Which engineering?

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Hi, I am currently a recently graduated lawyer (slightly above average grades with little to no effort), however, I hate my current job and don't really see myself practicing law the rest of my lately. To be honest when I chose law as a major I was very immature (only 16) and always failed math and physics in high school but I am 100% sure it was because of a total lack of interest in high school. When I took my college admissions test, I took a quick course in math and physics and that was enough for me to get very good results, I could have studied anything I wanted yet I chose law. Now I'm 22 and don't remember any math or physics, however I believe I'm passionate enough to go for engineering with a math and physics course that gets me back to that high school level that is the minimum requirement for going to college for for the first time.

That brings me to main topic, knowing this background info which branch of engineering should I major in? Electrical, mechanical or civil (don't have the slightest interest in chemical)? In an effort to improve your answers I can tell you the following:

- I can't draw or sketch even if my life depended on it (I understand it's necessary for mech).
- I am far more computer/electronic knowledgeable than 99.99% lawyers and most regular people.
- I have a relatively high IQ 140.
- I can't make an educated choice but my current order would be 1) Electrical; 2)Civil ; and 3) Mech.
- Given that I'm 22 I can't afford to lose time so failure is not a option, that's why I'm sort of scared of electrical since I've heard is the hardest one.

Last edited by raul693 on 31 May 2011, 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"I have a relatively high IQ 140." IQ can be a meaningless indicator.

I studied Electrical. It is either Electrical or Computer and maybe Aerospace.

There are different sub fields in study but the most interesting work is with radio and signal analysis. For undergrad, the most complicated stuff you will look at is how to transmit analog communication data from one point to another. Think Cellphone communication.

It is interesting looking at the math and physics behind that kind of technology, sending data from one location to the other, one part of the globe to the other or into space.

The other interesting sub field is Power systems engineering. When I was school, it was mostly "Power". I didn't enter this field for work but I think most "Electrical Engineers" work with power systems. Basically, you have a building or a power plant, how would you wire up the building to provide it power. Or how would you setup transmission lines in the city. That kind of stuff.

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Everything I mentioned above describes "analog" systems as opposed to "digital" systems.

Electrical and Computer Engineers could also work at somewhere like Intel, building and designing CPUs and all of that. That is more digital systems.

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I took Mechanical and Industrial engineering classes but not all the courses to get the degree. ME involves working with mechanics, mechanical components. How do you build a bridge so that it can hold so much weight? How do you build a house? How do you build a car?

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With the way that digital technology is moving, I suggest electrical. You learn analog systems like with radio technology but also digital systems like how do you build a CPU.

EE is tough because you really need to know 2nd year calculus--first year you learn the basics and 2nd year you learn to solve 2 variable problems--many of which are the fundamentals of electrical engineering. Digital Signal Processing requires even more calculus, if you want to learn the fundamentals behind it.

Don't worry I'm aware that IQ can be meaningless

That is one of the main reasons I'm leaning toward electrical, specially since job-hunting will be particularly difficult for me because I would be graduating "old" at 28 (Here Engineering is a licenciatura so it takes 5 years) and also I think it suits the economical climate of a 3rd world country much better than civil and mech (recession hits civil really hard and mech just little) because even now then job market seems more electrical friendly, add that to the fact that it seems to be the one that call for m the most and the scale really seem to tip in favor of electrical.



Be assured that if I venture into this wild career change I will give it my best (so calculus 2 shall be learned properly) because I can't afford to fail.

Still, this is my main concern with electrical or the entire career switch as a whole for that matter, I'm not sure if I can do it. Let me elaborate a bit on this, here in Venezuela the vast majority of kids don't know squat when they get to college (high school education is lousy), But I think this could work to my advantage since I'll be pretty rusty by the time I get in, so in theory I would jut have to know what th school deems necessary for admission to be on par with everyone else right?

I must ask, how lost were you when you both electrical engineers at the time you started college?

I picked EE because I was particularly gifted in solving problems, with a excellent background in math and science. The choice was made easy because EEs find it much easier to get jobs than math or science majors in the USA.

Well everything is tough when you are young. And the whole point of going to college is to learn things you don't already know.

I would suggest a lot of people study some engineering or science in college and then lean more into their real career choice.

Most of the people that I went to school with didn't actually go into Engineering. A lot went into Medicine or Law. The rigorous coursework in Engineering made something like Medical school a lot easier plus it looks good on the Med school application.
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When you are deciding between EE, ME, IE, look at different careers that you might end up in.

With EE, it is little bit more open ended. You could work at a company like IBM or Intel doing integrated circuit (IC) work. Or doing embedded programming for small devices.

ME's may end up at car manufacturers, designing... cars. Also, there is work at robotic control system companies. Think manufacturing robotics not cyborgs. They use a lot of CAD programs.

bioengineering or biochemistry maybe? not too much math there.

I have EE but i wish i had biochemistry degree too.

unfortunately i believe that you might need advanced degrees for truly creative work at phd level one can work on anything. aos if you get into graduate engineering school in us, you get a stipend that covers your living and tuition costs.

Mechanical engineering is a good "general" engineering field, in that it leaves open a lot of different options to you. Electrical is also a good choice.

Anything bio or chemical is of the question, I absolutely despise chemistry and my lack of knowledge or interest towards any type of biology is legendary.

Well as of know I'm definitely leaning towards electric, mechanic I think has less industry in my country and civil is too dependent on construction work, electric just seems to be able to captivate more than th others

I'm still a little intimidated by electric because the stories I hear are quite scary. Anyone care to take the fear out of me? Why does everybody say electric is so much harder than all the other engineerings?

Last edited by raul693 on 30 May 2011, 7:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

If you could share some info about these kind of programs I'd love to hear about it, I really doubt they finance engineering studies for 23 year old lawyers :-S

I agree it can be a problem though I know some physics students that got into EE department PhD program after passing just a couple of exams. If you nail GRE (this is like an IQ test so you should be ok) and GRE subject (this one deals with the particular science/eng area) maybe they'll find your lawyer degree an asset. In US these things are less strict and more based on "deals". If they think you have a great research potential everything is possible.

PS: disclaimer, I did this a while ago (10+ years) so you should double check the GRE situation.

Also too bad for chem and bio, these have a great potential.

As the joke goes:

Mechanical/electrical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets.

I know the feeling, I just changed from Nursing, I'm studying the math involved in EE and it's a rude awakening. At 125IQ it's still doable, it'll just take some getting used to.

That was hilarious!

I have seen most of students are doing Engineering and medicines only. Why they cant do for other career zone like Geology, applied sciences..! ! I like Computer engineer, it has lot of career in now days... ! !

Being in EE, I can tell you that it is very math-heavy. My EE curriculum is one math class short of the requirements for a minor in Applied Mathematics.

However, if you start at Math 111 (College Algebra) level, and keep up on your work, you can still complete a BS in Electrical Engineering in four years. It's taking me five, but that's because I had some trouble initially grasping calculus. You need it though, it doesn't go away!

If you want a bit less math, and would rather do more in programming, look at the Computer Engineering field. I bet you could find just as many good jobs there.