This isn't really about 4runners but I've noticed that this forum seems to have a really high concentration of engineers. I'm a senior in high school and am planning on pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at one of the 6 colleges I've applied to and am wondering if anyone has any advice for me going into college.

So post up of you are an engineer or have anything to tell me!

I should have changed from chemical to software engineering and then headed out to Silicon Valley when I graduated in '93.

What schools did you apply to? What attracts you to engineering?

I'm a manufacturing engineer in the medical device industry. I graduated from Iowa with a B.S.E in biomedical engineering in 2013

Computer engineer here. Advice: don't change to computer engineering unless you're a 1%er and plan on working in Silicon Valley. There are no jobs. I chose computer over software because I like hardware but I wound up doing Android development because of the lack of CE jobs. That's my two cents.

Don't go to college to party, don't go in debt, pick a degree that is employable (like ME), and finish in 4 years. Maybe I sound like your parents.

Make sure you are good at and like Math. Otherwise go to a community college for a couple of years to find out what you really want to do. And you dont have to work in Silicon Valley. It's actually better not to. I earn close to Silicon Valley salary with 1/10th the mortgage payment. Get to spend money on overpriced SUV's that way. Good luck and good career choice if you end up going the engineering route.

I went to college and did pretty much nothing but party, but Ds get degreez yo

But I have a great job because I pursued education and licensing after getting through the mandatory university bullsh*t. If you're a hard worker, show up on time consistently and DO YOUR JOB, your degree doesnt really matter. Unless you're going to really be an engineer, or a doctor. or attorney?

Honestly most college classes are a complete waste of time and finishing with a good GPA only matters if you feel the need to attend graduate school.

Getting an engineering degree will serve you much better than any liberal arts garbage. Even most business degrees are a complete waste of time and tuition monies. I was actually really interested in mechanical engineering(originally picked that as my major) and dreamed about working with Lockheed Martin or Boeing. But as it turns out, I really suck at math, so now I'm a well employed ski bum. and spend most of my days shredding around with a surprising number of engineers that would just rather ski, which I always thought was really interesting...

Also this belongs in Off Topic.

This will likely get moved to off topic shortly @1engineer

First, congratulations on preparing to graduate and take the next step. I am a Mechanical Engineer myself with a little over 6 years out of school working for the same Fortune100 Company in 3 different roles. My views have changed dramatically in these past 6 years and I am sure they will continue to evolve as I gain more experience. I will assume that you have a baseline of the class type that is required for ME and won’t provide guidance there, only that I assume you like math?

The beauty of Mechanical engineers is that the field is extremely broad- you can be a design engineer, test and validation engineer, Manufacturing engineer and those are just a bit of what I consider "core options" once you are in industry , even more doors open. Knowing what you think you want to do out of school will help guide the school/class choices. Do you want to do actual product design and engineering calculations or do you want to use the engineering mindset to solve practical, but maybe not “cutting edge” problems? (No one job will be strictly one thing or the other)

Moving on to advice,

*I assume it is too late for this but in hindsight I wish I had taken more AP exams, both to save money and spread out course load. Although, taking Calc 1&2 in college after taking them in high school make those 2 easy A’s to get a solid start to the GPA. Speaking of, GPA is not an end all be all, I did not have a 4.0 but you do need to keep it above X level for most companies I would say 3.0-3.2 was the min. they were looking for…..obviously more is better but don’t think for a second that it’s the only thing that matters. Having been on both sides of the interview table now I will say we are much more likely to hire a 3.4-3.7GPA with some solid experience with activities, teams etc. then someone with a 4.0 and only a senior design project on the resume.

*Not sure if it’s still popular but when I went to school there was an amazing amount of folks that used websites like RateMyProfessor etc to try and get the easiest schedule possible….DO NOT DO THIS, use it as a tool to help make worthwhile decisions. There are crappy professors out there meaning not only are they bad at teaching but they are hard testers/expect a lot….avoid those. But if you just try to get the easiest schedule you are only cheating yourself out of a solid education that you are paying for.

*If you are more hands on consider schools with good outside core class activities like Baja or Formula Racing these are great because they can be lots of fun, allow you to work in a team environment and are awesome things to talk about/have on the resume. Remember as you progress in life the field gets “tougher and tougher”

*As I mentioned earlier if you have an idea of what type of job or industry you want to be in tailor your elective classes to that. Someone wanting to go into widget manufacturing will likely get little value out of a high level Dynamics class but on the other hand human factors (safety) class can give you a leg up on the current standards and how they apply. Opposite would be true if you want to design missiles and rockets for a defense contractor.

