Electrical or Mechanical engineering

[foges]

Here's the situation: I am in the process of applying to universtities as i am in my last year of high school. I have one major problem though, I dont know if i should be applying for mechanical or electrical engineering. therefore i was hoping you guys could give me some tips about what the two courses cover (websites are also helpful)

I am currently leaning more towards mechanical because i like building things and seeing them in action also I have very little experience with electrical, but im concerned that applying for mechanical because i dont know enough about electrical is a bad idea. PS: the uni's im applying to do not offer electro-mechanical engineering (if thats the right term).

Thanx guys

 

[gbuskirk]

It doesn't matter yet. The curriculum is the same for about the first year and a half. In my opinion, the EE curriculum can be more mathematically intense. But I have a bias. You can always take more classes than required for a degree (best value in education is a flat-rate tuition) or get a dual degree. Something like a robotics specialization might be called electro-mechanical.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Electrical is probably harder; you need to be good at math to succeed. It's also a more valuable degree in the modern-day world.

You get to build stuff doing electrical engineering as well, for sure. It's just different, and will depend heavily on the school you go to (some are almost entirely theoretical, while some, like my school, focus on projects so you get a lot of hands-on experience).

So, I would recommend electrical, but it is up to you, of course. Also, depending on where you go, you may have a taste of both before needing to declare a major as some lower classes are required as a base for both fields (at my school, again...) That can help you decide - if you like statics a lot more than circuit analysis, then maybe mechanical is the way to go.

As far as classes go, go here: http://www.gvsu.edu/catalog/catalog0607.pdf
and check page 410 for the list of classes for electrical engineering, and page 415 for the list of classes for mechanical engineering. Note that these are just the upper-class classes (junior-senior year, theoretically). The first two years of classes are shared, mostly, and and are listed on page 405.

G'luck with the engineering! Stick with it, the world needs more engineers who can think straight.

 

[AeroEngy]

Originally posted by: foges
Here's the situation: I am in the process of applying to universtities as i am in my last year of high school. I have one major problem though, I dont know if i should be applying for mechanical or electrical engineering. therefore i was hoping you guys could give me some tips about what the two courses cover (websites are also helpful)

I am currently leaning more towards mechanical because i like building things and seeing them in action also I have very little experience with electrical, but im concerned that applying for mechanical because i dont know enough about electrical is a bad idea. PS: the uni's im applying to do not offer electro-mechanical engineering (if thats the right term).

Thanx guys

I wouldn't worry about it to much. Most colleges have a common first year for all engineering majors. Usually consisting of course like Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, English, and some type of Engineering Orientation. This will give you time once you are enrolled in the engineering program to decide what discipline you want to pursue. Also, don't be to concerend that you don't know enough about electrical or mech Engineering. The univeristy is there to teach you what you don't know. Most of the people in your class won't know much either.

So my advice is to enroll in whatever you are more interested in for right now. Then after your first year after exlploring the different departments make your final decisions. Also, depending on your univeristy and your threshold for pain your could always double major if you like them both.

 

[CycloWizard]

This probably isn't a great place to ask this question, since I believe there are lots of electrical engineers and probably no mechanical engineers. What the other guys said is right on though - the coursework will be identical for the first 1.5 years, regardless of what type of engineering you want to go into. I entered as an undeclared engineer and switched to chemical engineering after the first year. I'm sure most school will let you do something similar, since you're generally admitted to a school rather than a department. I would also agree that electrical is more mathematically rigorous than mechanical, though the differences at the undergrad level aren't really great.

 

[JohnCU]

my senior EE project is more mechanical than electrical :| damn robots

 

[GimpyFuzznut]

In Canada our system is a litte bit different (well in Quebec actually). We have a school system similiar to college after high school called CEGEP where you take various programs - one being "science" where you basically learn what you would in the year of American college but with more general education thrown into the mix (ie. you still have gym class etc). In turn, our university/college is a year shorter.

That being said, when I had to apply to engineering after finishing CEGEP, I had to consider which branch to go into since the differences become evident immediately - first semester with something as different as electrical and mechanical engineering. I took me time to chose which path to go down (or maybe even computer science) but I decided to go with computer engineering which in the end is really a specialized form of electrical engineering. I figure it would be better option for the future and since it is probably one of the hardest fields of engineering to suceed in, there would be more demand for me when I graduate. Many of my classmates are electrical engineering students since obviously many of the topics covered are identical until you get into more specialized things.

In the end, I might consider spending an extra year to finish all the required electrical engineering courses (since by completing computer engineering I would have already finished most of the electrical engineering program anyway) to get a double degree in both fields. It might end up being a waste of time as time spent in school won't really matter once you get out in the real world but it might be nice to have and would allow me to work in power and electrical systems, telecommunications, hardware design, digital circuirty, software design and many other related fields.

