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I do want to reiterate that not every girl who goes into engineering is a tinkerer.
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absolutely. My d will major in engineering but not a tinkerer. she loves design. took CAD in hs and loved it. </p>
<p>Neonzeus - There is so much more to engineering these days than just mechanical, electrical and civil.<br>
What makes her lean toward engineering? That she likes math?
If she does pretty well in math/science then I would not discourage her yet. I think we do need to let kids peruse their dreams, she will find out soon enough if it is for her. It is much easier to start in engineering and switch than vice versa.</p>
<p>I don't know what part of PA you are from - but my d was accepted to Temple for engineering. we visited an engineering open house that was great - they went into great detail about what engineers do, the options and their philosophy - which at Temple is that they will do everything in their power to get you through it if you desire. Attending an open house geared toward to engineering will give her a great idea of what is expected and her options. If she decides to pursue something else, great.</p>
<p>Back in the day - I attended a state U and I remember all the freshmen engineer majors were flushed out with Freshman physics. sink or swim.
Many schools today, harbor the philosophy that if they accept you it is because you have the ability to succeed.</p>
<p>Taking 5 years to get an engineering degree is no big deal - my nephew took 5 years. at a state U. He never took Calc before college and failed DiffEQ the first go, but was inundated with job offers. good ones. 5 years out he has a great career and a company who is paying for his master's degree.</p>
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<p>The two pieces of advice I would offer are make sure she does not go to a "weed'em out" school where many of the kids who start out in engineering do not continue. <<</p>
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<p>This is really important. Some schools have a rep for being a weed 'em out school (Georgia Tech comes to mind)--being chewed up and spit out can have detrimental effects on a young college student's confidence.</p>
<p>Agree with justamomof4--a lot of companies have relationships with and comfort hiring local university engineering program graduates. D is working in Indianapolis and she says all of the engineers seem to be either from Rose-Hulman or Purdue.</p>
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This is a kid who works really hard for each B or A, and who freezes under academic pressures. She needs to balance the number of academic classes that she takes with easy classes, so that she doesn't get overwhelmed.
<p>I don't mean to denigrate your D; it sounds like she is a wonderful person and facing a terrible situation with the severe illness of a parent. But I don't want to be Pollyanish either; kids who make it thru engineering typically found HS a breeze and were among the top ones in math and science. And even then stats show that 1/2 to 2/3rds of all kids who enter college as prospective engineers end up switching (see for example EETimes.com</a>)</p>
<p>As a rising junior your D has plenty of time to think about colleges and prospective majors/careers; I'm not that big a fan of tying down one's future at 16 anyway. From all the volunteer hours your D probably has a good idea of what life is like in medical careers; I wouldn't suggest choosing engineering or law or anything else without spending some time getting familiar with the area.</p>
<p>mikemac--I clicked on the EE sample schedule and found it indecipherable! It looks like a big electrical circuit! If that doesn't scare her off from wanting to be an engineer, nothing will. Lol</p>
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I can't report on his career outcome, as he is not there yet. His school (UNH) is highly respected regionally in Engineering.
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<p>unbelievable - same school from which my nephew graduated. Civil/environmental. 3 years ago he wanted to take the summer off after graduation and go hiking. he had no less than 5 offers all over $50,000. His employer told him to go ahead - take the summer off, your job will be here. Then he said he wanted a week in the winter to go skiing in France - no problem. He quit to go to grad school - they said don't quit - we have an office in Denver. work a year for us out there and we will pay your in-state tuition.</p>
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In applying to engineering colleges do check to see that they are ABET certified in her area of interest.
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If she chooses computer science, I wouldn't be too concerned about ABET certification since many of the top CS programs aren't ABET certified and it doesn't seem to make any difference to employers. A few examples in California are UCSD, UCI, Stanford, CalTech. There are many other colleges across the country with top CS programs whose grads are highly sought after by employers who aren't ABET certified.</p>
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kids who make it thru engineering typically found HS a breeze and were among the top ones in math and science.
