@momzilla2D
As someone with a daughter going into mechanical engineering next fall, here’s been our experience. Yes, they do ask in interviews what you’ve done in the field so far, why you want to do engineering, what you’ll contribute to the field.
Our school, even our town offers zero classes, clubs, or camps for engineering. This has not stopped daughter from being direct admitted into programs or winning merit scholarships.
She has handled it by having thoughtful answers to the last two questions, doing a lot of research online about the specific type of engineering she wants to do, talking to people in the field, and keeping up with publications specific to what she wants to do.
She loves and is good at math. She tutors students in math. She likes designing and planning out projects. She’s interested in the why behind something and how it functions. She has a set career path and goals within mechanical engineering based on her interests. Using all of that, she was more than able to articulate in a meaningful way “why engineering?”, so you definitely don’t have to reference experience. She simply explained she has not had the opportunity to participate in engineering related activities, but would have liked to have done so if that had been an option.
We have also asked a number of schools if there are any community college classes she could take in advance that would help her prepare, and the answer has been math classes if she wasn’t already in AP Cal and basic drafting, not CAD. We were told old fashioned drafting would be a big asset as many colleges don’t really teach that anymore or combine an abbreviated version of it with a CAD class, and that isn’t really enough to master it. Having solid drafting skills and being able to draft on paper seemed to be considered a needed skill that many programs don’t fully have time to teach well. We were advised against the CAD classes as there are so many different programs out there all using different software. But it was explained to us that if you have a solid understanding of basic drafting, you’ll be able to apply that knowledge to any of those programs. In addition, most schools wanted her to take their specific classes, taught their specific way, covering their specific material to make sure what she was learning was correct and compliant with their ABET accredited program. It didn’t seem like there was any benefit to her taking general or beginner engineering classes somewhere else.
Overall, they seemed to really only care about the math. I think we were asked at every school if she would be taking AP Cal. We had schools call to confirm she was taking AP Cal and AP Physics to qualify her to be direct admitted. We also had it explained to us on more than one engineering preview day, that engineering had separate higher ACT math requirements for admittance into the program than into the school. Most required a minimum Math ACT of 26 or 28, but most schools explained that unless you were higher than that and excelled in advanced math classes in highschool, you’d probably struggle, and this might not be the right field for you.
As far as shadowing, I’d try reaching out directly to companies in your area and seeing if any might be ok with allowing that. Another option is reaching out to the engineering department or career services office at local schools who might be willing to share contacts with you. (community colleges, state schools, local private universities)
