<p>My son was just accepted to Swanson School of Engineering at Pitt and we would appreciate hearing from current students/parents about the pros and cons of the program, especially as it relates to the first year experience. In particular, how large are the class sizes and how is the academic support system. Also, we understand that the first year curriculum is uniform among the different majors but if a student is accepted into Mechanical Engineering will there be additional criteria he will have to meet to progress in that area? We anticipate that an engineering major will be a lot of hard work, but are the engineering students enjoying their classes despite the level of difficulty? </p>
<p>There is no “acceptance” into a major at this point - it is his intended major not declared. Pitt doesn’t limit how many students enter each engineering discipline when they declare major at the end of freshman yr - so you don’t have to worry about “additional criteria” to choose ME at that point. What is great about the program is that first yr seminar exposes freshman engineers to what each discipline is about, career options, what research is being done. It helps the undecided, choose a path with some understanding of that choice as opposed to some HS kids who say “I going to major in engineering” without much understanding of what that means. Classes are large but not enormous - 120 or so in most of those frosh classes - with seminar being (at least in part) a smaller cohort (12-25). All those big classes have recitations which are much smaller. Now, if your son is in honors college, he can also take honors versions of those freshman courses, they are more in depth, not get weighted any differently into the GPA, but have a smaller class size which can be nice. </p>
<p>Thanks for your helpful explanation! Would appreciate any other comments on what makes the Pitt engineering program stand out from others. </p>
<p>My son is currently a freshman intending to major in Mechanical Engineering. He is also in the Honors College. He is really enjoying Pitt. He is taking Chemistry, Physics, Calc, and Eng Analysis, plus the freshman engineering seminar. Most students also take an elective, but since my son came in with AP credits for a few electives, he decided to not take one this semester and instead take two honors courses. He is doing honors in calc and physics and loves those classes. The class sizes are reasonable, all with 80 or less kids and some smaller for recitations. I think once a week one of his classes has all the sections together in one lecture, and that has a couple hundred students. Next semester he will take the next level of those same courses, and add on an elective. All freshman engineers take the same classes. The only choices are the level (honors or regular), and your one elective each semester of freshman year. He finds the professors excellent and very accessible. We are happy with the engineering program, his dorm, the campus and the many activities he has been able to participate in at Pitt.</p>
<p>Thank you, amrjmom, for your comments. They are helpful to those of us a year behind you!</p>
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<p>As many have said, freshman year engineers have a basic schedule that they all take together. The general classes are:</p>
<p>Fall Semester: Calc 1, Physics 1, Chem 1, Engineering 1 (programming), Big Seminar, Little Seminar, Elective
Spring Semester: Calc 2, Physics 2, Chem 2 (With lab), Engineering 2 (programming), Big Seminar, Little Seminar, Elective</p>
<p>If you come in with AP credits that might change slightly. For instance you might start the fall with Calc 2 or 3 depending on your scores. You may get out of Chem depending on your scores (Physics as well). The UHC version of Engineering 1/2 is different than the non-UHC (same is said for Calc, Physics, and Chem). The Classes all hover around 80-120 students, with recitations or labs being smaller (15-20) students. The big seminar is for the entire Freshman class (about 350-450 students). In the fall they cover what each of the different departments and programs are like. In the spring they talk about opportunities within departments or companies, diversity, and also give tours of the departments you are interested in joining (the specific majors within Engineering). Around March you will declare which department you would like to join. There is no cap per department.</p>
<p>Freshman year you are randomly assigned an advisor who helps ensure you complete the curriculum. Starting sophomore year your advisor will be a professor within a department so that they are familiar with the courses, fellow professors, opportunities, and requirements for graduation.</p>
<p>MEMS (the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Department) is a little different in that during sophomore year, the two majors (MechE and Mat Sci) are still combined. This leads to slightly larger class sizes still (about 60-80). Starting junior year, the two majors split so that the MechE classes are purely for those students and the MSE classes are purely for those students. By this point, because of Co-Op/etc the class size drops down closer to the 60 person range (labs can be smaller). </p>
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<p>Most students coming into Engineering don’t anticipate the courseload required of them. Stacking up your schedule with 4 engineering/science classes is no joke. You will have hours of homework per week. However, being diligent with work, attending class, and talking to professors/TAs when you need help will all help you from feeling too overwhelmed. Your classmates are all in the same boat with you. Talk to them. Make friends. Make study groups. Get to know each other. I will say my classmates from freshman year (and then the ones in my major that I took every class with) became my closest friends because we spent so much time together in school and out of it.</p>
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<p>The biggest thing Pitt emphasizes is outside of the classroom activity. I have never seen this level of involvement in the students life at another engineering school. Starting freshman year students are told about the importance of maintaining a resume, making good connections, attending job networking/career fairs, and getting summer work in a lab or at a company. Starting sophomore year the school really helps you to make those connections- they host co-op and internship fairs JUST FOR the engineering students so that you can meet companies and get hired for either a 3-rotation co-op or a summer internship. Professors are more than eager to take undergraduate researchers on hire in the summer or the school year to help with research (generally you can get class credit or payment for this as well as some great lab experience and sometimes a publication- great for students interested in graduate school). Through this method of involvement and emphasis on the importance of your networking and workout <em>outside</em> of class, I think Pitt has an amazing placement program for its graduates either in a working field or at a graduate school. My parents were amazed at my graduation when almost every student (I’d say >95%) already had a job offer or a graduate school offer by the time they walked across the stage- in April. You don’t see that kind of commitment to the students future from other universities. </p>
<p>@awesomeopossum - When do you start doing more project specific work in ME?</p>
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<p>Not quite sure what you mean by project specific, but starting sophomore year we were doing small group design projects in at least 3 classes (between fall and spring term). This included a design class (use modeling software to create a new design to some problem, like an easier-to-use jewelry clasp for instance) and two mechanics classes (design a retaining wall that needs to hold so much dirt back on a hill so steep, for example).</p>
<p>Junior year and Senior year the MechE’s get more in depth with their statics and heat transfer classes. I know senior year they are in an intensive lab for at least 1 if not both terms. Everyone in the department also does a big cumulative research project with a faculty advisor (senior design) where you spend the term working on some real-life problem (how to cool data servers more efficiently for example, or better knee brace design for operations) and we create a paper, poster, and presentation talk at the end of term which everyone in the department is invited to.</p>