My daughter was initially set on attending UNH for civil or mechanical engineerIng, But we just finished a visit to WPI and now she really likes architectural engineering because she says it’s more of the area she likes. Now she is torn, also I know WPI is more project base teaching vs traditional college teaching, can someone explain whT is the diff as I’m not really on what project based style is,
Has anyone attended both of these schools and tell us some differences.
Thanks
Karen
WPI is on a different level of engineering and teaching as compared to UNH. Are you instate for NH? WPI’s trisemester, project based (like it sounds, you are assigned hands on class projects to complete for classes and work in labs) is popular and they have an excellent career center. Having said this, if is was going to cost you a fortune more for WPI, I wouldn’t unless you can really afford it without loans. Civil and mechanical engineering are on the lower pay side for engineering so I would not attend college at a great extra cost. @koliveri
Check out male/female ratio
Check out non-STEM course options
Look at WPI problem based learning and see if it is for you
THE LECTURE
With traditional classroom education, a lecturer stands in front of the students and explains her/his subject If lucky, the student gets to ask occasional questions to clarify material. Periodically, tests are given so students can demonstrate that they understood the basic content. In its simplest form the student can recite back to the teacher what they were told. But there are many other steps to learning. Recital is just the beginning.
At the next level of examination, students are asked to use the lectured classroom processes as tools to solve well defined situations. In such a world, time is short, pressure is high and the defined boundaries have been clarified relative to a real problem in its natural setting. Quick recall in a short time period are valued assets for the student.
To improve confidence and familiarity with problem solutions students need to work on real problems in their natural settings. From the start, they need to define the problem, not the teacher! This involves skill sets that are difficult to duplicate in a classroom time frame and setting. Formulating the right questions to design a possible (untested) problem solution can be the most difficult part. The nature of the pressures and the reasoning needed to sort the relevant information from the irrelevant information may actually involve a different thought process.
HANDS ON
“Hands on” has become a popular expression in today’s STEM education. In some cases, they mean students are actually going to operate sophisticated machinery where “hands on” translates to a literal event. Using machinery will feel very different from the classroom lecture, but “hands on” is not limited to this specific environment.
In both science and engineering this problem design may or may not require the use of machines and lab equipment. It will require the ability to define the problem in terms of what is known and what is not known, what is relevant and what is not relevant.
Has anyone defined (and then redefined) the goals yet? You had better ask the group because your project is made up of a team of people in the modern STEM environment. You are in competition with other teams somewhere and cooperation among teammates counts. You will find, in the real world, that different people have different skills. There is no room for elitism here! You might be surprised when the “slow” member of the group throws out a gem! AND the entire process is open book. Even Einstein had to consult mathematicians for help!
There are many parts to the WPI process. They are designed to work together as an integrated whole.
See: https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/wpi-plan
@gearmom
" WPI’s trisemester, project based (like it sounds, you are assigned hands on class projects to complete for classes and work in labs)"
It is very hard to explain this system without a lot of words, but here goes: You might want a flow chart to keep track of this!
ACADEMIC TERM SYSTEMS
WPI: There are four seven week periods in the WPI Plan. Students study the equivalent of nine semester hours every seven weeks for the equivalent of 36 semester hours per regular school year. If a student wants to, there is an additional seven week term in the summer. Students take three courses every seven week term.
UNH has a more traditional “semester” system with two longer terms instead of four shorter terms. They also have a short, seventeen day term between the Fall and the Spring semesters. See UNH academic calendar @ https://www.unh.edu/main/unh-calendar. I am a WPI graduate and do not know if the short January term involves regular classes and/or special trips projects, etc. Please ask UNH or a UNH alumnus about this shot term. The admissions office should be able to answer questions. See “Civil Engineering BS Major” @ https://catalog.unh.edu/undergraduate/engineering-physical-sciences/programs-study/civil-environmental-engineering/civil-engineering-major-bs/. Students take four or five courses every semester.
PROGRAM DIFFERENCES
As both programs are ABET accredited, they will involve a similar workloads for the CE degree The formats are different. Under the ABET rules, both schools are REQUIRED to have one project experience in their major, usually in their senior year, and to cover the same basic subject information. In many traditional Schools these experiences are called “Capstone” experiences. At WPI they are called the MQP and are only one of THREE REQUIRED project experiences.
Because the WPI program is built on projects, many classroom experiences are designed to build toward the project research process, but the degree REQUIRED projects are not fulfilled by a project activity within the classroom setting. The Great Problems Seminar involves over 1/2 of the freshmen class in the design of a solutions to one of nine different projects. This is a classroom warmup for the degree required research projects in the Sophomore, Junior and Senior years, but is not one of the three required projects.
On a semester system (UNH) engineering majors, the students take four or five courses spread over a longer period of time. On the seven week term system (WPI), students take only three courses at a time but move through the material in a shorter number of weeks with more meetings for each subject each week. The semester system makes it easier to slide a little in one class and to play catch up later, before the final. The WPI system lets you immerse yourself in fewer subjects at a time but you really need to keep on top of the work because of the speed you are going through each subject. I have had experience in both systems. Not a wise idea to play catch up on the weekends!
Tried to be fair here, but hope you fill any unanswered UNH questions by contacting the school directly. The more time you spend a this project, the better the results will be for you in your selection. You are being asked to think through what is coming.
PS: Last year’s entering class was 44% women, a 10% increase over the previous year. Like most STEM schools (and programs) the men outnumber the women, but this is changing. They don’t know this year’s results yet. In CE now there are 103 women and 130 men enrolled.
Amazing work, @retiredfarmer.