<p>How is the eng. program? I got into Clemson and am planning on studying Civil. Eng. Any input on it at all would be awesome. Also, anyone who wants to comment about campus life would be cool too. I visited a while ago and found the main street the only place to go. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I saw your post on the Virginia Tech page and it sounds like you have made up your mind to go there! I’m a civil engineering major at Clemson (senior year) and it’s been amazing so far. The professors have been outstanding and there are lots of opportunities available to Clemson students in terms of internships/co-ops/creative inquiry (undergraduate research). Overall, I think Clemson and Virginia Tech are identically similar schools. I personally had those 2 schools as my final choices. You mentioned Clemson has a small downtown area, but you also have Blacksburg which outside of the center of town is surrounded by cows and farm land. Yet despite the small town atmosphere, both schools yearly rank highly in the Princeton Review rankings of “Happiest Students” and “Best Quality Of Life”. I can’t speak for VT but I know at Clemson that there is a lot of school spirit here, always something going on, and people just love being here. (I suspect VT is somewhat similar)</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any questions about Clemson or civil engineering here! To be quite honest, Clemson and Virginia Tech are both very well known in the southeast for engineering. If there’s an engineering job out there, VT/NC State/Clemson/GT graduates will probably be competing for it. If you want to stay in the southeast, it probably doesn’t matter what engineering school you pick. If you want to go farther away, say the west coast, maybe VT has a bigger name there because it’s ranked higher.</p>
<p>Hey there. Yeah I have not sent my deposit in yet but right now it’s at the top of my choices. But, I have a few questions to maybe swing me down to beautiful Clemson. </p>
<p>Going off of your reply, you said your teachers and professors were good. Did you feel that you learned well from them or did you find that they lacked an effort in teaching? How were you class sizes for an engineering major? Big? Small? How was your gpa over the years? Decent? Awesome? Poor? If you don’t want to answer I understand! If it was poor or sub par why? Was it just you or the teachers? (again if you don’t want to answer I get it) </p>
<p>How did you feel the job opportunities were at Clemson? Did you get intern positions? How is the career center? Helpful? Decent? Do you have a job after your graduate? Or will you study some more (I.e grad school? Etc.?) </p>
<p>You said you chose Clemson over Vt. I’m from NJ as you know and they are both far but for me I’ll be happy to go either way. What set Clemson apart from Vt? And if you had to do it again (knowing what you know now) would you still tiger bound? </p>
<p>Thanks!!! </p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-L900 using CC</p>
<p>I think one thing that stands out for Clemson is despite its size, your teachers still make an effort to know you personally. I know at many large state universities, professors aren’t there to teach, they are there to do their own research and teaching is just a side job. While I don’t know if my professors are of the same thought, they’ve definitely made it hard to find out! They are tough and demanding and you will certainly work hard to get a good grade in the class! But on the other hand, they encourage you to go visit them in office hours and will do whatever they can to help you out as long as you need it. You do have to initiate the contact but they definitely make themselves available to you. I think it helps a lot that Clemson’s graduate school isn’t that big so a lot more attention is given undergraduates. I have definitely learned a lot in the classes I have taken and feel very prepared for whatever lies ahead post-graduation! Class sizes have been ok, nothing to complain about. To be honest, it’s not really a concern with engineering. Engineering/Science classes are mostly lecture classes as opposed to liberal arts majors that involve a lot more discussion so it doesn’t really matter whether a class is 20 people or 300 people (just make sure you go to class…and stay off Facebook/Twitter!!). That being said, my freshman year classes ranged anywhere from 40 people in my Calculus class to 150-200 people in my Physics lecture. I’m in my senior year now and class sizes are about 25-40 people. Civil engineering is one of the more popular majors at Clemson though. Umm my GPA to be honest sucks (have a 2.7 right now). Freshman/Sophomore year, I didn’t take college work seriously at all and just did enough to get by. While you’re in high school, make sure you keep developing your study skills! That way you’ll hopefully do better than I did. But engineering as a whole is tough, A’s are tough to come by and B’s are no walk in the park either. Expect to put in about 2-3 hours of work outside class for every hour you spend in the classroom.</p>
