We are looking for feedback on engineering programs in NC. Our son is looking at computer science or electrical engineering but open to other suggestions. We are new to the college admission process and just getting started.
I appreciate your input. I am looking for your child’s experience with the engineering program and the college, stats that got them in , is one program more popular than the others, any advise for a rising senior to get into engineering. Thanks!
Electrical engineering or computer engineering is offered at Duke, NC A&T, UNC-C, NCSU, and WCU.
Computer science is offered at additional schools in NC.
Remember to look for ABET accredited programs and search on their website for various schools and majors.
Duke – Do your best and then flip a coin. No merit $. Ridiculously expensive.
NCSU – CS and EE are both hard to get into AND you get admitted to the school of engineering; then based on pre-reqs, either get your major or not. They claim to have a holistic approach to admissions but they are more stat oriented. You pretty much have to have perfect stats for those two majors if going the EA route but the dirty secret is that a lot of the accepted kids go to other (higher ranked) schools and many spots open up after May 1. Still, quite possibly one of the best value programs in the country. Huge recruitment fair on campus too!!
UNCC – Solid programs, admitted to major, mostly B+ students. Meh career office.
WCU – Very underrated school in general, cheap, very small program in EE. Kids surprisingly do well. Lot of them go to work for utility companies like Duke, Progressive etc. Apparently, they are great in power engineering. Very remote and quite conservative. Lacks diversity.
UNCA and UNC – Collaborative programs with NCSU in mechatronics and BME respectively. UNCA will take just about anyone, UNC is very hard for BME with mixed reviews.
ECU – Investing heavily into CS. Brand new building. Has ABET accredited engineering programs.
Elon – New engineering program. Not yet accredited. Very expensive school.
Campbell – New program. Not as expensive as Elon, but still quite expensive.
Does ECU have co op programs, internships and job fairs?
Given WCU has a small program in EE and remote location wise, do you know how their career and professional development office is?
Didnt know about UNCA and NSCU collaboration . Thanks for the info.
If you are in state, there will be cheaper options than Elon but Elon costs about $20k less than many private colleges and they offer merit aid. They offer a 3-2 program with 3 years of core classes at Elon and two years at one of their engineering affiliates: NC State, VA Tech, Wash U in St. Louis, U of South Carolina, Notre Dame, NC A&T, Clemson, GA Tech, Penn State. The OOS tuition at some of these state schools is on par with Elon.
Really helpful summary @1dadinNC!
To clarify:
UNC-A is Asheville
UNC-CH* is Chapel Hill
UNC-C is Charlotte
WCU is Western Carolina University
NC A&T is NC Agricultural & Technical State University
NCSU is North Carolina State University
Appalachian State also has CS.
*the same pride that has UVa people calling it “The University” has Tar Heels determinedly trying to keep Chapel Hill as “The” UNC…not everybody loves the promotion of other campuses that the UNC system has been doing. In addition to A & C, Greensboro and Wilmington are muscling their way on to the big kids table. The logos tell a great story: Regal CH has “The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill”; straightforward A, C & G have "University of North Carolina- [A/C/G], and bolshy little Wilmington is straight up “UNCW”
Here is a list of NC universities and their ABET EAC accreditations:
| College | Bio/Ag | Biomed | Chem | Civil | Comp | Const | Elect | Env | Ind | Mech | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
| ECU | General | ||||||||||
| NC A&T | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | Architectural | ||
| UNC-A | Mechatronics | ||||||||||
| UNC-CH | X | ||||||||||
| UNC-C | X | X | X | Systems | |||||||
| NCSU | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | Aerospace, Nuclear, Paper, Textile, Mechatronics |
| WCU | X | General |
NCSU has the largest selection, but be aware that students applying for engineering enter as “engineering first year” (EFY), and must then go through competitive secondary admission for their desired majors after completing some frosh level courses.
It’s hard for a kid at 16-18 to know what they want to do as a career, but I suggest he spend some time looking into the differences between these areas by reading online, talking to people working in the field (perhaps neighbors or relatives), etc.
EE and CS may have some overlap but often are very different. An EE, depending on their undergrad emphasis (or masters) and also the randomness of what their early jobs entail, can be doing things including designing power grids for cities or an industrial plant, designing the electronics and electrical system of machines and appliances, designing radio-frequency devices, working with computers and devices with embedded computers, etc. CS majors are usually working on programming or the design of programs (called architecture). Some EEs find a career doing what CS majors do, the converse is not possible for many EE fields. CS majors may work with EE’s in many fields; for example a CS major won’t design transformers or the wiring layout for a power grid but may work on the software controlling the grid.
Another major is Computer Engineering, which has a lot of variations depending on the college. At some it’s mostly a EE degree with a digital hardware emphasis, at others it is more akin to a traditional CS major but offered thru the Engineering school.
The undergrad can be very different, too. EE’s go to ABET approved programs that are pretty rigid. If you’re not taking a calculus class you’re taking a class heavily using calculus. CS majors are not standardized and vary widely by school, reflecting their emergence since the 1950s from various departments including engineering and math.
ECU – they claim to have these but I cannot verify, nor vouch. I have never come across an engineering grad from ECU but YMMV.
WCU – They talk about capstone program for engineering students and coop/internship opportunities on the website. Once again, we are not considering this school. So, not probed deeply.
Your best bet might be to set up virtual appointments with their local AO or send an email to the undergrad recruitment faculty contact within the department. A lot of the information is already there, but much of it could be hidden.
They are starting their own program.
I am pretty sure they will get accredited by ABET but it is a risk at this point, albeit a small one.
Cost is relative. I am told that their placement office is fantastic and the small number of Elon grads that I have interviewed or known have been solid.
For most South Asian families, the career options are doctor, engineer, lawyer, or a disgrace to the family name. I am 100% certain that is not the case for OP’s kid. OK I joke, but here is a little snippet from Dr. Abhijit Banerjee’s Nobel Prize Bio:
“In my deeply anti-intellectual high school, it was made very clear that we should all aspire to study engineering or medicine because they led to good jobs (the lure of jobs in finance came many years later). They made an occasional exception, in the case of an unusually brilliant student, for studying physics.”
But would a 3+2 from Elon to NCSU or NC A&T be any more attractive than just going to NCSU or NC A&T directly for an NC resident?
It is not clear whether the listed grade and GPA criteria at Dual-Degree Program | Engineering | Elon University are those which assure admission to the “2” school, or if they are merely the minimum qualification to apply for competitive admission to the “2” school.
Maybe smaller class sizes, a smaller campus and more personal attention would be preferable to some students but I am not arguing in any way that one is better than another. I know many CC posters are very concerned about costs but that is not a universal concern for all. Just pointing out options.