I've been considering going into mechanical engineering for my bachelors

Hi! Thank you for your question! On a daily basis, I spend about 20% on my computer writing reports, answering emails, and attending meetings with collaborators. I spend about 65% of my time in the lab building instruments and running experiments. The final 15% of the time I am working on tasks like reviewing papers others have written, doing service activities, analyzing data, and participating in group work for projects I am involved in but not leading which can include more lab time or more meetings and design time depending on the stage of the project. 

To be a research scientist at a national laboratory one can have a bachelor's, master's, or PhD. I have a PhD and I would advise getting a PhD as the process is excellent training and development to set one up for success in a job like mine. 

I love my job and the work-life balance is one of the reasons why I pursued a job at a national laboratory. I have a lot of freedom with my schedule which allows me to come in early on a weekday if I want so I can leave early and do something like go for a hike in the afternoon with my husband and dogs! 

I hope this helps - and again, engineering (and especially mechanical) is a very diverse degree. I have friends who work in the medical field, energy and sustainability field, and manufacturing. You can choose a job that has you travel all over the world, or one that has no travel at all! 

Best of luck!