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Civil Vs. Mechanical Engineering

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smooticus
Posts: 1798 - Karma: 27
hows it going NS. So I am currently a freshman going towards a bs in environmental engineering, and I am not really liking all the science. I want to change my major but I am just stuck between mechanical and civil engineering. I was set on mechanical for a while but now that I really need to choose i am torn. I like mechanical because it is so broad, and the salaries are generally more than civil. But I like civil because I think I would like to focus on the project managment side of engineering. I know its a personal decision, but if anyone has any insight on the pros and cons of the two it would be much appreciated.
May 12 2011 4:53PM
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moarplease
Posts: 293 - Karma: 15
they are both demanding however civil is slightly easier.  They both have their core class flowchart so just look at that and make your decision.  Im personally a junior in chemical engineering and i have close friends that are doing civil and mech. So ya just look at future flowchart and see what classes may interest you more
May 12 2011 4:57PM
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1337
Posts: 31039 - Karma: 29,013
My dad is a project manager and chemical engineer, its definitely not a bad paying job. I'd suggest mechanical though, but only because that's what i'm looking to go into and I think its the coolest (besides aerospace)
May 12 2011 4:59PM
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the.cheat
Posts: 2859 - Karma: 171
im looking to go into mechanical. if you're in ny, you may know what i mean by im in the pltw program, im just really naturally inclined to design things. but not stuff like roads and such
May 12 2011 5:09PM
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Rossberger
Posts: 768 - Karma: 168
I'm looking into mechanical engineering as well, although I have a long way to go. Sorry to threadjack, but what jobs are usually entitled to mechanical engineers? I've looked into it and most of what I see is they design cars, factories equipment, and other industrialized things.
May 12 2011 5:20PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
Good job getting out of environmental.

I would do Mechanical. Very broad and you can do Civil work if you want to. Civil is generally easier.
May 12 2011 5:35PM
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Pow.yuHdig*
Posts: 1903 - Karma: 146
nerds breed nerds who woulda figured
May 12 2011 5:45PM
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smooticus
Posts: 1798 - Karma: 27
Ya the whole "easier" thing is tempting, but the last thing i want to do is make a decision based on that. To what degree can a mechanical do civil work though. I would like to be able to work in more of the construction and structure design field if possible, although managment is my goal.
May 12 2011 5:56PM
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yuck
Posts: 8384 - Karma: 2,090
haha to add to the trend, i am doing mechanical next year too

but i wouldnt go and think mechanical is gonna have "less science" than environmental... the only difference really is the chemistry. which i dont really like. which is one of the reasons mechanical appeals to me.

one thing for civil though, looking far into the future: mechanical engineering will eventually be partially opted out to people in china and india. they can design shit that we can use here, or even build here.

civil, on the other hand, will never be contracted out. civil engineers design and maintain infrastructure, which will always need to be dealt with at home. so a civil eng career may be a little less risky, but i dont know how big of a difference it would make.my dad is a civil engineer and he and i go over this all the time lol

but yay engineering, in my opinion, any engineering discipline is awesome and will get you places. in most arts programs still prove it to be difficult to get a job without a M.A. after university (huge generalization there but yuo know what i mean, the B.A. is losing its cred as soooo so many people get it.) but my dad is constantly hiring engineers with a B.A. right out of university. one of the big disciplines he needs right now is water management. but thats cuz he is overseeing and designing a sewer system worth over half a billion dollars /claim

anyways i will stop talking.
May 12 2011 6:00PM
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An10a_Eng
Posts: 2505 - Karma: 28
Electrical. but if you had to chose between those two id go mechanical for sure
May 12 2011 6:27PM
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Anathema
Posts: 21048 - Karma: 5,061
electrical is ridiculously hard. aerospace is demanding. civil is relatively easy, and mech is right in the middle. i did i year of electrical and hated it. pretty much everyone i knew was aero or mech.. and pretty much everyone i knew was either the son of an engineer (and thus grew up with dad saying ENGINEERING IS THE BEST PATH FOR YOU), your stereotypical scrawny nerd, or asian.

fucking engineering is where boners go to die. if you are interested in engineering type work and want to keep doors open to other shit, go into health sciences. you can do biomedical engineering or some type of physio related course, and you'll do all the same shit as engineers but be working in a growing field, have some job security (since engineering is one of those fields where old guys with experience are the most valuable, and you wont have much of a chance to break in unless you've got a masters degree or something. shit if i had a dime for every time i met a cab driver who was an engineer who couldnt find work, i'd probably have like 7 dimes), and be able to branch off of you decide to in the future. plus, all the honeys work in health sciences. doctor chicks are HAWT.
May 12 2011 6:44PM
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tomahawk
Posts: 2006 - Karma: 53
Civil engineers make targets and Mechanical engineers make weapons. Civil is typically easier compared to Mechanical.

