Should I switch from environmental to mechanical engineering?

I am currently finishing my first year of studying environmental engineering and within the last few weeks I have come to ask myself whether it would be a smart move for me to switch to mechanical engineering. First of all it could be helpful to add that I am german and also studying in Germany as there might be some structural differences Uni wise, just to avoid any confusion. But as I'm just looking for some general advice, I hope that this won't be a problem.
At my Uni the program environmental engineering belongs to the civil engineering faculty and thus has a different focus than mechancial engineering as I can for example also switch to civil engineering for my Master's degree if I wanted to.

I have recently thought a lot about which direction I would like to orient myself thematically and then came to the conclusion that intuitively I would see myself most likely in the direction of energy technology. Although you might have thought otherwise, the energy direction is sadly only represented to a quite small extent in the environmental engineering program, which is perhaps also due to the fact that there is another bachelor's program called "sustainable raw materials and energy supply". Instead of the basics of energy technology, there are many compulsory modules on hydraulic engineering, hydrology, wastewater treatment, etc.. There is only one module that deals with the basics of electrical engineering. Now one could ask why I wouldn't like to change to electrical engineering. But that's because I'm also very interested in the mechanical part, so mechanics, thermodynamics, etc.

Now I am at the point that I don't know what to do as I also find parts of the combination of environment related topics with civil engineering sound interesting.
Generally speaking I think that mechanical engineering might be the smarter approach, as it delivers a broader spectrum of possabilites.

However, one my concerns is also that I will probably only be able to get credit for 2 of the exams I have completed during my whole first year (so just 2 out of 12), if I switch to mechanical engineering as they have some different courses and for example in mechanics probably about 20% more content compared to what we covered.

Sorry for the rather long story, but I would really appreciate any constructive help as I am really unsure whether to just continue and try to switch to something more energy related in the Master's degree, to switch to the mechanical engineering bachelor's program or maybe to "sustainable raw materials and energy supply" as I would probably be able to transfer many more credits due to similar/same courses (probably 8 out of 12).
Thanks in advance!

Reply 1

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

With energy secretor there are a number of routes you can pursue, mechanical, chemical, electrical are all going to have options.

You can also pursue greater niche areas like nuclear engineering at undergraduate level (but these tend to be more masters or PhD level).

Energy is huge and it really depends what your interests are & what you want to pursue. Almost every system in industry engineering is “energy” related so it really depends what your specifically wanting to do.

But mechanical engineering certainly can lead to opportunities & most of the major primary energy companies (shell/bp etc.) take on a wide variety of graduates but they are competitive to get into.