Got accepted into UIUC mechanical engineering and want to know what it's like. Tell me about the academics, the material, the careers, or whatever comes to mind--any info is appreciated
>>16797383
Did 2y of ME before I went math.
Industrial design, drawing blueprints, materials, control theory were fun. I didn't like physics very much and couldn't wrap my head around screw theory, solid mechanics and deformation etc. which is half of why I went to math instead (prettier and makes more sense to me, I hate how math is brought up in physics).
The other half being that I was stressed as fuck, 35h of classes/week with at least as much personal work expected, 3 tests a week on average including oral examinations (1h on a whiteboard with 2 classmates each one with a problem to solve on the spot while a prof is trying to break you). I saw friends crying from stress or being pushed too far by a prof, and 6 months in and onward there wasn't a week without someone "joking" about suicide or considering suicide methods "for the sake of the argument". It's a miracle we only ended up with one guy in a wheelchair. Eventually I completely broke down in psychotic depression and transferred to math at another, less elitist place, and it took me 3y to not be impaired by anxiety triggers anymore.
The last part probably doesn't apply to you, but I'm just letting you know some places really are fucking toxic. Probably taints my view of ME more than it should. But I learned a LOT of stuff that I still remember and I'm grateful for that. I didn't even know how a car engine worked before... Overall in my opinion ME has a lot of variety and if tearing apart a gearbox, learning about what goes into steel alloys, or figuring out the required diameter of a drive shaft for a particular application sounds fun to you, you'll probably have a good time.
I don't know much about careers for obvious reasons but my understanding is that depending on what you specialize in, anything industrial needs some ME people.
