Anyone studying engineering at UGA? Specifically mechanical. It’s relatively new so there aren’t many clubs so how is the education experience?
Yup, I applied to and was accepted to UGA for Engineering. I applied into Environmental Engineering, and did a whole lot of research in the program. Here is some info that you might find to be helpful:
- The Engineering program, as you rightfully noticed, is very new, so not all of their programs are accredited.
- Currently, the UGA Engineering Program in unaccredited areas (Electrical/Mechanical/Civil), and some of their weaker areas which are accredited (Computer Systems, Biological), are not that reputable. It may be hard to get a competitive engineering job having graduated from these programs.
- The Environmental Engineering program is decent, since it is ABET accredited, and UGA has strengths in areas such as water resources.
- One thing good about UGA Engineering is that they require students to pass the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) exam to graduate. This helps a bit in levelling the playing field for a UGA Engineering graduate.
- UGA’s Agricultural Engineering program is really good though. Its really in the league with Texas A&M, Purdue, etc. (not yet ranking wise, but opportunity, job prospect, and respect wise). It’s really comparable to GT Engineering and students who have graduated from that program have done well (placed in good companies, etc). This is due to a general UGA strength in agriculture, which feeds into Agricultural Engineering.
- Really, a UGA degree in ME wouldn’t be very effective in the job market. You would really need to go to grad school at a place like GT to compensate. I believe that by the time you graduate, the UGA ME program will be accredited, but again, you are competing with many graduates from the GT ME program.
- The reason I saw UGA Environ. Engineering as a good option was a desire to go onto graduate school. Attending it, and then taking a minor in something like water resources + passing the FE exam would make me (or anyone else), an extremely qualified candidate (even for a job for that matter).
Obviously, I’m just a student like you - but I worked an internship at a large engineering institute (with many grads from GT), and this gave me an insight into how the job market is. A UGA ME degree is not a very solid investment, but I think that transferring to GT will be more effective for you in the long run if you want to do ME. Otherwise, if you really want to stay at UGA, you should consider doing Agricultural or Environmental Engineering instead. UGA’s Agricultural Engineering program has a Mechanical Systems emphasis that you could do, so then you could follow your interests but still keep your future in perspective. Then, if your GPA is good and your GRE (Graduate School entry exam) scores are good, getting into a M.S. Mechanical Engineering program at a place like GT, or other places (likely funded) shouldn’t be too hard (I know of one student who did it this way). Even if you didn’t, your UGA Agricultural Engineering degree with the Mechanical Systems emphasis would be pretty powerful on its own…
Here is the link to it:
I also saw another one of your posts earlier. I hope that GT works out for you ultimately, but the RETP programs that they offer are really good. Yes, you will be going to a relatively unknown or junior college for two years, but, you are guaranteed admission to Georgia Tech (as long as you get that minimum GPA), and its easy to keep a high GPA. At UGA, you’re not really guaranteed to transfer - and you’re in the regular transfer applicant pool, but it is possible. Just make sure you complete the course requirments by major that they have on their website, and the target GPA is 3.6+ I believe…