<p>IE majors have outstanding job prospects, partly because it is such a flexible major that places people in all kinds of jobs. It has the highest placement rate at the time of graduation for all engineering majors at both flagship campuses in my state with good salaries.</p>
<p>OR is a great major. Their are tens of thousands of entry level jobs available for people doing big data analytics, and not nearly enough new grads to fill them. In addition to OR, IE majors commonly get jobs as…</p>
<p>Supply Chain & Logistics Optimization Analysts
Operations Research Engineer
Manufacturing Engineer…especially in human factors and ergonomics design
Production Modeling and Simulation
Warehousing & Distribution</p>
<p>“I am concerned about job prospects for Industrial Engineering”</p>
<p>No need to be concerned. It is a very flexible degree with many options. Son just graduated in May and had no issue finding a job (which he seems to be enjoying very much).</p>
<p>The 5k figure includes the student working to contribute to his/her schooling. This family is very debt averse. With that in mind, I have suggested applying to two local safeties, two merit schools (full ride from list provided), and two elite full need schools. The family feels comfortable with this strategy.</p>
<p>If the student is accepted to an elite institution, will the student struggle because s/he lacks the exposure of advanced math, advanced science, and computer classes? I have read the competition is fierce at these schools. In addition, a low gpa will hinder internship possibliities. I do not want to steer this family in the wrong direction.</p>
<p>What math and science will s/he have completed by high school graduation?</p>
<p>Most universities start engineering students with calculus 1, although students with AP credit from high school calculus may start in a more advanced math course. So the minimum high school math preparation is a solid grounding in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry (however, a few elite private universities do expect high school calculus, so check requirements carefully).</p>
<p>The student can use these placement tests (no pay wall or student login wall) to self-assess his/her high school (precalculus) math skills to learn what s/he needs to review before starting at the university.</p>
<p>The student is currently taking college calculus offered by the high school. S/he has also taken honors chemistry, and is taking honors physics now</p>
<p>I will have the student look at the placement exams. Thanks for the link.</p>
<p>Two years ago I took a private tour of Georgia Tech with a then-current student (no admissions tours that day). Saw places the tours don’t usually go and got lots of real insight. Much better than the official tour, but I digress. We walked past the building housing the industrial engineering classes. Our guide, a senior mech E major, said he’s jealous of those guys. His friends and frat brothers in IE were all getting multiple offers of 80-90K+ to start. Now I understand GT is perhaps the top school for IE, but I believe there is solid demand everywhere for IE students. Mom2, why do you feel otherwise?</p>
<p>Here is the combined engineering placement data from our 2 flagship campuses. Many of our grads take jobs in small towns rather than large cities so salaries are slightly deflated. I don’t think that IE grads are having any problem finding good jobs. Neither of our schools are at the caliber of Ga Tech but are solid Midwest rural publics.</p>
<p>Assuming that the courses are of decent quality, s/he has all of the usual prerequisites for entering as a frosh in an engineering major.</p>
<p>With an actual college calculus course, s/he may be able to start in calculus 2 or 3 at whatever school s/he attends. If it is not the same school that the current course is based on, s/he may want to review the new school’s calculus 1 and 2 final exams to make sure that s/he knows all of the material before skipping them to start in the more advanced course.</p>
The vast majority of highly selective colleges offer entry level calculus/chemistry/physics/computer science/… classes, which require little background, and many students take these classes. I’m most familiar with the classes at Stanford, so I’ll use it as an example. At the bottom of this post I’ve listed the number of sections at various course levels for this fall’s classes. Note that in all but calculus, the entry level non-accelerated course is the most popular one. They also offer some ridiculously basic classes that I didn’t list, such as “Introduction to Computers” in CS, which has a prerequisite of “minimal math skills.” Students with programming experience are not allowed to enroll without consent of instructor. That said, yes the engineering classes are likely to be more challenging than at most colleges. Personally I found the IE classes at Stanford to be quite easy (one of my masters was in MS&E, which IE was previously merged into) and not requiring much background. I took many grad level classes, with an EE undergrad degree.</p>
<p>Calculus
Entry level, non-accelerated – 4 sections (intended for non-tech majors)
Entry level, accelerated calculus – 12 sections + 2 with eng. focus
2nd course acc. (requires 3 on BC or 4 on AB) – 6 sections + 2 with eng focus
3rd course acc. (requires 4 on BC or 5 on AB) – 22 sections + 2 with eng focus + 2 honors</p>
<p>Chemistry
Entry level, non-accelerated – 29 sections
Entry level, accelerated – 24 sections
2nd/3rd course (requires 5 on AP) – 23 sections (in winter, not offered in fall)</p>
<p>Computer Science
Entry level, non-accelerated – 69 sections (Stanford’s most popular class)
2nd course (requires 4+ on AP) – 25 sections
2nd course accelerated (requires 4+ on AP) – 15 sections</p>
<p>Have they calculated the net price of commuting to the local schools (after any applicable financial aid and scholarships), including tuition, fees, books, commuting costs, and food/utilities consumed by the student at home, as well as run the net price calculator on the “meet full need” schools? Just make sure that they are not making assumptions that turn out not to be true in April.</p>
<p>The full rides are the automatic-for-stats or competitive ones? The automatic-for-stats ones that the student qualifies for would count as safeties, while the competitive ones would be match or reach, depending on how selective the scholarships are.</p>
<p>However, make note of the college GPA needed to renew the scholarship each year. If it is high (like 3.5), the risk of losing it and not being able to continue increases.</p>