Discussion Thread

In August of 2016, I was another freshmen at The Ohio State University looking forward to a major in mechanical engineering. My inspiration for this was from the club I was attending in high school. As the first and second year passed, however, I realized civil engineering was a branch that allowed for more versatility in career emphasis through focus on other interests of mine, like energy resources and the environment. 

As that time passed, I considered getting a minor. I finished up an Environmental and Natural Resources Scholar's program in two years, so after looking at minors in Spanish, economics and surveying, I noticed statistics was available and offered an introduction to the master's programs I was considering.

What made you decide on civil engineering and what else did you focus on along the way?



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Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
granato.3@...
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I decided to take civil engineering because of my interest in planning and in the future to contribute to the innovation of the communities and related issues here in my country. 

While I am currently a third year, who has interest in the industry of Oil and Natural Gas industry, consulting firms, managerial jobs of engineering, and yes study another language that could help me if I decide to work abroad where people do not speak English. I once wanted also to add some architectural courses like interior designs and another one considering the economics and laws too. 

Since 20th century multiple careers is the new trend but yet more educated from this era but most likely underpaid as social media quirk. 

But as long you as you think it requires your goal (like getting into politics, starting own firm, etc), there's no wrong for elevating your career, it's more beneficial to you yet hard. 

Best of luck


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Llala Chrishaye Ocampo S.M.ASCE
Student
City of General Trias Cavite
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-27-2021 02:08 PM
From: Alexander Granato
Subject: Majors and Minors While Getting Your Degree

In August of 2016, I was another freshmen at The Ohio State University looking forward to a major in mechanical engineering. My inspiration for this was from the club I was attending in high school. As the first and second year passed, however, I realized civil engineering was a branch that allowed for more versatility in career emphasis through focus on other interests of mine, like energy resources and the environment.

As that time passed, I considered getting a minor. I finished up an Environmental and Natural Resources Scholar's program in two years, so after looking at minors in Spanish, economics and surveying, I noticed statistics was available and offered an introduction to the master's programs I was considering.

What made you decide on civil engineering and what else did you focus on along the way?



------------------------------
Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
<maskemail>granato.3@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

When I was in undergrad, most of my time was committed to completing my minimum requirements for a BS in Civil Engineering. It was very difficult to cram in a minor when we were already taking 7 classes a semester in certain years, but certain students did manage to do it, though some at the cost of an extra semester or two. There was actually considerable confusion at one point in my class regarding if we were receiving one degree in Civil Engineering, two degrees, in both Civil and Environmental Engineering, or a degree titled "Civil and Environmental Engineering". (It turned out to be the first one, regardless if you took a bunch of environmental electives or a bunch of civil electives). Personally, I found that I was drawn to water and the environment more than structures and soils. 

I don't have a lot of experience in this area. With that in mind, I would say a minor of any sort is worth your time if you have genuine interest in it and can afford the time and money commitments. Particularly if any of the coursework will teach you something you can apply in industry afterward. Programming is always the first one that comes to mind for me.

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Christopher Seigel P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineer
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-27-2021 02:08 PM
From: Alexander Granato
Subject: Majors and Minors While Getting Your Degree

In August of 2016, I was another freshmen at The Ohio State University looking forward to a major in mechanical engineering. My inspiration for this was from the club I was attending in high school. As the first and second year passed, however, I realized civil engineering was a branch that allowed for more versatility in career emphasis through focus on other interests of mine, like energy resources and the environment.

As that time passed, I considered getting a minor. I finished up an Environmental and Natural Resources Scholar's program in two years, so after looking at minors in Spanish, economics and surveying, I noticed statistics was available and offered an introduction to the master's programs I was considering.

What made you decide on civil engineering and what else did you focus on along the way?



------------------------------
Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
<maskemail>granato.3@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

Hello Christopher,

I have also taken environmental electives close to the end of my major in Civil Engineering. On an unrelated note, however, I also considered getting a minor to manipulate when I would graduate.

When I settled into Civil Engineering, I used pdfs and an Excel spreadsheet to plan out my classes years in advance. To that end, I realized I was going to graduate after 4.5 years. Having a minor that involved making space for it each semester for two years switched that up to 5 years, allowing me to take the two-semester capstone class after most of my electives and make the shift from undergraduate to graduate college over just a summer.

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Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
granato.3@...
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2021 07:21 PM
From: Christopher Seigel
Subject: Majors and Minors While Getting Your Degree

When I was in undergrad, most of my time was committed to completing my minimum requirements for a BS in Civil Engineering. It was very difficult to cram in a minor when we were already taking 7 classes a semester in certain years, but certain students did manage to do it, though some at the cost of an extra semester or two. There was actually considerable confusion at one point in my class regarding if we were receiving one degree in Civil Engineering, two degrees, in both Civil and Environmental Engineering, or a degree titled "Civil and Environmental Engineering". (It turned out to be the first one, regardless if you took a bunch of environmental electives or a bunch of civil electives). Personally, I found that I was drawn to water and the environment more than structures and soils.

