Computer Science/Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

<p>On another thread it was suggested that a southeast school would not be the best place if you were planning on entering this field. Most of these jobs are in CA or the northeast, so schools there would be better. </p>

<p>DS17 has been considering these majors, though I am trying to get him to look at other fields as well. When applying to UA, we put down Engineering, Undeclared. </p>

<p>So, it looks like a great school, with the Presidential Scholarship, a fantastic opportunity, BUT, are students being limited because UA is in the southeast? Or perhaps specific degrees?</p>

<p>I have been talking so much about it, he is even starting to ask follow up questions. Huge for him, usually it’s “I’ll be happy no matter where I go.” </p>

<p>So can all the UA parents provide insight into these concerns? </p>

2

<p><<<
Most of these jobs are in CA or the northeast, so schools there would be better.
<<<</p>

<p>lol…who wrote that? That is just utter nonsense. (I’m gonna find that thread and knock 'em upside the head for posting such insane drivel…lol)</p>

<p>Alabama is home to the SECOND LARGEST research park IN THE NATION. Cummings Research Park…It’s a high tech world.</p>

<p>Students and grads are NOT limited here at all. </p>

<p>For the past 20+ years, high tech companies have been ESCAPING the NE and Calif because those places are no longer business-friendly. Those companies have been moving to the South…they are HERE.</p>

<p>lol…ok…I found the thread…</p>

3

<p>With all the parents on here, I’m surprised no one else has stepped in to comment on their CS or Engineering programs, anyone else?</p>

4

<p>This subject gets brought up periodically and is usually somewhat confrontational. Here is a thread on a somewhat related subject started by me some time ago.
<a href=“May 2013 Engineering Salary and Placement Survey Results - University of Alabama - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1624854-may-2013-engineering-salary-and-placement-survey-results-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My son has applied and been accepted with the major of CS and UA remains under consideration for him. CS jobs exist in most places but the big software names tend to be west coast and northeast.</p>

5

<p>Well, I don’t know why it becomes confrontational. Either the programs are producing good results or they’re not. </p>

<p>It seems to me from the link, that the data coming out of UA isn’t the best? </p>

<p>Looking at the latter results, Dec 2013 class, the salaries reported didn’t change all that much, and CS remains relatively low. Although, for what we would end up paying, it is still pretty darn good. </p>

<p>DS is NOT interested in the west coast, and probably not in a high stress job even if the $$ is good. I have been told that ME is probably the best engineering program, as it is the most versatile. ???</p>

<p>From the data coming out of UA, the pay scales for ME looks darn good. </p>

6

<p>@laralei‌ </p>

<p>I think many of the parents are now hanging out on the UA facebook parents site. it is extremely popular.</p>

7

<p>I HATE facebook!</p>

8

<p>I am a ME and it is a very versatile and broad discipline.</p>

9

<p>I keep hearing that. Right now DS is set on CS/CE, without any real justification for it. </p>

<p>Hoping he will consider others. </p>

10

<p>Mechanical Engineers (I am one) can work in almost every industry. Anything requiring any manufacturing or construction will need MEs.</p>

11

<p>My DS is a freshman ME major, but his three roommates are CS. One is from California, so for him to travel to UA to study this major, he must have seen something that intrigued him! I do know that two of the boys are doing the STEM MBA path. And may also be considering doing co-op. To me, that is the way to get your foot into the door at a good company - do co-op or internships.</p>

12

<p>My son is a Freshman EE/ Stem path to MBA, all his suite mates are Engineering and one is ME/ Stem path to MBA. </p>

13

<p>My D is not CS, but is in MIS (similar but through the business school) … it is the #4 ranked MIS program in the nation among publics and #8 overall nationally! She will be graduating in the Spring with Masters in 4 years and has spent the summer interning in NY for Price-Waterhouse (PwC), and has accepted a job from them after graduation where she’ll be based out of Chicago. So, since we’re from IL and had been worried about whether all her options would be in Atlanta or perhaps the Raleigh-Durham Tech Corridor, you can see that the Bama kids indeed have National exposure! No need to be skittish of Bama opportunities! Roll Tide! </p>

