Engineering Schools

[srode1]

Finding one's passion in Engineering school is important and not always obvious. When I was in school, I drove an hour and a half home on the weekends to work as a mechanic in a local shop there to help pay my way through school, owned a 1969 Camaro coupe I drag raced, and drove a primer brown 69 Camaro pace car for my daily transportation which would make it obvious I should be a mechanical engineer which was my intention when I chose engineering for my degree. After my first class that was major specific (statics), I decided that was maybe not the best choice found it uninspiring. My 7:30am circuits class made me choose NOT to be a EE. Chemistry lit my fire, and so Chem E is the degree I went for. (BTW, I still have both 69 Camaros 37 years later, the coupe is my LT4 or 5 project car in the works now). Point being your son can change his mind after he there with little to zero to little wasted energy/time if he changes early enough.

Originally Posted by Stielow

I went to Rolla also. It was the Missouri School of Mines then University of Missouri- Rolla then Missouri School of Science and Technology. When I went there is was the Missouri School of No Women....

I was able to get a summer internship at GM my Sophomore year.
That turned into a Co-op position then got hired in full time. I went back to my guidance counselor and let her know she gave me bad advice and I worked for GM.

There were women there when I went to Rolla, there were about 4 in my Chem E graduating class of 50! LOL All the girls went to Columbia. We only bested Columbia on St Patrick's Day party.

Reinforcing the Co-op internship thing - an aspiring Engineering student should consider those opportunities as their chance to interview a company to see if they are interested in working there and also help check in some cases learn more about what being that type of Engineer looks like.

It's also a great foot in the door if they decide they would like to work there. The company I worked for actively recruits Summer Interns to help develop them and see if they will be a good fit. If they do well, we invite them back for the following year and they will probably have a job offer when they leave after the Summer going into their final year of school if they have done well.

[BonzoHansen]

I really appreciate all the feedback and kind words. Its very useful, thank you all.

This is the class he is going to take this summer. He's pretty exited about it. We are hoping its a first good foray to gauge interest, etc.

Originally Posted by Stielow

I would be happy to talk to your son. Tell your son to follow his dreams. We need more good engineers in this country.

That would be fantastic. I will reach back out to you soon. I want to get all my notes together, let him do a little research on some things, have some discussions with him to see where his thoughts are first.

[572Camaro]

Fellow engineers, check out this shirt I got as a gift!

[JohnUlaszek]

Whenever I was asked to interview engineers right out of school or at the beginning of their careers I’d look for internships in general and any of the SAE student events like Formula or Baja in particular. I never much cared about grades and the school didn’t matter much so long as it was properly accredited. Would suggest he find other students to form study groups with whenever reasonable, it will help when the going gets tough.

[BigBronco]

I will put my 2 cents out there as I may be a little younger (Not much) at 35 years of age.

My career path went a little differently.

I was always involved in sports and the local Texas education system was quite easy for me. Top 10% got accepted to any Texas state college. Long story short, I knew I wanted to do engineering but when I made it to college, I quickly learned I had no idea how to study or utilize my time wisely.

With that being said, after almost two years, I bowed out as I was tired of wasting my money. I started working and did more hands on stuff with cars as I enjoyed working on cars. Long story short, I started manual machining at effectively a local engine building place here in Houston and busted my but for five years. During that time, I learned what it meant to work hard and not get a lot of income for it.

I started night school at the local community college to ensure I was ready to take on school and not waste my money again. Finally quit my job to pursue my Manufacturing Engineering degree full time. I had originally hoped to take that and then move back into the Cup industry in North Carolina afterwards.

My "sophomore" year, I started interning with some friends that populate this board (Nine Ball, Will69Camaro, etc) and ended up interning every summer and winter off from school.

And here I am almost 12 years later still working as a Lead Engineer / Project Manager at an Oil Company.

Big thing for me was getting to understand my habits and realizing all it takes to do well in college is just being there. Keep the grades up like Mark Steilow said and nail away those internships.

The internships and experience I had did 10 fold what my degree has done.

Gray

[WSSix]

I wandered as well like Gray. I didn't graduate with my ME until I was 30. I started as usual at 18. Experience is an absolute must. He's competing against everyone else in his own class not to mention other schools. He must stand out some how. School and Co-Ops can also give him an idea of what he doesn't want as a career. Worst thing I can image happening to someone young is getting into a career you dreamed of only for it to not be what you thought and become disillusioned at it all.

Make sure whatever he does he thinks long term and stays on track even if he wanders a little. Don't let him think for a minute that everything will just be handed to him after graduating. You get a piece of paper and at attaboy not a six figure income and professional title with three weeks of vacation and quarterly bonuses. Those good jobs usually take a few career steps after college before you obtain them.

Oh, and one more thing. Once he does graduate and get out there in the real world, don't let him get arrogant. The people with years of experience that may be lower on the totem pole than his starting engineering position can teach him the world if he'll listen. I come across way too many engineers that think they're smarter or better than technical people that don't have ENGR degrees. You're shooting yourself in the foot with that type of attitude.

Good luck to your son, Scott.

[Blackhawk]

A lot of great advice already here, but I'll offer mine as a relatively recent grad (Purdue ChE '16).

When I was in HS I only applied to schools that were fairly close to home, fortunately being from the Chicagoland area meant that a lot of great programs just so happened to be close by. From there I rated them based on rank, experience from visits and feedback from current students who were from my HS.

