Any Engineers out there? Or Collage grads?

[Stoneage_Turbo]

Looking to see if anyone went to collage for engineering , looking at the university of florida , but heres the problem

i have no clue what its like , how much maths involoved and really how difficult it is , but im always thinking up beatter ways to do things

on the other hand i draw cars all the time , so i thought id go to the academy of art in sanfransico since nissan,ford and gm all pull employees from there . sounds like fun but i dunno

so im torn between what i want to do ,hard arse mech engineering or automotive design arty fartsy crap , all i know is i want to be involoved with the devlopment of new cars and trucks , getting out of the air force sometime april , need to get moving on the collage stuff

and whats collage like ? grabbed my highschool deploma and jumped on the plane to basic training ive never really went to a collage so im curious if its like the military with all its odd rules and tradions or is it like highschool thats just totaly off the wall rudeness and ignorance?

do these kids have to live in dormatorys? done that for the past 4 years , it sucks

anyway got jitters on my new life coming up , grown use to the militarys rank and struture , the civilian life kinda worries me , espically this collage crap , espicaly how serious im takeing it , dont wanna party at all , want to put this pontential everyone says i have to good use , see what i can do ya know?

[OneFastStanza]

Yeah I have done both. I am a college grad (UK Class of '00) and I was in electrical engineering but I ended up with a Computer Information Systems degree from the business school

Engineering is not bad if you are a dedicated person who actually sits down and studies cause you pretty much give your life to the program unless you are super smart. It is math intensive also. I wasn't quite the ideal engineering student when I went to college cause I never wanted to study so I transeferred to business school after 3.5 years in engineering.

It just depends on what you wnat to do I suppose but engineering at least does take quite a bit of work.

[Mayhem_J30]

My GF has her bachelors in Chemical Engineering right now and she is working on her Masters. She also has a regular BS in Chemistry. She was going to University of Kentucky but switched over to Univeristy of Louisville's Speed School for Engineering. It's probably one of the best in the country for engineering. these guys are SERIOUS. I did it for 3 years studying Civil Engineering, but it's not me so I switched to Physics for a year then to business school. LIke Cory said, you have to be VERY dedicated. Speed School makes you go all year, 3 semesters every year. I didn't have a life for those 3 years as I spent every night working calculus. I thought I was good in math and science and the math was killing me, especially around Cal III and Differential Equations. It doesn't help either when you're in class with declared geniuses who don't even have to study. Anyway, I stick with the fact that it is hard, but the level of difficulty may depend on what school you go to.

[Movingviolation240]

I was too dumb to be an engineer, that's why I became a pilot.

Torry got an automotive engineering degree in Mn, I'll have to forward this to him and have him chime in. If you go for somthing like a mechanical engineering tech degree the math isn't quite so hard (if that's what your worried about).

PaulOrlando, FL

[Sopdadope]

Third year Electrical Engineering student here at UMass. Got accepted to some very good engineering schools here (Northeastern, Worcester Polytech, Rensselaer and UMass Amherst). Coming out of highschool, I didn't seem cut out for EE: math was my least favorite subject and my hs GPA was weak (3.0 weighted) but my only redeeming qualities were high scores on the SAT's, MCAS and TOEFL tests.

Sadly, just one year away from graduating with a BS I'm thinking of walking away from Engineering. After countless hours upon hours of writing code and burying my head in topics I don't care for (quantum physics, etc.) I've had enough.

I say unless you have a strong LUST for the technical aspect of engineering automobiles, then stick with design. All I know is, staring at number, formulas and schematics give me migraines.

[Mayhem_J30]

If you go for somthing like a mechanical engineering tech degree the math isn't quite so hard (if that's what your worried about).

Say What? All 6 of our engineering disciplines had to go through the exact same math courses. According to the students Mechanical was the hardest major except for Chemical Eng.

[Movingviolation240]

notice the key word "Tech" in there

[Mayhem_J30]

notice the key word "Tech" in there

yeah i did notice that. what does that mean? is it a lesser degree or something?

[Movingviolation240]

basically, not quite so intensive in everything, he could explain it better than me.

[Tino]

I know a bunch of ppl that go to amherst college, with an E!

[reggiegsd]

If you are not ready for 4 semesters of calculus plus some even more advanced theoretical math, you will not survive.

You must ENJOY math. Take pre-calc and trig in high school and do well.

[lessthanjakejohn]

Quote »i have no clue what its like , how much maths involoved and really how difficult it is , but im always thinking up beatter ways to do things [/quote]

Engineering=Math

[89sxRCR]

Quote »You must ENJOY math[/quote] I HATE math yet im a comp sci major...im in mother ****ing calc 4 now and its s *****. All you really have to do is cope with it and treat it like something you HAVE to do...like is out of the question. However if math isnt your strong point, your gonna need a lot of studyingor your gonne be ****ed as a engineer, stoney. They live and breath it...

