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I came across one of my old “aptitude” tests several years ago and was interested to find that under the possible choices for female students there were no engineering fields. Times have changed, lol.</p>
<p>Most of the physics courses contain the basics of engineering in them. So physics would be a great major for someone who wants the LAC experience. Some companies will consider a physics major for an engineering position if the person has an area of expertise that the company is looking for ie. lasers, semiconductors etc. So major in physics and double major or minor in something you love at an LAC. But consider doing a research project in an ‘engineering’ area of physics. Also try for internships at engineering companies.</p>
<p>My daughter started out working toward a dual major in physics and Japanese. She has shifted to applied math with a minor in physics and probably will complete a certificate in East Asian studies, which will incorporate her three years of language study. She is taking classes that should give her the classes she needs to prepare for an engineering master’s degree because she is now wishing she had done engineering. She really wanted the language, which would have been really difficult with engineering.</p>
<p>for someone who likes ‘ideas’ (like me) I can think of a few areas outside ‘traditional’ engineering…</p>
<ul>
<li>computer science </li>
<li>human factors engineering / experimental psychology / human computer interaction</li>
<li>industrial design</li>
</ul>
<p>If engineering is desired but with more electives, check out Industrial Engineering. It is a bit ‘easier’ than, say, Electrical or Chemical, but very entertaining, and touches a lot of different areas for electives.</p>
<p>Clarifying my earlier response after speaking with son…</p>
<p>He has a really tough, no elective schedule because he is dual engineering major (mechanical and aerospace). Requires extra courses.</p>
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<p>Didn’t the OP say his kid did NOT want to major in engineering?</p>
<p>"> but has no desire to become an engineer." - If he doesn’t want the coursework, then it makes sense to avoid engineering major. It has very rigid, sequential requirements. But he should not rule out engineering based on his concept of engineering job options - engineering grads pursue all sorts of job and grad school routes.</p>
<p>Longhaul and jbehlend, you both make me think of my S13 who loves history and just discovered that he really likes physics and is completely immobilized when it comes to talking about college bc he has no idea what he wants to do. I suggested engineering and he feels like he does not have the over-the-top smarts one needs for that career, and I don’t really know enough to argue with him. He is taking honors physics and got an A last quarter and honors math (we have highest honors and honors and regular math and he is in honors, not highest honors) and he got an A+ in that. But he has always been more of a debate team than robotics club type of kid. I read somewhere that applying as a physics or engineering major to a LAC helped your chances; it seems to me that that, plus the idea that you can always back away from engineering but it’s hard to play catch up, argue for heavy consideration of an engineering focus at a LAC. And if he hates it, he falls back on history. Does that make sense? It is hard enough to try to present ideas to teenage boys–it doesn’t help that I know so little.</p>
<p>Industrial engineering is not real engineering in that you don’t design widgets. You usually figure out how to build widgets faster, cheaper, etc. It has broad use in anything, Fast Food, Information Technology, optimizing of business processes, and so on. That’s Mrs. Turbo - graduate Industrial Engineer doing IT / process work for a major international consulting firm. It’s not engineering that tells you what machines to buy and such… but a lot of math, statistics, IT, business process design, and so on. telling you how to best make use of what you have.</p>
<p>Likewise, human factors engineering is more about designing the various gadgets from a user’s point of view (i.e design what the user sees and experiences). I do that for a living and it’s not engineering in the sense that you figure out the electrical or mechanical stuff, more the conceptual stuff. I also get to write lots of software for consumer electronics, again, not ‘engineering’ in the sense that I don’t really worry about the hardware or the interfaces that are there…</p>
<p>All the disciplines listed here involve lots of electives outside engineering, pay well, and are very entertaining to boot.</p>
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<p>Many (most?) LACs do not have engineering. For physics (and math), LACs and other small need to be selected carefully to ensure finding those with reasonably strong departments in those subjects (which are not especially popular majors).</p>
<p>A student taking freshman year courses for engineering should be able to switch easily to physics or math. Switching to most humanities or social studies is also relatively easy because those subjects tend to have shorter prerequisite sequences (so starting late will not prevent on-time graduation). Switching to unrelated subjects with a lot of requirements or long prerequisite sequences (perhaps art or music) may be more difficult.</p>
<p>This thread reminds me a lot of one that begins, “My son doesn’t want to be a doctor, but…”</p>
<p>I know enough examples of engineers who did not begin as Engineers in undergrad. If you have philosophy major and then want to go to engineering, you have to start at the beginning. I know a music major who had decided to go back to school for a degree in environmental science and is now taking 200 and 300 level engineering classes along with some graduate classes, so he will get a graduate degree without an undergraduate degree in the subject (it is going to take longer).</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you are say in Physics and then get into Engineering Physics, the hop is fairly short and some engineers I know in some engineering fields are actually majors in Applied Physics. Similarly, if you have a very strong background in Math and physics, you could do a graduate degree in an engineering discipline with a few remedial courses. For example some computer scientists have a math background and got into say operating system design. I know of biologists who have migrated in bio-engineering. </p>
<p>So, yes you can get into engineering or near engineering disciplines later on but it per-supposes a background in math and physics. If you do not have that, you always have the opportunity to make it up but you have to be very motivated to do so.</p>
<p>^^ He is strongly thinking about Philosophy. I don’t want him to have to go back down the road.</p>
<p>He is very strong in Math & Engineering. Loves the building of stuff. Finds the math very easy. </p>
<p>I don’t want to push Engineering - I just strongly suspect he’ll ride around the block in undergrad and come back to engineering down the road. My job, esp given our limited finances, is to be sure the road remains open to him without $100k toll booth.</p>
<p>Momof NEA - I do think he is immobilized. His friends have very clear paths - passion for A, not B of good at C, horrid at D. My kid is a jack of all trades. Good enough at just about anything except creative writing. He just doesn’t have a passion. And to boot, his friends are very focused, very talented. In comparison, my kid is very good, but not the great status. He is a great musician, but his friend is a professional musician aiming for Julliard. He needs to find normal kids…</p>
<p>I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>Longhaul, I am right there with you. I don’t want to push anything, contrary to how it may sound, but I find there is a very fine line between being totally laissez faire and letting them chart their own course (or between being pushy and providing guidance). As a parent, I do think it’s part of my job to make educated suggestions about things he hasn’t thought of, just as not too long ago I might have suggested he try the broccoli. But I am finding it hard to figure out where to stand so that I stay on the ‘suggesting’ and not the ‘pushing’ side. </p>
<p>My son’s friends are also very focused. It seems like every single one has a really well-defined career in mind. It doesn’t matter whether they will really stick with it or not, it just seems to my son like everyone knows with absolute clarity what they want and he does not. I am also thinking of a gap year to get some maturity and vision, but I want him to apply to schools next year with the school supports available. </p>
<p>The suggestions above are very helpful. Thanks to all. Perhaps I can just suggest a physics major, and he can take it from there. Really, in the absence of a sense of purpose about this, he is totally unmotivated about applying to college (though he does well in school), so I need to help him find an answer so he can move forward!</p>
<p>There are guidance counselors. And there are college applicaton coaches (for hire). But they seem to do their best work when the student already has an intended major in mind. </p>
<p>I think it would be really great if there were services (beyond just interest surveys) to help kids figure out at least a “stake in the ground first major”.</p>