<p>My junior D will be visiting WashU in a couple of weeks. She is interested in studying ChemE. According to WashU's websight they have been and will continue to expand their engineering department. Two questions. First, while WashU is not currently ranked among the top engineering depts., what do current or past students feel about it's engineering program? Second, how are their Co-op and career services? I have read a lot of positives about the university but with few exceptions little (positive or negative) about their engineering school. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>They expanded the buildings. They haven’t expanded faculty size (faculty size for engineering has gone down), number of classes offered has also gone down, etc.</p>
<p>The expansion plan was from around 2005 before the economy dried up. The goal was to increase the number of faculty by a third, but almost every department has just lost faculty. I wouldn’t expect the engineering rankings to change any time in the next decade.</p>
<p>With that said, it’s still a great school for engineering. I just get constantly PO’d by the lack of classes.</p>
<p>Didn’t they shut down one of their engineering programs a couple of years ago? Inthink it was Civil Engineering.</p>
<p>^Yes. Civil is no longer a major. Also, Aerospace is now only at the grad level.</p>
<p>Not an Engineering student like marcdvl, so my knowledge is based on second-hand and observational knowledge alone. Most Engineers I know enjoy their experience at a pretty high level. Being at a school where you can take classes across all the colleges at Wash U and major (most likely minor) outside engineering, and not feeling relatively AS confined to only Engineering as is the case at other schools, seems to be a benefit. ENCouncil and the other Engineering student groups are really active. It’s quite easy to do research with professors and class sizes are pretty small, exception being the intro-classes in each department (especially BME). That said, I have also heard qualms about the number of classes offered, but overall satisfaction with what is currently offered, especially the more hands-on classes. From the small handful of Senior Engineers I know, I haven’t heard complaints about ability to find a job and only positive comments about success of students ending up at prestigious grad-school programs if they go that route. </p>
<p>The school is still following the master expansion plan laid out a few years ago. Again, not an Engineer, so I can’t speak to why some of the departments have lost faculty, but I would doubt it’s because of deliberate downsizing the faculty and haven’t heard any news about further restructuring of programs. From a non-Engineering perspective at least, it still seems that Wash U is focusing comparatively more attention and resources on the Engineering School than the other four colleges. After streamlining the departments/majors a few years ago, adding a couple new minors recently, hiring the new dean two(?) years ago, starting construction on the new building two years ago and finished this year (and Brauer Hall shortly before that), I would hold an optimistic view on the overall status of the Engineering school which is already a solid school in the first place. </p>
<p>(As a side note to the OP, try not to consider the rankings too highly for Engineering, as there doesn’t exist undergraduate Engineering rankings. the Graduate School Engineering rankings may provide some [questionable] guidance, but I do think the primary concern now is attending Wash U as an overall institution where you happen to study Engineering… where as for grad school, you are really going for the express purpose of studying Engineering that happens to be hosted at X University.)</p>
<p>For the record, marcdvl is a compsci major primarily. His department is probably feeling the biggest squeeze because a ton of professors are on sabbatical (and have no plans to return, from what I understand?). I know that the ECE department seems to be adding professors quite often, as does BME. I really can’t speak for the others.
