Civil Engineering in New York

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>My brother wants to do CivilE and so far, the schools he got in are Hofstra, Stony Brook, City College and NYU-Poly. My mom is yelling at him for deciding on Civil Engineering because she thinks he won't find a job, it isn't a good job/it's all construction, she thinks he doesn't even know about the major. She says the pay is bad, etc...</p>

<p>Should my brother still do Civil Engineering? Will he find a job? What's his likely starting salary? And where should he go for Civil Engineering? </p>

<p>So far he's gotten $16,000 for NYU-Poly (scholarship) and $5000 for City College. We didn't apply for FAFSA yet :/</p>

2

<p>I never heard of those schools for engineering but your mom is right. Civil engineer job is declining because lots of house are repossessed by banks and there aren’t that many house to be built in the future. </p>

<p>He can work for government and construction for building but without degree from high ranking engineer school, it is hard to find job and even the ones from high ranking engineer student graduate are unable to find job right now due to hard economy. I think civil engineer major got hit hardest out of all the engineer major. The needs for certain engineer degree do change in time and if your brother is really passionate in this area, I say why not. But civil engineer do get paid less than other engineer majors and that is fact.</p>

3

<p>As a graduate student in civil/structural engineering, I agree.</p>

4

<p>There are two sides to this. One is: it’s ENGINEERING. There will always be jobs in engineering!</p>

<p>The other side: A lot of civil engineering jobs are funded by the federal government. Hence, they definitely don’t pay much…they just offer lots of security.</p>

<p>I say his mom is right. I recommend he goes into MechE and maybe diverge into construction-y/building fields towards the end of his college career, if he too, worries about money.</p>

<p>If not, hey, do what you love.</p>

5

<p>NYU-Poly has the best program in NYC considering employment. Half the career fair is populated with civil firms.</p>

6

<p>I think that with civil engineering, he should be prepared to go beyond just a B.S. degree, from what I’ve been gathering from my own research. I personally know a civil engineer who has done his Ph.D and is a professional, and he is pretty well off, but says that most people underneath him (he’s a chief engineer) have atleast a masters degree.</p>

<p>I would say, like the other guy, do mechanical. I know that people definitely can change their mind after they get their B.S. and get an M.S. in something different (i.e. ElecE –> CompE or MechE –> AeroE), so I would assume that holds true for MechE –> CivE.</p>

<p>He could also be a structural engineer… they have more than a few applications outside of making buildings and stuff (aircraft, other vehicles, etc.).</p>

7

<p>check the school’s job placement % for Civil and average starting salary…compare them with ME’s and EE’s. If your school doesn’t have these numbers (thats not good) but you could resort to looking at another school’s numbers. </p>

<p>if you want to work on building skyscrapers in NYC then bad idea…try abu dhabi or doha…but there are many other kinds of work within Civil that most people are oblivious to because they’re, well, not Civ E’s. ever heard of a transportation engineer?</p>

8

<p>Is this a spur of the moment decision by your brother? How much has he actually thought about it? I’m asking because Hofstra and Stony Brook don’t offer courses in civil engineering. There are plenty of civil engineers in NYC that graduated from Poly and CCNY though. </p>

<p>Starting salary in NYC will be in the 50’s-60s. I’m not sure if this is indicative of the industry across the board, but a traffic engineering firm that I used to work for has been doing very well recently, expanding into three other cities since 2008. Engineering for building construction isn’t doing as well though. It’s hard to say if he’ll find a job or not in 4 years; that’s a very long time.</p>

<p>What does your mother mean by “it isn’t a good job/it’s all construction?”</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s fairly typical with NYC engineering schools.</p>

10

<p>Right now, he’s undecided between Biomedical Engineering and Civil Engineering. </p>

<p>So, which school is better to go to NYU-Poly or CCNY? </p>

<p>CCNY is full tuition scholarship, NYU-Poly is about half :/</p>

11

<p>By time he is graduating, NYU-Poly will have more exposure. I say take poly.</p>

12

<p>I’d say Poly already has more “exposure” and maybe has a slightly better reputation.</p>

13

<p>idk. which could you afford? money matters :(</p>

14

<p>A significant number of civil engineers in NYC graduated from CCNY. As long as your brother stays in NY, he should not experience significant inconveniences as far as undergrad school is concerned. </p>

<p>I’d recommend attending CCNY for undegrad since it will allow him to save significant amounts of $ for the long-term. If he chooses to attend grad school (and more than likely industry demand will force him to do so), he can always attend a higher ranked institution to obtain his advanced degree.</p>

<p>After all, once you obtain your masters, say, from Columbia University, very few people will care you obtained your bachelors from Corner of 125th St. and Lexington Ave. College.</p>

15

<p>What about biomedical engineers? I’m not familiar with them as much, especially in regards to the difference in employment opportunities between Poly and CCNY. The difference is small for civil engineering grads, but he’s undecided on a major right now.</p>

<p>You’re also making a lot of restrictions in order for CCNY to be the better choice:

  • IF he majors in civil engineering
  • IF he stays in NYC
  • IF he decides to get a graduate degree
  • IF he has the grades to get into a grad school</p>

