Engineering Schools

[BonzoHansen]

Hey all. So my youngest is a junior in HS and is looking to go to college for engineering. He's taking an engineering class this summer at Stanford (virtual of course) to dip his toe into it. He's not sure of any specific discipline yet. He just got a perfect SAT math score, so I am assuming that will help him get into schools.

I know we have some engineers here. Any recommendations? Schools and what to look for in a program. A couple tips I got so far are make sure the school's program includes hands on experience, and make sure they have professors and actually offer the classes they list in their offerings.

[dhutton]

I interviewed and hired hundreds of design engineering applicants over the course of my career. No particular school stood out to me as exceptional. That being said I also never interviewed candidates that attended MIT or any of the other top tier schools. I think they all headed to Silicon Valley.

For hardware design I found that those who had relevant work experience usually excelled as designers. Candidates who had never touched a soldering iron or had an interest before college usually struggled more than those who had.

Generally speaking we usually hired new grads with a Masters degree. It’s not that we discriminated against guys with Bachelors degrees, it was just that the few that applied were unable to adequately answer interview technical questions.

One word of advice for your son. If you put something on your resume make sure you understand it. It never ceased to amaze me how many candidates would put things on their resume that they lacked a basic understanding of. It was usually the end of the road for them.

Don

[XLexusTech]

https://engineering.cmu.edu/

Carnegie Mellon all Day

[MtotheIKEo]

My advice would be to have him link up with some engineers and see if he can shadow them for a day. Get a feel for what he would potentially want to do as an engineer, and pick a school that supports that dream.
I went to a small state school in CA ( Sacramento State for Mechanical). Going in to school I thought I wanted to design parts. My first job was a manufacturing engineer and watching the design guys sitting at their computers 8-10 hours a day while I was in the shop working with my hands made me glad I didn’t go into design.
If he really wants to be in automotive go to a school with strong OEM ties. If he wants to get into aerospace then do the same. O&G then go to a Texas or Oklahoma school.
I’m the engineering director at our facility making gas turbine parts. I have had people from both small state schools and top tier private aerospace engineering schools work for me, top tier school did not mean better at their job.

[srode1]

I was involved in interviews for Engineers at multiple locations before retiring from a large multi national company during my career and while each location had specific schools we recruited from, we also accepted and interviewed applicants from other schools. The particular school didn't have as much of a influence on who we hired as experiences co-oping in between years as well as extra curricular experiences that demonstrated drive and leadership. There were some minimum bars like GPA people needed to clear but allowances were made for extenuating circumstances in those respects as well.

Most states have at least one state school that can provide a solid engineering education with hands on adequate hands on experience in the field of choice, and those provide a good value vs out of state most of the time. I graduated from University of Missouri at Rolla (name changed now) but the state school at Columbia was also a solid school I could have attended. Within Missouri there was also Washington University as an option but that was quite expensive and with school be substantially self funded I chose one of the lesser expensive schools and never suffered from the choice during my career. I wouldn't advise anyone going out of their way to choose an expensive engineering school over a moderately priced one because perceived advantage in the job market. Over the course of a career, that just won't matter, it's performance on the job is what drives success in most places as it should.

[thedugan]

Hey all. So my youngest is a junior in HS and is looking to go to college for engineering. He's taking an engineering class this summer at Stanford (virtual of course) to dip his toe into it. He's not sure of any specific discipline yet. He just got a perfect SAT math score, so I am assuming that will help him get into schools.

I know we have some engineers here. Any recommendations? Schools and what to look for in a program. A couple tips I got so far are make sure the school's program includes hands on experience, and make sure they have professors and actually offer the classes they list in their offerings.


Hey Scott hope all is well. Congrats to your son. Is Stanford on his list? Great school and will create intern opportunities out west if that is what he is interested in.

Doug

[Stielow]

I was involved in interviews for Engineers at multiple locations before retiring from a large multi national company during my career and while each location had specific schools we recruited from, we also accepted and interviewed applicants from other schools. The particular school didn't have as much of a influence on who we hired as experiences co-oping in between years as well as extra curricular experiences that demonstrated drive and leadership. There were some minimum bars like GPA people needed to clear but allowances were made for extenuating circumstances in those respects as well.

Most states have at least one state school that can provide a solid engineering education with hands on adequate hands on experience in the field of choice, and those provide a good value vs out of state most of the time. I graduated from University of Missouri at Rolla (name changed now) but the state school at Columbia was also a solid school I could have attended. Within Missouri there was also Washington University as an option but that was quite expensive and with school be substantially self funded I chose one of the lesser expensive schools and never suffered from the choice during my career. I wouldn't advise anyone going out of their way to choose an expensive engineering school over a moderately priced one because perceived advantage in the job market. Over the course of a career, that just won't matter, it's performance on the job is what drives success in most places as it should.


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 recruit for GM. We only hire from certain schools and the student has to have at least 3.0 GPA to be hired by GM. We also recruit out of student groups like Formula SAE.

I try to find the young engineers that have a good GPA, has had good summer internships, and was involved in student projects. If they are into cars even better. I have a lot of software engineering that work for me that also do open track days.

Looking back I was an odd student at Rolla. I had a very good GPA, I was the Formula SAE team captain and driver, the president of our SAE chapter and I was building Hot Rods in my spare time. I had my GM job offer at the end of my junior year.

My simple advice for young engineers is nail you GPA. Your freshman year is easy. Knock out a high GPA. Work on getting a good summer internship. (The good GPA helps). Don’t just join a student group - lead it. It is free to step up to be a leader. It is all time management. I did all my homework at the library before I went home or to the shop. I will say going to Engineering school was the hardest thing I did in my life. While my other friends were parting their butt off taking Art History I was working my ass off. Engineering School is hard. Engineering school is designed to change the way you think. I do not solve differential equations at work. I solve problems.