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<p>But not all of them. I'll never forget reading about a significant donor to my engineering school. As they took the guy around and bragged about the high numbers of 'top 10%' kids they accept, the guy said, "Well, you wouldn't accept me today, then". His HS grades were lackluster, and yet he was very successful as an engineer. I myself would be discouraged from attempting engineering school based on your assumption, simply because I didn't go to a great HS - some really poor teachers - and had an attitude about BS work ;)</p>
<p>Going back to the OP's kid, she's doing quite well at a very competitive HS - why discourage her? (Parent says she freezes, but I'm assuming that's a bit of an exaggeration given the kid's high grade point average.)</p>
<p>Gotta say, with all due respect, I'm getting a little annoyed with all the nay-saying here.</p>
<p>Despite all those stating and re-stating, emphasizing and re-emphasizing that anyone short of math whizdom and top 10% hs status is a fool to try Engineering.... it just ain't so.</p>
<p>There are counterexamples to all that fear-mongering described right here in this thread. There are zillions more out there in the Universities or in the profession right now.</p>
<p>I think it's right and just that anyone considering Engineering for a major or for a career be forewarned and forearmed. I wouldn't want my S or D to head off to a tough school, a tough curriculum and/or a weed-out world and be blind-sided.</p>
<p>But we've given the OP a picture of that aspect.... do we really need to beat it into her? Does anyone here really want to be responsible for discouraging a good student from even <em>trying</em> Engineering?</p>
<p>Honestly, I'm discouraged and disappointed.</p>
<p>this country desperately needs more engineers. I wish more would give it a shot, especially women where there is a significant shortage in the profession.</p>
<p>As a teacher I know several former B+ students doing well in Civil and other engineering areas. They come back and thank me for encouraging them to give it a shot. Do they all make it? No of course not but to not take a shot when inside you really want to is foolish.</p>
<p>following up from the earlier post -
The University of Missouri Campuses are Columbia, Kansas City, Missouri S&T in Rolla, and St. Louis. I said gave the wrong name for the Missouri engineering college that offers the explosives camp; what used to be called the University of Missouri at Rolla is now called Missouri University of Science and Technology. I noted that it had a good track record in engineering; I had thought it was not selective because the web site says you meet the requirements for admission if your ACT score is 24 or your SAT score is 1090, and that two years of foreign language and three years of science are required. Missouri University of Science and Technology, Admissions</p>
<p>D1 (ready to start college in about a month) tried the test from the site that BCEagle91 posted. Apparently, the questions were not hard for her.</p>
<p>Thank you to those who have provided additional info and perspectives. The more I read initially, the more I felt that engineering would not be a good match (certainly not at her reach schools). The recent postings warning not to be too negative about her potential have flagged that she still needs to do more research before eliminating engineering as a possible major. </p>
<p>D is concerned that some universities require students to apply to particular colleges as freshmen. This is especially true for nursing programs which have four-year tracks, but many Schools of Engineering also are tracked. While many schools offer liberal arts/general ed year and permit students to apply after the first year, for some schools she knows she may need to have a prospective major identified in order to hit their engineering, nursing, etc. track from Semester 1. </p>
<p>The info that you all provided is very helpful. While I personally have reservations about her ability to pursue an engineering major, it's clear that she needs to continue her exploratory research into the different types of engineering -- and that, if she wants to give engineering a shot, she will need a backup plan just-in-case.</p>
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D is concerned that some universities require students to apply to particular colleges as freshmen. This is especially true for nursing programs which have four-year tracks, but many Schools of Engineering also are tracked.
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<p>yes, I alluded to this above - it is much easier to transfer out of engineering than transfer into engineering.
IMO - her ability to pursue an engineering major lies within.</p>
<p>As I said before - many colleges with engineering offer open houses by major - have her go to an engineering open house. She could be awed or not. Then you have your answer whether or not she should pursue it.</p>
<p>"D1 (ready to start college in about a month) tried the test from the site that BCEagle91 posted. Apparently, the questions were not hard for her."</p>
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I wouldn't be too concerned about ABET certification since many of the top CS programs aren't ABET certified and it doesn't seem to make any difference to employers.
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<p>Yes, ABET does not mean much. I have not seen any job postings that require ABET certification.</p>
<p>If she is thinking "maybe Engineering, maybe Nursing, maybe something else", that might change the <em>usual</em> advice. The usual advice, and good advice, is that... if one is even THINKING of Engineering as a major... then do the freshman curriculum for Engineering, which is typically (as mentioned above in another context) Calc, Physics I (calc-based), Chem I, and then some electives or Hum/Sci distribution requirements.</p>
<p>There is virtually no downside to this for other majors. As, if the student decides against Engineering, s/he has quite a few - if not all - of the science/math distribution requirements out of the way.</p>
<p>There is a big downside to NOT doing it, as it is hard to catch up with the second year Engineering curriculum if you don't have these foundation courses done.</p>
<p>I'm guessing (but don't know) that this first year would not be too bad for a future nursing student, although bio not physics might be important. Could be added as the fourth course.</p>
<p>The real downside is that the first year doesn't get to be much of an exploratory, sample different subjects type of experience. For the Engineering major, that type of dabbling in other fields has to come later.</p>