14

<p>For some unknown reason, the salary range dropped last year from the previous year. We don’t know if the number of reporting students was not high enough (students are under no obligation to provide data), or what. I highly doubt that companies were suddenly paying less. And for all we know, there was an error in the reporting calculations. </p>

<p>CS is a field where you can have people who are working for themselves or doing Game Design, which may not be highly paid as a new grad. A CS grad who gets employed by an established tech company, isn’t going to be lowly paid. </p>

<p>I think much depends on what a student plans to do with a CS degree. If he wants to work for Google or some other Fortune 500 company, he should have no fear of what his salary will be. If he wants to strike out on his own (and some start doing this even before they graduate), or go into Game Design, then early incomes may be much lower. AFAIK, there is a glut of Game Designers, so if that is your son’s interest, that could be a problem no matter where he goes. </p>

<p>The other thread did turn contentious because one nervous mom (with child graduating a couple months later), was likely over-reacting out of fear that her eng’g child would not get a good job. In the end, her eng’g child was offered an excellent and well-paid position right around graduation. That mom probably would look back at that thread and cringe a bit, since her child attended Bama with a full tuition + 2500 per year award and was quickly well-employed as a graduate. </p>

<p>As for the results, I would look at the salary ranges over a couple of years and conclude that if my child is a good student who will want to work for a company, rather work for themselves or a family business, then his starting salary will likely be in the high range. </p>

<p>We don’t know how many students reported for each discipline. We know that the total reporting isn’t high, so once you further break down in categories, there may have only been a small number reporting for CS that year (a small number, but reaching the threshold that data was reported.). </p>

<p>Salaries are regional due to Cost of Living costs. But a Bama grad who gets hired by a company in a pricier region will get that higher salary.</p>

<p>The following are the last 2 grad classes that have reported data (the 2014 data not yet released). I think you have to look at the ranges over 2-3+ years to get a better feel. And also consider how strong your student is. I’m guessing (but not sure) that a lower GPA grad might have a harder time finding a better paying job. And, conversely, a stronger GPA student would have an easier time finding a better paying job.
(oh poop, the images didn’t post…I’ll try another way in the next post.)</p>

15

<p>Just looking into UA, but it seems to me, that the push for their Engineering program is fairly recent? </p>

<p>The incredible financial aid for the stats, for the engineering, I would think is pulling in a lot of students. The same with the facilities?</p>

<p>If so, the reputation might not be there yet, but it can still be one terrific program. At least that is how I am looking at it.</p>

16

<p>I have a 3rd year CS and Math major at UA who is also getting his Masters through the University Scholars program. Although he has not looked for a job yet, I have confidence that he will be able to find something in his field at a good salary. If it is a high as some people have reported on CC or other sites, it would depend on where he wanted to move. I know that he had an internship in Milwaukee this summer where he was “only” paid $15 an hour, which is alot less than I have read on CC for internships. However, this was his real first job (besides being a camp counselor) and he wanted to stay close to home, so we were happy. Besides he did real CS work there so he learned ALOT. The company lucked out to by having almost a CS grad (he was just missing his Capstone class) at a bargain price. </p>

<p>I know someone asked about ME degrees. My oldest son graduated in May with his ME degree from a well-regarded midwest university. He wanted to stay closer to home so he looked for jobs within a one hour drive (between two big cities.) The starting salary for MEs was a lot lower than was reported, between $50 and $55,000 in our area. Most of the jobs that paid more needed 3-5 years experience, so his salary will go up eventually. In other areas the starting salary might be closer to the $60,000-$65,000 range that I have seen reported. I don’t think he would have been paid more in our area even IF he did go to a better engineering school.</p>

17

<p>UA is one of the 5 first univs in the country to offer engineering, so its program is not new. </p>

<p>You can see on the ABET site that its disciplines have long been accredited. </p>

<p>However, you are right that in the last several years, while building the new 900,000 square feet Science & Engineering Complex, there was a big push to expand its CoE from about 1000 students to (I think) about 4000 students. The new buildings have allowed for this growth. </p>

<p>The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa AL, US
<a href=“http://www.ua.edu”>www.ua.edu</a></p>

