<p>Husband is P.E. as civil. I agree, does seem more expected with civil soon out of school. I think he may have even taken an Engineer in Training exam while he was still in college but not 100% sure of that.Surprised to hear that EE has the exam but it is not taken right way. Is there some historical reason for that? Is coming from an ABET accredited program considered enough in most cases for most types of engineering, so that licensure is not considered essential?</p>
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<p>If your husband took the exam more than 10 years ago, my hat is off to him. The test used to be a real bear. Some people still have difficulty with it, but those old exams were impossible.</p>
<p>Speaking for EEs, many do not take the exam because they work in what are known as “Exempt industries”. Many states grant exemptions to people employed, for example, in companies like Apple, or in the defense industry. Most EEs who take the exam do so because they work in heavy industry (like energy or petrochemical), work for large scale construction firms or contractors (like Becthel or Fluor), work for the government, or want to be expert witnesses, where it also helps.</p>
<p>That’s why most EEs who take the exam take it in the Power specialty. I took mine in Electronics, Communications and Control Theory. THey also have one for Computers, but I think almost nobody takes it, because most people working in purely computer stuff don’t need that type of license.</p>
<p>bovertine, I posted my last post before I saw your edit from your previous post. Husband took the P.E. many years ago since he graduated from college in 1977! We’re old!</p>
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<p>Note that in civil engineering, the stuff being designed:</p>
<p>a. Is extremely expensive and valuable compared to the capacity of engineer or his/her company to replace it.</p>
<p>b. Has only one chance to get it right, because it is not really feasable to give the customer a replacement if the first one is defective in a serious way.</p>
<p>c. Is often used by people who were not directly involved in the process of purchasing it.</p>
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<p>Need to correct this misinformation. And yes, I am an MD. </p>
<p>There are two different kinds of medical ‘Boards.’</p>
<p>Nat’l Board of Medical Examiners administers a 3 part test, taken during and shortly after completion of med school, that determines minimal competency to practice medicine. I may be off a bit on timing as it has been a long time but it is essentially tied to medical school education. State medical boards use this information to grant licenses. I don’t recall specifically if residencies look at NBME results, but in any case, they would only have results of part 1 to look at as parts 2 and 3 are done after applying for residencies. They are NOT used to determine who can go into what specialties, which is limited only by ones desire and ones ability to get accepted into a residency of that specialty. At my top medical school, we basically approached these as pass/fail. These are a one time thing.</p>
<p>There is also Specialty Boards, which is what is commonly referred to as “Board Certification.” These are administered by various specialties such as Surgery, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry etc. and are taken after one finishes residency (or fellowship if subspecialty training is pursued) and need to be renewed every x number of years. These are also basically pass/fail in that while you receive a score, no one cares what that is as long as you have passed and therefore are ‘Board Certified.’ ‘Board Eligible’ means you have met the requirements to sit for the Board exam but have not yet done so, or sat but did not pass.</p>
<p>And for the record, primary care, while less lucrative, is in no way less prestigious in the eyes of the physician. And I am not in primary care.</p>
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<p>Well, the MCAT is predictive of grades and Board scores in medical school, and these reflect medical knowledge…</p>