<p>I have had two internships so far, one with the US Forest Service and another with the North Carolina DOT. The Career Center has been amazing. I think we are ranked #3 in Princeton Review for our career center (behind Penn State/Florida). They are super helpful and there are a lot of resources that can help you find co-ops and internships as well as career fairs every fall and spring… I am currently looking for a summer internship. I had a bunch of interviews the past 2 weeks and am looking to hear back from them soon! I am graduating in December so I will have to start looking for a job soon. </p>
<p>I’m from the Boston area so I am farther away from Clemson and VT than you are. I visited both schools and honestly loved both of them. I don’t really have a reason why I picked Clemson, I guess it was more of a gut pick of what seemed right at the moment on May 1st (yes I waited till the last minute). However, I have absolutely no regrets about picking Clemson. It has been an amazing experience and ended up being the right school for me.</p>
<p>hey thanks for your help. I am stuck between the two still 
Really what it is coming down to is the cost. If I attend Clemson I will need to take around 75,000$ in loans but if I attend VT i will only need to take around 62,000. </p>
<p>What do you think? I know VT has such a great Engr. program but I didn’t get the feeling I got at clemson. The warm, welcoming feeling at Clemson was awesome (P.s it wasn’t even warm that day).</p>
<p>Do you think you would do Clemson Eng. again if you could? And if you don’t mind me asking how much you are in debt if at all? I am trying to get Clemson to give me the OS Scholarship where if you have a ACT 28+ you get 7,500$ a year cause I got a 28 but I never got it. </p>
<p>And you said your career center is great, did you find a job for when graduate? How was your intern jobs? boring? did you get paid?</p>
<p>thanks again.</p>
<p>I think the choice is pretty easy here. Clemson is not worth $15,000 more in debt (you will already have a tough time paying that off after college). VT has an amazing engineering program and students seem to really enjoy the college so I’m sure you will have a great experience there.</p>
<p>I am graduating in December so I am just beginning a search for a full time job but I am not worried at all about it. My internships were definitely worth it, I gained a lot of experience I could bring back to my classes and it definitely helped me decide what I want for a civil engineering career post-college. I was paid for my 3 internships about $14-16/hour.</p>
<p>What if I needed a job on campus, do you think it would be possible for me to get some job working?</p>
<p>How about the campus life? I know i have asked this already above, but, do you find that you stay on campus a lot and enjoy activites there? or head down to the main road (i forget its name on the top of my head) and find stuff to do there? Did you find yourself doing nothing alot? (of course when you were not studying)</p>
<p>Ugh typed up a long response and then it didn’t post. Well here’s round #2 (paraphrase time haha)</p>
<p>Yes, it’s definitely possible to get a job on campus. I know people who are engineering majors who work for the campus police as a student patrol, in the bookstore, as RA’s (resident assistants) and for Tiger Paw Entertainment (crew that sets ups/works to put together concerts that come to Clemson) so there are different places you can get to work on campus and it’s possible to find time for that as an engineering major (key: good time management skills).</p>
<p>I can’t think of a weekend where I have been sitting at my apartment twiddling my thumbs. Most of the time I have to turn down stuff to do because I have schoolwork to do. The key really is getting a group of friends and the best way to do that is find stuff you have in common through joining student organizations (and just being friendly). I met my friends through FCA (christian organization) and Central Spirit (athletics fan club), and hang out with them regularly. Obviously Clemson isn’t a major city but there’s enough here to keep you happy especially if you like outdoors stuff (know someone who goes hiking, mountain biking, whitewater kayaking etc… every weekend). If you like parties, Clemson has that too and a small but ok bar scene (I’m not a party person but I’m happy at Clemson). In my opinion, a lot of people who feel disconnected from campus or unhappy/bored here aren’t doing enough to connect themselves at Clemson (or it just really isn’t the school for them). Greenville is up the road but I really don’t go there too often except to watch the minor league hockey and baseball teams there (Red Sox affiliate so that’s appealing for me being from Boston haha). There’s also a zoo and a cool downtown area/park. Sometimes people go to Atlanta, Charlotte, Columbia or even Charleston if there’s a concert or cool event.</p>