I’m doing a co-op right now, and I’m loving it. The woman in charge of the “program” - Sue K - is fantastic. If you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to answer them.</p>
<p>And, how is the Mechanical Engineering Dept? —none of WashU’s engineering is ranked, and it’s really hard to find out what the reality is. Especially since it is a school that spends tons on marketing, one always has to wonder just a little.</p>
<p>Even the Career Site does not indicate that too many technology or manufacturing companies recruit from the school, unless I am not looking in the right place?</p>
<p>Johnson181, are you a 3rd year engineering student? And do you have to take summer classes to make up for doing a Spring co-op? Also, if you don’t mind sharing, what is your major?</p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses. We are set up for the standard info sessions, tour, she will do an interview and finish with a tour of the engineering dept. I might recommend that my D stop by Sue K’s office and chat with her if she can. Being able to co-op is important to her. One question I have concerning Co-ops has to do with scheduling classes. Its seems WashU does not emphisize Cooperative education. Has that made it difficult for you to schedule required classes when you are taking semesters off to work?</p>
<p>"(As a side note to the OP, try not to consider the rankings too highly for Engineering, as there doesn’t exist undergraduate Engineering rankings. the Graduate School Engineering rankings may provide some [questionable] guidance, but I do think the primary concern now is attending Wash U as an overall institution where you happen to study Engineering… where as for grad school, you are really going for the express purpose of studying Engineering that happens to be hosted at X University.)"</p>
<p>I think that is why we are visiting WashU. She feels college is a stepping stone for the rest of her life and finding a college that can prepare her for a career, challenge her, allow her to develop independence and new relationships and provide opportunities for certain life experiences (ie: co-ops, overseas work or study) as well as provide opportunities to continue current interests such as playing viola, is what is most important to her. The student comments and reviews I’ve read indicate most like it’s academically rigorous yet collaborative atomsphere. We’ll see what she thinks of it after our visit.</p>
<p>There asre certainly rankings for undergraduate engineering, at least on US News & World Report, if you care about that.</p>
<p>
I’m a 4th year actually - I started looking into co-ops late. I’m also a BS/MS student. It’s technically a 10 semester program, but I’m doing it in 9 semesters (this one being my off one). I came in with only 6 AP credits, but I’ll be at 156 credits by Spring '13 (when I graduate - 150 is required to BS/MS). </p>
<p>By that point I will have taken 9 credits during summers, but it certainly was not necessary (next year I’ll take 15/12 credits for the Fall/Spring).<br>
In other words, I have averaged 16 credits a semester.</p>
<p>As for my major - I’m Electrical, with a second degree in Systems Eng. Most people who co-op are MechE’s.</p>
<p>
Sue might be willing to talk to a pre-frosh (I don’t know career center etiquette?), but she’d definitely have to make an appointment beforehand. Engineering Student Services (ESS) over in Lopata can most likely answer any info about co-ops/internships.</p>
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Not at all. It was a breeze for me. And I haven’t heard otherwise from others who have co-op’ed.
I certainly had to plan ahead though. Ie, it was much “smarter” to choose to co-op in the spring because I needed more classes that were fall-only.</p>
<p>
I would say it’s definitely there for those who look for it. There are weekly emails to all eng. students about internship & co-op opportunities. It may just seem that way because very few students do. However, I’d wager that this is because most students are far more interested in research than in industry.</p>
<p>Tl;dr - man my identity must be obvious to anyone who know’s me from this post. oh well.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the detailed response.</p>
<p>Actually, as a follow-up to your comment that few students partake in co-op opportunities, I would venture to say that WashU is more of an “academic” institution where students tend to go on to doctoral programs, rather than into the work force? </p>
<p>Isn’t the engineering at WashU more theoretical than at, say, Cal?</p>
<p>Is the Mechanical Engineering Dept. strong? (I see that it is as large as the Bio.med. dept.) and do you have friends in engg. who have good job offers and are NOT pursuing further studies right away?</p>
<p>Who are the biggest employers that recruit from the Engg. school?</p>
<p>Thank you sooo much.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: as previously mentioned, most people I know are going on to professional/grad school (bs/ms like myself not counting). So my sample size for industry-starters is relatively small.</p>
<p>For numbers, here’s an idea: ~250 engineers. Approx 100 are BME, and most will go premed/dental/pharm/law/etc, or grad. The other majors aren’t far behind.
Sadly I can’t give #'s for my own primary (EE) because we’re so small. Seriously - around 5% of my class is EE. Although it’s definitely growing.</p>
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Most definitely - I can name a ton of friends going on to get their PhDs next year. Also a bunch who want to work industry for 1-2 years then go the PhD route.</p>
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Can’t really comment on Cal’s program. But yes, there tends to be more emphasis on theoretical rather than practical at WashU. To be honest, it has it’s pros and cons. But as a student who wants to go 100% into industry (no way will I ever go into research), I can honestly say that WashU still has a fantastic program for those like myself. </p>
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It depends on what you want to do with MechE. I had several friends who were big into aerospace - and entered WashU before aerospace undergrad was cut (note - there’s still a minor), so they harbor a bit of resentment. However, it’s still a great program - especially for those who are interested in MatSci. My friends in MechE seem to like it a lot.
