<p>I am new to the forum and apologize if this has been discussed before. Does anyone know job placement stats for engineering grads? Such as the percentage of students with jobs at graduation, starting salaries, and which companies recruit at UA. My DS is planning to enroll tomorrow and will be pursuing an engineering degree.</p>
<p>Here is link for participants in the Feb 2014 job fair (so far). [The</a> Career Center](<a href=“http://career.ua.edu/employers/calendarParticipants.cfm?CFID=938]The”>http://career.ua.edu/employers/calendarParticipants.cfm?CFID=938) I found this under “employer” tab (not student), and looked at future events until I found the engineering-related job fair. There are other job fairs for other majors listed as well.</p>
<p>Oddly, my S expressed just recently that he is worried about job prospects - not because he is attending UA, but just because of his major (Aerospace). I thought he was wrong, but he must know something I don’t. He is concentrating on maintaining as close to 4.0 GPA as he can + gaining relevant internships during summer + research projects with professors during the school year…and crossing those fingers. He has always planned ahead, but him still being 2+ years from graduation is why I was surprised he is a bit ‘worried’ at this point.</p>
<p>A link to a recent article was posted in this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1585197-ua-college-engineering-sees-incredible-growth-quality.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1585197-ua-college-engineering-sees-incredible-growth-quality.html</a> that says that there’s an 83% placement rate. That’s a bit behind most highly rated engineering program which tend to have placement rates above 90%, but I am sure is inline with most other state flagship programs. UA has a really good co-op program if your student is interested in doing a co-op and that can lead to job offers, however in my opinion, their career center is not keeping pace with the growth of the school and my son in civil has been more than disappointed by the companies that come to the job fairs offered at the school (as I noted in the other thread the first time he attended there was <em>1</em> company in attendance looking for civil e interns). So, we have not been relying on the school to provide opportunities and have been seeking out opportunities on our own. My son was able to locate and secure an internship for last summer without assistance from the school. If you feel that you need to rely on the school to provide opportunities, I would recommend speaking to the co-op office.</p>
<p>83% is actually quite high. Students aren’t obligated to inform the school as to where they go after graduation, so the school may not be capturing everyone’s good news. </p>
<p>I can imagine that a number graduate, get jobs, and never bother to call up Bama and inform them.</p>
<p>What is your eng’g discipline? Some disciplines are more in demand than others. Some pay more than others. My son graduated with a ChemEngineering degree last May. Although he went on to med school, his graduating classmates were quickly hired into highly paid positions.</p>
<p>Jrcsmom…I don’t know much about CivilE. Is that an area that is hired mostly by gov’t agencies, utility companies, and smaller companies (builders/architects)? Have you contacted the CivilE dept head with your concerns about recruiting for CivilE? I would. Maybe not identify yourself as a parent of a current CivilE student, but maybe appear to be a prospective parent seeking info. I would let him know that you already know that only one company came to Bama looking for CivilE summer interns.</p>
<p>Supposedly, these are great companies for CivilE grads to work for:
<a href=“http://www.cenews.com/magazine-article-cenews.com-10-2011-2011_best_civil_engineering_firms_to_work_for-8511.html[/url]”>http://www.cenews.com/magazine-article-cenews.com-10-2011-2011_best_civil_engineering_firms_to_work_for-8511.html</a></p>
<p>Everyone needs to be pro-active and find internships and co-ops for their desired field to build a good resume and make contacts.</p>
<p>A bit offtrack, but civ-e has 8/9 concentrations that are widely varied - such as geotech, environmental, water resources, transportation, and structural engineering. My S is interested in structural and plans to eventually get a master’s specificially in structural. Many Civ-e grads are hired by government agencies (I believe the majority of civ-e majors work for the government). My son’s internship last summer was actually with a city government where he worked on projects such as analyzing the conditions of the roads to prioritize their resurfacing projects. Utility companies also hire a lot of civ-e majors, but my son is not even remotely interested in working for a utility company. Construction/design firms hire a significant amount of civ-e majors and is my son’s preference for future employment. Some of those firms are very large and have office locations throughout the world. Last year Burns and McDonell (burnsmcd.com) was the company that attended the UA job fair that was considering interns (they are headquartered in Missouri) and he was very interested in their opportunities, however they did not attend the job fair again this fall. He did speak with representatives from BL Harbert ([BL</a> Harbert International](<a href=“http://www.blharbert.com%5DBL”>http://www.blharbert.com)) this year (based in Brimingham), they are working on the Ferg renovation project. Structural engineers also work for companies such as Boeing designing the physical structures that support all the internal components that are designed by electical/mechanical engineers and Boeing hires a lot of interns each year. He has already sent out 10-12 resumes for next summer (some companies had deadlines that have already passed). But as I noted in the other thread - some colleges such as Purdue or Penn State have job fairs specifically for civ-e students and get 50+ employers to attend, but although Bama has around 300-500 civ-e students, there are very, very few employers that recruit on campus for these students.</p>