[daniel240]

I am a Freshmen at University of Evansville. i am a Mechanical Engineering major, I hate math yet somhow im in 2nd year Calculus. You have to be willing to spend a lot of time, correction all your time working at it to do good, i dont think that i realized what i had gotten in to before i started, i never dreamed there would be this much math and physics. i just kind of choose Mechanical Engineering as a major, not knowing what all was invloved. i would really love to finish and get my degree in M.E. but i dont know if i have the time and patience to do it. my school is one of the top ranked engineering schools around here so it is real hard. i got like a full ride but i have to maintain a b average to keep it and i highly doubt that i will. i may end up going somewhere else and getting that engineering tech major or something, im like you i love to draw and design. i think anyone can do it, you just have to be willing to spend your time and try really hard.

[Stoneage_Turbo]

dan your the story i needed to hear , your on the same road im looking at , unforetunalty i wont get a full ride , but my montgomery GI bill will take care of that

THANKS evryone , this is helping alot , not everyday i have to make a descision like this

[daniel240]

YEA i almost did the the army thing, i actually joined a little over a year ago because i thought it would cover my whole tuition, but i found out that it didnt and after that terrist ****, and everything i decided to get out before i was supposed to go to boot camp. it ended up working out better because i got a really good scholarship. now im really glad that i did not join. But good luck man on whatever you do.

[chrispy]

I hope to be going to either cornell , for mechanical Engineering. I am already accepted to temple

[daniel240]

good luck man

[neurovish]

[quote=" Stoneage_Turbo Looking to see if anyone went to collage for engineering , looking at the university of florida , but heres the problem

i have no clue what its like , how much maths involoved and really how difficult it is , but im always thinking up beatter ways to do things[/quote]I was at UF for a year, then transferred to UCF to finish a computer engineering degree, if you're worried about math and difficulty, definately do not go to UF...even if you aren't worried about math and difficulty, definately do not go to UF. I hate that place, all the faculty I encountered in the engineering program were ***holes, they don't like bachelor's students it seems, and really loathe underclassmen.

The math classes there are horrible...worthless 300+ student classes for Calc I (there were about 30 in my class at UCF, about 15 - 20 that showed up regularly).

Math is pretty much standard Calc I through III and differential equations...that's the easy part though.

The best schools for engineering in FL imo are UF and UCF...UF being better as far as academics and prestige (which isn't really saying much) and UCF being better for everything else. A plus for UCF is they have a good automotive engineering program, and SAE seems pretty big...ask Torry about that specifically, he'd know more about the program than I would.

Class sizes at UF start out huge, but end up really small...your upper division courses have class sizes < 20 I think. UCF classes start out pretty small, but they don't really shrink either. Most of my engineering courses had 60 students enrolled...they were still held in classrooms instead of lecture halls though, which is good.

Best route imo, start out at a good community college and get all the crap courses out of the way (most general education, math and sciences) then decide if you want to hit up and engineering curriculum. Valencia CC in Orlando is an awesome community college and has pretty close ties to UCF, most UCF engineering students end up taking their physics courses there and some of their pre-engineering stuff. You could also enroll at UCF and take a few engineering intro courses while doing the general education stuff at valencia, you'd get to know the professors a bit that way. My viewpoint is also pretty Orlando-centric.

...UF does to a good job of forcing out students who don't belong in engineering (along with many who do I'm sure), UCF just usually ends up giving them degrees after 6 years or so.

Quote »so im torn between what i want to do ,hard arse mech engineering or automotive design arty fartsy crap , all i know is i want to be involoved with the devlopment of new cars and trucks , getting out of the air force sometime april , need to get moving on the collage stuff[/quote]either way, there's a good chance you won't get to do either out of school...it's more of a take what you can get kinda thing unless you have a lot of experience through internships and co-ops during school. Torry, again, would know more about the auto industry than I would as far as engineering and design jobs go.

Quote »and whats collage like ? grabbed my highschool deploma and jumped on the plane to basic training ive never really went to a collage so im curious if its like the military with all its odd rules and tradions or is it like highschool thats just totaly off the wall rudeness and ignorance?[/quote]it really depends on your personality...college for me was pretty much like high school but with less social interaction. Most of the people I hang out with aren't in school. College life is really whatever you want to make of it...it could be anything from animal house to...um, I dunno...some mundane thing that nobody would ever make into a movie. I didn't notice any odd rules or traditions though...depends on where you go I guess.