<p>Aerospace Engineering, BSAE <=========== accredited since 1936
Accredited, 10/01/1936-Present</p>

<p>Chemical Engineering, BSChE
Accredited, 10/01/1950-Present <=========== accredited since 1950</p>

<p>Civil Engineering, BSCE <=========== accredited since 1936
Accredited, 10/01/1936-Present</p>

<p>Computer Engineering Option in Electrical Engineering, BSEE
Accredited, 10/01/1994-Present</p>

<p>Computer Science, BSCS
Accredited, 10/01/1990-Present</p>

<p>Construction Engineering, BSConE
Accredited, 10/01/2007-Present</p>

<p>Electrical Engineering, BSEE <=========== accredited since 1936
Accredited, 10/01/1936-Present</p>

<p>Mechanical Engineering, BSME <=========== accredited since 1936
Accredited, 10/01/1936-Present</p>

<p>Metallurgical Engineering, BSMtE <=========== accredited since 1949
Accredited, 10/01/1949-Present</p>

18

<p>OP, is your son not interested in the West Coast due to the distance away from family? The West Coast/Western States are very diverse both culturally and politically with something for everyone. Cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City are becoming more and more popular among young people. </p>

<p>Salaries certainly vary depending on the region as well as the industry and specific job type. Salaries in the Southern States are not always significantly lower and may in fact allow one to have a higher standard of living. For example, a quick comparison using CNN’s cost of living calculator shows that a person making $50k per year in Memphis would need to make over $94k in San Francisco and over $81k in Washington DC. While the higher paying positions might sound nice at first, the ones in lower cost areas might even have additional incentives to work there. An offer of $56k in Memphis with some added fringe benefits would be very attractive to a person willing to relocate to the area if the other options were $80k in Washington DC and $90k in San Francisco.</p>

19

<p>@SOSConcern‌ wrote this in another thread, but I’m reposting because it fits here, too.</p>

<p>“The state of AL has a lot of great things going in its business environment. - and Progressive Policy Institute’ Tech/Info jobs index (Oct 2013) ranked Madison County AL 4th, right behind Silicon Valley (San Francisco County 1, San Mateo County 2, Santa Clara County 3). Also having a job growth of these tech/info jobs in Madison County AL at 25% over 5 years. As mom2cks said, Huntsville has the big research park and large Redstone Aresenal (with Army Aviation and Missile Command and NASA - Marshall Space Flight Center).”</p>

20

<p>CS and ECE along with other engineering areas (and many fields of study) is very dynamic as far as what the job market is going to be looking for in 4 years. Nephew who just graduated from TN Tech in CS had Co-op exp in major company in Huntsville - in that big research park…(company paid for housing at a new apt complex - all the students lived there so they had some social networking) and he also had a summer paid intern job with an insurance co in GA. He wanted to work in TN and landed a networking job close to home - his preference was Nashville, but nothing seemed to be working for him there.</p>

<p>Student will have time to figure things out - going in to college eng undecided is fine, and even taking time to explore the common and not common courses.</p>

<p>UA offers a one week summer program for rising HS juniors and seniors to explore various areas within eng - other schools like Purdue also offer something similar. At UA it is called SITE (Student Introduction to Engineering). In the past, they have offered three separate weeks - not advertised much because it fills up quickly. Can find info on UA web site - on the search type in engineering SITE program and you will find the link.</p>

<p>DD went to UA Eng. SITE before her HS senior year as she was thinking of Che or civil eng - and confirmed her desire for civil eng. She also met some students there that we also rising HS seniors and now attend UA. At the closing lunch (with parents) had some good presentations including a talk by UA Dean of Eng.</p>

<p>A big school like UA, parents find the easy/best sources of information. I have a student at a mid-sized college and one at UA. The UA parent facebook page and the UA parents of class of 2018 has been extremely helpful to me for information - DD loves her ‘independence’ and ‘finding out things herself’, but she is amazed time and time again when I get a ‘head’s up’ from another parent on one of these facebook sites. H isn’t a facebook person, but he is facebook friends with both DD (he isn’t even facebook friends with me) - so facebook can be useful even with limitations so you can avoid the things you ‘hate’ about it @laralei .</p>