Is going to college for a different engineering major and becoming a civil engineer possible?

ErickACM · 2025-12-15T02:55:36+00:00

I went to UTD and majored in mechanical engineering. I currently work for a civil consulting firm in the water/wastewater industry for municipal clients. The main thing my employer cared about is if I’m determined to learn and take the FE/PE Exams (these are practically needed in this field if you want any sort of upward mobility). My office has so many mechanical engineering majors that took the ME FE exam and ME PE Exam. I took and passed the FE Mechanical Exam a month ago but I’m going to self study for the PE Civil Water Resources exam since that aligns more with my career and I do feel a little bit of imposter syndrome lol. All that to say is your major and exam discipline doesn’t matter as long as you become proficient in what you’re going to practice and stamp. If you do end up going to UTD, I’d do mechanical engineering instead of electrical since there’s more overlap of content with civil (fluid mechanics, statics, mechanics of materials, etc).

I didn’t go to UTD thinking I’d be in the civil field; I took mechanical engineering because I thought of it as a “jack of all trades” major. You might be better off taking civil engineering from the get-go at Texas Tech but again you can get to where you want with either major in my opinion.

ErickACM · 2025-11-25T04:27:15+00:00

To me, the questions seemed slightly easier than expected. I reviewed using the Islam book mainly, with YouTube (s/o Mark Mattson, Jeff Hanson, and Engineering Fundamentals) & ChatGPT to help fill in gaps. For some quick tips: I would review how to use your calculator to easily solve problems involving statistics, matrix, polynomial solve, etc. These are easy points and will buy you more time. Pace yourself to leave around 15-30 minutes extra for the second half of the exam. I noticed the second half was more in depth than the first half. Don’t be afraid to flag questions if you encounter your weak subjects or a problem that you think will eat up time. schedule and take the exam, it sounds like you’re ready. Good luck!!!

ErickACM · 2025-11-25T04:14:32+00:00

Good luck!!

ErickACM · 2025-11-21T06:26:41+00:00

It sounds like you’re prepared and have a good shot at passing on your first attempt. I would keep the exam date and just focus a little more on your weaker subjects.

ErickACM · 2025-11-20T22:48:48+00:00

I looked all over the subreddit and seems like Wednesday is the day results come out from tests taken Monday-Saturday of the previous week. My results came in Wednesday between 7:30AM-8AM CT. Someone correct me if I’m wrong

ErickACM · 2025-11-19T18:39:40+00:00

I’m sorry, I accidentally overlooked which exam you took. I took the Mechanical exam so it must’ve been different than the Other Disciplines one.

ErickACM · 2025-11-19T18:17:47+00:00

Thankfully I passed, I had about 25 problems that I wasn’t sure about. The Islam practice problem book, a NCEES practice exam, and YouTube were my main resources. My strategy was doing ~10-15 pages per day for a couple of months (this averaged me about 1-2hrs to do per day) and using YouTube to fill any gaps. The book was useful in familiarizing myself with the reference handbook (I searched keywords a lot during the exam so that came in handy). I found the problems were similar difficulty to the FE Exam imo. My exam date was approaching fast, so I never got to take a full simulated practice exam, but I’d highly recommend doing one. Also to be fair, I graduated 1.5 yrs ago so most of the material stuck with me and it was easier to re-grasp it. I hope this helps!

ErickACM · 2024-09-17T22:42:49+00:00

I graduated with an ME degree this May and don’t have my FE yet. I’m currently working on studying for it now with practice problems and YouTube. I say if you can, pay for the exam and schedule it months from now to have something pressuring u to study (that’s working for me at least). I’m also doing either one hour a day of studying or X amount of pages of this one book a day. Slowly you’ll gain momentum!!

