How did you decide what you want to do?

You need to consider what jobs you would like to have. Then consider what you want to do on a daily basis for work. Compare that to what people with those jobs do on a daily basis.

This is how I decided that I DIDN'T want to be an engineer. I love building things. Being involved in the entire process, from concept and design to completion. I thought I wanted to be a Civil Engineer and be a PE. I thought about all the civil engineers that I know and what they do from a day-to-day stance. Around 95% of the time they're in front of a computer or in a meeting. I didn't want to do that. I like to be out in the field, hands on, directing things. Hello Construction Science.

 

I don't know about Debt free, but if you are lucky and get scholarships, or work for the school as a TA it can help get you closer. Another thing is if you do go for Mechanical Engineering, you could get a MSME pretty much for free (if you get into a well funded lab) pretty quickly (1-2 years). This basically gives you an in depth project in a specific field (great experience if you try to find a job in the same field), so you get to use what you learned in your BS and figure out how to use it. Plus life as a grad student is pretty sweet. Hard work, but fun, and low stress. That gives you more freedom when you graduate to do design, and a little more credibility and pay. I went one step further and got my PhD. in Mech Engr. That took forever, added debt, and basically all it did was get the other PhDs where I work to stop calling me Wolowitz! haha. I learned a lot, but it probably is not necessary for engineering to get a PhD, MS is the sweet spot. Just my 2 cents.

 

I'm a CE. I'm also in the field. Meetings and computer time are all part of the job.

I do big construction jobs. Some days are better than others.

 

I never really intended to do what I am doing right now...I just kind of lucked into it as fate would have it. I used to work in the engineering field (civil) on large construction projects, I got into doing permits for jobs, did that for a while, then the company almost folded up so they laid me off. 7 or 8 months later I applied for a "Land Permitting" job with an energy company (natural gas/oil exploration), 3 years later, here I am moving up in the department, making incredible money, they paid for me to get my M.S....It just happened...I never planned it, it just fell in my lap really.

 

I also thought about being an engineering but after I took an engineering class my senior year in hs, I decided that I hated math and science and did not want to spend the rest of my life doing what I hate. So now I am majoring in criminal justice at uncc and becoming a Leo, which is my dream job.