Q: What is your name and what grade are you in?

A: Clayton Coughlin, senior.

Q: What engineering program are you in?

A: Mechanical Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Q: When did you first decide to go into engineering?

A: About the time I had to pick a major.

Q: What were specific engineer activities/classes you did to help get into the program?

A: Nothing really engineering specific, [I was] just good at science and math. [I] completed Calc III junior year and did both AP Physics, AP Chem, Bio etc. Nothing truly engineering related, It was 11 APs, sports and Panorama that made me a good applicant. That being said, it was really only UW that accepted me, so [I’m] probably not the best role model there as in how to get accepted to an engineering program.

Q: What was your first-year experience like?

A: I would separate this into two categories… There is the first year of college experience which is a big adjustment, and then maybe what the first year of engineering [is] like. In terms of that (first year of engineering), it was, I would say, kind of not what I expected. All colleges will have you do prereqs for your classes so I only took 3 engineering courses my first two semesters. Two were just intro-ish classes and one was a “weed-out” class. In terms of academic rigor it was about the same logical progression from high school, specifically our/Ladue high school. A lot of peers struggled but if you took Mr Witts or Dr Paces classes it was of that caliber so I was well prepped.

Q: Can you give a description of what an average day at college is for you?

A: Average weekday freshman year: Wake up at 6:45 am, dining hall opened at 7 so first in line there, ate walked to class, had classes from 7:45 -11:00, get back to dorm go to the gym with friends, eat lunch, do some chores(laundry, clean), do homework, eat dinner, hang out with friends do some more homework go to bed.

Average day now: Wake up at 9, eat breakfast, go to class for 1.5 hr, go to work for 4 hrs, come back do meetings, then go home eat dinner, chillout, do homework and go to bed.

Q: What type of field of engineering do you want to go into? Can you explain what the job entails?

A: I would say for the future just say “industry” instead of the field of engineering(field of engineering sounds like an academic term, like grad school). The later half of my degree I have been focusing on electromechanical classes. I have been working building electric motors for the past two years and am trying to align my studies with that. I have found that my passion is electric machines and would like to continue working on both the manufacturing and design of them.

Q: What is some advice you would give to high school kids who want to go into engineering?

A: I have a couple thoughts here: 

In general I do not think that high schoolers know what they want to do and they should not go to college to figure that out. I have seen people that are declared in an undecided major and people who say they’ll figure something out and it does not really bode well for them. I would say only go to college if it is something you are already passionate about or are very confident you will become enthralled with the subject. In the meantime, try and work, get different life experiences, maybe test out a community college class to see if more life in a classroom is meant for you(god knows some people here do not belong in a classroom).

I was not this way, I did not even know what Mechanical engineering really was about. I just picked it because that’s what I thought people who were good at math and science did. That is not really true, a ton of engineers suck at math and physics, and cannot stomach doing any of that stuff, but can be really good engineers. I was lucky enough to stumble into something that excites me and something that I can do all day and not really feel like I am working. I was also fortunate that I am a quick learner and can figure pretty much anything out academically. If someone is set on engineering I would warn them of three things: what the job market seems to be pushing you towards when you graduate high school will most likely look completely different by the time you graduate, to get your piece of paper at the end you will have multiple semesters of dumb and seemingly pointless required courses, and just graduating with a top level degree from a good engineering school is not enough, most jobs now are incredibly competitive now requiring years of experience, further schooling, anything that makes you stand out.