Hello. I was wondering about how good the EM program is at Stevens. I’m in High School, and I would like to gather some info about the program. Is it similar to IE or SyE? Can I go into an IT job in NY with the degree, and does it pay more or less than other Engineering programs at Stevens (or in general)? Also, overall, is it worth spending over $200000 and 8 sems in college? Thank you.
My S graduated from Stevens two years ago in Electrical Engineering. While we weren’t familiar with the EM program in particular, with respect to outcomes the graduates of the 2018 EM class saw placement and salaries comparable to the Stevens average. According to the 2018 Career Outcomes survey, EM graduates were offered an average of $68,100 starting salary, slightly lower than the Stevens average of $71,400 for the Class of 2018 (the 2019 report has not yet been issued) across all engineering majors:
https://www.stevens.edu/sites/stevens_edu/files/files/Career/Class-of-2018-Outcomes-Report-Web2.pdf
Stevens has both a dedicated EM and Industrial/Systems Engineering program, which is detailed on Stevens’ website:
https://www.stevens.edu/sites/stevens_edu/files/files/sse/BEEM-2018-101218.pdf
https://www.stevens.edu/school-systems-enterprises/undergraduate-programs/engineering-management
https://www.stevens.edu/sites/stevens_edu/files/Stevens_2019-2020_Academic_Catalog.pdf#page=436
From these descriptions, the EM program is oriented towards systems engineering, process engineering, operations research, process engineering, supply chain management, operational effectiveness, and others. The Industrial/Systems Engineering program overlaps in several areas with the EM program but appears to place more emphasis on operations research, data analysis/analytics, modeling and simulation, and data mining/machine learning. The operations research and modeling/simulation were traditionally emphasized in legacy industrial engineering programs, but today new technologies undoubtedly have changed the field. Stevens has certainly kept pace.
I suspect what you are interested in is some type of hybrid of these two subjects. You should contact the Stevens EM and ISE departments (which are part of the School of Systems and Enterprises) and ask these questions. I suspect there is flexibility in both programs that electives can be taken that cover both areas.
As in all ABET accredited engineering programs, a design project of significance is required, the capstone design project is usually done in the fourth year, but Stevens’ program has elements of design work in all semesters.
You can also do a co-op or internship, which is extremely valuable in that when you graduate you will already have industrial experience, a large advantage when you apply for your first full time job after graduation.
With respect to IT, you can take IT related courses at Stevens but the engineering program is not specifically IT oriented. Most Stevens engineering graduates (and likely most engineering graduates in general) likely do not aspire to do routine IT work. IT can be done with a two year community college degree or a commercial IT trade school, if that is what you want to do you do not need to go to college for four years, actually (of course, in any field, a four year degree is certainly an advantage). My organization’s IT director is a Stevens graduate and has a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon U for example.
As to whether 8 semesters and $200k is worth the time and expense, firstly, an EM/ISE program at any school is going to require 8 semesters. It is possible to graduate from Stevens in three years taking extra courses during summer and intersession breaks, which would save a year’s tuition. The co-op program is 5 years (you spend a year off campus working in a professional capacity in an industry, during which time you are earning a salary but not paying tuition). With respect to $200k, most Stevens students receive non-loan financial aid or scholarships. Very few are paying the “sticker price” or catalog cost of attendance. The average Stevens student is paying about half of the cost of attendance out of pocket. Yes, that is a significant investment, but, Stevens graduates have among the highest return on investment of their tuition of all US universities, and most will agree their tuition was a great investment:
https://www.stevens.edu/news/stevens-alumni-earn-among-highest-mid-career-salaries-nation
https://www.payscale.com/college-roi
I would highly recommend you contact Stevens and ask the appropriate questions. You should arrange for a campus visit and discuss with the relevant faculty members. Stevens in general has one of the highest placement and highest starting/midcareer salaries of all universities in the United States. You cannot go wrong with any engineering major there.
Hope this helps. Best to you in all your endeavors!
So this program seems to have nice outcomes in line with the industry overall. BUT if your asking is it worth spending $200,000 on this or just about any engineering program then for me the answer is no. If you have a cheaper option to reach the same goal (to be an engineer) then do that. Sit down for a few minutes and figure out your monthly payments after graduation. It won’t be pretty. Why put yourself in that situation?
