Hello I am debating whether I should do a mechanical engineering or mechatronics degree.
Mechatronics seems to involve making more complex machines which are a lot closer to what I want to make as an engineer and the especially the skills i would gain in that degree are attractive to me, and I am considering going into a robotics career once I graduate but I do like how much more versatile of a degree mech eng is over mechatronics especially considering I change my mind a lot so the ability to go into basically any engineering career (including ones outside of engineering) is very valuable to me and I do know that you learn a baseline of electrical and programming in that which are the skills that might attract me towards mechatronics and you can still work in robotics as a mechanical engineer but I would like to at least help and have sizable knowledge in the electrical aspects.
However I will say that the physical building aspects of engineering are what I like most especially prototyping which I know is what mechanical engineers tend to do.
I am also considering other roles with a career in space exploration technology and building satellites and space rovers being at the top of my list but I am conscious that this a more ambitious and more of a long shot and robotics is a very close second for careers I might want to do.
I'm also going to add that I am currently studying a mechanical engineering foundation year so at the end of the year I would have baseline knowledge that would hopefully help in both fields.
Another option for me would be to do my masters in mechatronics after a bachelors in mech eng which is a good option because I wanted to do my masters regardless but I am conscious about the extra cost of doing another extra year on top of my foundation year.