<p>Again, I think the CivilE Dept Head (and likely Dean Charles Karr) need to be contacted in regards to this issue. Certainly, more should be there…at least the utility companies, larger construction/architect firms, etc, should be there.</p>
<p>I do know of a CivilE student who did her internship in Alaska last summer (all expenses paid), but I don’t know how that was all arranged.</p>
<p>i just looked at the list of companies coming to the career fair.</p>
<p>there are 11 companies coming that specify ChE or engineering majors, which, IMO, is not very many.</p>
<p>how many ChE grads are there each semester?</p>
<p>how many ChemE grads are there every year? (winter grad is likely low)</p>
<p>I don’t know, but I know that in the last 2-3 years, the number of ChemE students has tripled…but those students haven’t yet graduated. At my son’s graduation, I didn’t pay attention to how many were ChemE majors.</p>
<p>That said, a good number of ChemE majors are premed so they wouldn’t be applying for those jobs.</p>
<p>I did just send an email to the director of the Job Fair for more info.</p>
<p>i asked my kid and she really isn’t sure, but she guessed that there are maybe 150 in her class (number of kids in a class that everyone has to take that is only offered once per year). she also mentioned that there are tons more now than there used to be.</p>
<p>Here is link to actual #s of graduates, by degree program/major from UA - this is for school year 2012 (not sure when that was actually reported to ASEE by UA - it may be 2011 data and compiled in 2012). As I have noted in the past, ASEE profiles are VERY useful - you can see actual bums on seats, and compare different schools accordingly, objectively. [The</a> University of Alabama - 2012](<a href=“http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/5671/screen/21?school_name=The+University+of+Alabama]The”>http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/5671/screen/21?school_name=The+University+of+Alabama)</p>
<p>Also, look at the ‘tab’ above “Degrees Awarded by Program” for info on “Enrollments by Class” (left hand side of the profile page).</p>
<p>58 ChemE grads in 2012. You can see that the numbers are growing since MikeW’s D will be a 2014 grad. I realize that she’s estimating.</p>
<p>But, again, a good number are premed. I can’t remember the split, but I think someone said that about 1/3 are premed.</p>
<p>Last year in CHE 125 there were 145 in my section, but there were two sections. That means that there were nearly 300 entering ChemEs (or Metallurgical/Undesignated, as they often take the course too) for the Fall of 2012. It appears the numbers were similar last semester (150 per class). Dr. Brazel also took a poll when I was in the class to determine who was interested in what aspect of ChemE… just over half the responses were pre-med.</p>
<p>EDIT: I got these numbers from the class enrollments archived on MyBama under “Look Up Classes.”</p>
<p>Aeromom, thanks for the link. I have bookmarked it as I find it very interesting. S2 is now a sophomore in CS and it was interesting to seethe number of CS students when he was a freshman (in the mid 100’s). Much bigger than the CS 2012 graduating class of 25. You can see how the scholarships, including the engineering, are paying off at attracting bright students.</p>
<p>For comparison since Purdue was mentioned:
<a href=“Purdue CCO”>https://www.cco.purdue.edu/Common/PostGradSummaryMay12.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href=“Purdue CCO”>https://www.cco.purdue.edu/Common/SalaryMay12.pdf</a></p>
<p>Last year in CHE 125 there were 145 in my section, but there were two sections. That means that there were nearly 300 entering ChemEs (or Metallurgical/Undesignated, as they often take the course too)</p>
<p>While that’s interesting, it doesn’t really tell us how many will graduate in the major. ChemE, and all other E disciplines (as well as premed) have a LOT of incoming frosh, but because of course difficulties, many soon are weeded out. </p>
<p>When my older son was a frosh, all of his suitemates were eng’g majors. None graduated as eng’g majors…including my older son who changed to Math.</p>
<p>Sounds like the University of Alabama needs to step things up at their job fairs for engineers and showcase their talent to companies that should be recruiting at U of A. My daughter goes to U of Michigan and the engineering job fair brings in all the big names. Students have quite the options and most leave with great paying engineering jobs at U of M.</p>
<p>i agree with you.</p>
<p>most leave with great paying engineering jobs</p>
<p>and most engineering grads from Bama also leave with great paying jobs. The complaint isn’t that grads are jobless or getting lowish paying jobs…not at all. </p>
<p>however, I agree that the job fair appears to need some more work.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the information. The list of employers and the majors they are looking for is informative. My son is planning to major in mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>Do you all know about the Crimson Careers job portal? They have hundreds of companies posting available jobs on a regular basis (including the Big Name companies.) I believe this is better than the job fairs. When my son went to the last job fair he was only able to speak with one company due to the long lines. (Is there some sort of strategy for this?)</p>
<p>I believe that companies using the job portal identify candidates ahead of time and arrange interviews when they are in town for the job fair. I think many students don’t know about the Crimson Careers job portal or aren’t taking advantage of its availability. I know my son isn’t.</p>
<p>Also - I can’t find the link now, but there were a lot more companies represented at the Fall Career Fair than what is showing for the February one. Perhaps they haven’t all signed up yet or participation is just lower in the spring semester.</p>