<p>Does anyone have any experience/stories to share about engineering program at Georgia Tech? It is top 5 in the nation, and I heard it is very rigorous. I would like some input from current students.</p>
<p>Well it kind of depends on which engineering program. I'm a third year Math major at GT but have taken a lot of ECE courses. The first two years are very rigorous as they try to weed out students who won't handle it. Physics, Calculus, and a few other courses are notorious for their workload and stress to get an A, or even a C sometimes. After that, the 3xxx and 4xxx classes aren't as bad, maybe because you are used to the work and because the professors back off a bit. You are also in smaller classes by then and have more one on one contact with professors. </p>
<p>Contrary to the stereotype professors are available and very very willing to help students. They want you to succeed and offer lots of help for those who seek it. Some departments are better than others and some professors are better than others but for the most part if you need help, its there. Physics not as good about this, and some Calc profs are too.</p>
<p>Overall the programs are good, they are well structured as they have been around for years and have had plenty of time to work out the kinks. Most of the faculty are nationally known in their fields and still teaching 2xxx classes. EE, CmpE, IE (#1 in nation), and AE are very strong. Internships, research, and other opportunities are available as well.</p>
<p>I would recommend Georgia Tech for engineering but be prepared to work and work a lot. You will leave with a good degree and well prepared. I love it here.</p>
<p>How is the computer science program??</p>
<p>CS at GT is pretty big, its a part of it has its own college, College of Comupting (or CoC) and they have a lot of facilities, a large faculty and tons of majors. I've heard it ranks the highest at GT for SAT scores. There are tons of CS majors but even more former CS majors. The first two CS classes are generally thought to be hard but I breezed through these and so would anyone with any C++ or Java experience. After that its a bit more intense with Theory, Logic, and tons of project classes. Those who find it very hard generally do not stay, they switch to IE, EE, or some other engineering. CS majors here take a lot of math as well. </p>
<p>You do have lots of opportunities for research, internships and co-ops. After just taking the first two classes I mentioned above I got a job in downtown Atlanta making about $15/hr just working part time doing CS stuff, and I'm a math major. They have plenty of resources and faculty as well. They are builing a brand new computing building too that should be ready Fall 06. </p>
<p>GT CoC has a great reputation around Atlanta and around the country for producing great capable graduates who are quite sucessful. As far as rankings go from US News they are 12th nationally, specialty areas, Graphics/User Interaction is #4, Databases is #7 and Systems is #8.</p>
<p>This is a rigorous program but a good one. As I've said for each CS major at GT there is probably another former CS major who decided it wasn't for them.</p>
<p>On another note our CS majors are very very typical, most are huge nerds who never see daylight because they play Halo all day and code all night. There are however plenty of execptions and you can certainly find some cool people in the CoC. My girlfriend is a CS major and was pretty worried after she saw the majority of people she would be working with for 4 years but it doesn't take long to find normal, cool people.</p>
<p>How is the job market......after graduating from Georgia Tech with an engineering degree even though my GPA might not be that great.....will I be able to get a job? Do many companies recruit there? Do majority of people with an engineering degree get a job or are they unemployed?</p>
<p>Tons of companies recruit here, the career fair (they have two a year) and they have plenty of companies to choose from. I'd say you have a good shot at a job but I don't know too well. If you want good employment right out of college my best advice would be to co-op. Its a five year program, you go to school one semester, work one semester, etc. You usually work with 1-2 different companies, some stay with the same company the whole time because of the money. You make about $12-20/hr to start depending on where you are working and experience. You'll usually get a raise every semester you go back to that company. If you work outside of Atlanta most companies will find (and sometimes pay) for housing. It is a great program and GT is well known for it. They have good repoire with many companies as well. Often you can start working for the same company you co-oped for once you graduate. Companies love this because they can pay you much less than a real employee (but its still good money to me) and basically have a trained and ready employee once you graduate. A friend of mine (CS major) co-oped at Los Alamos National Lab and got a job there right out of undergrad making $80,000 because he had all the security taken care of, background checks, etc. GPA in major classes is somewhat important if you haven't co-oped but its not going to hurt you too bad if it is still reasonable. </p>
<p>Here is a site about a few of the many companies that recruit GT grads heavily (Microsoft, MIT, HP, LSI).</p>
