S is finalizing decision for undergraduate studies with dual major in Aerospace and Mechancial Engineering. He’s narrowing the schools down to Syracuse or West Virginia with maybe Rutgers being a stretch. We saw both schools and liked their respective programs. Wondering what others think or would like to opine.
You can use the ASEE online profile to see more details on each engineering program. Such as what programs are offered, how many students are enrolled by major, faculty, R&D spending, etc.
Do these schools allow you to dual major in Aero/Mechanical? Many don’t allow students to earn a dual major in two different engineering fields, however, some do make an exception, especially with Aero/Mechanical. Don’t assume the school will allow it, unless it’s on their website or you’ve talked with an adviser.
Some schools (like Syracuse) offer a “combined degree”, which is a combined BS/MS program, where you earn your BS and MS in 5 years (a normal BS+MS takes 6 years).
The general consensus is that a dual degree is usually not a significant benefit. It usually means at least one additional year in college, so you’re losing out on one year’s worth of salary ($50K to $80K or so) plus the expense of an additional year.
http://coursecatalog.syr.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=11&poid=6461&returnto=1459
If you’re going to spend an extra year at college, I would recommend the BS+MS over a BS/BS. If the dual degree is offered, you don’t have to decide on doing it or the “combined degree” until late sophomore or early junior year.
sorry to butt in…@Gator88NE, I am looking at ASEE right now but really don’t know what to make of it. One thing I am looking at is the external funding Source at Texas Tech (local school). I see the EE department has more funding than the other disciplines. I know Pulsed power is a big deal here in the EE dept. Can you elaborate on what I should be looking for. Thank you very much.
The ASEE gives some basic information about the college of engineering (COE). Some of it may be of interest to you, other information may not. It does allow you to compare two programs.
Lets use Texas Tech as an example.
http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/8205/screen/1?school_name=Texas+Tech+University
It gives basic info, such as Texas Tech being a public university, on a semester academic year, in an urban setting, in Lubbock (pop 253K), total undergraduate and graduate enrollment, etc.
Under “Degree Programs” well see a listing of all degree programs offered by the COE. TT offers 11 undergraduate degree programs (including “foundation Engineering”). They offer Petroleum Engineering (a lot of COE’s don’t) but don’t offer an Aerospace program.
Under “Societies” you’ll get a listing of the student organizations and honor societies. Looks like they have a Formula SAE racing team…
“Engineering Faculty & Research” gives a breakdown of the faculty. If you’re interested in Petroleum engineering, you’re going to want to see how many faculty members are assigned to that department. This will also break down Teaching from Non-Teaching, Tenured and tenured track from non-tenure-track, and by rank (Full, Associate and Assistant).
Don’t over analyze the faculty numbers. More is good (especially the student to faculty ratio). However, a large number of non-tenured track teaching faculty could a cost saving strategy, but, on the other hand, some students favorite lecturers are the non-tenured track faculty, who are mostly focused on teaching.
Under “New Applicants”, we have admission stats for the COE. At Texas Tech, 68% of admitted students are in the top 25% of their HS class, and the middle 50% ACT composite score was 25 to 29.
Under “Enrollment by Class”, you’ll get the enrollment by degree program, broken down by Fresh/Soph/Junior/Senior. It’s normal to see that the senior class is by far the largest group, as most engineering take longer than 4 years to graduate and/or are doing co-ops. You’ll notice that most TT students are in “Foundational Engineering” until they are juniors or seniors. Environmental is a fairly small program, while Mechanical is by far the largest.
“Dual Degrees” list any dual degree programs at the school. At Tech, they offer a dual degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering and another one in Math and Computer Sciences.
“Program Comparison” gives a listing of each degree program, if it’s ABET/CEAB accredited, and the average program length. Notice that it’s often 6 years at Texas Tech. That’s rather long (I was expecting 4 to 4.5), so I would look into it. Perhaps it’s co-ops? Perhaps a large number of transfer students? Hard to get classes? Students tend to drop and retake a few classes? Who knows, but you may want to ask an adviser in the COE.
Under the Graduate sections, you get a break down of research expenditures, and a description of the research being down in each department. If, for example, you wanted to major in CS, with a focus on Cyber Security, here you would find that TT has a “Center for the Science and Engineering of Cyber Security”. Something to look into.
Thank you @Gator88NE