Best UC/CSU Mechanical Engineering school

[KooLaid]

Once again my major has changed for the 4th,5th or who knows how many times in the past 9 years. This time I'm going from Liberal Studies back to Mechanical Engineering.

Based on quality of life, which school would you recommend as being the best for mechanical engineering. I haven't had a chance to tour any colleges in the past 10 years so I'm sure much as has changed.

Ex. For liberal studies, I was hoping to attend CSU Monterey Bay based upon the fact that the area is quaint, calm and really beautiful. I really wanted to live in the Pacific Grove area where I would be able to walk down or bicycle down to the beach with my 3 year old daughter every afternoon. I'm not looking for a party school experience but a place where I can wake up every morning, looking forward to looking outside my front door to a wonder morning every day before I head out to class. CSUMB would definitely be the place for me if I were to stick with Liberal Studies. So what would it's equal in terms of a school that offers Mechanical Engineering as a major?

Side note: have not completely ruled out completing my bachelors in Liberal Studies. It's just that the pay is soooooo poor for spending so much time, money and effort to pursue. I love teaching, I just REALLY can't get over the pay.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Tommy: Did you hear I finally graduated?
Richard: Yeah, and just a shade under a decade too, all right.
Tommy: You know a lot of people go to school for 7 years.
Richard: Yeah I know, they're called doctors.

:tongue::biggrin:

But seriously, are you sure you want to go back to mechanical engineering? That's quite a change, not only in material and workload, but I can't think of a bigger dichotomy. That's going to require a massive shift in the way you think and study.

Perhaps you may want to reconsider why you left Mech Eng in the first place. I'm just saying this because I've seen so many people drop out of engineering school and the last thing you want to do is burn another 3 more years. Mech Eng doesn't get any better as time goes on, so chances are if you don't like it in the first semester or you aren't cut out for it, it really isn't going to grow on you.

My only other advise regarding Mech Eng, based on my experiences, short of an MIT or Cal Tech, it really isn't going to make a huge difference which school you go to. It's really how hard you work and what you learn that will benefit you the most. Also, I probably remember 1/100th of what I learned in Mech Eng school. What it did do for me was to teach me how to think technically and instilled a wicked work ethic. It was more to break me down and lay the tools and foundation of working in the real world, rather than give me the skill set to attack the job market. Ask any ME and they'll tell you they learned more in the first month at their job then all 4 years of ME school, but they couldn't have done it without going to school first. So in other words, I would spending less consideration which school you want to go and more consideration on if this is truly the right major for you and if so, if you are willing to put the efforts that it truly demands to succeed in it.

 

[KooLaid]

Well, I gave switched from Mechanical engineering in the beginning because I got fed up with the math. There is just so much dang math! However, I don't think I could be happy with myself knowing I didn't pursue what I really wanted to do and instead just bailing out on career #2, liberal studies. Can I minor in liberal studies>????

 

[Aero]

I agree with Vegas. MechE is about as about as much Math as you can get in engineering except Aerospace Engineering.
Since you don't like math that much you might consider Industrial Engineering/Engineering Management degree. Youll still get to work on engineering related stuff and won't get into all the hard core analytical stuff. Having a Mechanical engineer degree will allow you to be more versatile across all industries though if you can suffer through the math. Once you get into your eng. classes you won't want anything to do (or have any time) for liberal studies.

 

[Miner]

It has been my experience the best ME school in Cal (Save Stanford and CalTech) is Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They produce engineers who can think and aren't afraid to work

If you want more math, go EE. Of course, outside Math majors, nobody spends more time in the math dept than engineers. I took more math courses (many repeated) my first 3 years than engineering classes. But I made it through.

Miner

 

[KooLaid]

I was hoping for less math since that was what scared me away in the beginning. I'm not bad at it, as a matter of fact, I used to LOVE math and physics.

I did hear Cal Poly SLO to be a great school, tough, but great.

I've worked for electrical engineers in the past and have done the math, drafting, planning, and design before. It just does not interest me greatly.

I've also worked with aerospace engineers when I was in satellite operations in the air force. I understand the workings of bodies in space, but never had to deal with the math involved. Just the software and hardware involved. I also have college credits in aerospace engineering. Still not much interest in that.

I have also worked for mechanical engineers, done some of the math, drafting, planning and design. It's interesting stuff. I would just like to be able to design and create something "cool" one day, maybe get my hands dirty in the development of the 2015 Acura NSX. :biggrin: