Theory vs Practicality in Schools

I was looking at different schools for Civil and Mechanical Engineering when I stumbled upon this article:
http://dailyprincetonian.com/opinion/2014/04/the-plight-of-the-princeton-engineer/

Essentially, it raises the point that Princeton engineering is very theory based, which I would most likely find less interesting than in an applicative environment. Can anyone validate the opinion of this article and also suggest any top engineering schools which would be more practical in nature?

Thanks!

First, for some reason this article is written by a Philosophy student which does not make sense.

Engineering programs do range from being more theory based to more applied based but all ABET accredited programs have requirements such that the theory based programs do require student do design projects. They have to apply the theory to a devleoped purpose.

@ucbalumnus is the most knowledgeable poster about the different programs so hopefully he will chime in.

The fact is that without theory, you cannot apply principles to a variety of problem solutions. Having a project that immediately gives you feedback so that you can see a principle in action is great but the only way you will be able to apply that to other situations that are not quite so similar is if you learn the theory so both are really needed.

I think it is presumptive of the writer of that article to assume because engineering students don’t get enough hands on design early in their program they leave to become bankers and finance majors. I have a friend whose husband did move from engineering to those fields because he thought engineering was too hard, not because it was too much theory.

Writer is complaining that the engineering design projects start in the junior year of the curriculum at Princeton (note that ABET accreditation does require engineering design course work as well as engineering science course work).

That can be a rather traditional and efficient way to organize the curriculum, since math, natural science, and engineering science course work is often the prerequisite for engineering design course work that is typically done in junior and senior years. However, it does mean that an engineering student is not exposed to the engineering design process early on, which can affect how s/he views engineering (it obviously reduced the writer’s enthusiasm for the subject, apparently leading him to change to philosophy).

As the writer mentions, some other schools have added lower level engineering design course work to the frosh and soph years of their engineering curricula to help confirm students’ interest in engineering (or let other students know early on that engineering design is not really for them).

Princeton’s ME is described at http://mae.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/MAE-UG-HANDBOOK-Fall-2014-V4-Class-of-2015-and-2016.pdf ; page 14 shows the soph year curriculum. Note, however, the “science first, design later” curricular organization is not unique to Princeton. Some other schools have similar curricular organization; see http://mae.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/MAE_CURRICULUM_LATEST.pdf for an example. In contrast, some other schools include design courses starting frosh year; see http://www.rowan.edu/colleges/engineering/programs/mechanical/AdvisingWorksheet.pdf for an example (the “clinic” courses include design work, according to http://www.rowan.edu/colleges/engineering/clinics/ ).

If this is a concern for a given student, looking over how the curriculum is organized for the desired engineering major(s) would be helpful in selecting among schools.

Thanks. I guess I became a little mislead after reading that.

If you would like to go to a program that has a more applied program, then do as ucbalumnus says and pull up the curriculums at the schools you are interested in and read through the engineering major you are interested in to get a sense of their style. They will also have projects that the students worked on and many school have SAE Baja formula car projects where students can get hands on practice as early as freshman year if you join.

As for NJ, since you brought up Princeton, Stevens is a Co-op school where you do rotations with real businesses through out your program. There a number of Co-op schools you can find all over such as RIT, Drexel and Northeastern. This is another way to get an “applied” focus to yours schooling. Good luck!