<p>Finally chose civil structures as my focus. I recently learned that besides the 3 required class of Steel, RC, and PC, I have the option of taking either Geotechnical Engineering or Seismic Design.</p>
<p>I'm sure ken285 and aibarr will have something to say, but I know there are more of you CivE/StrucE's out there, so chime in if you have anything to say.</p>
<p>Like AIR BEAR. lol.</p>
<p>Where will you be working? If not in the west coast, I'd take geotech engineering as structural engineers need to know how to design foundations and how to calculate soil bearing capacity.</p>
<p>Geotech is useful everywhere.</p>
<p>Seismic is useful in only certain locations of the world, but where it's useful, it's very useful.</p>
<p>Kind of depends upon where you want to end up, geographically.</p>
<p>Even if you are working in an area with a lot of seismic activity, I'd be hesitant on recommending seismic design over geotechnical engineering; I'm actually kind of surprised geotech isn't required since foundations is a critical part of the design. </p>
<p>Do employers (west coast specifically) expect you to have an understanding of seismic design coming out of college? I would think it's more important to understand foundations, and they would probably expect you to be familiar with it. aibarr can probably answer this better than me since she's worked in California before. </p>
<p>If you want to think even further down the road, FE and PE exams will require some geotechnical engineering knowledge, but no seismic design... at least as far as I know.</p>
<p>ken, in CA the PE Exam has 2 extra exams that you need to take in order to pass: seismic and surveying</p>
<p>Wow, that's a heck of a lot of exams in California. What do you need to be able to stamp structural engineering drawings? FE, PE-Civil, Structural I, Structural II, Seismic, and Surveying? I sure hope employers out there pay for classes and registration fees!</p>
<p>How do practicing structural engineers in California learn everything that they need to? Through continuing education courses? Seminars? Master's courses? I find it hard to believe they can fit everything into a 4 year curriculum.</p>
<p>One of my cousins is a VP for a structural engineering firm in Los Angeles and he told me they won't even consider applicants for entry positions unless they have a Master's degree in structural engineering.</p>
<p>I'm not too sure of where I want to work; I'm really interested in foreign work though, maybe in the middle east or Europe.</p>
<p>ken285, we also have a foundations engineering course that isn't required, so there's some more surprise for you. You can choose that sequence (earthquake, geotech, foundations, seismic) but not a lot of students go for it.</p>
<p>My dad is a civil PE and he said it would be better to take the geotech, because he never took classes on seismic, just studied some books and he was able to pass that portion on the first try. Surveying took him a lot longer though, lol.</p>
<p>That's weird that neither geotech nor foundations is required for you. At my school geotech and foundations are required and we include seismic within our steel, timber, and reinforced concrete design courses.</p>
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One of my cousins is a VP for a structural engineering firm in Los Angeles and he told me they won't even consider applicants for entry positions unless they have a Master's degree in structural engineering.
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<p>That's common in NYC as well, though I have a friend who's working at a structural firm with only a bachelor's. I imagine that would be next to impossible in California. </p>
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My dad is a civil PE and he said it would be better to take the geotech, because he never took classes on seismic, just studied some books and he was able to pass that portion on the first try. Surveying took him a lot longer though, lol.
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<p>That sounds like good advice. You won't be able to learn everything before you graduate, so learn the fundamental things first. Your geotech knowledge won't go to waste!</p>
<p>Seismic's a better grad course.</p>
<p>And yeah, I started studying for the CA PE exam before I moved to Houston from LA. It's two days of exams for your PE licensure. First day is more typical PE structural exam stuff. Second day is half seismic, half surveying. After a few more years' qualifying experience under and SE, there's a few more tests and you get your SE license. It's a little brutal.</p>
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One of my cousins is a VP for a structural engineering firm in Los Angeles and he told me they won't even consider applicants for entry positions unless they have a Master's degree in structural engineering.
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<p>This is getting more and more typical for structural firms, California and everywhere else. My firm won't hire people who don't have a masters degree.</p>
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This is getting more and more typical for structural firms, California and everywhere else. My firm won't hire people who don't have a masters degree.
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<p>UCSD is the only school that offers a bachelors' in StrucE. Would companies see this as acceptable in lieu of a masters because it is not a CivE with emphasis in structures?</p>
<p>seesys, I just checked out the course requirements for StrucE at UCSD and it does not differ very much from my requirements at USC for CivE w/ Structural emphasis. If you want to get into structural design, you should definitely look into getting a masters degree.</p>
<p>Hmm, I see. So much for attempting to bypass that juncture.</p>
<p>Well I'm not entirely sure of what I want to do with my degree, so I guess it's best not to jump at a masters just yet.</p>
<p>You should look into your school's masters degree program. At USC there is a program called Progressive Degree that current students can apply to. It requires a minimum GPA of 3.2 as well as 2 recommendations from faculty, but it allows students to bypass the GRE entirely and also cuts the unit requirement by 1/3. I was accepted into the program and will begin taking masters level courses during my senior year.</p>
<p>Yeah we have that but I don't have any chances of getting in. My first 3 years screwed up my GPA.</p>
<p>Besides, I'm not motivated enough by the technical aspects to pursue a masters in StrucE. I'd probably go for something more liberal based, maybe mba or education.</p>
<p>A structural engineering masters degree typically takes a year, a year and a half. If you're not qualified for your own school's program, wouldn't hurt to at least take a look at some other programs. It'd widen your opportunities greatly.</p>
<p>Also don't mean to give the impression that you're not going to get a design job with just a bachelors degree... A masters is just what you'll need if you're going to go for a big design career with a firm that takes on the really challenging projects (which, imho, are more interesting).</p>
<p>A thought just came to me... you like the idea of structural engineering, building bridges and buildings, but don't like to get into all the technical details? And you're considering something business-related such as an MBA? If you like getting your hands dirty, you should think about construction management. </p>
<p>We hire a lot of engineers, and many have no prior formal training in this field. Most entry-level employees do have an engineering background (most popular is civil, followed by mechanical, then electrical), so you're good to go on that front. You'll probably never need to draw a shear-moment diagram, but your structural engineering background will be helpful in understand the building process. So basically, you get to apply what you learn, but you're less concerned with the technical design details/calculations and more worried about getting it built correctly, safely, on time, and under budget. It's basically a blend of engineering and management on a construction site.</p>
<p>The job will still challenge you, but in a different way than structural engineering.</p>
<p>I'm transferring next year to the structural engineering major at UCSD and I too am concerned I will be the only person applying to SE jobs after graduation with a BA instead of the typical MA. I'm also wondering what FE exam I would take when I graduate, general or just try civil b/c it's so similar?</p>