OHMIGOSH!!!! Picking a major... Part 7 of 42

Rubber314Chicken

Golden Master
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5,574
So It really just struck me today that I really need to start picking a major. Why? Not all of the schools I'm considering have all the majors I'm looking at. I know for a fact I'm going to be an engineer. Its been set in stone since like the 4th grade. Now the hard part is choosing which discipline.

I'm mainly looking at chemical, civil, mechanical, and then recently I've been considering electrical, but I think that's kinda more of a 'if I got that degree I could work for the NSA, and that is totally BA' kinda thing than 'I want that degree so I can have a fun fulfilling career' kinda thing. To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty good at physical sciences (chem, physics, but not bio) and math, but I don't enjoy math like I do the sciences. I could not major in mathematics, which really makes me stray from electrical.

I really really loved chem, which makes me wanna go into chemical, but for some reason the idea of going into civil or mechanical doesn't seem that daunting. Physics is fun and all, but something about it just isn't as good as chem.

Right now on my list is the following colleges:
Cal Tech (no civil engineering)
Carnegie Mellon
Case Western Reserve
Cleveland state (which I understand has more of a mixed discipline program which I'm not sure about)
MIT
OSU
Purdue
University of Cincinatti
University of Rochchester (no civil engineering)

I've only been to visit Rochester, and from what my band teacher has said, they have a very good music program, and since you are only taking classes that you need for your major there is an off chance that I'll be able to get some drum lessons too, which is something I'd love to do (I'd be a music major if I knew I could make a living on it)

Anyways, what do you guys know about those colleges?

I want a career where I'll be making a nice chunk of change, but to be honest, I think having time outside of work to be able to have a life is almost more important. If it came between working 40 hours at $40 an hour or working 60 hours at $100 an hour I'd probably go with the 40 hours in a split second. I don't envision driving a 60K car (I think a 35K truck would be more likely), to be honest I see myself in the middle of montana or colorado or something like that, just outside a city like Colorado Springs or Missoula where in the winter you have to wake up 2 hours early so you can plow the road from you house to the city. I do NOT wanna live in an urbanized area, I wanna build my own hosue (which is again where that time outside of work comes into play) and I can't see myself on any less than 4 acres. Why this is relevant, I don't know. Anyways, I do see myself having a nicerecording studio in my (large) backyard) so money is important again.

So what do you all think about this? Please, do weight in with anything.

And where do you think a good place to get this novel published would be?

P.S. Cost of college is prohibitive. how much? I don't know, but it is.
 
That's a nice list of schools. You're definitely aiming high with MIT and CalTech. If you don't like urbanized areas you might want to consider scratching MIT off your list (you'll be in Boston). From what I've researched and heard from voluntary speakers at my school, the prestige level of the school isn't as important as getting a degree. You might make more money if you graduate from CalTech then one of the lesser schools in the list, but at the same time you may not. I would definitely say that graduating from a prestigious school would definitely help you as far as finding a job. If you're looking into Chemical Engineering I suggest Tulane University. It supposedly has a great under-grad Chem Engineering program. A good friend of mine has been offered a $96,000 scholarship there (for chem engineering) which he turned down. He's asking for a full-ride. Take a look at Michigan University and Georgia Tech. They're pretty good engineering schools.
 
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