So, my vote goes to electrical engineering. If you end up going towards mechanical engineering which has more focus on "classic" physics, I would also consider industrial engineering as they are very important in the design of almost any product and extremely in demand.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Like everyone has said, it doesn't really matter because the first year or two of all engineering curriculums are about the same.

I was determined to be an aeronautical engineer until I took my first fluids class

Then I was a mechanical engineer until my strength of materianls class.

Then I became an electrical engineer because I liked the idea that Maxwell's equations explained everything.

Then I drifted into electrical power engineering because megawatts seemed cooler than milliwatts.

It's my impression that most engineers make a switch or two on their way to graduation.

 

[senseamp]

If you like building things and seeing them in action -> mechanical.
If you like math, logic, and abstractions -> electrical.
You can also do EE and focus on MEMS, although you won't really see what you are building except for under a microscope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEMS

 

[foges]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I am going to need to think a bit more about it. Im good at maths and logics, but i dont really like things that are too abstract, for example i hate chemistry, personally i find it to be too theoretical. I find random theries very interesting however.

If it doesnt matter that much, i guess its not so bad. Maybe ill take electrical, it seems to enclose more than mechanical does. I dont think ill double my major, not to start with anyhow.

Anyone know of a forum where there is a less biased view for ee?

 

[bobsmith1492]

Really, there are a lot more EEs than mechanicals at most schools now, so good luck with that; EE is just better.

 

[herm0016]

why the bad rap for Mech. eng? and EE is harder? there is no way that EE is any harder or easer than ME they just focus on different things. I am an ME student right now. I believe that the ME degree is normally much more diverse in your topics of study. I have to take EE classes, ME classes, Chem. eng. classes, Materials science classes and structures classes along with being able to calculate any property of anything that moves. math wise its about the same both require Differential Equations and all the calculus classes. Normally EE degrees focus only on EE and computer science type stuff. not as much structure or macroscopic things. also, most of the EE majors i know can design a circuit but cant make it work when their theory does not work in real life, they also have a hard time doing practical things with there knowledge. (not trying to make assumptions) Most of the ME people i know are ME because they love doing the real work, building the thing and making it work in real life. not just in a simulator or on paper. Mechanical is a much wider field than EE is.

 

[duragezic]

foges: Sounds like ME might be a better fit for you, but as others said, just go as Engineering Undeclared since the first ~2 semesters are very similar. By then you would be able to decide between EE or ME, or even something else. Some even dual major with both, but they are pretty unrelated so it's hard to specialize then.

This forum is quite biased for EE, I couldn't say for sure what is harder, but they are both pretty difficult. It doesn't really matter what other people think of your major. EEs and MEs both have tons of job opportunities in a wide range of areas, similar pay, course workload, etc. The place I co-op'ed at hired pretty much just MEs and EEs (some EET or MET too for testing and such, though as a junior CompE I could do most EE stuff). MEs designed and tested pumps, valves, fans, enclosures for them while EEs design and tested controllers for them as well as wrote firmware for them and software for tests.

And I agree with herm... at our school the MEs actually are required to take a fairly rigorous EE course (gets into topics of 3-4 EE classes like digital logic, circuits, electronics, and more, and as someone who's had all of those EE classes, I found my friend's final for that class to be pretty damn tough!), but the EEs aren't required to take really any ME stuff. The MEMS stuff looks pretty cool, but I hear its some of the most difficult classes here.

So you can't go wrong either way. Just do the basic engineering curriculum the 1st year and go from there.


Greetings, herm0016, fellow MTU student here

 

[CountZero]

Originally posted by: herm0016
why the bad rap for Mech. eng? and EE is harder? there is no way that EE is any harder or easer than ME they just focus on different things. I am an ME student right now. I believe that the ME degree is normally much more diverse in your topics of study. I have to take EE classes, ME classes, Chem. eng. classes, Materials science classes and structures classes along with being able to calculate any property of anything that moves. math wise its about the same both require Differential Equations and all the calculus classes. Normally EE degrees focus only on EE and computer science type stuff. not as much structure or macroscopic things. also, most of the EE majors i know can design a circuit but cant make it work when their theory does not work in real life, they also have a hard time doing practical things with there knowledge. (not trying to make assumptions) Most of the ME people i know are ME because they love doing the real work, building the thing and making it work in real life. not just in a simulator or on paper. Mechanical is a much wider field than EE is.

