University of California, Berkeley Mechanical Engineering

You are here: Home / Undergraduate Program and Admissions / Sophomore Career Map

Fall

  • Start familiarizing yourself with the different areas of mechanical engineering and what types of problems each area tries to solve. One way to start this is to browse through various faculty members’ pages as well as their lab websites.
  • Pay a visit to the UC Berkeley Career Center to see what skills companies are looking for, and start attending various helpful workshops (ex. resume building).
  • Start thinking about whether or not you would like to have an internship and/or be a undergraduate researcher (on campus or outside). Summer internship fairs start in the Fall.
  • Start thinking about your post-graduation plans.
  • Do you think graduate school is right for you? If so, try and get research in a lab aligned with your interests and chat with faculty in those areas.
  • Do you think you will go straight into industry? Most companies value hands-on experience, so try to find opportunities for this. You also may benefit from Statistics, Economics, Industrial Engineering, or Business courses (among others).
  • Would you be interested the 5th Year MS Program?
  • Begin cultivating your relationships with faculty. You never know when you’ll need a letter of recommendation or a key piece of career/life advice from them.
  • Prepare your CV/resume. The UC Berkeley Career Center provides tips for producing a good resume.
  • Start applying for internships if wish to have one in the summer.
  • Go over the Scholarship Connection to see if there are any scholarships you are eligible to apply for and their deadlines.

Spring

  • Start thinking about what Technical Electives you would like to take in the Fall based on your interests and post-graduation plans.
  • If you are interested in participating in undergraduate research, this is a good semester to start visiting faculty during office hours to see what they’ll be working on in the Summer and Fall and to see if they are taking undergraduates into their labs. Bring a current CV/resume.

Summer

  • This is a great time participate in Undergraduate Research if you are able.
  • This may be a good time to have your first internship experience.
  • Consider taking Summer courses, along with research, to subdivide the course load during the regular semester.