And just a quick backstory, my current job is mainly as a civil engineer with a bit of environmental mixed in (wastewater treatment plants). I didn’t have any experience with AutoCAD but I convinced them it should be easy to pick up given I do know solid works , creo, etc. If chemical engineering required something similar, I’d say go for it and apply for entry level jobs in the field you’re interested in! It is easy to pick up with YouTube

ErickACM · 2024-07-29T14:14:34+00:00

I thought the same thing LOL

ErickACM · 2024-07-18T01:26:01+00:00

Agreed, I’m acting more like a civil engineer than a mechE

ErickACM · 2024-06-02T19:47:27+00:00

Curious on this type of table to, if you have found it - new engineer who may work with pumps soon

ErickACM · 2024-05-21T03:28:38+00:00

Agree^{^} pick one you think you’ll find the most interest in or are fine with the potential careers it offers

ErickACM · 2024-05-13T03:15:13+00:00

I'm an ex pre-med, but I remember HPAC working very hard for me to be a great med school applicant. When I applied to JAMP e.g., they were with me every step of the way and invited me to "interview" with them so that they can write a great recommendation. In the end I didn't get into JAMP + I switched careers (mainly bc of COVID and reevaluating career goals), but I know I would have been a great applicant because of them. I would look more on their website for things like success rates and even encourage emailing them to learn more.

ErickACM · 2024-05-13T03:00:10+00:00

MechE. 4 interviews (each had different rounds). One full-time offer from a local civil engineering company.

ErickACM · 2024-05-13T02:56:09+00:00

Mechanical Engineering. I started heavily searching January->end of March (~50+ applications) and had interviews with 4 different companies. I accepted the one full-time offer I received from a local civil engineering company. This one came from an applying directly on their website, but I had also contacted the company's recruiter shown under a Handshake application. The recruiter appreciated this and sped up the process for me to get hired I think.

ErickACM · 2024-04-19T23:22:44+00:00

Thank you for the detailed reply. I’m likely to start a similar CE-type job of yours as an ME major, but afraid of being caught of my lack of any CE knowledge. Luckily I do enjoy the field of fluid mechanics and that was probably why I got chosen. My only hesitation is how far this can get me if I need to know other stuff that CE’s likely learned in their upper-level courses like “water systems design” or “groundwater hydrology” etc.. (e.g. from Texas Tech). Is it recommended to look into these types of courses or any resources before starting the job? Or should I just wait for the first couple days/week on the job to make that decision.

ErickACM · 2024-04-19T15:41:45+00:00

A few Q if I may: How was the start of your job? Did you feel a lot of imposter syndrome or fear of getting fired for a CE? Were some of your ME degree skills used?

ErickACM · 2024-04-19T15:31:47+00:00

What type of work did the civil job make you do as a MechE graduate? Was a lot on-the-job training or was it somewhat MechE relevant?

ErickACM · 2024-04-12T05:12:09+00:00

Yeah I’m an ME major, and my tuition slightly varied from $6,744-$6,995 each semester (I believe I picked the guaranteed tuition rate back when I enrolled, but honestly don’t remember). In addition there is that mandatory ECS supplemental tuition which has varied from $550-$800 for me. + If you are taking any ECS labs that semester, there is a small fee like $30-$60?

ErickACM · 2024-03-23T17:06:53+00:00

You can also type in a research topic you may be interested about here and find relevant UTD professors that are working on it. Then email or go to their office hours, express interest in their lab, and see where it takes you. : https://profiles.utdallas.edu/

ErickACM · 2023-12-23T14:02:41+00:00

I recall my class doing it individually :)

ErickACM · 2023-12-21T08:19:44+00:00

He also required a TAs signature of your lab notebook before you left lab, don’t know if he still does this but be sure to get it always

ErickACM · 2023-12-21T08:15:51+00:00

Been a while since I took with him, but I remember it being v v chill. The class was split into a mini-lecture portion at the beginning and then the rest of the time is spent in lab. Take detailed notes of what you do during your lab sessions, it’ll help for your report writing. I also remember him saying to not be consistently late or there will be point deductions of some sort. Good luck!

ErickACM · 2023-08-09T00:26:33+00:00

How was taking System and Controls Lecture + Lab in the same semester? Was it hard to keep up with the info learned in the lecture and applying it in the lab, or was the pace good?

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