I dunno that I would say ME is wider than EE. I can't speak for ME but EE emcompasses:
Power generation and wide distribution
E/M generation and receiving (radars and antenna and so on)
Controls and Robotics (this has alot of overlap with ME and AA where I'm at)
Signal Processing
Communications
Analog circuits (amplifiers, instruments)
Digital circuits (usually emphasizing VLSI from ASICS to cpu design)
Embedded Programming

MEMs seem to be primarily a graduate level thing here but definitely an exciting field.

I think the hard part of picking is the wide range of specialties for each. MEs aren't just building cars and EEs aren't just plugging pieces into a breadboard. At my school the EE dept offers an intro class you can take after your EM physics class but before you declare your major. I'd see if ME offers something similar and take both, it won't be a full representation by any stretch but it can maybe help eliminate one.

And don't worry if you pick "wrong" lots of people switch majors.

 

[irishScott]

Right now I'm a freshman Computer Engineering major at the University of Delaware. I was also President and Head Programmer of my High School FIRST Robotics Team Senior Year, and Vice-Head Programmer Junior Year. As far as robotics go, you can build the skeleton, or wire and program the brain. I personally found the latter much more intriguing (you type code and the robot moves differenty) but to each his own.

In any case, it's college. Go Engineering Undeclared and explore the options. Find out what you want and go with it. My dad has a PhD in EE so I was kinda set up to go into the field, and I do actually like it, but I'm also looking at doing something with music, biology, or perhaps even psychology. From what I hear, college is the last chance you get to learn whatever you want, so I'm doing just that. If it were possible, I'd be doing some sort of quadruple major.

Point: Go with what you like, but don't get tunnell vision. Go Engineering Undeclared and explore the options. Try some other non-engineering stuff too. Also, DON't base your decisions on high school classes unless the teacher was insanely good. A bad techer can make the most interesting class boring as sh!t (hence my current hatred of chemistry). Just explore, find out what you want to do, and run with it.

Kinda OT: In college you have to seek out stuff. It won't be thrown in your face or handfed to you. If you don't try to get involved in anything, they won't try to get you involved. This applies to every activity you do on campus.

 

[postmortemIA]

Look on your calendar. If it is 1906, go for mechanical and it will be state-of-the-art. If it is 2006, go for electrical.

 

[foges]

lol, thats basically what my dad said. I guess theres nothing wrong in going for electrical and rather switching later on. How much computer programming is involved in electrical though. I was never very good at learning C++

 

[Gatt]

I think you're going to have to deal with theoretical science and math regardless of which track you take at this point.

With the high-tech industry starting to gear towards Nano-engineering many schools are incorporating it into their curriculum to some extent or another. I'm currently a dual major Computer Science/Biochemistry, and I get to do everything from Physics to Quantum, along with 5 levels of chem.

It's because the high-tech industry is going to shift in a very big way over the next few years to nano level techniques, both biologically and engineering. The government's coughing up fairly major cash to universities to push the nano tech field.

I don't think there's anyway to escape the theoretical and abstract courses at this point in any Engineering/Computer/Biological/Chemistry tracks.

Even if you do, I think you'll find you went to school to be on the low end of the Engineering proffession when you graduate. Nano's the new "Explosive growth" field and without being able to do Nano, I think you'll find low paying options in the next few years.

Theoretical Science really isn't so bad when you stop to think about it anyways, all science is theoretical to be honest. Just because some theory or equation holds true today doesn't mean we won't learn tomorrow that it isn't always true and we didn't understand it. Honestly, the Laws of Physics that we "abide" by aren't even necessarily true, it's just our perception based upon what we see, and our assumption that it's impossible for there to be any other factors influencing things.

Look at it this way, 1,000 years ago it was a scientific fact that fire cannot burn in liquid. Today we have a variety of chemicals that will burn while immersed. Just like 10 years ago Ulcers and Cervical Cancer weren't due to microbial organisims, today we know that microbials cause both and can be successfully treated/prevented through medicine.

As Socrates once said, (Paraphrased)"The only thing we know for certain is that we don't know anything."

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
It's my impression that most engineers make a switch or two on their way to graduation.

True.

Engineer in my dorm last year, now is a literature major
My roommate: formerly a computer engineer, now in some kind of management program
Other apartmentmate: Formerly computer engineering. Still computer engineering.
Other apartmentmate: Formerly computer engineering, now accounting.
Another friend of mine, in mechanical engineering, now computer engineering.

I made a lateral move - from mechanical engineering to mechanical engineering technology.

 

[Jim D]

Career EE here. Another thing to consider is just because say you decide to go EE, which discipline will you choose to pursue? I got my BSEE with an emphasis in Physical Phenomena (Electromagnetics, Wave Theory, Fiber Optics). I had 48 Quarter hours of math classes when I graduated. Actually I think at the time that this particular area of EE was the most math intensive emphasis you could have.

