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Would it be out of the ordinary to get a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and then go for a Masters in something like Civil or Structural Engineering?
I don't know a lot about how transitioning to a Masters program works.. Do people usually continue on in the same field, or is branching out common?
This depends on where you are. In the US, this would generally not be too difficult, particularly if one uses elective courses at the bachelor's level to take some of the courses in the "new" field.
Here in Germany, it would actually be almost impossible to switch as you've suggested. The reason for this is that the "prerequisite" for enrolling as master's student in a particular field is usually taken to be the bachelor's degree in the same field as taught at the university! This is known as a "consecutive" degree requirement, and makes life very difficult for people coming from outside Germany.
At least in the US, that is very common. Obviously, it's not as common as getting a Masters in the same area as your Bachelors, but it's still pretty run-of-the-mill. This is especially true when there's some sort of overlap in the two fields, as there is between Mechanical and Civil/Structural Engineering.
A lot of top schools accept applicants into engineering Masters programs who lack engineering undergraduate degrees and even discuss this on their websites (Berkeley, Purdue, etc; I know those particular links are not for civil engineering, but they should at least highlight that it's pretty common for students to tweak their interests between undergrad and grad school). A simple Google search will bring up even more examples.
There are even programs out there specifically designed for people to make these sorts of switches (and even bigger ones). Boston University's LEAP is one example where students can have majored in just about anything and convert to engineering at the Masters level.
It's pretty common, at least in the US. I, personally, have an undergrad degree in Anthropology, and am studying Management Information Systems/IT Project Management in grad school. I just had to take a few prerequisites before I could start my master's classes. The way it worked for me is I was granted "conditional acceptance" to my master's program, with the condition that I had to complete all the prereqs (3 classes, in my case) within a year. Talk to the advisers in the master's program you want to do, they should have all the information you need.
I know it is defintly possible. My father is a civil engineer and a couple of his coworkers have gone that route. I also know if you are trying to go into civil, many civil engineering companies like to hire a few mechanical engineers.
