Wondering if I could get some opinion’s and/or feedback on Mechanical Engineering Technology as a major for a hands on kid? Also, any suggestions on schools to consider?
Our son is a rising sophomore. He is good at school (Freshman year was 4.0 GPA / 24 ACT) and takes his schools most rigorous curriculum. That said he’s not particularly interested in school and prefers to work with his hands. He enjoys mechanical things. He like to forge metal items, weld, general shop work projects. I think in his ideal world he would open his own business and produce something. What that something is I don’t think he really knows - 3-D printing, custom machining, knife making, or maybe construction. Of course this would require a level of knowledge and skill he’s miles away from.
His school tracks students very aggressively (college vs. tech school) and we’ve encouraged him to stay on track toward a four year college program. I’m happy to hear criticism of that but we’ve always stressed the value of education beyond employment and believe he can benefit from a full college experience toward his goals. Also, I don’t think he really knows what he wants and a four year college gives him options.
That all said, understanding his desires we’ve suggested he look at Mechanical Engineering Technology as a degree where he could trade some of the more theoretical math and science for additional hands on classes. Looking for some feedback on my line of thinking.
Cost Desire <25K (no financial aid / expecting he can get his ACT up as some of these have merit for 28/29 ACT)
We are in state for both Colorado and Louisiana
Colleges currently looking at…
Southeastern Louisiana University
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Colorado Mesa University
The University of Toledo
Oregon Institute of Technology
Weber State University
Central Washington University
Eastern Washington University
Lewis & Clark State College
Mechanical engineering technology degrees are certainly an option, but I wouldn’t rule out the trades, either. It really depends on him and his desires. Ultimately, the most hands-on type jobs are the ones that don’t have the word “engineering” in their title at all.
Note that engineering technology programs are less common than engineering programs, so limiting your search to engineering technology (as opposed to engineering) can exclude schools like Louisiana Tech, CO/NM/SD Mines, etc…
Engineering technology will not yield the same opportunities as engineering. It is essentially a technician, paraprofessional level program without the high level proof-based calculus, calculus-based physics, and underlying science courses that a regular engineering program requires. The ET discipline specific courses are also not as rigorous as their engineering counterparts (eg., an ET electronic circuit analysis course will not develop the circuit theory, prove all the theorems, and develop the equations as would an EE circuit analysis course). Most engineering employers will not consider ET to be the equivalent of an engineering degree. Some schools try to steer people who cannot shoulder the workload in engineering into ET.
The description of ET and engineering on RIT’s website isn’t very useful in explaining the differences between them. Some ET schools claim things like “ET is practically oriented”, “hands on oriented”, etc., this to me is laughable. All engineering is practically oriented in that the purpose of engineering is to use the laws of science to create practical devices, machines, processes, and technologies. What the school is really telling you is that “ET is a watered down, less rigorous, semi-professional technician level course and your opportunities will be limited as compared to actual engineering graduates”.
If you aspire to work in civil, environmental, or another engineering specialty in which the state Professional Engineer (PE) license is required, not all states accept ET graduates to sit for the FE and PE exams. In those that do, more work experience is required than a graduate holding an ABET accredited engineering degree, who are eligible to take the FE exam as seniors in school and the PE exam after 4 years of work experience without further qualification.
In all the industries in which I worked, the few ET graduates we had were technicians, working under the direction of engineers. If you want to be an assistant, go for ET. If you want to be the designer who makes the professional decisions, get an engineering degree.
I think I agree with you @Engineer80 for anyone who is looking to spend their professional career working as an engineer would be better served to get an engineering degree. I think in some industries and for some employers a MET graduate would start in a different place as compared to an engineering graduate. That said I wonder if this same commentary hold true or if it matters for individuals who might move into adjacent related positions or move out on their own? My self I was a computer engineering major in college. Went to work in industry and very quickly found myself in a management position. I don’t think it would have changed my trajectory much to have an extra word in the title of my major. In fact, at certain points,I would have benefited from having less theoretical programming and database design classes and more practical projects and SQL! Yes these things can be self taught, but their is value in the time you spend in college. I hold the most valuable part of my engineering degree is the problem solving skills it developed and from what I’ve read of the curriculum a MET program would have sharpened those skills.
So I get your position comparing a BS MET major to a BS ME and I think it’s worth considering. Frankly I don’t think I could get him to consider a full engineering program. I’m curious how you compare an AA MET degree to a MS MET degree. Do you see value in the additional two years of school?
If he is about to enter 10th grade in high school, his interests and goals can change a lot from now to when he is in 12th grade making college applications or other post-graduation plans. Main thing now is to keep the various options open.
Note that in the RIT ET/E comparison, the jobs mostly at the ET end of the scale are those which E graduates should be capable of doing, but it is much less likely that ET graduates are capable of doing the jobs at the E end. So it should be generally preferable for a capable student to study engineering over engineering technology, but a student who wants a more “hands-on” experience may want to look carefully for engineering programs that introduce lab, design, and project experience early in the curriculum, rather than waiting until senior year design and project courses for that.
Just as an aside. I know a new RIT grad working at Telsa. She got an internship and they hired her in Electrical.
I worry about your son’s 24 act. Not sure if this is good for your school /district. But it’s low. The Math /science should be his higher marks in the subsets. For engineering he will need those. A lot or kids take the test several times. Looking at the subsets and working on weaknesses will help not just for getting a better number but for the rest of high school and college in general.