<p>And here is info about the co-op program. I highly recomend doing this, the money is good and the experience is great.</p>
<p>During a semester in which a student is on Co-op, are there any charges for tuition and fees to GT (esp. for OOS) ?</p>
<p>Also, how about for summer Co-op?</p>
<p>Same for all the above questions, but for AE! I'm really nervous about doing AE since people told me it was the hardest major in the world, but AP Calc was pretty easy. I know Lockheed's in Marietta, but can you coop with any aerospace firm or does it have to be a regional company?</p>
<p>You can coop with any company. Some people will go abroad to coop. I'm sure it has to be within reason (remember the Seinfeld where Kramer gets an intern?) but pretty much you can work anywhere you please. </p>
<p>I dont think you pay any tuition for that semester. You do register for a 12 hour 'coop class' just so you remain a full time student but I don't think it costs anything.</p>
<p>Summer is fine for a coop semester. There is a fixed number of weeks you need to get in and they factor in the notion that you may do summer work.</p>
<p>AE is rather difficult and AP Calc is no indication. Don't get too comfortable. Calculus is the bare minimum for math here and even the business majors need one semester. It's probably not the 'hardest major in the world' however.</p>
<p>How often are classes taught by TAs? What type of classes or labs?</p>
<p>Are TAs always grad students, or could they be undergrads? (I've heard UNC does this).</p>
<p>if we go for a co-op but we want to finish on time then can we use the summer semester for studying or is the summer also used up for the co-op assignment...</p>
<p>gt06:
I'm wondering if you can comment on the student body. Are there many from the north? Do the northerners and the southerners mix it up? Is there any place on campus for a politically liberal kid? Thanks so much for your thoughts.</p>
<p>A few comments based on what I've seen so far in this particular thread ...
Firstly: weenie ...
There're few ppl from the North and they do "mix it up" with the Southerners (since the # of Southerners is overwhelmingly greater than the # of Northerners).
The majority of non-international GT students are from Georgia or the surrounding states (Florida - a very popular home-state for many students, Texas, NC/SC ...)
I'm from WA state and I know one guy from Cali, another from NY. That's it ... the rest are Southerners.
And liberal ppl can always join the College Democrats at GT :)</p>
<p>Secondly: WS17 ...
Most classes (lectures) are held by Professors (another reason why I love GTech!). The labs are supervised by TAs though, although you'll have a head Professor who'll turn up the first day, talk a little about the lab and then disappear for the rest of the year and the TAs have the ball ....
The majority of TAs, I believe, are grad students but there are some undergrads too (usu. the geniuses) ...</p>
<p>Hope this helped</p>
<p>gt08, thanks. Your posts are appreciated.</p>
<p>booohoo i got left out.....</p>
<p>vampiro, in reply to your question:
"if we go for a co-op but we want to finish on time then can we use the summer semester for studying or is the summer also used up for the co-op assignment..."</p>
<p>A student, who is co-oping, can study in the summer semester PROVIDING that it is not a co-op semester. As you know, co-ops work every other semester, so ......</p>
<p>Here's a hypothetical schedule (assume that you join in '07)
Fall '07 - study
Spring '08 - study
Summer '08 - co-op
Fall '08 - study
Spring '09 - co-op
Summer '09 - study/don't study ...
Fall '09 - work
and so on and so forth .......</p>
<p>Do you see that while you cannot be in school in summer '08 since you're co-oping then, you DO have the option in Summer '09? In Summer '09, you can choose to sign up for classes at GT.
Obviously the above is a hypothetical schedule. You might start your co-op later .....</p>
<p>Hope this helped</p>
<p>so basically well Co-op is 1 term long not 6 months long...because 1 term would be like 4 months</p>
<p>Exactly!
You'll co-op only for 1 "term" or semester at a time. (Then, obviously, you'd go to school for the next semester and return to co-op after that - again for another semester).</p>
<p>
I'm not sure I understand. If a student co-ops at all, must they always go on it every other term? Or can they choose to only co-op 1 term ever (for example) and finish schooling for all other terms w/o co-ops?</p>
<p>If there is a web page that explains all the rules you could point us to, I would appreciate it.</p>
<p>Another question that came up: do you pay tuition to GT while on co-op? (OOS here).</p>
<p>WS17,</p>
<p>If a student co-ops, he must report to work every other term. </p>
<p>"Or can they choose to only co-op 1 term ever (for example) and finish schooling for all other terms w/o co-ops?" --- this applies only to internships. Interns can work with a specific company for just one semester and then just go to school thereafter.</p>
<p>I'd suggest visting the following link:
<a href="http://www.profpractice.gatech.edu/students/program_information.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.profpractice.gatech.edu/students/program_information.html</a>
It has links to FAQs and Student Handbooks (in PDF format) that cogently explain the co-op and internship programs.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>