I don't have a lot of experience in this area. With that in mind, I would say a minor of any sort is worth your time if you have genuine interest in it and can afford the time and money commitments. Particularly if any of the coursework will teach you something you can apply in industry afterward. Programming is always the first one that comes to mind for me.

------------------------------
Christopher Seigel P.E., M.ASCE
Civil Engineer

Original Message:
Sent: 05-27-2021 02:08 PM
From: Alexander Granato
Subject: Majors and Minors While Getting Your Degree

In August of 2016, I was another freshmen at The Ohio State University looking forward to a major in mechanical engineering. My inspiration for this was from the club I was attending in high school. As the first and second year passed, however, I realized civil engineering was a branch that allowed for more versatility in career emphasis through focus on other interests of mine, like energy resources and the environment.

As that time passed, I considered getting a minor. I finished up an Environmental and Natural Resources Scholar's program in two years, so after looking at minors in Spanish, economics and surveying, I noticed statistics was available and offered an introduction to the master's programs I was considering.

What made you decide on civil engineering and what else did you focus on along the way?



------------------------------
Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
<maskemail>granato.3@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

I went into college pretty sure I wanted to major in Civil Engineering (shout out to the high school engineering camp at Missouri S&T), but I was still thinking I may want to be a teacher. One of the engineering college advisors recommended I start in Civil because, if I changed my mind, the engineering basic science and math classes would satisfy the requirements of the education college, but the education classes wouldn't satisfy engineering requirements. That made sense to me, so I started in Civil. I never had a desire to switch out of Civil. 

Since I came into college with 45 hours of credit from AP courses, I had room to add extras without necessarily extending my degree program. I decided to add a Spanish minor my freshman year. Then I added a math minor. Then I changed my Spanish minor to a Spanish major. Finally, I changed my Spanish major to a full BA. I also completed all the Honors College requirements for earning honors degrees. In the end, I took 5 years to graduate along with a lot of my peers from my matriculation class. I was also able to use my tuition scholarship for my 5th year which is why I wasn't concerned about technically extending my program by a year. 

If I could do it again, I'd skip the math minor. It turns out my love of math ends at Differential Equations and does not continue into Linear Algebra or it's evil cousin, Intermediate Differential Equations (which is linear algebra with Differential Equations instead of numbers in the matrices).

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Heidi C. Wallace, P.E., M.ASCE
Tulsa, OK
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-27-2021 02:08 PM
From: Alexander Granato
Subject: Majors and Minors While Getting Your Degree

In August of 2016, I was another freshmen at The Ohio State University looking forward to a major in mechanical engineering. My inspiration for this was from the club I was attending in high school. As the first and second year passed, however, I realized civil engineering was a branch that allowed for more versatility in career emphasis through focus on other interests of mine, like energy resources and the environment.

As that time passed, I considered getting a minor. I finished up an Environmental and Natural Resources Scholar's program in two years, so after looking at minors in Spanish, economics and surveying, I noticed statistics was available and offered an introduction to the master's programs I was considering.

What made you decide on civil engineering and what else did you focus on along the way?



------------------------------
Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
<maskemail>granato.3@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

I initially focused on a mathematics minor simply because I realized I only needed to take 2 more high level math courses to have it, but I dropped each math class I took each semester, stopped chasing a minor, and focused solely on civil engineering. I had interest in urban planning so I did take some courses on that and neighborhood revitalization, but because I felt like I "burned" myself chasing after a math minor, I decided not to pursue anything with urban planning.

Hindsight today with my involvement in DE&I in the community and goals of entrepreneurship, I wish I would have pursued a business minor and a communications minor. As much flack as those degrees get, I can't doubt how valuable these skills are for engineers especially if they desire to be in a visual leadership role.

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Jay Garth P.E.
Structural Engineer I
Progressive AE

EWB: An Engineering Culture Shift
Grand Rapids, MI
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-27-2021 02:08 PM
From: Alexander Granato
Subject: Majors and Minors While Getting Your Degree

In August of 2016, I was another freshmen at The Ohio State University looking forward to a major in mechanical engineering. My inspiration for this was from the club I was attending in high school. As the first and second year passed, however, I realized civil engineering was a branch that allowed for more versatility in career emphasis through focus on other interests of mine, like energy resources and the environment.

As that time passed, I considered getting a minor. I finished up an Environmental and Natural Resources Scholar's program in two years, so after looking at minors in Spanish, economics and surveying, I noticed statistics was available and offered an introduction to the master's programs I was considering.

What made you decide on civil engineering and what else did you focus on along the way?



------------------------------
Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
<maskemail>granato.3@...</maskemail>
------------------------------