② When I started engineering, I didn't realize how creative engineers have to be. In your core classes, you don't get exposed to very many real-world applications for materials engineering. As I've moved on to my more specific materials classes, I've learned about the processes taking place when metal casting, 3D-printing metal, melting/bowing glass, wheel-throwing ceramics, forming a polymer chain from a monomer, and what makes a good semiconductor. Those derivatives you take in Calculus I and II don't seem very applicable until you have to take them daily to describe how heat is being transported through your material. -Kat K., materials science and engineering

③ The most unexpected thing about being an engineering major is that it's not totally male-dominated. There are many women in this program, with more joining every year. It gives me hope for young women thinking about pursing engineering. -Marbella C., architectural engineering

④ I didn't know how much industry connection I would walk away with! -Zack H., civil engineering

⑤ That I would have a social life -Julianne S., biomedical engineering

⑥ While I may not always be the highest-scoring student in my classes, I am surprised by how much I have learned and how much I have grown since majoring in engineering. Not every class comes to me easily, and I have struggled in a few, but even if my grades aren't an A I still learn the background knowledge I to know for my career! –Katie S., mining and geological engineering

⑦ The most unexpected thing about being an engineering major would be the connections I've made. I have made so many friends through my classes and I am so grateful. -Caroline K., biosystems engineering

⑧ How friendly and noncompetitive my classmates are. We genuinely want to help each other out. -Jamie S., chemical engineering

⑨ The most surprising thing was meeting people I really connect with. In high school, when I thought of an engineer, I thought of someone boring with no social skills, but in the engineering department I have made many close friends who I can relate to and have fun with. -Max D., optical sciences and engineering

⑩ The most unexpected, but delightful thing I found in my engineering major was how close some of my classmates and I would get to the point where we hang out outside of class and aren’t just talking about our coursework the whole time. -Zachary S., optical sciences and engineering

⑪ The most surprising thing about being an engineering major is how closely connected the different branches of engineering really are. -Kati P, electrical and computer engineering

⑫ The shift from theoretical thinking that dominates your early undergraduate career to thinking in terms of applications & industry, which means switching from exact solutions to numerical approximations and taking into account things like cost. -Madison S., materials science and engineering