Which Engineering Major is RIght for You?

What a daunting question to ask yourself, right? Especially if you are like me when I was a first-year engineering student- I had NO idea which engineering I wanted to do, they all seemed interesting! But no worries, girls. There are ways to figure out what’s right for you and I am going to share them with you!

My name is Jacki Guillemette and I am going to be a senior in Mechanical Engineering in Fall 2012. When I started at Penn State three years ago (wow, I feel old), I came in as Engineering Undecided. I knew that I liked math and science but to be honest I didn’t entirely know what engineers did or how they applied their skills to their jobs. After attending WEPO, I quickly found out that engineers are essentially problem solvers and they apply their engineering knowledge and skills to advance today’s world- by making and improving airplanes, trains, cars, industrial processes, gasoline, healthcare products, electrical devices, and the list goes on. Pretty much every product in our world has been engineered. My question then was, “How do I pick the right major and industry?!”

In reality, picking your major and industry are two very big issues to tackle. Most engineering majors can go into several different industries and every industry usually hires several different engineering majors. So they’re separate entities but they are also very connected. If you know an industry that you are interested in, you could always see what kind of engineers they employ and choose your major that way. To do that, you can use this link made by the Penn State Engineering Ambassadors: http://www.engr.psu.edu/ambassadors/majors/index.html.

Or you can work the other direction and choose your major first- this is what I did. To do this, you need to do a couple of things. First, attend the different “Major Nights” that will occur in the fall. The College of Engineering, your classes, or WEPO will provide information about their dates, times, and locations. These are useful information sessions where you get to learn about a specific engineering major from a professor or students in that major.

Secondly, look at the required courses and descriptions for each major (found at: http://www.engr.psu.edu/Departments/majors.aspx). This will help you tailor your major decision to the academic interests you have. For example, I am not a big fan of chemistry but I love physics. So choosing mechanical engineering over chemical engineering was probably a wise decision for me.

Jackie's WEPO '11 team playing broomball

Lastly, USE YOUR RESOURCES! You girls are going to meet SO many women engineers through WEPO that are in ALL of the majors you are considering. Talk to us, ask us questions. We all voluntarily applied to be a part of WEPO because we want to help first-year students because we were all you at one point. Take advantage of that. And if you want even more of a broad opinion, ask your professors or classmates. Talk to any other upper classmen that you meet in your residence halls or in clubs that are in engineering.

It can be scary and difficult trying to figure out the best academic path to choose. But you have time and you figure out pretty quickly what you like and dislike and that will help you in your decision. Let me know if you have any questions or just want to talk!

And most importantly, ENJOY YOUR SUMMER! 

Jackie is a Senior in Mechanical Engineering. She is a mentor for WEPO 2012.