<p>I always thought engineering was very interesting and I think I am capable of doing it, but I don’t think I would want to be a practicing engineer. Rather, I find the skill set (ie critical thinking and the like) gained from engineering could be very valuable to me as the years go on.</p>
<p>So which field do you think accomplishes this the best?</p>
<p>Isn’t this what science and math majors are for?</p>
<p>There is no answer to your question. Every college major will develop your critical thinking, scheduling, professionalism, intellectualism, etc, so in that sense, you can’t go wrong with any of them.</p>
<p>But if we’re going to be throwing candidates out there, I’d go with philosophy. Can’t do much better for critical thinking than that.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to be a practicing engineer (or go to law/med school) then engineering isn’t really a good choice for most people.</p>
<p>Sorry Auburn, you’re dead wrong. Nothing will improve your thinking skills like studying Hayekian economics.</p>
<p>To seriously answer the question…</p>
<p>I do agree Science/Math might be better in developing the theoretical aspect of your mind if you don’t want to do any practice/application. Nonetheless, really any major engineering field would do the trick. Electrical, computer, mechanical, you name it. They all will give you the “skillset” you are looking for. All will develop your critical thinking and so on. Just pick out of the engineering majors which one you “like” the most. Just which one draws your attention slightly more, and that will be the best one for you.</p>
<p>But I’d also suggest looking at the science and math majors as well. But if you want to do engineering, follow advice above.</p>
<p>everyone is capable of engineering, but I agree that engineering is probably not right for you…liberal arts will give you what your looking for, I would suggest attending a small liberal arts college, they take their stuff seriously there, at big state schools philosophy and what not is a joke, too big of class sizes, the material is taught poorly, students don’t take it seriously</p>
<p>at a small liberal arts college your teacher will take you on a nature walk and talk about native americans (enviro science) or play bob dylan on the guitar while telling stories from the 70’s (history)…vs a big state school LAS where it’s a teacher blabbing to a 100 students by way of powerpoint with 99% of the class with their legs up on the chairs watching youtube on their iphones…</p>
<p>^ A pretty stinging indictment of big state schools. It hurts because it’s true.</p>
<p>AMT, you’re painting with too wide a brush. Both my sons attend(ed) state schools for engineering and none of them had more than thirty people in any of their classes, the norm was closer to twenty. And neither of their schools used TA’s. At the really BIG state schools I would agree but I would also hasten to add that many of the large privates practice the same. (Large classes, TA’s)</p>
<p>toblin, </p>
<p>AMT was referencing my post, and I was speaking of big state school “LAS” not COE. I hope that clears things up.</p>
<p>My intention isn’t to bash state schools LAS…rather I wanted to comment that small liberal arts colleges (doesn’t even need to be a ranked one) are no joke when it comes to things like philosophy and other LAS fields, the scholarly atmosphere and student’s genuine desire to learn is quite impressive in contrast to the state school LAS majors that are there just for the social life rather than the academic life.</p>
<p>cyclone, philosophy isn’t supposed to be about listening to some New Left burnout give his political views.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean, in relation to what I was saying…are you trying to say that state schools tend to be more objective than small liberal arts colleges?</p>
<p>marcosanfilippo, </p>
<p>I forgot, some schools do have ‘general engineering’ or ‘engineering science’ which is kinda similar to the suggestion of physics or math</p>
<p>I completely disagree that everyone is capable of engineering. No matter how hard some people try, they simply can’t handle it. The number of people in this country that are truly technically competant is pretty small. In reality, it takes a special type of person to succeed in engineering. Engineers take some of the most difficult and rigorous classes out there and work on some of the most challenging problems once in the workforce and many people honestly can’t do it.</p>
<p>go for electrical engineering. i also think the OP’s plan is a great idea fwiw. if you think you will succeed academically, go for it even if you don’t want to practice as an engineer. </p>
<p>BS engineering is universally respected for strong analytical skills and quant ability in any job field.</p>
<p>
I don’t agree with cyclone10’s broad generalizations of either type of institution, but they honestly represent more of an indictment of the LAC model than that of the state school. The social sciences are called social sciences for a reason. They are at least theoretically intended to be approached with scientific rigor.</p>
<p>I also don’t understand why you assume the OP wants a liberal arts education. Critical thinking can be found in many places.</p>
<p>Industrial engineering.</p>
<p>…kind of along the line of what EngineerJW said, I would say Systems Engineering. SysE will give you:</p>
<ul>
<li>Engineering Methodology</li>
<li>Management (project/product/program)</li>
<li>Analytical background (Operations Research/Optimization, Statistics, Simulation)</li>
<li>A specialty to apply the above 3 areas</li>
</ul>