My son wants to make and design things with his hands and does not want to spend all his time on a screen programming. Therefore, he thinks he wants to study mechanical engineering. He is also a talented artist and musician. He got into a good university as a Computer Science major because the university does not offer mechanical engineering. It does offer Robotics engineering and has a good computer science program and one of the best games design programs. I am wondering if robotics these days is so close to mechanical engineering it wont matter. Also wondering if CS is a better plan anyways as it has better job prospects across so many fields and a solid understanding of computer science that mechanical engineers might not have. And even games design offers CAD visualization and simulations that is being used more and more in engineering jobs. I welcome your feedback and perspective on which paths/majors to take. Thanks.
Robotics would involve bits of mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering, and computer science. But a college major focused on that would not necessarily cover the mechanical engineering subareas outside of those useful in robotics.
Here is a robotics major at a school that does not have mechanical engineering as a standalone department and major: University of California Santa Cruz - Robotics Engineering B.S.
For comparison, here is a more traditional mechanical engineering major at another school: Mechanical Engineering, B.S. < University of California Irvine
Thanks you for the perspective on what he might miss with robotics. He did get into UC Santa Cruz. He is also very interested in aerospace, perhaps as the ultimate goal. He also is quite passionate about playing and hacking video games.
Has he thought about Industrial Design?
IMO, Robotics is too specialized. I understand that kids who have been deeply into robotics for years would want that level of specialization - and I think that tends to be who the major attracts - but I think choosing it just for its interdisciplinary-ness, when robotics is not the specific passion, would probably be a mistake.
If you’re willing to share where he’s been admitted, it might be easier to make suggestions. If he’s not happy with his options currently, there may also be some good programs he could still apply to, though he’d have to move quickly.
Thank you for the Industrial Design consideration. He’s been accepted into Oregon State, UC Santa Cruz (for CS), San Jose State, UC Riverside, and CU Boulder (Arts & Sciences). I welcome any feedback. Thanks.
What major was he accepted to at SJSU? They have Industrial Design; students have to declare the general Design Studies major first, and then apply to ID via portfolio review. But it might be a big limb to go out on, to give up a spot in MechE or CS in order to take that path. They also have an aero minor that could be an appealing enhancement to MechE.
Not sure what his access to desired programs would look like at CU Boulder, from A&S. It’s way too expensive OOS to risk not being able to study what you want.
Oregon State has some nice options that might really appeal to him. There’s a Product Design & Manufacturing option within MechE, and a Product Development option within Manufacturing Engineering. Lots of prototyping and industry partnerships going on. Student Information | Prototype Development Laboratory | Oregon State University
This page is good for looking at the many different programs with a design component: http://hcd.oregonstate.edu/ Their aero minor sounds good too: Aerospace Engineering Minor | Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering | Oregon State University
Sometimes flexibility to explore options is more valuable than choosing the absolute highest-ranked school available. There’s a lot to like about the range of options at Oregon State, and the barriers to entry aren’t as high as at the highly-impacted CA schools, so it could really be a banquet of opportunities for him. Have you visited Corvallis, or do you plan to? Would he get the WUE discount?
Thank you for further perspective. Boulder told my wife that it would be possible to get into the engineering program. Gotta follow up on the details. We are going to Corvallis this Friday for Engineering and Campus tours. The more I hear the better it sounds. He did get the WUE scholarship.
My son loved Oregon State and almost ended up going there. It seemed like an awesome place for Mech E and many other things.
As mentioned by @aquapt, it is not too difficult at Oregon State to change or explore different majors within engineering. They have a full range of engineering majors and great facilities.
Engineering project teams can be really fun for mech E majors (and other engineers) who are interested in participating in hands on, student-led projects. Since you mentioned robotics, in addition to the Engineering tour, your son might want to contact the robotics club and see if you can arrange a visit to talk to students involved on these teams and see their project team space. They seem to have a whole lot of competition robot teams that sound interesting: https://osurobotics.club
If your son is interested in race cars, Oregon State has an incredible team and he may want to contact them and visit to talk to those students and see their space as well. My son was extremely impressed with them (and if your son is in fact interested in race cars even just a little bit, feel free to contact me privately and I will tell you more about how amazing this team is 
). Home - Global Formula Racing
Project teams at Oregon State all seemed to be open to any student who wants to learn, with well established processes in place to teach and mentor new team members even if they don’t have prior experience (and I will say that this was not the same at all schools my son visited!)
Oregon State also has a strong and well established co-op / internship program called MECOP which is open to most of the engineering majors, we heard good things about this: https://www.mecopinc.org
My son is currently a freshman at OSU studying mechanical engineering with a robotics emphasis. Starting this year, ME students all select an emphasis for their upper division courses and senior capstone. So far, most of his classes have been very general preengineering courses that you’ll get everywhere, Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, a first year intro to engineering series etc. But, he is very excited for some of the options available in the next few years.
One of the selling features for us was the engineering specific dorms/maker space/ and educational supports. They have made a large public university seem much smaller and more personalized.
My kid has gained some experience with the GFR team (although as a freshman his opportunities have been limited) and the audio engineering club. He has been able to get all of the classes that he’s needed (something that I didn’t expect coming from California), is learning to love the rain, and seems very happy. If you have any specific questions, I’m happy to share what we’ve learned.
Thank you for your enthusiastic support of the OSU Formula Team. I would like to talk further about it. It’s getting late here after a long day of college research. Let’s talk further tomorrow. Thanks
Looks like @anthromom’s son can also give you some first hand info!
But I will send you a pm with some raves from a fan’s perspective.
It’s great to hear of your experience as a freshman. It’s just what we needed. It sounds like a good balance of courses and also dorm life supportive of their work and play. I would like to talk further tomorrow. It’s a bit late here after a long day of college research and watching the Giants lose to that other team that shall remain nameless. Go Orange and Black! Thanks.