<p>D/S is interested in Enginering and so far has been accepted at FSU & UCF. Still waiting on UF.</p>
<p>We have started researching both UCF & FSU and the comments below from another review website have us worried:</p>
<p>"The Engineering school at FSU is shared with FAMU, and it is a bad joke. There are very good professors and classes, but very sorry professors and classes too. I wasted a total of 1yr+ of just BS classes that were good for nothing, and the good ones weren't offered in the semesters that I needed them. Many classmates went through the same situation, and we discussed this regularly.
Expect pure theory and absolutely zero mechanical engineering application. The machine shop is Taboo, and students are not encouraged to use it.
This negative Comment applies to the College of Engineering in general, but the bad experience was with the Mech. engineering department.</p>
<p>After graduating as a mechanical engineering I felt extremely unprepared for any real design jobs, and companies with nice jobs don't even bother to go there to recruit people in the career fairs. Only the companies with sucky jobs, and horrible retention are the ones that recruit there."</p>
<p>So what is the rest of the story, Is it really that bad???</p>
<p>I doubt if it is that bad, but there have been issues with the joint management of the College. FSU and FAMU have different goals and the college should be split between the two so that each university can more properly work towards those goals.</p>
<p>I am told that 80% of all faculty and students are from Florida State and 20% from FAMU. The budget is controlled by FAMU and this creates friction with FSU at a minimum.</p>
<p>Ratings-wise (the most recent I've seen) the College ranks near UCF and both are well below UF's CoE.</p>
<p>"Florida State would help lobby money on FAMU's behalf."
IMHO with the state's financial picture this will never happen.</p>
<p>Is the joint program really that dysfunctional?
Find it hard to believe engineering firms don't recruit there.
Specifically interested in Civil/Structural Engineering.</p>
<p>As with anything else, there is a reputation and the associated anecdotes, and then there is reality. Sometimes they coincide, sometimes they do not. The only people who can offer inside information on the reality of life at the FSU CoE are the people who actually went through it.</p>
<p>The CoE had a pretty bad reputation when I was at FSU. I lived with a graduate student from Massachusetts and he did nothing but complain about the quality of the students in his electrical engineering lab (he was a TA at the time). </p>
<p>Beyond that, you must also consider the lifestyle that the department will offer to prospective students. Will there be opportunities to interact with interesting people on a regular basis? Consider the fact that the engineering campus is located in Innovation Park, which is several miles away from the main FSU campus. The students there don't get as much of a "college experience" for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>That said, don't forget that majors can and do change - so choosing a school simply on the basis of the perceived strength of a particular program is risky, to say the least. I changed majors twice while I was an undergrad.</p>
<p>As of now, I would not come to FSU if you are set on getting an engineering degree. It is not that great of a program, and is really inconvenient traveling back and forth from the engineering campus. Of the Florida state universities, UCF is definitely the best pick.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the insight.
Won't know about UF until Feb.so dont want this thread to unravel into who has the best engineering program.
It's clear UF is #1.
After that the water appears to get really muddy.</p>
<p>I'd agree that UF has the best CoE at this time. FSU is striving as best as can be done in the current fiscal environment to join the AAU. A strong CoE is essential for Florida State.</p>
<p>I have no doubt that FSU wants to improve the CoE, but in order for that to happen they must break away from FAMU. The two schools have incompatible educational goals, and FAMU's goals are not conducive to AAU membership. A split is probably inevitable, but there is a lot of concern over how the existing CoE's assets would be divided amongst the two schools. FSU reportedly provides the bulk of the funding and students, and also has more political clout and a much stronger alumni base. Consequently, any "split" of the existing facility is likely to be detrimental to FAMU's interests, which is probably why most of FAMU's supporters oppose it.</p>
<p>Having personally spent an extremely large amount of time comparing UF and UCF's engineering programs, I can wholeheartedly say that UCF is the better pick.</p>
<p>I don't want to turn this thread into a UCF vs. UF argument, but UCF really does have a much better program (except for materials science and engineering @UF). The Excel program at UCF is also a great opportunity.</p>
<p>Since it seems to be a lot of knowledge about engineering programs here I'll ask if any of you have other suggestions.
Trying to stay in-state.
Per this link: Progressive</a> Engineer: Engineering Schools - Florida</p>
<p>These apeear to be the only schools offering a general program.</p>
<p>FAMU is a joke of a school and I firmly believe that if not for political correctness, it would be be put out of commission by Tallahassee. This would be political suicide though, as FAMU is a traditionally black school. The school is continually in trouble for criminal activity of the administrators and becomes in danger of losing its accreditation from time to time. </p>
<p>"State university system Chancellor Mark Rosenberg recently told the Miami Herald that "we are essentially one step away" from putting FA MU's finances under state control."</p>
<p>I'm amazed that a school with the stature of FSU would allow itself to be so closely tied to FAMU and any bad rap it gets from the association I'm sure is well deserved. Continued affiliations like this can have (I think have had, per peer review) a strong factor in FSU having a precipitous drop in university ranking.</p>
<p>XNYer,
The colege of engineering is as much part of FAMU as it is FSU. I can't see why anyone would go there if they have options, but that is only my opinion. How would you like to pay 50+K for your child to go to study at a school that is in danger of losing its accreditation? Not me...</p>