CAn anyone comment on the location of internships or jobs that they have found after graduating from University of Alabama engineering. My daughter has accepted there but is still not sure if she can get back home with internships and jobs in the Carolinas. North Carolina State would be slightly more but the opportunities are closer to home after graduation.
It’s after May 1. Where did she choose to matriculate?
You probably should post this Q in the Bama forum.
^ Moved there
My son will soon be starting his 4th year of civ-e classes, his 5th year of school (due to his co-op). His long term interest is going into structural engineering.
After freshman year he did a summer internship in the suburbs of Chicago at a city department. He was able to spend the summer with my parents who were in commutable distance.
Spring semester of sophomore year he started his co-op with a geotech firm that is right in Tuscaloosa. He works as a concrete technician for them and has had the opportunity to travel to other areas on a few occasions, but the majority of his work is right in town which enables him to continue living in his student housing and taking advantage of campus resources (including the football games 
)
He has made several industry contacts during his education and work experiences who have told him to speak to them closer to next summer or graduation. I also work with someone who has contacts in the industry who has offered to give his resume to businesses closer to ‘home’ if he chooses to return to this area.
But with more than a year of classes left, I’m not certain where he’ll eventually wind up.
I’m not familiar with the opportunities for CE students, but I’d guess that if it’s anything like other engineering majors, a large number of recruiters are going to be local, and if the student is trying to get her first internship (with no prior experience), the local internships are probably going to be her best shot. (Once she’s got one or two internships under her belt, she could probably go anywhere!) If I’m correct, and she really wants to stay close to home, even for her summer internships, then North Carolina State may be the way to go.
But you don’t need to guess - contact Crimson Careers yourself and ask to speak with the engineering advisor. Find out what kinds of opportunities your daughter might have.
@SOSConcern has a soph DD in CivilE…hopefully, she’ll see this and respond.
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but is still not sure if she can get back home with internships
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No matter where your DD goes to school, who knows where she’ll land. At that point, she could be in a serious relationship and want to live wherever the SO will be living.
My son’s roommate is just finishing his sophomore year in Civil Engineering at UA and he has preferred to be “at home” the last two summers. He got a wonderful internship opportunity at home (IL) last summer - and even worked there over Christmas break. Now he has another wonderful internship at home for this summer, with a different, great company - also doing Civil engineering work. These were things he found and applied for on his own (his parents are not in engineering / do not work for these companies). There are many opportunities out there for solid students…you just need to be diligent in looking for them! Good luck!
Civil eng has opportunities, and IMHO growing opportunities. We found both of our internships ourselves - one with OOS family connection, and one local to us - international Construction firm with a strong local office (DD is assigned to a building project where they are pushing around dirt right now).
Get familiar with the companies and job opportunities in your area/state. Look at where the colleges in the Carolinas have their civil eng interns/Co-op students, the companies that come to their job recruitment fairs (a lot of that information may be accessible on school web sites or with a few inquiries). Can even check with companies directly.
Eng companies want diversity, so IMHO women do have a bit of a better opportunity when all other things are equal.
I had developed a list to check. DD was fortunate the best opportunity (which she sought out first) had her interview fairly early and she secured the internship early. This particular company has gotten more sophisticated with the recruitment and placement of their interns - I suspect because they know they will have growing opportunities with open positions at student graduation. They interviewed so many great candidates that they had some intern in the spring and some in the summer.
I have seen my DD grow both intellectually and socially with professional skills. One summer she had a PT min wage job, but that showed her adaptability and work ethic.
The south is thriving more with job growth, etc, so opportunities will be in the south. However older cities are all having big water and sewer projects (which this firm is also involved with, according to my civil eng relative).
PM me if you have any questions about UA and eng opportunities. I have also prior work experience in Cooperative Education. I cannot emphasize enough about students taking advantage of on-campus and off-campus learning experiences to gain professional knowledge and skills in their field. Society of Women Eng chapter, etc.
Can’t speak for Civil, but in general, re internships and co-ops, it doesn’t/shouldn’t really matter what others are doing or have been able to do. The student needs to put effort into finding the opportunities that THEY want in a location that they’re willing to work in. We’re in a completely global economy. The world is your oyster: go make it happen!
Can’t speak to civil engineering, but my son who came to Bama as an “Undeclared Engineer,” settled pretty quickly on mechanical engineering and was offered a co-op the summer following freshman year at a company in AL. The company’s group headquarters, however, is actually located in NC. I’m not sure if he’ll be offered a full-time job when he graduates, or if he’d want to work for the company at that point, but I would think having had the co-op in AL would make him competitive for offerings in their NC headquarters or another company location.