I'm not sure which one I'll go with, I may look into Biomedical but I didn't do all that well in chemistry but I liked it. I'm assuming Biomedical involves O chem and basically pre med req classes. Which would blow huge. so....IDK

May 12 2011 6:54PM
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zerospinskier
Posts: 4867 - Karma: 350
I did Mechanical for a couple years, and recently switched to Materials Science & Eng. I would say Civil is less demanding than Mechanical. The Civil guys take a bunch of the half semester version of the Mechanical classes. They just duck out half way through the semester, and leave the real stuff to the MEs. lol.

Mechanical just has a ton of math and physics. I lost interest after a couple years. I found Chemistry and Strengths more interesting than Dynamics and Numerical Analysis stuff, so I ditched and went MSE.

Everyone is different though, so chose what you think will be best. Then if you change your mind, there is no harm and you can switch to something else.
May 12 2011 8:04PM
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all-i-do-is=ski
Posts: 700 - Karma: 248
civil is a joke.
May 12 2011 8:57PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
I was a civil engineer and hated it. Surveying sucked and so did all my ME classes.

But I switched to bioengineering and like it a lot more.
May 12 2011 9:10PM
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H8CH
Posts: 2709 - Karma: 218
Mech Eng, Marine Eng, or Petroleum Eng... then get a job in offshore Oil and Gas - pipeline engineering, subsea engineering, installation engineering etc....

Then just get yourself ready for being paid lots to travel and have adventures...... and having a job that is akin to figuring out landing on the moon everyday... you'll make money and have a pretty great career.
It's in demand massively right now in the industry - so what does a supply shortage for high demand skills = $$$ especially in Subsea.


May 12 2011 9:26PM
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H8CH
Posts: 2709 - Karma: 218
Oh and your degree will be the hardest part of your whole career in terms of exams and knowing shit - after that, it becomes common sense, learning codes and materials and systems..... but nothing like doing hand calcs and shit.... i've forgotten most of all that...
May 12 2011 9:28PM
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BigJew
Posts: 6974 - Karma: 79
Of those, mechanical is better. Much more employable. But hands down, the most wanted engineers are still electrical. Consider it if you're good at math.
May 12 2011 9:36PM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
go industrial eng yo
May 12 2011 9:38PM
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SmokeyTheBear
Posts: 492 - Karma: 24
Anybody in aero?  I'm contemplating that route, as it seems the most interesting of all the engineering disciplines.  It might be the only thing that could pull me out of health related pipelines.
May 12 2011 9:52PM
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Bi-ShredinalGuy
Posts: 1075 - Karma: 321
my brother in in civil ingineering and i will be going into it next fall.. well my brother started our with meachanical and then switched to civil because he said the mechnanical engineering people were all dumb.. as in half of them always had a big wad of chew in their mouth or rather than saying
"umm" they would say "fughin" of course being too lazy to make the "k" sound in "fuckin"
he says that the civil engineering people seem to be much more civil haha
May 13 2011 12:26AM
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Funnel
Posts: 7808 - Karma: 1,414
For awhile I had wanted to be an engineer but after hearing that most of the kids look like they never see the light of day and just sit in a classroom I realized that it wasn't right for me. I plan on being a business or psychology major. Most-likely business with an MBA if it works out the way I want. I just have to interact with people.
May 13 2011 12:42AM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
exactly.

You guys need to understand that a degree is not a career. Sure if you get a degree in Film you can't be a mechanical engineer, but the inverse of that is far from true.

Get a mechanical engineering degree and you can literally do anything. I have friends from school who design bikes for Yeti, edit video for ski movies, and work on the space program. All ME's. They all have tons of money to burn, ski more than 40 days a year, and basically live like kings. As opposed to my friends who got liberal arts degrees who are struggling to find work or are making 30k a year in a job with little room for advancement.

Like H8CH says, its not about the material of the degree, its about proving that you can learn.

College is an investment, a lot of people learn that the hard way. Everyone, and I mean everyone should at least make their best attempt to get a degree in mechanical engineering. College will literally fly by, and then you have the rest of your life. Hopefully that will give you some motivation to study.
May 13 2011 9:46AM
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1337
Posts: 31039 - Karma: 29,013
The degree pays for itself, work hard play hard
May 13 2011 10:17AM
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dan.b
Posts: 866 - Karma: 10

im a civil engineer and yes its easier (no thermodynamic, electro-magnetism etc...) but dont expect it to be a walk in the park. you have to the same math course (and depending on the place you go it can be a pain in the ass) and project course while not as hard can be really time consuming. but really the best thing to do is to look at the kind of project you want to work in. when we think of civil engineering, we usually think of structural engineer but there's a lot more like geotechnical engineering, hydro-power or simply working in construction.

May 13 2011 10:28AM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
Completely disagree.

Some people will hate ME, like me. Find the engineering degree that you think you will enjoy. Not the one that will make you the most money in the end because all engineering degrees all have pretty decent pay rates.
May 13 2011 1:38PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
What are you doing?
May 13 2011 1:43PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
Bioengineering hopefully to be an environmental engineer.
May 13 2011 1:44PM
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disastertourism
Posts: 2402 - Karma: 135
my brother did civil engineering in Uni.
He failed his first year, then did resits, failed them, then redid the year, failed, did resits, failed again.

