I just graduated high school and I'm leaving for college pretty soon. I'll be studying some branch of engineering in college. I like to learn things in advance or at least get some background information before starting to study something in school. I live near a university with a library that has a good amount of engineering books and I took AP Physics and AP Calculus BC last year. I think I have almost everything I need to begin studying engineering, but I don't really know much about the field in general or where to start. Here are my questions: (1) What is the difference between the different branches of engineering like civil, mechanical, systems, nuclear, etc? (2) Where should I begin to study? What topics are basic to engineering? Thanks in advance.

Hello. I am a junior majoring in Electrical Engineering. I dont know to much about other universities engineering programs but i might be able give you some general advice about majoring in electrical engineering.

What you can expect:
Electrical Engineering related Courses: Electric Circuits/ciuitDigital Logic, Signals and Systems/Discrete Systems---> signal processing, Electromagnetic Theory, Engineering oriented Programming( C,C++, Java,etc.). Semiconductor Materials Electronic circuitry centered around BJT, diode, amplifiers, etc., Maybe statics and dynamics,an additional programming/design related course, Senior Design(creation of some kind of piece of hardware or software, or brand new engineering principle. At the end the student is usually required to present his/her work). Most of the

Math that will help to solve problems in some of those subjects:
Calculus(Limits- Differentiation- Antiderivatives (Integrals)-Tecniques of integration - Application of Integrals- multi Integrals-partial derivatives)
Differential equations and Statistics.


A advice from me to you. Try to network, work with other students ( students in particular) and ask questions. Dont just take any teacher.
It might be better for you to take the courses you are good at and the other at a later date. If you were to gate a bad grade at the beginning of your college carrer It would damage your grade point average more if you get a bad grade at the beginning. Dont try to follow the college course book point by point. You have to find out what you can and can't do.


I can also try to explain each of the subjects to you in greater detail if you want.

What engineering-related classes did you take as a freshman?

When I took it
freshmen: advanced calc, physics, chem, a lab class, and humanities.
sophmore: advanced labs, systems, energy, humanities, materials, (and a class for your major)

Since you sound to be pretty down pat with your calc, I'd start looking at the systems stuff. It's generally more applicable and more interesting, and is the basis for control systems/simulations in just about every field.

Question for Engineers
you might also want to ask here
www.eng-tips.com/

What kinds of topics are covered by a systems class and what are some good books about it?

Hey industrial engineering or manufacturing systems engineering is all about systems. ;)

If you haven't taken any stat courses you could start checking it out.

Here (http://www.arenasimulation.com/) is a simulation package we learned in my senior year. Had to know a lot of stat stuff to use it.

Not sure what to tell you really, as most of this stuff you work out for yourself once you start getting a feel for your classes, etc.

What kinds of topics are covered by a systems class and what are some good books about it?Depends where you take it. some places roll in stats and/or matrix math as a major part.

The basics involve taking what you learned in calc and usingit in a simplified (but somehow more complex) way. I honestly didn't remember what fell under which classes, so I got a link off one of my co-ops:
http://dflwww.ece.drexel.edu/e4/index.php?action=tdec_display;page=tdec221/index.php

Funny enough, they're still using the same book (different version):
William Boyce and Richard Diprima
Elementary Differential Equations, Course Advanced Edition

It's really not all that complicated once you get the basics down. It's mixing different levels of differentiation into the same equation (which you may have also done in calc).

I think I have almost everything I need to begin studying engineering, but I don't really know much about the field in general or where to start. Here are my questions: (1) What is the difference between the different branches of engineering like civil, mechanical, systems, nuclear, etc? (2) Where should I begin to study? What topics are basic to engineering? Thanks in advance.

Here are 2 sites that helped me when i was deciding in an engineering major.

http://www.nyu.edu/cas/Academic/Programs/engineering/Info/Check_List.html

http://www.careercornerstone.org/forstudents.htm

I think there is alot of excitement in all the engineering fields. Pick one you are most interested in. You dont want to be stuck with skills that will lead you to an unhappy career.
I ended up choosing Civ. Eng. Better choice for me, I like the outdoors.