Also of note - Boeing is still indeed a big recruiter from WashU. And for many, it’s nice being in StL very close to headquarters.</p>
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Most definitely. Nearly all of my 2012 friends that I’ve talked to seem to be set on what they’re doing. For those going industry right away, I can’t really comment much for this year (since there’s still 2 months til graduation, plenty of time for job searching left).
However, I can definitely say that of my friends from previous years, most had excellent starting job offers (60-80k) [note - the compsci kids who go software and the systems kids who go business I’m not considering in that - I know a ton of people who went straight into consulting @ > six figure salaries…]. The few I know that did not seemed to be people dead set on a region of the country that just doesn’t have all that many job listings.</p>
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There’s a ton. Just off the top of my head… Deloitte, Monsanto, and Epic (seriously. Epic clearly LOVES washu). If you look at the career fair recruiters, its fairly constant every year who shows up. Also, people in other schools tend to complain that it’s too business & engineering focused… but works well for us I guess?</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, correcting Johnson’s post about me… I’m a BS/MS/MS/MS in CS/EE/Systems. ;-p</p>
<p>If you’re taking 520/551/ or Dr. O’s special topics class (assuming it actually happens), I’ll have class with you next semester</p>
<p>^You are ridiculous (in a good way).</p>
<p>(And yes, I am for one of them. Not Dr. O’s though - it doesn’t count for me since it’s > 590 level).</p>
<p>It doesn’t have a course number yet (its not the special topics that is cross listed with BME or the imaging science seminar). It’d probably be a 56x, although I’m guessing</p>
<p>At the Finalists’ Weekend, it seemed like every other person I met was a BME major. Are research opportunities in BME rarer/more competitive than in other fields, or are there more professors doing BME related research to compensate?</p>
<p>BME has roughly double the faculty size of the other engineering departments. I assume it’s not overly competetive, but it might be slightly more than other departments. At least for the other departments (or at least CSE, ESE) once you take a course with a professor you can ask to join their research projects and they’ll almost always say yes.</p>
<p>I’m a tour guide, so I can tell you what admissions tells us to mention in our tours:</p>
<p>BME is WashU’s largest engineering major and was designed by a student in the 1980s (we have a design your own major option). It became so popular it became a fully funded, supported department. (BME is also one of the hardest majors, but it IS manageable).</p>
<p>WashU is still renovating/expanding the engineering buildings (as seen with Green, Whitacre, and Braur Halls).</p>
<p>I’m also a to-be-student-tech for the school, and the majority of them are engineering (I’m not). I don’t know any graduating that don’t have plans (either grad school or working). Epic Systems is actually coming today to sponsor a programming competition and offer WashU-exclusive internships, and I know several other major companies (inc. Boeing) use WashU as a major recruiting location.</p>
<p>Well, we visited this past week and D very much enjoyed her visit. She liked the flexibility that WUSTL offers students to pursue multiple degrees and goals. She would like to learn more about their ChemE program as it seems to focus on energy and renewable resources more than general ChemE. She is wondering if that will limit her job choices in that general field. We came away with the understanding that their coop program is an 8 month program which includes one semester and a summer. She sees that as an advantage (more opportunity to double major and graduate in four years) and a disadvantage (less work experience than a five semester program would offer). We also did not have the opportunity to talk to the music department about participation in the orchestra. She plays viola and would like to continue playing without being a music major. This will definitely be a school she will consider applying to.</p>
<p>lvv: The majority of the orchestra is not music majors or minors. Assuming your daughter has played viola for a few years, she will definitely get into the pop orchestra and probably into the symphony orchestra.</p>