Abet

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I want to major in CompE, and some schools I'm applying to are not ABET accredited for CompE. Is ABET really important for a CompE major?</p>

2

<p>See FAQ post #14
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1065285142-post14.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1065285142-post14.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Short answer is no.</p>

3

<p>The longer ( and more educated) answer is yes. Most state licensure boards will require a degree from an ABET accredited program, or at least a substantially greater number of years of experience for you to sit for the professional engineering exam. Even in the likely event thatyour career path does not require licensure, most federal and state engineering positions and almost all engineering positions with government contractors require degrees from ABET accredited programs. Do not limit your marketability by attending an easier program.</p>

4

<p>Yes, you will have slightly greater marketability with ABET accreditation in computer engineering. However, I don’t believe it’s worth going to a lesser school just to obtain an ABET accredited degree in this field (if that is what the OP is contemplating). If the schools are of the same caliber, then obviously having it is better than not having it, but I would not consider the accreditation by itself to be terribly important.</p>

5

<p>If you were interested in CompSci I would say no, but with CompEng I would say yes. I am not certain about this, as I am in EE where things are more black and white, but in those programs where accreditation is standard or at least common, lack of accreditation implies (correct or not) a lower quality of program. Besides professional licensure (which is not really important for CompEng), many other programs expect ABET accreditation. For example, graduate programs often care about whether or not your undergrad was accredited, as does my employer - one of the hiring managers commented that ABET accreditation was something they used when hiring from programs with which they were less familiar.</p>

<p>To somewhat agree with Ken, however, I would way accreditation against the other factors between the schools. If it appears to you that program A is a quality program (by other standards, like admission standards, reputation, job/grad school placement, etc.) I would still consider it if it is not accredited. However, I think it is more common to see a lack of accreditation in lesser programs.</p>