Now he's a bum on the dole
(y)
May 13 2011 1:52PM
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Gnarshred
Posts: 5670 - Karma: 18
Didn't read thread but do Mech E. Way stronger degree, and you could do most civil shit with it anyway I'm sure.
May 13 2011 1:59PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
But in terms of ME vs Civil. Defiantly go ME...Civil sucks and ME seems like it be way more interesting.
May 13 2011 2:04PM
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Gnarshred
Posts: 5670 - Karma: 18
This times a million hahahahah Electrical Engineering is going to leave me impotent I'm pretty sure haha
May 13 2011 2:06PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
You could be an environmental engineer with a mechanical degree. Why limit yourself?
May 13 2011 2:29PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
I really don't like the ME classes.
May 13 2011 2:33PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
Fight through them, it will be worth it.
May 13 2011 2:53PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
I shouldn't really say mechanical is the only way. If you have a dream and know what you want to do go for it.

I know that I didn't, and still really don't know what I eventually want to do. To this 90% of people who would normally get an english or business degree, go get a ME degree. Then you can do whatever you want after you get out of college.

People who say the classes are too hard, or they want to have a social life are pussies quitters.
May 13 2011 2:56PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
In their defense most of the people I know who are business majors couldn't do calculus or even begin to comprehend statics to save their lives.
May 13 2011 2:58PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
That's that attitude that America has adopted.

Learning math is absolutely essential. When a person says, "I am just not good at math" it pisses me off. You are not good at math because you never put any effort into it. I think a lot more people would learn math if we didn't celebrate mediocrity by telling everyone that they are special.

Like when a person says they are not a good test taker. No, you are just lazy.
May 13 2011 3:06PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
I like you. No homo.
May 13 2011 3:08PM
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popNfresh44
Posts: 3757 - Karma: 44
project management - do civil. I am working for a civil/construction materials consulting firm right now and I think that you would be more geared towards civil if you aren't into math and nitty gritty science.
May 13 2011 3:11PM
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wameron
Posts: 1233 - Karma: 1,220
I am torn between Elec and Mechanical but currently leaning more towards elec seeing how, in my AP Physics class at least, I understand the E&M stuff much better than most people. Anyone with actual experience regarding the two?
May 13 2011 3:17PM
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General_Ripper
Posts: 3327 - Karma: 189
PLTW is nothing like the classes at a real school. You are better of taking AP physics and Calc to better prepare yourself
May 13 2011 3:23PM
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General_Ripper
Posts: 3327 - Karma: 189
There is high demand but Its not so easy to get in that field without experience. (well from my job searches it seems that way)
May 13 2011 3:25PM
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Land12Shark
Posts: 72 - Karma: 10
Im studying civil engineering right now at UNH and in the beginning I was trying to decide between mechanical and civil. Civil to me just seemed more interesting in the end. Not going to get into an argument about which is better but let me know if you have any questions.
May 13 2011 3:34PM
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RubberSoul
Posts: 11249 - Karma: 14,642
either way, it's gonna be a tough time so you should help give yourself a head start now. start practicing things like talking about how hard your homework is more than anything else, acting like people who don't do math jobs are retarded, and just being a general douche. you don't pick that shit up in a day. perfect them now so you can hit the ground running once youre at school
May 13 2011 3:37PM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
ahaha on point
May 13 2011 3:49PM
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chapz
Posts: 10182 - Karma: 66
im in my second year mechanical and im loving it, my second choice was electrical. i did e&m in cegep (live in quebec) and did super well. i had an intro course to electricity in university last year and it was much harder. if you know ac circuits and phasors youll be ok, but its a concept that is way too confusing for me so im happy i stuck with mechanical.

to op, you can still be a project manager or something along those lines even if youre in mechanical. im doing an mba after i get my b.eng and am probably going to do something more business related rather than just engineering.
May 13 2011 3:49PM
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General_Ripper
Posts: 3327 - Karma: 189
hater
May 13 2011 4:16PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
Engineer hate is fun. But it is somewhat true. 90% of the kids in my classes are arrogant dicks who I could never get along with.
May 13 2011 4:46PM
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406
Posts: 2302 - Karma: 92
electrical is really fun and interesting, not to hard if you like your classes and professors.

im gonna make big subwoofers with my degree
May 13 2011 4:57PM
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Edew19
Posts: 365 - Karma: 13
I have an AE degree but I work as a Mechanical Engineer.  In my experience the aero classes are more interesting than mech classes and the class sizes are smaller.  That's a big advantage because it will keep you focused and motivated.  Also if you are even remotely interested in getting into the aerospace/defense industry, go with aero.  You will still most likely work as a mech e but "Aero" stands out on a resume more than mech does.  Aeros can also do any job a mech can do.




May 13 2011 6:15PM
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