CHR!S

Member
Jun 30, 2006
293
0
I am a student in high school aspiring to be a mechanical engineer. I am taking an engineering course at my school, and I have been assigned a project in which I must interview an engineer of a specific engineering discipline. So if you are a mechanical engineer willing to answer some questions for me, just shoot me an email, or give me an email address and I'll send you one. I would greatly appreciate it.

Email: chrisjarnutowski@yahoo.com

Thanks guys :cool:
 

Deadohiosky39

Member
Jul 12, 2008
146
0
I'm in Mechanical Engineering Technology at Purdue University. This is my third year but im sure you are looking more toward speaking to someone with a career in the field. However, I would suggest looking into the field a little bit. The MET classes i have taken have been nothing like what i thought they would be. I really don't think high school prepares students for college. I never had to study in high school and still walked out with a high GPA and top percentage of the class but am struggling in college. You really have to bust your butt around here to do well. Good Luck. What college are you planning on attending?
 
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CHR!S

Member
Jun 30, 2006
293
0
I am considering a few that are close to me in Orange County, CA
Possibly Caltech if I can make it, I'm also considering Cal Poly Pomona and UCSD.. I am only a junior so I have a little while to do some research

If you don't mind me asking, do you find the classes challenging as far as the workload, or as far as simply understanding the material?

Also, how were the courses different from your expectations?
 
B

biglou

I'm not an ME, but, I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express one night...

Anyway, ME is a great degree to have, and will open many, many doors for you. I've been fortunate enough to work with some really good ones. The Kansas farm boy types who have their degree and also know from real world experience how to fix the tractor with bailing wire, or how to chuck something up in a lathe or run a part through a mill, etc. These are the guys that you will learn from.

As far as class, it has been my experience that classtime is for lectures, and your own time is for studying and completing homework. Be careful of how much of a load you take on. If you can live at home so you won't have to work a part time job to pay rent and utilities while trying to cram in your studies, all the better. The quantity and the difficulty of the material will be substantial, but not unmanagable unless you are overloading yourself. Do what you can to put school first. If the folks are paying the bill, that would be great. If you attend classes far from home, stay in the dorm. Whatever you can do to minimize outside distractions. Now, I know, beer and girls will come into the equation, just try not to let it ruin your school life!

And, as you progress through school, look for summer intern positions with established companies. The experience you gain will be invaluable.

For now, look for "Physics 101" level books. They'll generally cover a wide variety of ideas in managable chunks and will get you thinking in the right direction. You can move up and read ahead as much as you want, and you'll be that much more prepared. And math, lots and lots of math... Two books come to mind that you should be able to handle: "Asimov on Physics" by Isaac Asimov (the science fiction writer), and "Physics for Technology", the author escapes me, but Rich knows who it is. Betts, maybe? I'll look at it later this evening. But they both present a varied group of principles and topics in near-layman's terms.
 

BadgerMan

Mi. Trail Riders
Jan 1, 2001
2,479
10
Deadohiosky39 said:
I really don't think high school prepares students for college. I never had to study in high school and still walked out with a high GPA and top percentage of the class but am struggling in college.

I think every person who has ever entered college has said the same thing.....myself included.

You really have to bust your bust (butt?) around here to do well.

Funny, that's what I said after I graduated and went to work..... ;)
 

eds_tls

Member
Aug 26, 2008
26
0
I'm not a degreed ME but I was an ME major in college. I didn't graduate for various reasons. But I'm a Lead Engineer at a fortune 200 company now, (12 years later). The engineering major got me an internship way back when and I've just moved up the ladder ever since, (and changed companies 3 times in that time and being promoted each time). You can PM me if you want.
 

danjerman

Member
Aug 15, 2000
122
0
I just graduated with a BSME in December '07 from Washington State University. I've been working in production design engineering for the past 8 months. If you have any questions, I would be glad to answer them. You can either post them in the thread, or my e-mail: danielsbrox@gmail.com.
 

SpeedyManiac

Member
Aug 8, 2000
2,378
0
I'm a degreed ME in Canada. Graduated in April 07 and have been working in the mining/smelting industry since May 07. PM me if you like.

By the way, mechanical engineering is nothing like what they advertise it as in high school...
 
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