At Bama, you get paid if you have a 30 ACT - another $2500 as an engineer instead of paying.
Here’s a few interesting articles - they are very aggressive - and brining in Ivy League and lots of Big 10 type students. And their kids are getting jobs. The engineering facilities - first rate.
How the University of Alabama Became a National Player - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Yep, I already stated this… Your taking our Illinois kids… Lol… But since then they increased the instate acceptance to like 70% or something like that… Lol
It’s just fascinating though - the entire strategy. Still, being ranked 119 in US News, I wonder if it’s working? It is from who they are getting - but is it being seen? I tend to think so as Tesla took 100+ for internship.
I don’t remember all the perimeters of how they judge ranking engineering programs on USNWR… But just getting students to one company is not one of them. It’s great though… No question. It will take a bit of time. But the more important thing is how do these kids do in the real work force.? Do they communicate? Can they be taught? Do they work with others well?
Rankings tell us very little about all of this.
But this is a merit thread. But glad to know students are doing well there.
All these colleges talk about what you mentioned and liberal arts schools push that they teach you how to communicate. But truth is, these kids go to classes. There’s very little of the soft skill stuff being taught. They are just random classes and many of the professors don’t communicate. I have not seen yet, at least with my son, any type of soft skill stuff. THey have workshops in the career center but my introvert, know it all son, would never attend.
But they will have to figure it out - we all do!!!
I think schools over promise in their advertising…not everyone will get an internship or great job or lead, etc. But hopefully they just have the traits that work for that or will develop it after being on the job. Politics at work is not easy.
My son is fortunate - he applied for 400 jobs on line - just got one - but it’s within the industry he wants. He did interview about 20 places…I’m sure it’s the same anywhere. There’s lots of competition.
These days, all desirable jobs are reaches for all job seekers. Expect to apply to dozens or hundreds of jobs to get a few interviews and maybe one offer.
I learned it’s impossible for first year, even at a Georgia Tech, to get an internship. Less hard for 2nd years but he said they ask for software they’ve yet to use, etc… You only need one.
I did suggest mock interviews, etc. because he wasn’t making traction but he did land the job at a major auto OEM so he’s happy. It’s amazing how many ‘smart’ kids that are out there - this stuff is beyond greek to me.
Not specific to GT, but certainly not impossible. D and many in her friend cohort found internships after first year (from various schools) Lots more who did 5 term co-ops started that first summer.
In general, the economy has been trending toward becoming less favorable to labor over the decades. Hence the “need” to earn higher credentials, often with greater specialization, with the cost of such education and training borne by the job seeker (often taking on debt to do so). Of course, there is more competition as more people earn the higher and more specialized credentials. In some professions, the entry-level credential has been changed (e.g. from a bachelor’s degree to a master’s or doctoral level degree) to erect a higher barrier to entry against new entrants to protect incumbent practitioners.
Also, the risk of job obsolescence is borne by the job seeker, since retraining for some other high skill in-demand job can be costly in time and money.
The economy has been becoming more favorable for skilled/high performing employees, as seen in the increase in the Gini coefficient (http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/49499779.pdf). That’s not the same as becoming less favorable to labor (though I’m not saying that is untrue: the share of GDP going to labor has certainly fallen), indeed it makes it logical to spend more in an attempt to be one of these top earners. The problem is that more people think they are going to be one of the winners than the number of places for winners. Something that’s always been the case for actors now also applies to engineers.
Well. I can’t disagree with you more. Not attacking you just what you said. My son’s graduating in April from Michigan in Industrial engineering. Got the soft skills through a class designed for this. Plus all the activities on campus that he has been involved with taught him different aspects of this and just doing group projects and now his senior design project speak to it as well. He signed with a company about a month ago. This is where ai was saying the Abet learning is similar but it’s the other things the kids choose to do is what is different and makes their experiences. This is just one small example. But my son wouldn’t get help either… Lol but did have his resume reviewed by the school and by the Microsoft liason at his school. Lol
You can get them but it’s harder first year. Second year my son did his engineering study abroad in France then went to Israel to do an internship at an RD center… Some of his friends especially the CS kids had internships that summer after freshman year
If the Gini coefficient keeps increasing and the labor share of the economy keeps shrinking, then there could be even more problems in terms of political stability and/or extremist politics when more people realize that the chance of winning is small and that most people lose under the existing system.
This all seems pretty normal for engineering… But all you need is one… So… The only person I know went to MIT that applied to 1 company and got an offer and done… Not even fair… Lol 
So just to add to this. At the Michigan engineering open house they said that they know these kids are introverted to a point and they need to learn to communicate. They said the ones that don’t will get jobs to be part of a team. The ones that do effectively will lead those teams… That was a powerful statement. Also his professors communicated greatly. Discussions are a vital part of his junior /senior years. Maybe it’s due to differences of the majors?
My son is in ecoCAR so I’m sure he’s gaining more than I realize. But in general colleges act as if it all wound through a program. Having a class in resume building or team work, to me, is a box chekc…is all i’m saying.
Any which way, I’m sure all these kids can get out, what they put into it. I stress to my son that college is more than class but to him, the classes are insane and don’t leave time for much else.
I think your missing the point. It’s not just a check box or just a class (but there is one). It’s a cultural difference in teaching unless your not understanding and why they mentioned about communication at the open house. Team building as you call it, better be part of everything they do as engineers. Engineers need to work with different displines and work in groups. The say “play nice with each other”. Some kids can just take classes others are active part of their communities. If my son didn’t have his student org that he runs and meets weekly and he works for the university about 10-20 hours a week, think he would not do as well. He learned he needs to be busy or he procrastinates. The stuff they learn is hard. No question about it. But everything he has done on campus, plus his minors the job he got speaks to it.
Good luck to your son
I totally agree with @Knowsstuff about it being way more than ticking off boxes and looking deeper into campus culture. Purdue starts team building exercises in freshman orientation. First year engineering design is a project based course that requires very strong written and oral communications skills. Design books are easily 100 pages long per project. Companies come to listen to oral presentation. Honors has a required seminar course first semester that is essentially ‘how to be a good team player’. There are mentors who work with students to give feedback and help them feel more comfortable participating. It goes on and on.
In our experience, engineering programs that have a career readiness focus integrate these soft skills into everything they do. Yes, students need to do their end too but the structure and supports are there.
What is this statement based on? I don’t work in engineering, but have worked with BMEs in consulting. And the consulting market is white hot, with many firms hiring from the medium-large ones to boutiques. The boutique firm I work with can’t hire people fast enough at all levels, whether right out of undergrad to PhD level.
To be honest it does seem that kids apply broadly to lots and lots of companies. It is not unheard of to apply to 20-100 companies. Seems to be a bit of a numbers game. Maybe the culture is since kids now apply to so many colleges then they used to also. There’s an interesting link
Lol