Quote »do these kids have to live in dormatorys? done that for the past 4 years , it sucks[/quote]no, I never once lived in a dorm...closest thing to it was a couple 4/2 apartments. The dorms at UCF are actually pretty nice though, the newer ones are a lot more like small apartments...4 to a suite with one or two bathrooms, a small kitchen and a 'living area'.

Quote »anyway got jitters on my new life coming up , grown use to the militarys rank and struture , the civilian life kinda worries me , espically this collage crap , espicaly how serious im takeing it , dont wanna party at all , want to put this pontential everyone says i have to good use , see what i can do ya know? [/quote]If you're going to college to study and get a degree, then it shouldn't be too bad for you...maybe you could survive at UF. The problem most students have is the culture shock from high school...they aren't really forced to do anything, so they don't. The ex military guys I knew in the engineering dept at UCF were usually the better and more dilligent students.

...and the whole "party-school" thing is largely BS, you can party at any school, state schools usually have more since they have larger student populations and therefore more students whose sole purpose for going to college is to party and get laid.

[neurovish]

...and the best way to select a school is to talk to real students in the program you're interested from all levels of study, not just the poster boys the school presents you with during tours and such. Talking to the professors/dept chairs is also good, but is more difficult since they are usually pretty busy.

[Stoneage_Turbo]

do you have any links to the uf ? you seem to be fairly impressed with it so id like to look into it

would be beatter off in orlando anyway , last thing i ned is temptation to go out and party , must stay foused as i have a very limited ammount of undamaged braincells from all the drinking i do

[neurovish]

not really impressed with UF as much as I'm unimpressed with UCF I will admit, that UF grads are most likely more qualified since UF seems to go out of their way to force people out of the program.

I have a few friends who graduated from there, and one who will be going for a phd in statistics. I might end up there for graduate school....I like the atmosphere of UCF a lot better, but looking around at the other students I generally want to leave. There are some very capable people at UCF (only a few per graduating class though unfortunately), and the professors are generally pretty good too.

The difference between ECE and ME could be night and day though. One of my friends at UF was in nuclear engineering, and never seemed to go through any of the BS that I did with the ECE department there...but there's about 20 students in the entire nukee program there, compared to the thousand or two who go for ECE.

[creophus]

I'm an engineer and I have a B.S. in Computer Engineering. I went to University of South Florida and graduated in December '99. UF is a great school but I went to USF because Tampa is a much better city than Gainesville.

As far as math...there's a ton of it! I didn't know that going into it, although I should have realized from looking at the curriculum. (sp?...remember I'm an engineer) It's a rewarding field, and I recommend going for it. I have a Computer Engineering degree, not to be confused with Computer Science, but I would get an Electrical Engineering degree if I could do it over again.

It's not an easy degree, but it is very rewarding. I say go for it dude!

[NeedCAforS13]

I'm an aerospace engineer at UCF now. Yeah the calc and physics kinda suck, but just put in the time and you'll do fine. I'm only a sophmore, so I've yet to really hit the hard stuff, but I'm doing OK. I've still got my brite futures scholarship : )

Anyways, If anyone's got any questions about any of the florida schools, I've got friends at the three big ones(UF, UCF, and USF). UCF is definately the place to go for engineering though. My class sizes are like 1/4 that of my friends at the other state schools.

Also, to chrispy, I've got a good friend at Cornell right now, who I rowed with in high school, If you want to talk to a rower in the engineering program there.( I read that you like rowing in your profile.)

BTW, who do you row for? I rowed for Winter Park (Senior Four 2nd at Stotes last year!!!)

Sorry it's so long, but you don't see too many rowers on the 240 forums(at least I don't).

Sean

[EZcheese15]

You guys know we got another thread about this same subject in another forum? I forget where, maybe 240sx general chat?

Anyway, my B.S. is Automotive Engineering Technology, and I got it from Minnesota State Univ. I highly recommend that program. I have no regrets what so ever for going there.

I then went to UCF for one semester for the "precision engineering" masters program there. It's the automotive one everyone talks about it. I didn't actually take any classes in the program though, as my one and only semester was spent taking make-up classes that my B.S. didn't require (Calc III and Diff eq). Due to financial problems, I dropped out of UCF. So I don't really have enough time in UCF to give an opinion. Although, from what I've heard from a few people, UCF is not all that great. MSU on the other hand though, like I said, is an excellent program.

Links to the two schools:http://www.mnsu.eduhttp://www.ucf.edu

[Stoneage_Turbo]

thanks dudes , the imput is greatly appricated!!!

[Bubba1]

Stoney, are you looking to stay in Florida? The northeast has some excellent engineering schools too like Drexel (in Philly), and especially Lehigh (in Bethlehem PA).