Chemical Engineering - need thoughts regarding a disappointing visit

jrcsmom
Wed, 19 Nov 2014 02:30:05 +0000

Our first visit to campus was over my son’s high school fall break. It just so happened that it was also UA’s fall break that year. We met with a prof in the civil engineering department and the visit was just…odd. It was apparent that he didn’t normally meet with students and families. Most of the meeting he encouraged us to consider a different school, which wasn’t quite what I expected after driving 500 miles. He also enthusiastically told us about a great new program that they were using in the department…that my son was already using in high school. He explained that the only students that were able to get internships were ones that had personal connections. The only thing that kept UA in consideration was the AWESOME meeting we’d had with the honors college. We decided to give it a second chance and returned for another visit and met with the department head. The meeting was entirely different. He presented the school much more positively and was able to answer questions much more effectively. I definitely believe in second chances. And my son is now a civ-e student at Bama.

That said, just my perspective/opinion, but I do agree with a couple things you were told. It is true that many businesses are going away from internships and offering more co-ops. That’s not just at UA, that’s nationwide. A student employee is a big investment for a business in the amount of training required. Many businesses don’t want to invest in interns that may only be there 10-12 weeks. With a co-op, students return to the same business for multiple work sessions, so the business gets a bigger return on their investment. There are still internships out there and my son was able to find an internship after his freshman year (with no personal connections), but it is true that co-ops are becoming more popular with all businesses.

Also I personally am not a fan of the STEM/MBA program. I completed my MBA about 3 years ago now. The school I attended did not accept anyone who did not have at least 2 years of professional work experience. Many MBA programs seek out students that have professional experience. An MBA is a very high level overview of many facets of business and having professional experience enables students to get much more out of the experience. I have also read that it is sometimes more difficult for new graduates to get engineering jobs when they graduate with an MBA because businesses will view them as a transitional employee who is only seeking to move into management and not as someone who is committed to an engineering role. That, of course, isn’t true for all employers, but seems that it could be true for some. We didn’t consider the STEM/MBA for my son, but instead are considering the UA Scholars program where he can take courses towards his MS during his undergrad years.