http://www.torsey.com/blog/what-is-the-college-path-to-look-into-for-becoming-an-engineer/ family matters Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:08:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.torsey.com/blog/what-is-the-college-path-to-look-into-for-becoming-an-engineer/comment-page-1/#comment-487 Josh Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:12:16 +0000 http://www.torsey.com/blog/what-is-the-college-path-to-look-into-for-becoming-an-engineer/#comment-487 Community college isn't a good path, the level of study is too low. Rather, you want to attend a four-year engineering school as an undergraduate, with higher degrees a possibility, depending on your desires and the filed you enter (e.g., required for a career in math and physics, optional for careers in engineering). You'll be able to choose your area of specialization (mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, physics, etc.) after you're at school, and have taken some introductory courses to give you a better idea of what you want. Note that you can also prepare for the three areas in which you've expressed interest at liberal arts schools. A friend of mine, for example, majored in math at a liberal arts school, then went to engineering school to get a master's in computer science, and made that field his career. There are also joint programs between liberal arts and engineering schools that allow you to get the benefits of a liberal education with a pre-engineering program, then move on to engineering school. And you would be pretty well prepared by a rigorous program in engineering or physics to switch courses at the post-graduate level, e.g., I know someone who majored in physics as an undergrad and ultimately became a mathematician, and I majored in physics and became an electrical engineer. Of all the fields, computer programming is the easiest to enter, I know people who have done it without any specialized academic study. Physics and engineering are highly mathematical, and you'll need to obtain a strong math background, multivariate calculus, differential equations, etc. It may be difficult to find sufficiently rigorous courses in community college, at least judging by some of the horror stories I've heard (students in a linear algebra class who didn't know how to calculate the volume of a cube, etc.). That doesn't make it impossible, it's just not the optimum course for engineering, physics, and mathematics, which are among the most rigorous courses of study. When all is said and done, engineering school is probably your best option, leading as it does directly to all of the fields in which you've expressed interest. Community college isn’t a good path, the level of study is too low. Rather, you want to attend a four-year engineering school as an undergraduate, with higher degrees a possibility, depending on your desires and the filed you enter (e.g., required for a career in math and physics, optional for careers in engineering). You’ll be able to choose your area of specialization (mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, physics, etc.) after you’re at school, and have taken some introductory courses to give you a better idea of what you want.
Note that you can also prepare for the three areas in which you’ve expressed interest at liberal arts schools. A friend of mine, for example, majored in math at a liberal arts school, then went to engineering school to get a master’s in computer science, and made that field his career. There are also joint programs between liberal arts and engineering schools that allow you to get the benefits of a liberal education with a pre-engineering program, then move on to engineering school. And you would be pretty well prepared by a rigorous program in engineering or physics to switch courses at the post-graduate level, e.g., I know someone who majored in physics as an undergrad and ultimately became a mathematician, and I majored in physics and became an electrical engineer.
Of all the fields, computer programming is the easiest to enter, I know people who have done it without any specialized academic study.
Physics and engineering are highly mathematical, and you’ll need to obtain a strong math background, multivariate calculus, differential equations, etc. It may be difficult to find sufficiently rigorous courses in community college, at least judging by some of the horror stories I’ve heard (students in a linear algebra class who didn’t know how to calculate the volume of a cube, etc.). That doesn’t make it impossible, it’s just not the optimum course for engineering, physics, and mathematics, which are among the most rigorous courses of study.
When all is said and done, engineering school is probably your best option, leading as it does directly to all of the fields in which you’ve expressed interest.

]]> http://www.torsey.com/blog/what-is-the-college-path-to-look-into-for-becoming-an-engineer/comment-page-1/#comment-486 Splendid Irony Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:26:45 +0000 http://www.torsey.com/blog/what-is-the-college-path-to-look-into-for-becoming-an-engineer/#comment-486 Information on becoming an engineer: Check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics www.bls.gov Search engineering and it has info on what each type does, what they get paid etc. What your best suited for has to do with what you are more interested in. As for college path: I preface this with I graduated from a school that has one of the best programs in the country (University of Rochester) I wasn't in the program but had a lot of friends that were. Their schedules were VERY rigid. When they registered freshmen year they were given a packet with their classes for their entire college career with room for one elective every few semesters. My school wasn't keen on taking community college credits and it would be impossible to graduate as an engineer on time having spent two years somewhere else. Other schools that aren't as highly ranked may be more flexible. The easiest way to go about that is looking at the programs each school offers, talking the department about how it would be to transfer from a community college. It might work out to be cheaper to not go to community college if it's going to make you spend an extra year in the 4 year school. Information on becoming an engineer:
Check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov
Search engineering and it has info on what each type does, what they get paid etc.
What your best suited for has to do with what you are more interested in.
As for college path:
I preface this with I graduated from a school that has one of the best programs in the country (University of Rochester) I wasn’t in the program but had a lot of friends that were.
Their schedules were VERY rigid. When they registered freshmen year they were given a packet with their classes for their entire college career with room for one elective every few semesters. My school wasn’t keen on taking community college credits and it would be impossible to graduate as an engineer on time having spent two years somewhere else.
Other schools that aren’t as highly ranked may be more flexible. The easiest way to go about that is looking at the programs each school offers, talking the department about how it would be to transfer from a community college. It might work out to be cheaper to not go to community college if it’s going to make you spend an extra year in the 4 year school.

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