I'm so lost... Mechanical vs Civil.. help?

alexithymia
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:10:08 +0000

Hardly the rest of mechanical…there’s HVAC, manufacturing (though most people here will try to convince you that nothing is manufactured anymore), automotive (alright, this one actually is hurting), energy (solar, wind, nuclear, oil, and more), utilities, some transportation, naval, operations stuff, etc. There’s far more to mechanical than just engines and bio-mechanical devices. The world is your oyster with that degree.

That said, civil engineers can find themselves in non-traditional roles too. There’s a lot of structural work to be done in aerospace (hell, I’ve heard that they’re more in-demand than aerodynamics/propulsion/weights guys).

At my school, mechanical is marginally harder than civil. I especially notice a lot of overlap between structural and mechanical. If it’s abnormally hard/competitive at your individual school, though, then it’s something to consider. At my school it comes down to mechanical majors having to take extra fluids and thermodynamics, along with some light programming and EE stuff.

As for which you would prefer, that’s totally up to you. If nothing else, civil is said to be the field with more job openings over the next few years.



You can do aerospace stuff with a civil degree? Sweet.

I just remember someone else I met told me mechanical engineering at my school is ridiculously hard and they were lucky if they were even able to make it out on the weekend… So that makes 2 people who’ve had less than positive comments about ME at my school… I’ve met several older civil engineering students who said that while it was still challenging, they still had time for a social life. I don’t want to take the “easy way out” but I’m just wondering if getting a mechanical degree instead is worth risking my social life for the next few years. I find certain sub-topics within both degrees interesting, I just think there’s MORE I’d like to do in mechanical than civil…