Thank you SO VERY MUCH for all this info. But for a computing-related career, would you recommend ISyE or EM?
Also, I heard that EM is a perfectly-legitimate Engineering degree (as long as it is ABET accredited), but that it also gives you the best of both worlds, Management and Eng. Some said that this combo is not there in other Eng programs (MechE, EE, etc.), and that EM is a VERY wise career choice. You’ll have both the Management and Eng expertise to succeed.
This sounded promising to me, but others have said that you are neither an expert in Eng or Mgmt when doing EM, and that you are much better off doing CE, EE, ME, etc. and slowly rising to a managerial level rather than a discipline that doesn’t fit into either category.
Which argument do you agree the most with? Thank you. (I got this info from Quora and Reddit)
EM is a perfectly legitimate engineering degree. All ABET accredited EM programs must adhere to the foundation science, lab/design, and interdisciplinary/discipline-specific engineering course content that the accreditation criteria require. What area of computing are you interested in? If it is management of IT systems, MIS, planning of enterprise computer systems, the EM/ISE route is a good option. If it is design of software the CS, software engineering, or Comp. E. programs are more focused in those areas. Design of computer hardware would be better served by EE or Comp. E.
@Knowsstuff - By all means, one should determine what he/she will need to pay out of pocket for attending college. I agree that 200k in loans would be a problem for most, but again, such an expense would mean one gets little or no financial aid. The average Stevens student in the past few years graduates with about $25k in loans. While that is not an insignificant sum, it is not $200k. Stevens reports that 96% of students receive financial assistance. There are very few students paying the full COA.
I doubt the OP will need to pay $200k out of pocket to attend Stevens.
Despite the “sticker” COA, Stevens has no shortage of applications and accepts only 39% or so of the applicants. If students believed they were not getting high value from their tuition, Stevens certainly would not have the backlog of applications that it has. None of the Stevens graduates I know including my S will say their tuition has not paid off in droves, even with student loans.
I don’t think you will go wrong with any engineering major at Stevens.
I know someone from NJ who got his engineering degree at Penn State. As an out of state student, he got no financial aid from Penn State and has accumulated $160k in student loans. He got a good engineering job, but he is paying half of his net salary in loans. He could have attended Rutgers or even Stevens for less than that but he wanted to go out of state. Arguably, Stevens graduates certainly enjoy comparable, and in many cases, better, outcomes compared to Penn State, so that was not a very wise decision I would say.
I’ve been looking into MIS programs, and 2 programs that caught my eye were the Uni of Tampa (Sykes Business School) and Rowan (Rohrer Business). They are both CAC of ABET accredited, and I was wondering which one was better based on job outcomes, employment, quality of program, salaries, and rankings. Any help? Thank you. Sykes was rated #8 business school in Florida, but I don’t know about Rohrer.
Also, U Tampa (private) and Rowan (public) are roughly the same cost for me (as an NY resident).
I think it depends upon whether or not you want an engineering degree. As an engineer myself I believe an engineering degree is more valuable in general than MIS, since with the EM, ISE, EE, CE, CompE, et al, degree you can certainly do MIS work, but with an MIS degree you would be limited if you later decided you wanted to do engineering related work. In general, I advise people not to attend an out of state public university. In many cases - as with my friend who went out of state to attend Penn State - many public universities offer little or no scholarship aid to out of state students. Out of state tuition at most public universities is comparable to private institutions as you point out. I know for example here in NJ Rutgers is not very generous to out of state students in general. If you want MIS and you are a NY resident, in my opinion SUNY would be a more logical choice. I don’t think U of Tampa or Rowan have better reputations than SUNY, and both would be more expensive. Stevens is worth the price as I said earlier, but I think very few out of state publics are worth the out of state price or that much superior to your in-state public university.
With respect to outcomes of the two schools you mentioned, you should look at their websites and find their outcomes report, if they publish them which most schools today do (I believe that all colleges and universities that accept federal tuition assistance (such as Pell grants, etc) are required by the US Dept. of Education to publish this information).
ABET accreditation is less important for non-engineering (computer science, MIS, and other non-engineering computer related majors) programs than it is in engineering. ABET accreditation IMO is essential for engineering programs (it is essential if a student wants to sit for the PE exam, the patent bar exam, and for many government engineering positions for example, and many private employers require applicants to have an ABET accredited engineering degree).
