Can someone explain why someone would pursue a general engineering degree? What is your career path? A couple of smaller schools, Loyola and Endicott, offer this degree.
I realize that a specific engineering degree is preferred but if you wind up in a sales or consulting role does it matter?
My DH, a career engineer, says that the best sales folks have a background actually working IN engineering for a while.
For āconsultingāā¦what do you mean? My DH was a consulting engineer who also did big power infrastructure and EE design. He says, a consultant would need to bring expertise that those he or she is consulting with do not have. He canāt figure out how you would do that if you have never worked IN the engineering field and have significant experience.
There are tons of ABET accredited engineering programs for those wishing to be engineers can apply. My husband suggests you look for schools with engineering majors more specific than general engineering.
75% of engineers/STEM donāt end up in engineering roles - so many can end up in sales or other business functions or other roles. I put a link below. My son interned at one company over two summers. The second wasnāt an engineering job. I asked why do they want an engineer for that role? He said they wanted someone who thinks like an engineer.
In many cases, you want to go to an ABET accredited school. Many jobs will require this so if you want to be an engineer, it matters.
Endicott has been ABET accredited since 2021. Loyola - thereās different - which one? Maryland is accredited in general, Chicago is too. New Orleans isnāt on the ABET list.
Some schools have focus areas within the school - so not a formal major, but you may have a concentration in a specific area.
Endicott, as an example, has four tracks, one of which you choose:
Tracks include:
You can always ask each school for a career outcomes list, especially focused on internships. Without an internship, finding a job is more difficult - no matter where you are.
These arenāt well known names - but given they are ABET accredited, for jobs that are open to any engineering major, they should work fine. They might place locally moreso than others.
But if they are the right fit for your student and family (financially), then they should be ok. No matter the major, these schools will be an unknown - vs. - say a UMASS or BC, etc. And yet zillions of kids go to these types of schools and do just fine.
Best of luck.
Data gathered by the Washington Post suggests that as many as 75% of those with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees donāt work in their respective fields.
A couple of smaller schools, Loyola and Endicott, offer this degree.
I suspect that they offer this program for recruiting purposes. They can say that have Engineering. Maybe itās available so that students who come to Engineering after exploring their options can finish their degree at the college where they started. They can then go on to specialize at the masterās level. Some might consider that a preferable route to the myriad 3+2 programs.
Engineering is an expensive program to offer. Perhaps Loyola, Endicott, and others like them canāt justify the investment that it would take to offer specific majors. Pratt Institute in Brooklyn is an interesting case in this regard. Founded in the 1870s as an engineering school, its neighborhood had become so unsafe by the 1980s that enrollment dropped precipitously. As a result, Pratt dropped Engineering in the early ā90s in a cost cutting and reorganization move because that was their most expensive program to run and therefore constituted the biggest cost savings. Once Pratt Institute for Art, Architecture, and Engineering like Cooper Union across the river, it now focuses just on Art & Architecture.
In an interesting footnote to the story, the Clinton Hill neighborhood around Pratt is nos some of the most desirable residential real estate in the city.
So ABET will certify general engineering programs, and kids who do their undergrad Engineering at places like, say, Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd will often become actual engineers. But they may also do a Masters or PhD at some point.
I am sure this happens coming out of less famous colleges too, but if that was the goalāto work as an actual engineerāI would want to confirm that was working out for those kids coming out of those colleges too.
Lots of companies like how engineers have an analytical process and the way they think. This would be fine for that goal. But any engineer will have this process. I would always pick a major within engineering since these students can usually pivot when needed.
He isnāt getting into UMass or BC. He knows that he will have different options than other kids and is looking at āregional schoolsā, both public and private. He will probably do better at a smaller school. He has seen a few and likes them. He hates city schools so a suburban campus would be a great fit. I also think if he doesnāt end up as an engineer he would be better off getting a degree from Endicott than a very low ranked public school. I know at the end of the day, he will get out of college what he puts into it.
Itās quite possible that itās about recruitment. In addition to the points you made, I also notice that a lot of kids seem to think that they might want to study engineering, but arenāt really sure. An undecided kid like this might like the idea of a smaller or more LAC-like school with time and freedom to make up their minds later, while on the other hand their possible interest in engineering might rule out colleges without any type of engineering major. General engineering might attract these kids.
Have you checked University of Hartford? Or Wentworth?
Good thing not BC - which isnāt ABET accredited. In fact, there was a post last year of a kid who is transferring because of that.
There are tons of schools, not hard to get into (but hard to graduate from because engineering is hard). If you do a match me - give us stats, budget, type of school wants, things like urban vs. rural, weatherā¦i.e. are they willing to go south or midwest, etc.
You already said suburban and smaller.
Is he open to out of state? Many are less expensive.
And yes, heāll get out of it what he puts into it.
As for heās better off getting a degree from Endicott (frankly, a school few nationally have heard of) from a lower ranked public school - Iāll disagree - and go back to the previous sentence - heāll get out what he puts in.
Same thing with his career - if heās a go getter, it wonāt matter Endicott or UMASS, Central Connecticut or UCONN.
Is there a type of engineering he prefers? As noted above, Endicott offers four types - although there are many other - Chem, Civil, Environmental, biomedical, etc.
The only reason that BC is not ABET accredited is because the program is still fairly new. A program has to be in existence for 4 years before it can receive ABET accreditation. BC just finished its first 4 years. They have previously said that they plan to apply for ABET accreditation, so I assume that they are in that process now. The application and approval process takes 18 months. Assuming they are successful, studentsentering the program now can expect to be graduating from an ABET accredited program. Although thatās not guaranteed, given their overall level of excellence, itās reasonable to assume that they will likely be successful.
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How about UMaine? I would choose that over Endicott if he is nervous about general engineering. Good engineering program, but less selective than UMASS. And unlike many engineering programs, they have a good retention rate (>80). They also have an engineering technology program.
Iām not so sure about that. We live nearby, so we know Endicott grads and grads from our nearby non-flagship state schools. I donāt see Endicott grads having an advantage. At least not locally. Maybe itās a different story once you are out of state.
I personally donāt think the Endicott name is known at all. OP also mentioned Loyola - that has some brand value.
But if you go to Endicott vs say Framingham State both would be unknown by the masses. Not that it matters of course - it doesnāt - but if thatās what OP thinksā¦.
Look at schools like Michigan Tech and Kettering. Both ABET, small and respected in the workforce.
Adding Clarkson as well.
Yep. Tons of small colleges that meet the criteria.
Milwaukee School of Engineering, Rose Hulman, Olin College of Engineering.
Engineering is not a majority of STEM in terms of numbers of graduates. Biology is probably as numerous as all engineering.
Itās not a long thread, but I had a similar question and thought the responses might be helpful for you: