In addition to working on projects as cool as building rollercoasters, engineers solve problems that are important to society. They help control and prevent pollution, develop new medicines, create advanced technologies, and sometimes even explore new worlds.
Graduates who go into engineering have much higher starting salaries than other college grads with bachelor's degrees. The world is always in need of people like engineers, who solve problems and discover new ways of doing things.
Julie Smith Mechanical Engineer, United States Patent Office
When Julie Smith was eight years old, her dad gave her a plastic model V-8 engine for Christmas. Although she had no idea what it was, she enjoyed putting it together. From then on, she became interested in how and why things worked.
Julie now has a degree in mechanical engineering and works in the automotive division of the United States Patent Office. (A patent protects a new idea or invention - it means that no one else can make, use or sell that invention without permission.) When a company or a person applies for a patent, Julie researches the invention. If it is a new and useful idea or makes an old idea better, she can issue a patent on that invention. New inventions in cars help make vehicles safer and cheaper.