So I graduated and went to work in the defense industry. Then the Berlin wall fell, the cold war ended, and the defense industry hit the skids, hard...

I was RIF'd (Reduction in Force) and left in limbo. I took a low paying job (not much choice) in the mfg world and started re-educating myself as a controls engineer, PLC's, Robotics, Process Controls, and lots of programming in the realm of man-machine interface.

My EE degree? It simply got the door open for me. Where you take it from there can vary wildly.

And like several mentioned above, the first 1-1.5 years of most engineering schools are the same for ME, EE, CE, etc. Calculus, Chemisty, Physics, Comp Sci, English (what, you thought you were through with that???!). Co-Op if you can, get a feel for what you like and go from there.

 

[flyboy84]

Originally posted by: foges
lol, thats basically what my dad said. I guess theres nothing wrong in going for electrical and rather switching later on. How much computer programming is involved in electrical though. I was never very good at learning C++

My program didn't emphasize programming that much (unless you go computer engineering, that's a different story!). I had to take intro to computer science (which was Java) and I used Matlab extensively in my coursework. Now, they aren't even requiring intro to comp sci and have you take a specialized intro to matlab course. I went to Union College and graduated in June 2006.

 

[Smokey0066]

2 cents from a mechanical engineer who is a recent grad.

I would suggest you look at the different ciriculums and go from there. See if the courses available interest you. As many have stated, you really have the 1st year to explore and make your decision. As long as you know you're going to be on the engineering path you'll be fine for the 1st year or 2. It would be different if your choicese were between a Liberal Arts program and an Engineering program. You should really use your first year to explore the 2 programs and talk to people. See if there are mentors available and join clubs. A good example is the Solar Car Team I was on. In that team there are people from all engineering fields; a great place to find out more from fellow students.

I realised towards the end of my education at the university that the ME program is a really broad program which dabbles in many other fields. For an example one of my projects required design/assembly of the mechanics, programming of electronic controller to controll all the features, designing/assembling of the eletrical system and providing schematics, and a presentation to top it off.

If you have more questions feel free to PM me. I was once in your shoes and it was hard trying to figure it all out by myself.

 

[colincsl]

I'm currently in situation where I don't know whether I want to go into film or engineering. I am basically the head of the TV studio in my school and have done a lot of stuff never done before, but I'm also taking engineering classes through Project Lead The Way. The worse thing is at 3 of the 4 schools I'm applying to you go right into your major, with little room for electives or movement.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Originally posted by: flyboy84

Originally posted by: foges
lol, thats basically what my dad said. I guess theres nothing wrong in going for electrical and rather switching later on. How much computer programming is involved in electrical though. I was never very good at learning C++

My program didn't emphasize programming that much (unless you go computer engineering, that's a different story!). I had to take intro to computer science (which was Java) and I used Matlab extensively in my coursework. Now, they aren't even requiring intro to comp sci and have you take a specialized intro to matlab course. I went to Union College and graduated in June 2006.

We've done a good amount of programming here at GSVU. There was only one actual class required for EEs - intro to C. You learn most of it later, in Intro to digital systems class by programming microcontrollers on robots and then in our advanced digital systems class, where you have a massive semester project that usually requires microcontrollers (ours had 2!). Then, there's Matlab for signals & systems, and we're using C now for an elective class (DSP) to program our DSP board. I also had an elective (advanced microcontroller apps) where we did TONS of coding... the main C file was for the kernel we wrote and was over 700 lines long (preemptive multithread-capable with message passing were the main features).

But, two of those were electives, and it was all just in C, which is easy as pie after using it for a while. (Well, we used a lot of assembly coding in the advanced micro apps class, but again, that was an elective).

You can avoid most programming if you really want to by going into different specialties, but there's really no reason to nowadays; it's very beneficial to use microcontrollers, simulation programs, and whatnot since they're available.

Oh, I should say, I consider myself to be very poor at programming, but I've made it alright. You can do it!

 

[foges]

Well, im just wrapping up my personal statement for the UCAS applications and ive decided to go electrical. If anyone has any killer reasons as to why study elctrical engineering that the unis will love, please go ahead and suggest them. Regarding the programming. I could probably learn if i gave myself a week or so. right now im reading a byte of python, but my problem seems to be that i start a book, get half way through and then continue it half a year later, when ive forgotten most of it. Im not sure if it was a good idea to jump from language to language, i think ill stick to python for now at least ( html > basic > C++ > PHP > Flash > C++ > Python ). Any one got any suggestions for good python books, that i might wish for christmas?

Im excited about studying now, too bad i have to do military service next year