later I became head of a department that was all EE's and computer engineers since I had the knowledge to guide the EE's in the development of instrumentation and sensors to measure physical events under extreme conditions. I certainly did not envision this way back when I was taking the introductory circuits course.

While I could discuss "nerdy" subjects with fellow engineering students, I also took classes in economics, philosophy, psychology and history. I dated women throughout my undergraduate and graduate years and had quite a few friends studying liberal arts while an undergrad, and law, medicine and social sciences, etc., during my graduate years. I also played squash quite a bit with professors and students from many different departments. In addition to working hard I also partied hard (I would drink but I rarely got drunk...during my first freshman semester I learned that consequences of drinking to excess outweighed the benefits of the temporary high).

An undergraduate engineering program is demanding, but studying to understand the courses required in the first two years will pay off in the future. It is difficult to see how taking a course in fluid dynamics, for example, will help you in the future, but there are concepts taught in the course that you will benefit from in future courses or during your career. That is why the accreditation board requires your department to develop a curriculum that meets their standards.

Good luck!

oblivious

Geez.. sorry for what I'm about to say but its just irritating watching how in almost every post you somehow bring it back to the subject of.. Oh, I work long hours. I'm a structural engineer. I design ********.I work for a top-notch firm. I worked my butt off in grad school.. Civil engineering is not easy.. i studied this and that and vibrations and seismic crap..
yeahh ok we or rather I get it. Civil engineering is no walk in the park. You're real smart and a big pat on the back for what you've achieved. Must be stressful working long hours..... that appease your ego?
sorry but just had to let that out.. phew, i feel better now

oblivious

^ that was for aibarr btw.. and sorry again

keefer

don't worry too much, when i was an engineering student I had similar problems, a professor told me that a lot of faculty weren't geniuses either, but they all shared a passion for engineering, he knew of many PhD candidates at Stanford who have gotten C's, D's or even failed classes in their undergraduate years.

It is hard, like many others have said, you need to balance your time realistically, like saturday+sunday night--> go out, and come home before 1 AM. No matter how demanding your curriculum is, you can afford two nights out a week. Everybody goes through the same thing, gaining that confidence of yourself through perseverance is really one of the great advantages of an engineering degree.

Blah2009

If you knew aiibar, you'd realize shes one of the most modest people around here always giving her honest opinion. I didn't sense a modicum of arrogance or self promotion in her post. What gives?

Citan

yea engineering sucks ass....you get Cs, work your ass off but see yourself go down in flames come midterm time and get no respect from girls, but believe me it's worth it knowing that you are learning something worthwhile. Stick with it.

oblivious

umm you know what, i just realized my folly.. i take back what i said..seeing as aibarr was online seconds back, i think she hasn't read it yet and i'm glad.. so, aibarr if you read this at all, please disregard the first two comments..they were immature and baseless.. you probably like i said worked your butt off specially in grad school.. and saying this as sincerely as i can, with no sarcasm whatsoever... after all the hard work, you deserve to occasionally flaunt your achievements a lil.. heck,i'd say.. be proud (as i'm sure thats all u are) of where and who you are and umm don't let bums like me say crap for no reason...
sowie again.. no hard feelings

aibarr

No, I read it... I just figured I'd let it ride.

I think my main two messages here kind of got crossed. I should be more clear... My main two points that I try to get across on CC are:

1) Not gonna lie, engineering's not a cakewalk, even the so-called "easy" majors like civil engineering. (And that yeah, it irks me when people call it an easy major, so, shmaa! =P ) BUT that I want to offer myself up as proof that it doesn't take a natural-born rocket scientist to become a pretty decent engineer.

2) I think the hard work that engineers do in school and in the field is ultimately worth it, because I'm really, really excited about the stuff I get to work on. I know lots of other engineers are, too. If you met me and asked me about what I was working on, I would excitedly bubble on and on about the cool projects that I can't quite believe that they let me touch with a ten-foot pole.

So, it's not a pride or ego thing, it's just my desire to not delude anybody into thinking that since I think engineering is ridiculously fun, that I also think that it's something you can cruise on through. Because I know that I'm not smart enough to have cruised through my career so far without a ton of elbow grease, since I'm *not* some brilliant engineer. I was pretty good at math and science, but I got some C's in college, and I turned out okay. I still get to work on really interesting things. I just really would've liked it if someone had told me that I'd turn out just fine despite some C's when I was in college *getting* those C's, so that I wouldn't freak out quite as much as I did!

But I can see how someone who hasn't read every single one of my posts (and oh god please don't… 1675 is not a small number…) might read my posts as me being an arrogant ass. No hard feelings, and I'll try to be clearer in the future.

Sorry to hijack, OP. Definitely seconding keefer's post.

vblick

yea, it's tough but you just deal with it and get into the groove...before you know it it's over

Lacero

I can't stand the fact that we don't get any electives. I plan on going to grad school for a very technical program, yet I won't be able to satisfy the entry requirements with an engineering degree.

Friendshiplady

I will stick my 2 cents in even though I'm not an engineer. I did a liberal arts degree at Carleton (Ottawa)--and was in class or studied 10+ hours/ day 7 days per week my first 2 years--in order to have grades in the top 80's. And that had nothing to do with my ability.

The general rule of thumb is 3 hours/ wk of work outside of class for every hour that you spend in class.


Everybody has to take courses they aren't interested in to meet degree requirements. And when you have a job, you will find that you like some parts and not others--but you have to do them anyway.