My nephew is a freshman engineering student at A&M. He is taking general engineering classes

at the moment, but he has to make a decision sometime next year what type of engineering

to study. How did you engineers decide which type of engineering to study? He seems

to be interested in robotics so mechanical or electrical engineering would make sense

with supporting CS courses. I would appreciate any input.

He will have a course that introduces him to what the different engineering disciplines do. It will also include some video from some (maybe all) of the TEES centers talking about what different majors do.

There is also a new degree program, "Multidisciplinary Engineering Technology" that aims to focus on areas you are talking about. Traditionally you had to really tweak (and hope for openings) your schedule and maybe take on a minor to do what this degree does.

The degree is in direct response to industry need/demand. I do not know too much else about it because it is really new.

https://engineering.tamu.edu/etid/mxet/index.html

Thanks Koko. It has been a long time since I was there. That is indeed an interesting

link for my nephew. He is just taking basics right now so he is not so far along.

I have heard of mechatronics, but I don't know much about it.

SwissAgg

Your nephew will go through a process called ETAM (Apply To A Major) in April. Decisions are released around the end of June. On the application to apply to a major, he will list his top 3 and up to 5, preferred majors. He will have to earn his way to getting into the major he wants, not just merely listing it.

This explains ETAM https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/entry-to-a-major/index.html

The analysis of Spring 2017 shows what it takes to earn a spot in each major. Understand that a cumalative 3.5 GPA gets him into his first choice major automatically. The analysis is for everyone who had less than a 3.5 cumulative GPA and they undergo holistic review for the major. https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/entry-to-a-major/resources/analysis-spring-2017-admission-cycle/index.html

Cumulative GPA and Engineering Core GPA are considered. If Mechanical Engineering is his preference, as you see from the analysis, below a 3.0 cumulative GPA did not gain entry to MechE as well as the lowest GPA for the Engineering Core classes was 2.79.

All students are encouraged to see their advisor in Spring, prior to applying to a major so that they can apply for majors that suit their qualifications.

Good luck to your nephew. It is a very hard program and the first year can be tough on a lot of Freshmen. Tell him to hang in there. If he doesn't satisfy the requirements to get into a major in Spring, he will have other chances in Fall of the next year and even again in Spring of his Sophomore year. https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/resources/fourth-semester-general-engineering-students.html

3in33 said:

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https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/entry-to-a-major/resources/analysis-spring-2017-admission-cycle/index.html

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I'm honestly surprised that I don't see any 4.0s in those lists. Is the entry level course load for engineering students really that hard? I'd expect at least 1 to pop up in ChemE and maybe BioMed.

3in33 said:

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SwissAgg

Your nephew will go through a process called ETAM (Apply To A Major) in April. Decisions are released around the end of June. On the application to apply to a major, he will list his top 3 and up to 5, preferred majors. He will have to earn his way to getting into the major he wants, not just merely listing it.

This explains ETAM https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/entry-to-a-major/index.html

The analysis of Spring 2017 shows what it takes to earn a spot in each major. Understand that a cumalative 3.5 GPA gets him into his first choice major automatically. The analysis is for everyone who had less than a 3.5 cumulative GPA and they undergo holistic review for the major. https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/entry-to-a-major/resources/analysis-spring-2017-admission-cycle/index.html

Cumulative GPA and Engineering Core GPA are considered. If Mechanical Engineering is his preference, as you see from the analysis, below a 3.0 cumulative GPA did not gain entry to MechE as well as the lowest GPA for the Engineering Core classes was 2.79.

All students are encouraged to see their advisor in Spring, prior to applying to a major so that they can apply for majors that suit their qualifications.

Good luck to your nephew. It is a very hard program and the first year can be tough on a lot of Freshmen. Tell him to hang in there. If he doesn't satisfy the requirements to get into a major in Spring, he will have other chances in Fall of the next year and even again in Spring of his Sophomore year. https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/resources/fourth-semester-general-engineering-students.html

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Thanks for the information. I didn't realize that you had to apply to a major. When I was there, this was not

the case. I don't remember any GPA restrictions when I was there, but that was '87-91.

The first year curriculum for me was challenging but not super challenging.

Howdy SwissAgg
The ETAM process began in 2014, and I went through it in the second year it existed.
Actually kind of nice because it takes some of the pressure of "choosing your career in high school" off the table, and the ENGR 102 class is designed to give you an intro to all the fields available (something north of 19 (A-whoop) majors I believe?)
Now as a senior ME major, I can look back at the freshman classes and see how much better they've gotten since when I took them.
Tell your freshman student to not stress, and stay on top of those essays for ETAM. My problem was I waited until finals week to write them... whoops.