Explore Careers Related to Your Major


Students often share with us that while they’re interested in studying engineering, they’re unsure which majors and careers are the best fit for them. We’re here to help. Our goal is to provide you with the facts and resources you need to research engineering disciplines and gain an understanding of typical career paths of engineers within your chosen major/field.

Career Descriptions

UVA Alums in LinkedIn

Major Night Recordings

Aerospace

Aerospace Alums in LinkedIn

Aerospace Major Night

Biomedical

Biomedical Alums in LinkedIn

Biomedical Major Night

Chemical Engineering  

Chemical Alums in LinkedIn

Chemical Major Night

Civil Engineering  

Civil Alums in LinkedIn

Civil Major Night

Computer Engineering  

CpE Alums in LinkedIn

CpE Major Night

Computer Science  

Alums in LinkedIn

CS Major Night

Electrical Engineering  

EE Alums in LinkedIn

EE Major Night

Materials Science  

Materials Alums in LinkedIn

Materials Major Night

Mechanical Engineering  

Mechanical Alums in LinkedIn

Mechanical Major Night

Systems Engineering  

Systems Alums in LinkedIn

Systems Major Night

 

Other Ways to explore engineering career fields:

Top UVA Engineering Employers and Job Titles - Job titles and employers by major

Virginia Alumni Mentoring (VAM) program: Find a UVA alum to be a coach, leader, advisor, teacher, guide, and friend

First Destinations Reports: Review statistics for where UVA engineering students intern and work after they graduate

Engineering Alumni Stories on the Blog: Read real stories from UVA Engineering alums who highlight their career journey

  • Interests, Skills, & Values Assessments

    The better you know yourself, the better you'll be at identifying internships and jobs that will be a good fit for you. Here are ways to do a little research on yourself!

  • Career Communities

    As an engineer, you may be interested in careers in sustainability, technology, education, business, public service, health care, the arts, and more. Career Communities provide you with specific, tailored resources through weekly office hours, emails with handpicked jobs and internships, and employer and alumni programs.

     

    Connect with Career Communities in Handshake in the career interests section. Once you've logged into Handshake, click your personal icon with your initials in the upper right hand corner and select Career Interests from the menu. Select as many as you would like!

    Career communitites image.jpg

     

  • Externships

    Externships are short-term job shadowing opportunities that allow you to gain insight into a career of interest. Most externships last one day to a week, providing you valuable exposure to a professional field without the longer committment of an internship.

    Each spring, our team partners with employers to offer a School of Engineering Extern Program. Through this program, employers invite students to shadow in their organizations for one or more days during Spring Break. We will share the application here when it becomes available in the spring semester.

     

  • UVA Internship Placement Program (IPP)

    For over 40 years, the UVA Internship Placement Program (IPP) has connected students with quality professional internships. The IPP team matches you with a customized internship placement based on the best opportunities for your interests, skills, and goals. We will help you develop your skills and knowledge through a Professional Development Workshop and provide ongoing support in all aspects of your internship experience. All internship sites are pre-qualified to meet UVA standards and guidelines established for internships by the Department of Labor Fair Labor Standards Act.

  • Short Term Skill Development Projects and Workshops

    Virginia Alumni Mentoring (VAM) Bridges Projects - Bridges is an initiative to connect UVA alumni and students through project-based work. UVA alumni post short-term, well-defined projects that students can complete in 1-4 weeks. Students gain real-world project experience that they can put on their resumes. 

    UVA Scholars Lab Events - Located on the 3rd floor of Clemons Library, the Scholars Lab provides workshops on a range of topics from building web site to app building, to arduino and raspberry pi basics to data collection. 

    Forge Forge is a local non-profit school that prepares students with the modern skills they need to make an impact in the world. Over 1,000 students each year learn things like design, marketing, and data science through fun, engaging, community-driven projects. Through our programs, projects, and community, we strive to empower students to realize their own potential while creating opportunities for them to make an impact for good.

    Parker Dewey Microinternships - Microinternships are short term, paid projects that allow you to gain experience and try out new skills without a huge time committment or prior experience. Join the Parker Dewey LinkedIn group: HERE

    UVA Career Accelerator + CourseraCoursera is an online learning platform in which students can foster and refine their career readiness by taking flexible online skill-development classes

  • Volunteer Opportunities

    Madison House -  Organizes service programs to address the needs of the community as well as the educational and personal growth objectives of students.

    Learning In Action - Provides UVA students a pathway to public service during their time at the University of Virginia, and is designed to connect students, faculty, and community partners to social entrepreneurship, community engagement, and co-curricular service opportunities.

    Idealist.org - Thousands of volunteer, job and internship opportunities with non-profit organizations across the world

  • Student Clubs and Organizations

    UVA has a wide range of clubs and organizations that can help you explore your interest areas and gain real resume-worthy experience. The UVA Engineering Student Council has a page of ENGINEERING SPECIFIC CLUBS and the CS Department maintains a list of CS RELATED CLUBS. New clubs are added each year! Not seeing a club that interests you? Start your own!