I was also considering Rutgers NB Business Analytics and IT. Is it a good program? Also, for engineering, I was considering Ohio State CompE, but tuition will most likely not be a problem for me (my parents have saved up A LOT in my college fund).
In your opinion, is CompE or CS easier and better? I realize that neither of them are “easy,” but which one leads to better employment? Thanks.
I don’t think either are “easy” as you say. Engineering is hard no matter the school. You have to get the right answer by applying the mathematics and physical science. CS varies. Schools like Stevens have a substantial base of mathematics and theory of computation in the CS program, while others are more geared towards coding and have less theory. IMO the base of theory and math is very important. In general though both CS and Comp. E. majors do well in the job market. If you take a look at Stevens’ outcomes report for example, the average CS graduate in 2018 started at $86,300.
I don’t recommend attending Rutgers as an out of state student. Even if cost isn’t a factor, I don’t think it is any more highly regarded in most fields than SUNY. In my opinion Stevens is better than Rutgers for engineering and computer science. Ohio State is a good engineering school, but again, I don’t believe it is any better than your state university. Doesn’t SUNY also have business/data analytics and IT programs? I suspect they do.
For any school you are considering, I strongly recommend looking at their outcomes reports, and, by all means, visit the schools you are seriously interested in and talk to the faculty of the programs of interest.
SUNYs are small schools that are low-cost, but not exactly renowned nationwide (except for a few schools. I’ve been considering Clarkson U for their E&M program, but it’s private). They are also located in very remote areas of NY (some are in the middle of nowhere). But I am not saying that they suck. Binghamton IMO has a good engineering program, but, if I had to attend any public NY school for Eng, it would most likely be CCNY (not even that. Also, our family might even move, and if we do, no more CUNY/SUNY).
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Also, out of CompE (or EECS/ECE), EM, Engineering Physics, BAIT, Mathematics and CompSci and Systems Eng (not ISyE. I’ve seen a big difference in IT-oriented SyE and ISyE programs. The most evident was between UVA and VA Tech), which one would you say is the easiest? Like I said, neither is easy, but out of these, which would you considering to be the easiest group? Thank you very much.
Unless I am reading this thread incorrectly… You shouldn’t be judging the engineering disciplines based on projected income or which is easiest. No one knows you or your strengths. What might be interpreted easy for one might be hard for another.
If you want engineering that has business principles look into Industrial engineering. My son is doing it now and wants to go into business management. His internship last summer was in Project management at a tech company.
Also pick something you have an interest in or passion about. I have really never met someone that has told me that their engineering curriculum is easy. It’s all hard in different ways.
But… Hard work leads to success.
I agree with Knowsstuff. Don’t base your choice of major and/or school on just projected income or what seems easiest. Engineering and computer science are not easy. Projected salaries can change between now and the four years you are going to spend in college. Read the schools’ descriptions of the programs you are interested in, talk to the faculty and staff of the programs that interest you, talk to students in those programs, visit the schools, and get an idea of what they entail. Study what interests you and intrigues you. It is much easier in college (and in any endeavor in life) to like what you are doing. If you are studying something in which you have a true interest, you will be successful. And yes, hard work leads to success. Thomas Edison was famously quoted as saying “Success is 1 percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration”.
The weird thing is, I don’t want you guys to blast me out for this, but I’m more of a Social Sciences kind of person (I love History/Government, and I has a blast in AP Macro/Microecon. I think that a PoliSci major would be the greatest thing in the world)! My parents want me to do engineering or CS because “it will lead to a good job at a tech company and all your friends are doing Eng/CS at NYU, Columbia, etc.” I’m not a huge STEM guy (I HATE math, physics is a meh, chemistry is boring but Biology is good 
), and instead of IT/CS reports, I would much rather picture myself researching Politics and reading History. History/Geography and Politics are the BEST subjects in the world for me.
P.S, my parents say that a Political Science B.S would be B.S and that it is a trash degree that will get me nowhere (a 50 k job or fast food employee), and that I should at least do Business Analysis or IT (at the lowest end). Thinking about it, this sounds like the typical Asian family 
Parent0347 , I did consider the ISyE program first (that was the 1st reason I thought about Stevens), but I found out that it wasn’t ABET accredited. I threw that away immediately, and then I thought that 2nd best would be EM. Is it true that I cant go wrong with an EM major from Stevens?