<p>I’m not saying cost shouldn’t be a factor; it should, but it shouldn’t be the only factor.</p>

<p>P.S. CCNY isn’t at 125th & Lex…</p>

16

<p>I’m working off the information given and making a few assumptions here and there. </p>

<p>1) The 4 universities listed are located in NY state therefore it is safe to assume the OP’s brother has not given significant attention to out-of-state universities (or has not mentioned any to the OP). More than likely, the OP’s brother wants to stay in NY.</p>

<p>2) Working off #1, if the OP’s brother decides not to attend graduate school, he will still find plenty of graduates from CCNY (and other NYC universities) in many of the engineering firms that may hire him. Another factor to consider is that there seems to be more collaboration among NYC universities due to the close proximity between them; you can find a significant number of Columbia graduates teaching/researching at CCNY (so you are indirectly obtaining an Ivy League education). The grade issue is somewhat irrelevant since if he obtains low grades in his college career, a <top ranked=“” university=“”> printed on his diploma may help little.</top></p>

<p>As far as biomedical engineering is concerned, the profession is still relatively young and there will be plenty of employment opportunities for many people, even those graduated from less prestigious institutions.</p>

<p>And CCNY is located on Convent Ave, near 137th St. I used the other location as a figure of speech.</p>

<p>edit: these government statistics may provide you with an idea of how things may turn out in the near future
<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm[/url]”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

17

<p>

The “it isn’t a good job” concern is relative. Your brother might like the job, while you mom may hate that type of work. Some people like working in the fresh outdoors, while others prefer to work in offices so they don’t have to worry about uncomfortable weather.</p>

<p>Also, while it’s true that the pay is lower than most engineering fields, it isn’t that bad. The median annual wage for civil engineers is $74,600, which is slightly lower than that of mechanical engineers ($74,920), electrical engineers ($82,160), and chemical engineers ($84,680). Source:</p>

<p>[Engineers[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Now, the main concern is whether he can find a job. Sadly, the answer appears to be no. The unemployment rate for the construction industry is 27%, three times higher than the unemployment rate for all professions:</p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.forconstructionpros.com/online/Construction-News/Construction-Unemployment-Rate-Hits-27-percent/4FCP15312]Construction”>http://www.forconstructionpros.com/online/Construction-News/Construction-Unemployment-Rate-Hits-27-percent/4FCP15312]Construction</a> Unemployment Rate Hits 27%](<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm]Engineers[/url”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm)</p>

<p>The great majority of civil engineering jobs are in the construction industry, and even with the stimulus money, it’s experienced engineers (at least 5-10 years of work experience) who’ll benefit, not entry-level ones:</p>

<p>"with infrastructure spending now on the rise, civil engineers are in demand to supervise the work. </p>

<p>“Not newly graduated civil engineers,” said Larry Jacobson, executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers. “What’s missing are enough licensed professionals who have worked at least five years under experienced engineers before taking the licensing exam.”
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/business/24jobs.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/business/24jobs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

18

<p>Just to further drive home the point that job opportunities are scarce in civil engineering, I’d point out that UC Berkeley has one of the best, if not the best, civil engineering program in the country.</p>

<p>So, what are the hardest jobs to get in the Bay Area? Let’s see:</p>

<p>“The most competitive jobs in terms of inquiries per opening include: librarians, graphic designers, art directors, shipping, receiving and traffic clerks, lawyers, store clerks and order fillers, compensation and benefits managers, civil engineers, public relations specialists and electricians.”</p>

<p>Here are the easiest jobs to get, if you’re curious:
“Jobseekers have the best odds in fields that include: pest control workers, medical transcriptionists, insurance sales agents, telemarketers, rehabilitation counselors, automotive service technicians and mechanics, massage therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech-language pathologists.”</p>

<p>From: [Most</a> job listings; easiest, toughest jobs to find in Bay Area](<a href=“Seattle news, weather, sports, events, entertainment | seattlepi.com”>Seattle news, weather, sports, events, entertainment | seattlepi.com)</p>

<p>edit - One civil engineering graduate student has told me this story:</p>

<p>To visualize your chances of getting a job in this field, imagine turning your resume upside down and placing it on a football field. Others have done the same thing as you, and the field is entirely covered by resumes. An employer walks in and randomly picks one resume out of the field, and that person is given an interview. If his interview is good or satisfactory, he flips a fair coin ten times. If they all come up heads, he’s hired.</p>

<p>When I asked him why he still continued on with civil engineering past his bachelor’s degree, his response was “double or nothing”.</p>

19

<p>I agree completely with Negative Slope. The short-term employment opportunites for entry level civil engineers is absolutely terrible. Practically none of my classmates have job offers, and those that do are typically at oil and gas companies. Graduate school is no longer the choice for the academically inclined, it’s the choice for those who can’t find jobs. If I could go back and do it again, I would have chosen practically any engineering discipline but civil. People may say that it’ll turn around in the next couple of years, but if I can’t find an entry level job soon after graduating, I’ll have to switch gears and look for work in completely unrelated fields. Do any engineering but civil, it is seriously not worth it.</p>

20

<p>bahahaha what a bunch of drama queens</p>