I have had a dream career, but Engineering School set me up for it. I dreamed of working for the Automotive Industry in High School and my guidance counselor told me I could not do it. I called HR at Ford, Chrysler and GM to ask them where do they hire their engineers, they all asked where I lived. They said the best engineering school in Missouri was University of Missouri - Rolla. I got to Rolla and engaged in my classes. With a good GPA 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.

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

Mark


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dhutton]

I attended a school with a very strong and well known coop program. Four months in class followed by four months working and an 8 month term at the end. Took an extra year but well worth it. A lot of guys focused on getting jobs that paid well or had a good location. I focused on jobs that would give excellent experience but did not pay high wages. The experience I gained was priceless and carried me well through my 35 years of design. Four terms spent in an RF (radio frequency) circuit design lab working with skilled designers and test equipment that was not even available on campus. Another two terms designing analog integrated circuits that gave me an understanding of circuit design that I used throughout my career. You can’t get that sort of learning in a lecture.

Don

[572Camaro]

My turn:
1. Have him attend a ABET accredited UNIVERSITY.
2. Have him pursue a PE license.
3. Have him coop or at least shadow different fellow engineers, simply to find his passion.

Me:
Jim Gloe
Nuclear Engineer
Bachelor only in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with a “minor” in philosophy from Missouri University-Columbia.
Graduate studies at The Ohio State University
PE license= 022971

Okay, I used to interview perspective engineers also..,
There is no thing better than hands on experience.
For example, when interviewees would ask where I got my education..,
I said “plowing corn on my Massey Ferguson diesel”.


Point is, I agree with all the above BUT it is ultimately your son’s decision.
He must find his PASSION.

Frankly, I am proud of your SON simply because we need more engineers.

Period.

[Che70velle]

Very interesting thread here. My 17 year old son wants to be an engineer also, probably nuclear. He’s good at a lot of things but his two main passions are math and baseball. He’s (we) hoping that his grades and baseball gets him a lot of financial help into college.
Keep the replies coming gents. Good stuff here that makes this community like no other on the net.

[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.

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 (https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&q=ENGR%2010:%20Introduction%20to%20Engineering%20A nalysis&academicYear=20142015) 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.

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]

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.

[PTAddict]

I got my BSME and MSME from Michigan - way back in the 80's. No question Michigan is still one of the top engineering schools in the country, and at least at the time I went had a very strong automotive engineering program. My professor for Automotive Engineering and Internal Combustion Theory grad classes was David Cole, son of Ed Cole of Chevy/GM fame. I summer interned at the UM transportation research institute, run by the late Dr. John Melvin, who was instrumental in the study of auto racing accidents and helped develop the HANS device and the SAFER barrier.

That's all old info of course, but I'd think they are still very strong in that area. But as Stielow said, engineering is all about problem solving skills in the end, and those can be learned at many places. Also, leadership and collaboration skills are more important today than ever (or maybe just more recognized). Look for programs that emphasize project-based, team-based work in the later years of the program.

Good luck to your son.

[BonzoHansen]

My wife and son are going to go visit Michigan this weekend. All the tours are booked but they're going to try to sneak into some.

If he likes it we have school of engineering admitted students tour booked 4/29 and I'll go on that tour. Decision is only due 5/1 lol

[BonzoHansen]

Michigan is it. Thanks everyone for your input.


So I guess trips to Michigan are in my future. :)

[WSSix]

Congrats on finding a school. I hope he does well there.

[thedugan]

Michigan is it. Thanks everyone for your input.


So I guess trips to Michigan are in my future. :)\

Scott congrats. Small world. We were just there visiting Michigan and Notre Dame. I was blown away how big it is. Biggest school we have seen. My real takeaway was that the Brown Jug has really good wings and beer....

[PTAddict]

\

Scott congrats. Small world. We were just there visiting Michigan and Notre Dame. I was blown away how big it is. Biggest school we have seen. My real takeaway was that the Brown Jug has really good wings and beer....

The Brown Jug had good wings and beer 40 years ago too :)

Also, there is nothing like a football game at the Big House on a nice Autumn afternoon. Even for engineering students on the grind, it's an experience not to be missed.

Good luck to your son, Scott.

[BonzoHansen]

Just a quick update. A month in and he loves it, seems to be totally acclimated. We went and visited last weekend. Got a tour of the engineering facilities. Thought you guys might like to see some pics.

*the formula SAE car (the last internal combustion one they will field)
*The new formula-e SAE car
*an electric motorcycle
*the formula Baja
*part of the one structural labs.
*a game in the big house
*a proud dad.

I didn't even get pics of the nanotechnology lab, the hunk of eniac they have, and a bunch of other labs. I think there's a wind tunnel too.

[WSSix]

That's great to hear, Scott. I'm glad he's enjoying himself.

[BonzoHansen]

He sent me this pic the other day, he knew I'd like it. Thought I'd share

[camcojb]

You must be proud. :thumbsup:

[BonzoHansen]

You must be proud. :thumbsup:


Yes sir. He's far more driven than I was at his age.

[BonzoHansen]

Hey all. Ryan is halfway through his junior year at U of M, and it's been a great choice for him. Thanks to everyone that helped us through our selection process. He's thriving. Has a 3.5+, majoring in M/E and minoring in comp sci. He's also involved in the solar race bike project, which is neat. He sends me pictures of his work, like a bracket he machined . It's such cool stuff!

He's got feelers out for an internship. Had an interview with a company named Clarios. They make batteries for OEs. So that's neat. He's waiting for the next round. Meanwhile he's still looking for opportunities. His high school SS is trying to get him in at NJ Transit with him; he started there last year after interning himself. Exciting times for kids I watched grow up.