Engineering Majors - Graduation Rate?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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Surely I’ve come across this data somewhere, but now that my husband wants it, I can’t find it. Can anyone point me to the graduation rate of incoming freshmen engineering students in engineering majors (i.e. - do not include those who transferred to a different major)? How about the rate as a function of the ACT score?

If this data is not available on the internet, who should I contact at UA?

Also, husband and son have a visit scheduled over spring break. My husband has a B.S./M.S./Ph.D in engineering and science and would like to have a conversation with someone in the engineering department. The dean of engineering is not available the day they will be there. Is there another person you would recommend talking with? Son will likely be electrical or mechanical engineering. This will be the one and only visit before decision day, so I want to set it up as best as possible.

We have been in contact with Susan from the Honors College, and she is setting up some things for us. But I don’t want to be too much of a bother to her with persistent questions and requests!

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We visited last week. Susan set up a visit with Dr. Todd from Mech Eng and a Mech Eng student. We sat down for a meeting with questions and discussion, and then the student took us on a tour of the new facilities. Quite nice!

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. Can anyone point me to the graduation rate of incoming freshmen engineering students in engineering majors (i.e. - do not include those who transferred to a different major)? How about the rate as a function of the ACT score?

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I dont know if that info is even tracked.

I can see that it is somewhat beneficial to know in relation to ACT, but not entirely. My younger son graduated in engineering, but my older son changed from eng’g to math. It wasn’t because eng’g was “too hard” for older son (high stats, val of his class, NMF), it was just that older son realized that math was his love.

Bama allows ANYONE to declare eng’g as their major (unlike some schools that require you to be accepted into eng’g). This, unfortunately allows weak students “to start” in eng’g and then get weeded out. Therefore, the grad rate stats are likely meaningless to YOU unless your child is a low stats kid.

Bama is hesitant to limit access to eng’g by incoming looking at stats because of how that admissions process would limit the number of URMs from being able to attempt the major. URMs in this country historically have ACT scores that are 3-4 pts lower than non-URMs, so having competitive admissions for the CoE would hurt them the most.

I would think that it is VERY safe to say that someone with an “Engineering Mind,” math abilities, and discipline, can succeed.

BUT…we know that many smart kids who do NOT have an “engineering mind” attempt eng’g, but soon find out that they don’t have the right “problem solving skills” or interest to continue in eng’g.

My point is that the grad rate would NOT tell you anything about the quality of Bama’s eng’g program.

Besides…all schools weed in engineering (and premed). The grad rate, starting with frosh year, doesn’t likely tell you anything.

I don’t really know how helpful any such data would be… .even if it existed.

What do you hope to learn from such raw data that would tell you very little??

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Did you submit this form??

http://eng.ua.edu/about/visit/

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@mom2collegekids
I tend to agree with your assessment of the engineering graduation rate, especially given that anyone can declare it. But, my husband was interested so I said I would investigate. This is by far not the only question my husband has! But most of the other data I could find on UA’s website.

I arranged for the general campus tour http://gobama.ua.edu/visits/, then emailed Susan with the date & time. She was going to set up a tour of the engineering facilities and lunch with an honor student to round out the day.

Should I also fill out http://eng.ua.edu/about/visit/, or will it just be redundant to what Susan will do?

Do you suggest any particular person to try to meet with in the engineering department?

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What area of engineering interests your son?

I would fill out that eng’g form and include a note that include campus visit date and time…and include a mention that Susan in the HC is also involved with planning, but you have a particular interest in touring the eng’g facilities and speaking to someone in the eng’g dept…likely within the discipline that interests your son.

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Forgot to mention that Susan also arranged for our son to sit in on an upper level engineering class (Chem Eng) during his day on campus, which he enjoyed as well. The HC folks can work wonders.

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With a little bit of sleuthing, you can see the exact # of graduates in engineering programs here: http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/6474/screen/21?school_name=The+University+of+Alabama (alter the ‘year’ box/field and you can see previous years and see growth, trends, whatever. If you compare previous years you can get an approximation of how many students start in a program and how many finish. Caution, tho: there are a LOT of reasons students drop from engineering.

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@ThreeKidsMom, we met with Steve Shepard, Professor of ME. He was terrific!

http://me.eng.ua.edu/people/sshepard/

The honors college arranged the entire itinerary for my son when he visited last spring.

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@aeromom‌
Thank you. I showed that information to dh and he seemed satisfied with it.

@mom2collegekids‌
I went ahead and submitted the information for the engineering visit and mentioned that I was also in contact with Susan. Thanks.

@LucieTheLakie‌
@drw4taww‌
Thanks for the names!

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Caution, tho: there are a LOT of reasons students drop from engineering.


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This is so true.

For one thing, it’s a career that many kids have heard of and know that it pays well, so they’re naturally going to be drawn to it without knowing what the demands (the same for premeds).

It’s also a major that many parents PUSH their kids into, without considering/knowing the child’s limits.

