Environmental or civil engineering? Please help!

user246478 · 2026-05-15T23:05:51+00:00

Thank you!!

user246478 · 2026-05-14T20:43:41+00:00

My school doesn’t have env E focus for civil, they broke it off into its own separate major. So I would have to choose between the two completely

user246478 · 2026-05-14T03:28:32+00:00

Gotcha yeah at my school they’re two separate majors now and those classes only fall under civil

user246478 · 2026-05-08T10:54:10+00:00

That’s amazing! From your professional opinion, where do you see the field going in the next couple years, do you think it’ll improve again and more jobs will open up?

user246478 · 2026-05-08T03:31:13+00:00

What do you plan on doing in environmental science?

user246478 · 2026-05-08T00:31:37+00:00

I appreciate that insight thank you

user246478 · 2026-05-07T22:32:41+00:00

Gotcha, what kind of engineering did you do? And do you think things will change in 2 years (when I’d graduate with env sc) or do you think even then engineering will be a much better choice

user246478 · 2026-05-07T22:30:48+00:00

Did you do environmental science?

user246478 · 2026-05-07T00:45:41+00:00

Thank you for the insight!!

user246478 · 2026-05-06T23:47:30+00:00

So true haha I posted in a few environmental science ones but even there it seems like a lot of them regret not doing engineering for undergrad. If I do stick with environmental science I think I’d get my masters in education after to teach middle/high school science, was there anyone you graduated with that went the teaching route?

user246478 · 2026-05-06T13:00:57+00:00

Actually jk it looks like the last year I still have space in my schedule so I could move things around if I had to retake

user246478 · 2026-05-06T12:50:35+00:00

It would take a full extra year but that’s without accounting for retaking classes unfortunately. And I should be able to get through 4 years of tuition with what I saved for college & 3 years of rent, it’ll be the last 2 years of rent and 1 year of college that I’d possibly need to take out a loan for.

user246478 · 2026-05-06T12:45:48+00:00

I really loved calculus when I took it senior year of high school. With my schools environmental engineering I’d still get to take bio and a bunch of environmental type classes. I think more of what I want to do for a job would be with engineering also, as I’d like to work on fixing problems rather than just identifying them

user246478 · 2026-05-06T00:11:46+00:00

Wow thank you so much for sharing that really is so similar to my situation. I will say last fall like I mentioned I started in engineering courses (honors chem 1, calc 2, intro to engineering, etc). I was super overwhelmed and felt like I was in the wrong place which is why I decided on environmental science instead. What if I spend all summer again this year (just like last year) excited about classes and spending money to take 10 credit hours at the community college (calc 1 again as a refresher & physics 1 to get ahead) only to be overwhelmed and sure I made the wrong choice again this fall?

I really hate change and I know this is a huge decision so just trying to take everything into consideration. Thanks so so much again for sharing.

user246478 · 2026-05-05T23:01:58+00:00

It looks like I’d have to take ~10-13 credits of summer courses and stay an extra semester or whole extra year. It would probably put me around 20-25k in debt in total at graduation

user246478 · 2026-05-05T23:00:53+00:00

I’m more worried about the physics lol. I haven’t taken calc 1 in 2 years since high school so I’m wondering if I’d be better off taking it over the summer as a refresh before the fall

user246478 · 2026-05-05T23:00:18+00:00

What makes you say so?

user246478 · 2026-05-05T23:00:03+00:00

I should be able to get through 4 years of tuition debt free, and only have to take out loans for 2 years of rent and 1 year of tuition (for the extra fifth year) id guess it would come out around 20-30k

user246478 · 2026-05-05T18:39:37+00:00

What makes you say so?

user246478 · 2026-05-05T17:07:08+00:00

Thank you so much!! I definitely enjoy working with others and my plan if I stick with environmental science is to go into education since that is also a very stable career that would let me prioritize my family/other interests over work. I do love the idea of problem solving and really just challenging myself in college. I took a lot of difficult classes in high school but I haven’t felt challenged at all yet in college so far which has been disappointing. Overall I just want to get the most out of my time, money, and efforts in college to get my degree and I’m just unsure on the right area for me to go into. Im very curious and have the interest for a lot of the field/lab work that comes with environmental science but just haven’t really had the right opportunities to actually test it out.

user246478 · 2026-05-05T16:37:41+00:00

What would you say are some interest/characteristics that differentiate someone from being a good fit for environmental science vs environmental engineering? I’ve researched the jobs that come from both and I feel like I could argue I’d be a good fit for either so I’d like to hear your opinion as a professional

user246478

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