Right. And BTW for the record I think everyone - especially at Dartmouth! - should study another language. I mean it’s like the mother ship for that in many ways. I know that some institutions very much do not believe in the Rassias method, but IMO and IME it makes language learning both fun and successful.
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I had to learn highway design, curves and stuff. It was tough since I was an architectural engineering major and didn’t do a lot of other civil coursework.
I don’t know anything about the current exams system since I’m not affected by them.
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I hope he doesn’t change his mind and get stung.
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I doubt it.
If I had to guess he’ll be one who grows in a company.
I never heard of the exam til this or another recent chat - so like 6 months or less.
My guess is he’ll eventually get an mba. Like mom / dad.
All good.
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All these comments about Dartmouth Engineering often taking five years (or doing a 3+2) are worrying for those wanting need-aid. Generally need-aid is only good for four years, and only at the original institution, so you must finish there in four years, or else you could be in financial dire straits.
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I’m posting this only as a source of information.
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Yes, I highly recommend taking the exam as soon as possible because you never know when a PE license might be useful. Why limit your options by failing to take a fairly simple exam? You can also put PE after your name and that does carry weight.
Well my son is very aware of the license unlike me . He’s 23 next week.
He’s doing great, has a great future and it’s time for the parents to let him fly. The helicopter in his life has landed. It no longer flies.
He’s gotta make his own decisions and he has.
But I’ve worked with many engineeers and honestly have never heard of the license and don’t recall anyone listing PE after a name. MBA I’ve seen which I always thought odd but never PE.
Probably not relevant to my industry.
Nonetheless he’ll decide his future. If he asks guidance then he’d get.
I’m not responding to you but other users. It’s surprising to me you’ve never seen the PE designation. It’s very common.
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Interesting. I wouldn’t have thought there’d be a salary difference for MEs. My Dad is/was an AE/applied mechanics and my BIL an ME and my brother an EE/ME. None of them have their PE and I don’t think any have been limited. It definitely, absolutely necessary for civils however.
But if you have any inkling you might ever want it, taking the FE right out of school is absolutely the best way to go. Can imagine trying to relearn all the stuff here https://ncees.org/wp-content/uploads/FE-Civil-CBT-specs-1.pdf years after school.
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You are more likely to see that if you encounter civil engineers, or other engineers working on infrastructure used by the general public.
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However, current labor markets favor specialization, which is one cause of credential creep. The problem that skilled adaptive generalists have is convincing other people that they are skilled and adaptive, so that the other people will employ them believing that they are capable of quickly learning any needed specialty (with less or no on-the-job-training) that they would otherwise hire a specialist for. Of course, specialists can have the same problem if the labor market for their specialty shrinks, and they need to find some other kind of job.
I’m not so sure about that. On the Wesleyan webpage, they make a point of saying that the 2+1+1+1 dual-degree engineering program with Dartmouth is equivalent to the 12-College Exchange (which both colleges participate in):
The 2-1-1-1 option of the dual degree engineering program with Dartmouth College has a different structure than those with either Columbia University or California Institute of Technology. In this regard, the program is like the Twelve College Exchange Program administered by the Office of International Studies. The same rules apply both for credit transfer and for financial aid. Dual Degree Program, Engineering - Wesleyan University
On the Twelve College Exchange page it clearly states:
Financial-aid students may apply their Wesleyan assistance, with the exception of work/study benefits, toward expenses at the host college. External Special Study Programs < Wesleyan University
Rose-Hulman has a summer program called Operation Catapult. Even if your kid isn’t interested in that school, he would get a great experience of a well-resourced undergraduate-focused engineering program.
My kid went and it helped him figure out some of his preferences in the categories of colleges and potential majors. This was invaluable for a kid who had trouble determining preferences in the college search. They do a really nice job with the program and I doubt it’s hard to get in.
As others have said, it’s complicated to do engineering at smaller schools, which is why relatively few offer it. We didn’t consider any schools unless they were ABET-accredited in all our kid’s potential majors (he knew he wanted engineering but not computer majors). It really helps to know if a kid is a “yes, no, or maybe” for engineering when it comes to making a college list (especially if interested in smaller schools).
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Some of the smaller schools that do offer engineering majors focus on them, with fewer offerings of other majors than more “general” schools (e.g. the “mine” schools).
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True. I have noticed (this is purely my anecdotal observation, so please correct if I’m wrong) that such schools fall mainly into two categories: 1) a handful of schools that have enough cachet that it doesn’t matter that they only offer general engineering (e.g., Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore), and 2) the rest, which I think is often reflective of the amount of resources devoted to the engineering program.
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I asked my son en route to airport after the last note from yiu and thumper. .
He says no one at his work and he’s very aware of the PE. Maybe from school or last summer internship but he’s not headed or interested in a direction it will be needed.
That I’ve not noticed it doesn’t mean it’s not common. Honestly I wouldn’t have known what it meant and likely wouldn’t have been curious enough to ask.
Sounds like a fine credential to have. Especially at job interview time.
Civil engineer here. I only put PE after my name if I am writing a letter for work. It is a lot like attorneys - I don’t know anyone who puts Esquire after their name if they are sending out holiday cards or a note to their grandma. I would not expect anyone to put PE after my name if it wasn’t work correspondence, and even then, I don’t care if someone uses PE or not.
In regard to the PE exam, it has changed a bit over the years. It is now on a computer, you can take the test (at least part of it) in an area/subfield that you know, it is offered more frequently than before (used to be twice a year), and results are available in about 10 days (before was 3-4 months after the test).
Mostly civil and mechanical engineers might have a need to be a PE, though if electrical engineers do more “traditional” work (plans for commercial buildings, pump stations, etc.) they might too. I agree that it should be taken as soon as you have the needed years of experience.
For various reasons, I didn’t take the exam until I had eight years of experience - in most states you need four years if you went to an ABET certified school. I had my second kid in early October, and the exam was at the end of October. Didn’t start studying until after I had the baby, baby went back to the hospital for four days when she was a few weeks old (nothing serious, out of caution), and there was a two year old in the mix (attended day care though).
DH said skip the test and take it next time, but I had already paid for it, so I thought I might as well take it. I passed, so it was all good, though much like ClassicMom98’s story of having babies and taking the PE exam, not the best timing.
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I only use PE after my name professionally, not socially.
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