I cannot decide what to do with my future

[Thumper]

I have been staring at my computer screen hoping I would come up with a miracle decision.
Mechanical engineering, or electrical engineering.
I cannot decide. I want to do both.
Hell, even material science/engineering sounds like it would be for me.

Ideally, I would like (in the distant future) to build a career in mechatronics. But now that I'm actually having to make a decision I just can't bring myself to decide what I want to do first (or not at all).

What are some of you guys' thoughts about these disciplines?

[ModShop]

After taking classes in both mechanical and electrical engineering (through Project Lead The Way) I personally would choose electrical engineering over mechanical, although either one would suit me fine. Where exactly are you right now that you need to make the final decision at this moment? Graduating high school? Going to college? etc...

[Thumper]

I don't need to make a decision at this very moment, but it's creeping up on me. I'm graduating high school (which is weird to me because I've been doing my senior year of high school at a nearby college), and going into college.
My biggest hobby right now is electronic tinkering. I fear that by majoring in EE I won't learn as many new things, rather, just perfecting ideas/knowledge I already have. Mechanical engineering sounds awesome too.
I think that's why I'm so keen on the idea of mechatronics, because all the disciplines i care about collide there. It's awesome. But that's not a standard discipline, because it would be information overload.

I want to do everything. ><

[DeXecipher]

Going to college your first year you may not learn too much if you've learned the basics already, but it'll definitely get harder and more interesting. your're young like i am you have time, especially to switch your majors before you are a junior. Im just focused on computer science software engineering but i learn math music theory on my own. I have multiple dreams If one doesnt work out before im 25-30 ill focus on the other. Maybe music production and cs will tie together if they don't Ill prob still sell my compositions on the side. If you are 18-19 like me you still have time but you may have to sacrfice some social aspects of life until you land where you want to be, thats me anyway.

Edit: Its not really feasible to have enough time to master more than 2 things concurrently thats why i choose 2 with a slight emphasis on the one that will provide me with a safer income. If you try to concurrently learn too much you may find yourself with superficial, junk knowledge in many areas, a defunct rennaissance man. Thats why both of my focuses are hobbies, it makes it easier to do for a living.

[ResidentBiscuit]

EE is a huge field with a lot behind it. I guarantee you'll learn a ton by studying it at a university, unless you're Tony Stark.

[ascii]

Umm... you want to study both fields and you want to go into a career that involves both fields, so why don't you study both? I know a bunch of people at my school who are studying both EE and ME and enjoying it, so I see no reason not to go for both. If double majoring is too much of a pain in the ass I would personally recommend majoring in EE and minoring (or even just taking the base courses) in ME since EE is a field that is not going away anytime soon, has good job prospects out of college and solid pay. It's ultimately up to you though, so you should definitely take your colleges intro to EE and intro to ME classes, talk to people in each major/professors in each department and decide what to do from there.

You have a lot of time to decide, so don't fret too much.

[Thumper]

Thanks for the advice guys.

@DeXecipher
You've got a good point. I can always change if I decide I prefer something else. Momentary panic is all. Everything's hitting me so fast, you know? Like, entering high school I knew this moment would come but never anticipated it.

@ResidentBiscuit
Finally, some recognition..

@ascii
You can double major..?

[ResidentBiscuit]

You can double major..?

Of course you can, for example I'm probably going to double major CS/Math just because I already have to get a ton of math for the CS degree. It's generally recommended that if you do dual major, you pick one that is somewhat close to your other major. For example, I would never pick like English as a second major just because it would take a ton of extra classes, and in turn money (not to mention what the hell would I do with an English major? Lol).

[devonrevenge]

I was really exited about electronics years ago i got quite far in an nvq lvl4, but started to get painfully bored around certain areas mainly the maths behind capacitance, i think i missed one tiny vital minute detail and the whole subject stopped making sense completely, shame i was exited about phone and radio :/

But tottaly do the mech stuff, cos you learn electronics anyway, wheres theres no mech stuff in electronics alone.

EDIT: at the time all my mates were studying art and music and having sex and going to parties and i was stuck in a room of literally 30 chavs all wanting to join the navy, some of whom were dogmatic christians, ergh XP

I forgot everything i know but the logic stuff was awesome and continued to go through the notes years later from time to time, they made me warm inside no idea why.

Dude just dont go into chefing if your hearts into engineering, thas what i learnt, (the only thing i got good at is shouting at late people and washing up oh and a little bit of cooking)

Oh yeh and you go to better parties after college anyway, let the girlies wait else you will fail everything.