<p>I’m trying to decide what tech. electives to take from my mechanical engineering curriculum. I am trying to choose between those two. What do you think about the importance of these? I’m trying into get into some kind of product development. I don’t know my focus yet if I develop one. Next fall, I will be taking heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and mechanical design 1 with the chosen elective. Any other recommended electives? Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m a little curious why vibrations isn’t a part of your standard MechE curriculum. I would take that first since it is a more common topic within mechanical engineering. FEM is important, but perhaps in your case best saved for later on and/or as a graduate or career guided topic of interest.</p>
<p>I would go with vibrations is mechanical design. It is more fundamental when it comes to engineering. FEM is more of modeling the behavior of forces on materials, based on knowledge of solid mechanics etc. But you have to first have the knowledge first, thus a vibrations course would fit you better. Recommended electives? Well you said you might want to do product development, so i would probably look into a manufacturing and design elective? But then you have to ask yourself what kinds of “products”? Engines? Toys? Nuclear Reactors? Aerospace materials? There’s a lot under the umbrella of “product”, so i cant give you very accurate advice.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! Totally understood. It makes sense. It’s just a hard decision not knowing exactly what kind of products I will be working with. </p>