*Co-op/internship I believe these are almost required nowadays but plan on aggressively pursuing this during your college career and realize that it gives you a HUGE leg up not only for the company’s you work for but also when applying to other companies. Even though it’s fairly rare for a freshman to get one I went to the career fair to get experience talking to recruiters and selling myself etc.

*Be prepared to buckle down during the more advanced classes that may or may not have value in your career…example I found Linear algebra and Diffy Q very tough and hated them……not just because they were hard but at that point I had interned at the company I was 99% sure I would work for (and yes I did end up there) and have found ZERO practical use for that knowledge in my field and guarantee that if I took any of those exams again would bomb them. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth while it just can get a bit frustrating if you don’t see the value in those subjects and harder to focus.

*If you can, work to help put yourself through school my parents paid ~65% of school and the rest was on me. You will appreciate it more AND if possible graduating without student loans is a huge help.

*Finally, not school work related but network as much as you can. Even now, if you have a company in your area that you think has ME’s….send them a e-mail, phone call or if its small enough swing buy and explain you are thinking of going to school for it and are curious to what type of roles they have. Its encouraging that you reached out here, continue that behavior and you will be just fine.

*O, and have fun!

I have plenty of other rants about things to do/not to do when starting a career but will leave that for another time. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. I will be out of town for the weekend but will respond next week.

Lots of good advice here. I'm a marine engineer and graduated from Maine Maritime Academy. I have a marine engineering technology degree as well as a USCG Assistant Engineer unlimited horsepower license. My field is a bit of a mechanical specialty and involves spending lots of time away from home for weeks to months at a time. If I could do it again, I would have gone the normal mechanical engineering route. At the end of the day it pays well and keeps me entertained. Let me know if you have ever thought about working on ships. Currently, I'm employed on a 12000 hp crude oil tanker.

All I can say is about one-third of my MBA class were engineers.

I'm an engineer. Been at it for 28 years. I design high pressure hydraulic systems.

Let me give you a piece of profound information. You must promise never to forget it, especially in your third year when you think you know everything.

Ready? "Your engineering degree, regardless of discipline, will just tell your prospective employers that you have the ability to learn and solve problems logically."

That's it. In four years, everything you learn is only preparation for the next phase of learning.

My son will graduate with his BSME next week with a 3.8 GPA. He starts on his MBA in May.

Good luck and if you have any detailed questions please ask.

I am a civil Engineer and work in the construction services field. I can say that it is fine and dandy to go through college and memorize all of these fancy formulas and concepts, however, your degree will teach you 3 key things.
1. How to look stuff up! you will have many tests that are open book or open note, which is great till you think about the obscure topics that they could ask, or even combine three concepts that are individually covered in the book, but the combination was covered in class lecture. Know how to look things up in manuals and books, not just the internet. you could spend all day looking page by page through a book to fail the exam in the end...
2. STANDARDS! everyone has a different standard, CITE IT!!! if you don't cite or refernece what standard you are using then it is garbage... whether it is a specific code or a detail, it can make all the difference in how it is interpreted or even built.
3. you are never alone! there are generations of engineers that have done something similar or might have some sliver of knowledge that will help you get the answer to what you are working on. USE THEM! make relationships with other engineers and network (not linked in... )you might be the one to call them, they may call you some day.

Remember that Engineering, no matter the field, is about process and logic. your whole career is teaching you the steps to solving a multivariable equation is a process... not an answer...

and word to the wise, try to do it without your calculator. the faster you are with hand math on paper, the better you will be able to trust your work that you show on the exams. plus if you can look up the calculator that is allowed on the certification exam at the end of your education, buy it now and learn to be limited by the power. think of it as buying a honda and being really good at driving it anywhere vs buying a lamborghini and not being able to get it out of park...

When you complete an engineering degree you only need to take one year of classes to get your MBA. Its a killer deal

I should have done this.

Seattle is filled with software engineers making a minimum of $100K/year+ starting before bonuses. They also have and drive the coolest toys around here. My cousin who graduated from UW with a software programming degree just got hired with Google, he's eating good.