I know we have quite a few engineers around this place, what school did you attend?

My son is putting together his applications for college now. Wants to major in Civili Engineering. He's an A+ student and has always excelled no matter where we lived (and we moved around a bit when in the military).

Nevada has what's called the millinium scholarship, he can get $10,000 right off the bat before applying for merit scholarships and financial aid. The two colleges available are UNLV and UNR, he doesn't want either. UNLV he could stay at home and pretty much get a college education for almost nothing but he doesn't believe they have a strong enough engineering department. Once he leaves out of state, we're talking $30K-40K per year.

I do want him to get a good education and do better than I did. I also don't want him/myself falling into a financial hole or picking a college for the wrong reasons. I just don't think he really knows much about the schools out there and is winging off flyers people send.

Any recommendations on a good school for civil engineering? Anything to back that up?

 

Check out this link:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/col...ring_brief.php

I am a Civil Engineer and I have my Professional Engineer's license in the state of Florida.

I went to UCF (Univeristy of Central Florida) http://www.ucf.edu/ in Orlando, FL. I chose it because they had a great Engineering School and it was close to home.

Here is a link to Civil Engineering http://www.cee.ucf.edu/

There are a ton of great engineering schools in the US. I looked at going to the University of Michigan but it was too expensive and I was footing the bill.

The keys to picking an engineering school are the following:
1. Do they specialize in any one type or are they a well-rounded engineering school? A lot of engineering students start out in one field and switch to another (say from mechanical to civil).
2. Are they ABET accredited? http://www.abet.org/ If he is going into Civil Engineering then he will end up taking the Engineer's Intern exam (EI) and then the Professional Engineer's exam (PE) after working for 4 years. The school must be ABET accredited to be able to sit for these exams.
3. Do they offer a good co-op program with surrounding Engineering companies? Orlando was great because there are a ton of private consultants in the area and I actually got a job at the one that I worked at while attending school. I work with a lot of people who went to UF and they did not get to co-op at an engineering firm because there are not very many in town. UF is mainly a college town.
4. Does he want to get his Master’s degree? If so, he may want to think about getting an MBA (business) instead of a Master’s in Civil Engineering. Some day he will be in management and an MBA will be much more useful. The only time a Master’s in Civil Engineering would outweigh an MBA is if he wants to be a structural engineer.

I hope this helped. Have him send me an e-mail at my work sdmcwilliams@pbsj.com if he has any questions.

Steve

 

One more thing. Have him look at the following website for Civil Engineering news and information:
http://www.asce.org/

 

Thanks, looks like some good info there...I gave him your email address also.

 

I think UH has a great engineering program, of course, I am in it (civil engineering student myself).

 

I am a Mech E. but went to an East Coast school...Lehigh University. Great school, top rated in engineering.

 

Although I hate to say it (Alabama fan here) but Auburn University has a good engineering program.

 

Mississippi State University here. Planning on doing a master's degree through Kansas St. (Distance Education) next fall. I agree with you spray004 , Auburn is an excellent CE school.

 

Purdue Univeristy

Purdue is highly regarded for their Engineering program - I knew a guy who graduated w/ a degree in Industrial Hygiene and moved to the west coast and he informed me everyone he interviewed with acted like Purdue was an Ivy League school. I work w/ girl who was going to Purdue and went to Summer Field Camp at another school for a degree in Earth Science - none of the students from the other school believed her for the first week or two the Purdue is a public university.

Also, Rose-Hulman Institue of Technology and DePauw University have well regarded programs - but, they are both private.

 

I attended Missouri undergrad and Texas A&M graduate.

Texas A&M and Texas University both have solid civil programs with a national rep. So do Illinois, Cal-Berkeley, Purdue, MIT.

Nearer you, U. of Nevada-Reno is a very solid option - good program, and in-state tuition. Well worth a look, IMHO.