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There’s also a tremendous PUSH from guidance counselors who automatically point top students to Engineering (or premed) instead of helping them consider other options.

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I generally think that graduation rates/stats are pretty meaningless, and no more so than in engineering, where there are a ton of reasons people do not finish in that field.

OP, tell your husband (nicely!) that looking at grad rates is not going to give him an ounce of assurance that HIS student will graduate, if that’s what he is at all worried about. A motivated student with the ability and interest in their field is always going to graduate and be successful. :wink:

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We’re not at all concerned about son’s ability to graduate with engineering. He’s finishing high school with an Associate Transfer Degree in Engineering through dual enrollment. He could enter UA as a junior, but will likely re-take (honors) calculus and (honors) engineering physics to make for an easy first year or two. He’ll also likely add in a second major since nearly all the gen ed requirements have been met through dual enrollment. He is very smart and self motivated.

Husband wanted the stat more out of curiousity. Before the college search for our son began, we were entirely unfamiliar with UA. We expected son to attend a very high end engineering school, but the scholarship UA offered was just too enticing to ignore. We’re just looking for as much information as we can from a school we knew NOTHING about until a few months ago.

One of the things we were trying to tease out was are the top kids staying at UA to complete their engineering degree, or are they transferring out for (some reason)? Though, I highly doubt that data is being tracked.

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I’d be very surprised if the ‘top’ kids are transferring out of UA to complete an engineering degree elsewhere…like really surprised. You would have to basically dislike the engineering dept and/or the school, and the feel for both of those things should be well covered during a student visit. A ‘top’ student who is worried that the school isn’t good enough or prestigious enough or challenging enough or whatever-enough…probably isn’t going to go here in the first place. IMO.

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Keep in mind that it’s very difficult to transfer schools once one has entered the upper division of a program. UA is uncommonly generous when it comes to transferring credits. Other schools will transfer few, if any credits. The main reason to transfer without some sort of articulation agreement in place would be money.

Students who transfer out of UA typically do so because they want to be closer to their hometown and go to college with their high school friends or due to financial difficulties. Students who transfer typically do so after their freshman year or possibly their sophomore year.

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One of the things we were trying to tease out was are the top kids staying at UA to complete their engineering degree, or are they transferring out for (some reason)? Though, I highly doubt that data is being tracked.


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I highly doubt that this is happening for several reasons.

  1. no need to. Alabama has excellent facilities and opps.

  2. unless someone is willing to full pay elsewhere, it would be expensive to do so, since transfers typically get lousy need-based aid and typically there aren’t much/any merit aid for transfers.

  3. unless the student is having depression issues, or similar, the student has made friends here and becomes entrenched.

  4. students love Bama…the traditions, the spirit, the beauty.

I think that some of these concerns are coming from an idea that only the tippy top ranked eng’g schools are worthwhile. This country, and each state, have an enormous need for engineers, so there is a vested interest in having at least a few very good eng’g schools in each state. (Calif has over 25 schools with very good eng’g). There are over 200 schools in the country with very good eng’g. It’s a necessity. There’s no way that only a small handful of schools could produce the huge number of qualified eng’rs this country needs. That is why state and federal dollars have been directed to these schools. Alabama has been a huge recipient of federal funds. One recent year, Alabama was the school that received the largest amount of earmarks than any other school in the country.

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@mom2collegekids Was this the new engineering quad with the many Senator Shelby $$$ that Bama received? Looks amazing! We love that campus! The earthquake simulator in civil engineering(?) is beyond anything I have seen at any other school we have toured.

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@ThreeKidsMom‌
My son is currently a freshman with advanced standing. He chose UA b/c of all of the scholarship $$ he received, but he absolutely LOVES UA. He is doing exceedingly well and wouldn’t ever contemplate transferring anywhere else. He met the undergra director of the dept and sat in on a class before he made his final decision. He liked what he saw then and his mind has not changed. (He only has 2 more required undergrad physics classes. He is in classes with almost all srs. He respects the dept.)

His response would be what isn’t to love? They accepted his transfer credits. He is allowed to take grad level courses as an undergrad. If he wanted, he could use his scholarship $$ to pursue a masters. He is actively involved in research with one of the profs. He has been invited to join another research team in the fall. (So he will be participating in 2 different projects.) He has great friends. (Ds is not a drinker or a partier or a sports fanatic or into Greek life. He did not know a single person going to UA. He jumped right in and found his tribe.) and he has learned to really love football!

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Some institutions (like UA) report a transfer-out rate (to IPEDS) so it is available. UA’s overall transfer out rate is 22% (it’s not broken down by college).

The transfer out rate is key driver that lower’s UA’s overall graduation rate (67%). I wouldn’t make too much out of it or the graduation rate. If I had to guess, the number is being driven by in-state students (due to cost), full pay OOS students (due to cost and distance from home) and students that run into academic challenges (UA admissions is fairly lenient, due to it’s state public university mission, but it’s programs are rigorous),