I want to be a...

[JE123]

Car Designer. Anybody know some of the best colleges for this? I was thinking about going into mechanical engineering. I am pretty sure that it has something to do with car design. Could somebody post some information on car design.

[enginerd]

Kettering University in Michigan, is the choice of schools for automotive design if you live in America. Guess where I'm going

[YogsVR4]

I live in Michigan and dont know where Kettering is. What town is it in?

[enginerd]

Flint, it was formerly known as GMI.

[YogsVR4]

Originally posted by enginerd
Flint, it was formerly known as GMI.

Now GMI I recognize! Thanks.

[JE123]

Is car design a branch of mechanical engineering?

[enginerd]

Yes and no. To make body panels that won't bend or tear and hold up for the life of the vehicle, strength of materials and other engineering disciplines are necessary. It all depends on who you work for and what they do. So to be safe, Yes.

[IntegraR0064]

Of course...

Automotive engineering is a branch of mechanical engineering. Here at Penn State, it doesn't even get it's own name...just ME with an emphasis in automotive classes. Everything about cars is described within ME...engines, strength of materials, electronics, you name it....

My last project that I just finished was a C++ simulation of a Ford engine using different airflow and fuel characteristics. If that's not cars..nothing is.

Hope that helps

[texan]

Art Center in Pasadena, CA is another great place to go. An old friend of mine graduated from there and has had a job at Volvo Advanced Concept Design in Camarillo, CA since.

[ivymike1031]

it sounds as though there is some disagreement as to what "car design" really means, and for good reason. There are many different aspects of a car that all need to be "designed."

Art school is a good place to start if you want to design the appearance of a car (sketches, clay models, etc).

Mechanical engineering is a good degree to start with if you want to get into design of the "hard" parts of a car, like the window regulators, connecting rods, etc.

Electrical engineering is a good place to start if you want to get into the design of electrical components / systems

Rather than list all the types of engineering that I can come up with, I'll just summarize by saying that almost every kind of engineering has automotive applications. The top 3 are probably mechanical, electrical, and controls.

[ivymike1031]

Originally posted by IntegraR0064
Automotive engineering is a branch of mechanical engineering.

I think there are a whole lot of automotive engineers with degrees in electrical engineering who'd disagree with you on that one.



Frederick is a nice place - what's the name of that little brewery on the main drag through the touristy area? I took my girlfriend there for dinner years ago and had some excellent crab cakes (and she had a really good chicken - yeah, it was pretty much the whole bird that they brought)

[IntegraR0064]

Originally posted by ivymike1031


I think there are a whole lot of automotive engineers with degrees in electrical engineering who'd disagree with you on that one.

That's true

As to the brewery.......not sure there are a lot of them.

[JE123]

Thanks everyone. I am going to just stick with Mechanical Engineering. If that doesn't work out I might go to a school like Wyotech or UTI. Does anybody know how much out of state tuition is at those 2 schools?

[NeoFreek]

Kettering University in Michigan looks like a great school. I want to go there after high school.

They have a web site. http://www.kettering.edu

The only reason that I might not go would be if I can't get enough money to pay for it. $40k a year if I remember. But if you graduate you could very easily be making $100k a year after that. So it would be well worth it.

You remember those Volkswagen commercials that have their engineers working on those cars? What would their job title be? Automotive Engineer or Automotive Designer or something else?

[ivymike1031]

Don't get your hopes up, you probably won't make $100k/yr in your first decade as an engineer...