Not huge out of state costs. Very good aid. If he makes it past the 245 number it’s auto admit. Depending if he took 4 years of a language or not can bring the costs below your figure.
Saying this though… If he likes welding… A friends son did this out of high school. Got a job in the race car world. Makes like over $80,000 /year…
Sorry just noticed that your son is a rising sophomore. He has plenty of time to raise his ACT… Sorry about that.
thanks @Knowsstuff. I see your comment at the end but I feel like I should comment on your ACT remark for others. So ACT in my mind is all about perspective. A 24 is 74th percentile. If a kid had worked hard for a 24 I believe that 24 says they are ready for college. I think those of us who hang out on CC tend to live in the world of of our “average excellent kids” and get a little jaded. That all said - he’s not the kid who worked hard to earn a 24. His sister had a 33 and was NMS. I don’t see much difference between them other then hard work and maturity. I thank you for the college recommendations. I am familiar with them (I’m actually an ISU alumni).
@ucbalumnus I appreciate your perspective. I agree his perspective can change. It is a good reminder. I think this year I’ll be happy to keep him on a college track this year and showing some interest in looking at programs. I will look for engineering options that focus on hands on Drexel and Kettering & Northeastern come to mind (though not budget) :(.
Unfortunately, this isn’t correct. While a 24 ACT is 74th percentile, it still isn’t enough to be a safe bet for most engineering programs. It would definitely be in the bottom 50% if not bottom quartile in most programs.
Unfortunately, college admissions workers don’t have the luxury of living with your two children and comparing them. All they will see is a score that is lower than most other engineers and will require something else to make up for that.
The 24 ACT was in 9th grade. It would not be surprising if the student improved by 11th grade just based on greater content knowledge (e.g. more advanced math) and academic skills (e.g. reading skills) learned in high school courses after 9th grade.
I was going to mention that there is a lot of opportunity for his ACT to go up. If he were a rising senior and his best test was a 24 then I would say engineering would be a reach (though many schools would still offer the opportunity to matriculate into an engineering technology program). He probably has math, english and science coming in the next few semesters that will help him in future tests.
@HappyDad2… Lots of kids score lower in 9th grade. If he is tested in 10th grade most likely the score will improve. No matter what we think about our kids the adcoms don’t. They see raw numbers and an essay or two. In 9th grade my kid could care less about college. By 10th grade summer that stopped since we started taking him around locally just to see a few colleges (we live in Chicago so we have many within a 20 minute drive). He also started doing some summer engineering programs. He went to Michigan State for their 5 day robotics course 9th grade, Milwaukee school of engineering summer 10th grade but it was the Berkeley engineering program that he realized that he could really do this. We had no idea what to do with him in the summer and didn’t want him home either. Lol
This is during the school year and gives the kids a great idea how different engineering disciplines work together. It’s fun, they are working on a real project, they go on site and work close to one on one with young engineers in our case from world class companies. Projects they do are hands on.
I personally think if ISU was located where Michigan is and vice versa. Everyone would be going there. So many people I talk to that went there for engineering had like 2 jobs offers going into senior year.
I think they just started this program a few years back. Only problem I know of is some kids from my area got accepted into this thinking they got accepted into the regular engineering school.
Of course it’s a 9th grade score and there is plenty of time for it to improve. I never said that wasn’t the case, and didn’t even mention the score originally. However, the OP was also trying to make the case that a 24 is a good score and would be fine, and that’s simply not (generally) accurate for engineering.
“I think they just started this program a few years back. Only problem I know of is some kids from my area got accepted into this thinking they got accepted into the regular engineering school.”
Per Purdue. It used to be called the College of Technology and they changed the name. They both had similar majors though the Polytechnic Institute has expanded their offerings. I think they may have confused people more than elucidated them.
Even if he is on track for a four year program, a trade MIGHT be the better fit. Licensed trades like electricians and plumbers, can make solid money, and he’d be entering the work force earlier. I’d avoid anything that isn’t licensed because they have little control over their wage. Some of the best tradesmen I know are cabinet makers and finish carpenters, but they can struggle. Anyone can call themselves that, and in the day and age of price over all, there’s pretty hard downward pressure on salary.
As for standard testing, I agree with @boneh3ad. The 74th percentile includes the poets, the artists, psychologists, etc. For an engineer, or even a technician, that is low. That said, it’s 9th grade.
The thing to know is that the ACT and SAT are very different. ACT is ALL about speed. If he’s mildly un-focused, ACT will suffer mightily. Google SAT/ACT diagnostic test. My guess is that his results will favor the SAT.
Good luck, and kudos for thinking outside the predictable box to look for the proper fit to make him happy and successful in life!
thanks for the idea about SAT. He hasn’t taken the assessment but you are correct that observed some problem with speed on the ACT. I will have him take that diagnostic before we schedule his next testing.
I disagree with @Engineer80 and @HappyDad2 there are three ways to appropriate paths to an engineering profession. One with an ABET accredited engineering degree. Second, with an ABET accredited engineering technology degree and non ABET accredited science and math degree. I seen PEs in all three of those engineering career paths.
https://iie.lk/?page_id=1225 and https://iie.lk/ described the value of engineering technology as an overseas recognition.For @HappyDad2 to consider. Purdue University has a big Mechanical Engineering Technology program.