Environmental engineering

[Anonymous]

Thoughts on future employment and which colleges to look at for very high stats DD from MD, public HS, currently in 11th grade, interested in environmental engineering.

Doesn’t want huge city like NYC. Leaning away from west coast due to distance from home.

[Anonymous]

For large state universities...Virginia Tech, Purdue, Illinois, Georgia Tech, NC State, UMD, Ohio State

For private reaches...Cornell, Hopkins, CMU, Duke

My kid (we live in Maryland), who is a senior interested in engineering choose UMD.

Was accepted at other publics but not any of the reaches.

[Anonymous]

ESF in Syracuse

[Anonymous]

I am an IEC, and mine targeted collaborative programs with more LAC-like options and schools where she could pivot if she changed her mind.

Likelies were WPI, RIT, UVM, Union, Drexel

Targets Lafayette, Cal Poly SLO, UMD and Lehigh

Reaches Brown, Dartmouth, Yale

At one of the reaches

[Anonymous]

I know a recent environmental engineer grad. She had trouble finding a job & ultimately found one via her mom’s network, not school (lower tier ivy). Not saying don’t persue, just maybe know you’ll have to hustle

Second SUNY ESF though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an IEC, and mine targeted collaborative programs with more LAC-like options and schools where she could pivot if she changed her mind.

Likelies were WPI, RIT, UVM, Union, Drexel

Targets Lafayette, Cal Poly SLO, UMD and Lehigh

Reaches Brown, Dartmouth, Yale

At one of the reaches

What is IEC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an IEC, and mine targeted collaborative programs with more LAC-like options and schools where she could pivot if she changed her mind.

Likelies were WPI, RIT, UVM, Union, Drexel

Targets Lafayette, Cal Poly SLO, UMD and Lehigh

Reaches Brown, Dartmouth, Yale

At one of the reaches

What is IEC?

NM figured it out when I reread it.

[Anonymous]

I would check out Tufts.

[Anonymous]

Re the poster who knew someone who had a hard time getting a job. Just one example and who knows. But for my own kid (rising junior in HS) who is kicking around the idea, I was wondering if a broader degree with an environmental minor would be more marketable? Like civil engineering with a focus on sustainability?

[Anonymous]

For undergraduate study, select one of the main branches of engineering - EE/CompE, ME, Civil, or ChemE. A lot easier to find jobs. Specifically what kind of env eng does he want to do?

[Anonymous]

My kid was interested in Environmental Engineering & her list included Pitt, Ohio State, Purdue, NC State, VT, WashU, and Duke. She turned down Duke for VT and has no regrets. She was Civil intended going in, as there wasnt an undergrad environmental engineering major at VT the time (there is now), but ended up in Biological Systems Engineering on the ecological engineering track (the latter is also a new major). She loves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was interested in Environmental Engineering & her list included Pitt, Ohio State, Purdue, NC State, VT, WashU, and Duke. She turned down Duke for VT and has no regrets. She was Civil intended going in, as there wasnt an undergrad environmental engineering major at VT the time (there is now), but ended up in Biological Systems Engineering on the ecological engineering track (the latter is also a new major). She loves it.

What year is she? Any idea on job prospects?

To answer a PP, I don't think my DD knows exactly what she wants to do within Env, just that she loves Env related topics and she loves math/science.
Trying to understand Ecological Engineering and if that makes one more/less marketable but the topics may be closer to what DD likes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a recent environmental engineer grad. She had trouble finding a job & ultimately found one via her mom’s network, not school (lower tier ivy). Not saying don’t persue, just maybe know you’ll have to hustle

Second SUNY ESF though

The main challenge is just this. It is wonderful work, but supply of Envi Eng and Envi Sci graduates exceeds the demand. So finding a job can be tricky without internships or other connections. Also, typical salaries are lower than many other kinds of engineering. Of course, exceptions exist, but these are the broad trends in that field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re the poster who knew someone who had a hard time getting a job. Just one example and who knows. But for my own kid (rising junior in HS) who is kicking around the idea, I was wondering if a broader degree with an environmental minor would be more marketable? Like civil engineering with a focus on sustainability?

That, or maybe an undergrad in Civil plus a MS in a related field.

One caveat is that if one wants to work as a Civil Engineer, normally one needs eventually to get a PE license. For that, get a engineering degree, then pass the EIT exam, then work for a few years, and then pass the PE exam to get their PE license. Those two tests are serious stuff, btw, not trivial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was interested in Environmental Engineering & her list included Pitt, Ohio State, Purdue, NC State, VT, WashU, and Duke. She turned down Duke for VT and has no regrets. She was Civil intended going in, as there wasnt an undergrad environmental engineering major at VT the time (there is now), but ended up in Biological Systems Engineering on the ecological engineering track (the latter is also a new major). She loves it.

What year is she? Any idea on job prospects?

To answer a PP, I don't think my DD knows exactly what she wants to do within Env, just that she loves Env related topics and she loves math/science.
Trying to understand Ecological Engineering and if that makes one more/less marketable but the topics may be closer to what DD likes.

She'll be a senior next year. Had an NSF funded REU her first summer, a paid internship as a water/wastewater intern with a large engineering company last year, and has a broader civil oriented internship lined up for this summer, also with a large engineering firm. BSE is kind of a broad-ish major (the non-ecological track is with bioprocessing). I may not have explained well, but BSE is not a new major at VT, Ecological Engineering is. But she'll graduate as BSE. Not sure of job prospects yet, but students featured last year seemed to have jobs and grad school lined up. VT has a 4+1 Masters that appeals to a number of the BSEs and my kid may end up going that route. It's a small major for undergrads, like 50 per cohort, so it gives it a nice small feeling where they know their professors, classmates, the wonderful advisor, etc but with the resources of a large university.

Interestingly, Purdue's major (at least when we were looking) was Environmental and Ecological Engineering (combined). Very impressive place (had a private school vibe to it I thought), but from where we live it's 2 plane rides plus 75 min to the airport; that combined with cold midwestern winters gave VT the edge.