Some will say that school ranking makes no difference, but I think that generally speaking higher ranked programs offer many advantages over lesser known or smaller programs. Highly ranked schools have more funding (more opportunities for club involvement, research, etc), larger alumni networks, and tend to have stronger recruitment from Fortune 500s. In addition school "prestige" can be a factor if you ever decide to pursue a post-bacc degree like an MD, JD, MBA, etc.

The exception to this is the schools that happen to be located near major industries or have special connections. As I found out working in the Oil & Gas industry, the local TX/LA schools have very strong representation despite being relatively unknown outside of the region (lots of alumni in the industry and ease of recruiting/intern accommodations).

Either way, the most important aspect for those looking to go into industry is the ability to get quality work experience prior to graduation. I was lucky enough to do an extensive co-op while in school which allowed me to have my pick of jobs upon graduation. Look for schools that emphasize their connection to industry and career fairs, as some schools have a wealth of recruiters show up and others have relatively few which results in tough competition.

A high GPA also helps immensely when trying to land that first internship, and is still 2nd in line to work experience when applying to full time jobs. I'd try to keep it above a 3.5 at all times, this way you don't preclude yourself from the most competitive jobs or post-bacc programs.

[mad68rs]

The last post from Blackhawk captured much of what I was going to add to this thread. As he said, there has already been a lot of great advice so I will try not to do too much repeating.

My background is as a ME that has worked in aerospace, automotive (GM), and nuclear weapons. In college, I was VP of the SAE Chapter and Team Lead of FSAE. I also worked as a Machine Shop Technician and Supervisor. I had several jobs and internships that greatly enhanced my college academics. I kept a high gpa and graduated from a great school. I’m still on the younger side of the engineering spectrum.

I would say to try to go to the best school that you can. I think of going to college as an investment. You have to consider the total cost and return on that investment. Then make the best decision on what you know at the time. The most sought after companies recruit from the most sought after schools. Having a high gpa from a top school with extra curricular’s related to your major or interest will give you the most opportunities starting out. Companies will mostly likely pay you more and compete to employ you.

There are a lot of factors when choosing a school. Cost, location, programs, etc. Luckily, there are a lot of high quality engineering schools scattered across the country. If there is a specific place or industry you are interested in working in, I would follow Mark’s advice in asking HR what schools they recruit from.

I know Mark pretty well. He’s a pretty big deal in the pro-touring community for his stand out cars, but he’s also a pretty big deal at GM for being a very talented engineer, manager, driver, and leader. He does a lot of recruiting for GM, so he knows what hiring managers are looking for. He’s also very approachable and one of the nicest people you will meet. Have fun chatting with him.

When I’m interviewing engineers, I like to see some work experience. I come from a blue-collar background and one of my first jobs was bagging groceries. It taught me as a shy high school kid how to approach and talk to people from all walks of life. It’s proven to be a valuable asset.

Lastly, depending on what field of engineering you are interested in working in, most are not done “everywhere”. Many engineering fields will require you to relocate unless there is work in your home town. This can be tough for some people and something to keep in mind.

Hopefully this is helpful, and let me know if you have any questions.

[BonzoHansen]

Follow up. We have narrowed things down to Pitt or Michigan. Michigan is a top 10 engineering school. Its also $100,000+ more. Pitt generally ranks 50-ish, whatever those rankings are worth.

We have visited Pitt, he liked it. There he would be in the Honors Program which adds some perks. We liked their co-op and internship opportunities as well. A little bit of word of mouth/personal experience stories have helped too. Like the other schools we visited, they have an array of labs and equipment, makers spaces, etc. We thought the infrastructure is there to succeed.

We have not visited Michigan, although we can still squeeze that in. FIL thinks we are short changing Ryan if we don't seriously consider Michigan. Not sure if he's kicking in for that lol. He's also an alum. But he's looking at public rankings and whatever info he can find to bolster his opinion.

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on either program? I am not against Michigan, just trying to gauge if its worth the stretch in costs.

[BigBronco]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

Follow up. We have narrowed things down to Pitt or Michigan. Michigan is a top 10 engineering school. Its also $100,000+ more. Pitt generally ranks 50-ish, whatever those rankings are worth.

We have visited Pitt, he liked it. There he would be in the Honors Program which adds some perks. We liked their co-op and internship opportunities as well. A little bit of word of mouth/personal experience stories have helped too. Like the other schools we visited, they have an array of labs and equipment, makers spaces, etc. We thought the infrastructure is there to succeed.

We have not visited Michigan, although we can still squeeze that in. FIL thinks we are short changing Ryan if we don't seriously consider Michigan. Not sure if he's kicking in for that lol. He's also an alum. But he's looking at public rankings and whatever info he can find to bolster his opinion.

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on either program? I am not against Michigan, just trying to gauge if its worth the stretch in costs.

Fun to see you kick this back off.

Again, I am in the Oil and Gas side of things and I have worked with a LOT of Michigan grads. They have incredible Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering programs at UM and nearly all of them were incredibly sharp and fortunately self-motivated.

I can only assume their Mechanical and Automotive is also up to snuff. A major public school with lots of research/foundation money means lots of nice facilities to learn in.

Again, that is not everything though and if you are assisting with footing the bill, I could say with confidence that the differences in both BSME courses from Michigan and Pitt are CLOSE.

I will let Mark and the others from that area give a more relative and valid opinion though.