<p>Hello all
I appreciate it if you could give some advice to me. Recently, I received six admissions from OSU, UPitts, NEU, Uconn, WPI, SIT. My major is civil engineering, structure. I would like to find some internship and work opportunities when I get my degree. In my view, OSU is the best for its engineering rank. What is your suggestion? Thanks!</p>
<p>Is NEU Northeastern? What is SIT?</p>
<p>Yes, SIT is short for Stevens Institute of Technology</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with all the schools, but if you have a preference to where you would like to work after college, I would lean towards the school in that area. Many civil engineering firms are local, and will tend to recruit locally.</p>
<p>Northeastern has a strong co-op program, Stevens and WPI are smaller than the others. You are going to get a good education at any one of them, just go for the one that you feel most comfortable with.</p>
<p>If you’re going by USNews, be VERY careful. It is an extremely subjective ranking. You’ll need to consider other sources to get a decent idea of a schools value/worth.</p>
<p>That being said, the schools you listed are all great places to attend. Vastly different campus experiences, but all great schools.</p>
<p>But what about money? The costs of these schools vary quite a bit. For example, OSU is only about half the cost of SIT.</p>
<p>If money were no object, I’d agree with ken285. Location is a BIG deal. If you want to work in a particular region of the country, make sure you go to school in that region.<br>
- If you wanted to work in the rust belt, your best choices would be OSU or UPitts.<br>
- If the Boston area is your thing, NEU, WPI, or UConn… in that order.<br>
- MetroNY? SIT should be your choice.</p>
<p>I know that the Northeastern co-op program is excellent. WPI seems a good school, but I don’t know any recent students or grads. </p>
<p>What would be your net cost at each option?</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice. Is civil engineering good for the rust belt? Or in other words, where is the suitable area for my major in your opinion? I know little about it.</p>
<p>The question is not <em>what</em> you want to do. The question is “where” you want to do it.</p>
<p>Where in the country do you see yourself living? Go to the university that is closest to that area, because they will have the most connections there. Your internships/CoOps will probably be local to their area and the placement office will have their best company connections in their local area. </p>
<p>But again, although the universities you listed are (for all intents and purposes) equally impressive, they are NOT equal in cost! If cost is not an issue, then great. Otherwise, I would not recommend going into six figures of debt just to attend school near NYC when you could graduate from OSU for half the price.</p>
<p>Thanks again! I know what you mean. The cost is not the point. I want to know which area is more suitable for civil engineering and for my career develop. You know, civil engineering, in some dergee, is a sunset area. So the key point is which area has more need of my major. Look forward to your reply.</p>
<p>Every corner of the country requires the services of civil engineering grads (who doesn’t need buildings and infrastructure?).There isn’t really a place that is more suitable than not like there are with the other fields. One of the unique aspects of the construction industry compared to other fields is that the projects are typically built in place and not built in a factory and transported to the end consumer.</p>
<p>The one thing I would mention is that the type of projects you work on will depend on where you work. If you already know you want to work with 1000’ high skyscrapers, then it’s better to be closer to an urban area like New York City or Boston.</p>
<p>A potential plus for attending a college in an urban area is that you may be able to work part-time as an intern during the academic year. Of course, it will depend on your class schedules and your employer’s flexibility. I went to schools in an urban area and was able to work 10-20 hours per week at a civil engineering and a construction management firm for my junior and senior years of undergrad and during my master’s program.</p>
<p>Just some of the many factors to consider…</p>
<p>Who the heck told you Civil Engineering was a “sunset” profession?!</p>
<p>As long as there is building, demolition, and renewal… which has been always for the past couple of thousand years, there will be need for civil engineers.</p>
<p>Well I wouldn’t say that. CE got hit pretty hard after the Crash in 2007</p>
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<p>That doesn’t mean the profession is on the decline though. It was a temporary lull.</p>
<p>EVERYONE got hit pretty hard in the crash of 2007 and 2008. </p>
<p>It is difficult to name a profession that didn’t take a huge hit, not just a temporary lull. I’m in electrical engineering in the MetroNY area and people were dropping like flies around here from rolling layoffs that wouldn’t stop for more than a year and a half. My own company went from over 10K employees worldwide to less than 5K over that time. Guys were out of work for 18 months and more. That’s just unheard of.</p>
<p>You can’t use the housing bubble crash as and example of anything. You may as well use the crash back in the 1920’s as another example of CE’s in crisis.</p>
<p>um no. The reason why I said that was because of real estate. Same goes for commercial real estate. The building sector basically went belly up. CE depends on more government funding than any other engineering profession I can think of. If the administration didn’t inject a lot of money into public works, there would be tons of out of work civil engineers. </p>
<p>I was just saying in general, not knowing what “sunset employment” meant. </p>
<p>Anyways, it doesn’t matter. BLS stats say the profession will grow almost 20% in 10 years.</p>
<p>Um no… real estate wasn’t the only sector hit. To think the real estate sector and therefore CE’s were the only major engineering victims of 2008 is, I’m sorry to say, an incredibly myopic view of what actually occurred. </p>
<p>The downturn was broad and rippled through every sector. It’s all connected. Lighting, white goods, automobiles, computers, furniture, the list is endless and the engineers it impacted is endless.</p>
<p>In fact, the money put into public works by the government may have helped CE’s, but it did nothing for the countless other engineers caught up in that downturn. CE’s at least had that to help them a little. </p>
<p>Again, 2007/8 nailed everyone’s head to the floor… whether you were a mechanic, lawyer, accountant, or any type of engineer. It didn’t matter. Apparently, you either were not working yet or were one of the few lucky ones who weren’t impacted and were blind to those suffering around you.</p>
<p>I was one of the few lucky ones, but I wasn’t blind. Every single day I said “There, but for the grace of G-d, go I.” I held my breath and prayed for a recovery. Salaries and benefits were pulled back, but I was just grateful I still had a job.</p>
<p>Luckily, most of that is behind the engineering professions, but much of the rest of the country is still suffering… as is illustrated by the numbers of people falling off the unemployed stats, not because they got a job, but because their benefits ran out.</p>
<p>I was in the military during that time working extreme hours so maybe I missed more than I thought. </p>
<p>I apologize for my post.</p>
<p>Lookin4ward,</p>
<p>Thanks for you service!</p>
<p>I took a break from college and joined the Army back in 1979, when the US embassy was stormed and hostages were taken in Iran. </p>
<p>Combat medic it the 101st Airborne.</p>
<p>Can’t compare with what you guys have done since 9/11.</p>