There were some questions asked further up about the significance or lack thereof of certain highly prestigious schools not offering ABET certified degrees for specific engineering programs. Per the CA flow-chart for getting a PE, it doesn’t seem to me there’s no consequence to not having an ABET accredited BS, even from a top program. I think it’s more accurate to say ABET accreditation helps with getting a PE but is not a necessary prerequisite, at least in CA. I certainly agree that a PE importance varies by engineering field, among other things.
If I’ve read the flowchart correctly, in addition to the exams, in CA an individual with an ABET credentialed BS will need 24 months of qualifying work experience before applying for the PE license, an individual with an engineering degree that isn’t credentialed will need 48 (unless they have a credentialed PhD), and an individual without an engineering degree will need 72.
It may be true that a graduate of a top program will have certain employment advantages even without the ABET accredited undergraduate degree, but if they are pursuing a career path where a PE is necessary, my understanding is they will still need the appropriate amount of qualifying work experience, which will vary by state.
Having said all this, when Caltech and Stanford chose to stop getting their Chem Engineering programs ABET accredited a few years ago, I don’t believe it was because there was zero difference to the requirements for the PE license for their graduates compared to less prestigious schools, but, rather, because so few of their Chem Engineering graduates were ultimately getting PE degrees (less than 1% in the case of Caltech), and they saw an educational advantage in having more flexibility with their curriculum’s than might be possible if they continued to offer ABET accreditation. By that reasoning, one might assume that if Stanford doesn’t offer ABET accredited Environmental Engineering, it’s because the majority of their own Environmental Engineering graduates to date do not need PE licenses (Caltech doesn’t offer an undergraduate Environmental Engineering degree). So, in addition to there being a difference by state in terms of PE requirements, and a difference in field in terms of PE relevance, there may be a difference in school in extent to which a graduate is more likely to pursue a more applied career path where a PE is likely to be needed vs a more research, public policy, or business management oriented career path where it’s not.
https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i48/time-leave-behind-chemical-engineering.html