Calling all engineers and physicists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not UCLA. It's a degree factory where engineering is taught via standardized tests. Smart kids. Terrible instruction.

Can you elaborate? Is there somewhere I can read up on this? Thank you!

No reference. It's based on personal experience as a grad student and teaching assistant at UCLA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? There must be some way to differentiate good programs from bad programs, no? By highly regarded I don't mean "fancy" or "elite" or anything like that, I just mean well respected. Does that not play into it?

Please go read the (older) thread in this forum on “Engineering Degree” if you want to understand the landscape for engineering better. No point in repeating here what was said there.

Thanks! I just looked it up. It's mostly about how hard the degrees are, and a discussion of women in engineering. Not much about the schools my DS is considering.

Did you read the thread all the way ?

That thread repeatedly says that it does not really matter which school an engineering degree is from, so long as it is ABET accredited (with exceptions for obvious schools like MIT and CalTech which don’t bother with accreditation). Engineering/Science is very much NOT like say English Literature, where some colleges truly are better regarded than others.

What matters as a differentiator is which upper-level engineering electives they took, what their undergrad project or research was on, and which specific job-related skills were learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Really? There must be some way to differentiate good programs from bad programs, no? By highly regarded I don't mean "fancy" or "elite" or anything like that, I just mean well respected. Does that not play into it?

It does not make a significant difference. Yes, Really. If a program is ABET accredited, then it is good enough.

What might matter to DC, and this also is mentioned in the other thread, is that not all engineering schools offer all conceivable engineering degrees. As an example, some E schools do offer AeroE degrees, while others might not offer that degree, and so on for other engineering degrees.

[Anonymous]

UIUC
U Michigan
UMD

in the DMV area, so I'd say probably prefer hiring UMD over the others, the others get more offers anyway from anywhere else

[Anonymous]

I'm a hiring manager in an engineering field. My first preference for a new hire is a kid that has done some sort of internship, summer job, or coop, preferable in an area related to my specialty. I will take a kid from a 2nd/3rd tier engineering school who interviews well and has these qualifications over a kid from a top tier school. I don't want to have to babysit my new hires and look for someone who will be most likely to be able to hit the ground running.

All things equal -- I will give preference to the kid who comes across as mature and ready to work. I'm not going to pay attention to whether their school was ranked #3 vs. #30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are currently working in a cutting edge engineering or physics field and/or hiring young graduates for engineering and physics jobs I would love to hear from you. Where would you prefer to hire from, all other things being equal?
-Northeastern
-UIUC
-Purdue
-U Michigan
-UCLA
-UC Santa Barbara
-UMD
-Cooper Union

Thank you!

"Cutting edge" places are going to want graduate degrees. And your area of specialization is going to be more important than the institution.
But in general, for getting a job out of undergrad, any state flagship (or well-regarded state school) will be seen as equivalent - people are going to assume you went there because you live in that state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d pick Purdue - those kids are put through the wringer and if they survive and do OK then they are really bright kids with great time management and problem solving skills.

No.
Purdue hardly has any companies at career day or internships.

I hire for this particular thing.

Nope

[Anonymous]

OP Cutting edge engineering is Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, NCSU, RIT, schools like this.

Not any of the ones on your list.

As for your list if your student wants engineering depends on what type, chemical, industrial, electrical, mechanical etc....

Purdue I would personally take off look at their curriculum and internships. It is not a bad program just harder than the others for jobs at graduation.

Do that for all programs

NE has a different model than the others. It's a great place for students that want work experience.

U Michigan they will get a job upon graduation

Same with UMD.

UCLA and Santa Barbara as well but those jobs will be in CA do they want to live there after graduation?

The better ? is did your student look at coursework for all these programs?
Is your student accepted directly into the school of Eng?
Did they look at companies that come for career fairs? Internship oportunities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/physicists-and-astronomers.htm#:~:text=in%20May%202022.-,Job%20Outlook,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade.

My impression is that physics grad students end up going into math modeling for financial companies (hedge funds, etc.), big data analytics, etc.

My family member thinks fusion might have a chance now. He worked on it for 10+ years, long ago.

What type of physics is your kid interested in?

Wow this link is great, thank you!

You're welcome!

I am dropping back in to make sure the parents interested in advice are very clear that bachelor's level engineering and physics majors are distinct academic specialties in a lot of ways. Physics is more of a niche, whereas engineering is a huge field of study on many campuses.

There's lots of information on the web comparing engineering schools. For a future physics major, I'd recommend the student do more direct, in-person contacts with target school physics department staff. And also check on post-grad employment outcomes. I'm the one who mentioned above that physics grad students seemed to be going into finance. That's because there aren't enough jobs in physics and they can make a lot of money in the finance industry. The only young physics major I know now is attending Cal Tech. I think his research interest is related to atomic particles. I would be more careful about school reputation for a physics major than for engineering just because it is a smaller job market. Have a kid also look through "Physics Today".

https://subs.physicstoday.org/PT/Login.aspx#:~:text=Subscribe%20now%20for%20as%20little%20as%20%2425

[Anonymous]

>> Reads comments after getting waitlisted for Cornell 😩

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/physicists-and-astronomers.htm#:~:text=in%20May%202022.-,Job%20Outlook,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade.

My impression is that physics grad students end up going into math modeling for financial companies (hedge funds, etc.), big data analytics, etc.

My family member thinks fusion might have a chance now. He worked on it for 10+ years, long ago.

What type of physics is your kid interested in?

Wow this link is great, thank you!

You're welcome!

I am dropping back in to make sure the parents interested in advice are very clear that bachelor's level engineering and physics majors are distinct academic specialties in a lot of ways. Physics is more of a niche, whereas engineering is a huge field of study on many campuses.

There's lots of information on the web comparing engineering schools. For a future physics major, I'd recommend the student do more direct, in-person contacts with target school physics department staff. And also check on post-grad employment outcomes. I'm the one who mentioned above that physics grad students seemed to be going into finance. That's because there aren't enough jobs in physics and they can make a lot of money in the finance industry. The only young physics major I know now is attending Cal Tech. I think his research interest is related to atomic particles. I would be more careful about school reputation for a physics major than for engineering just because it is a smaller job market. Have a kid also look through "Physics Today".

https://subs.physicstoday.org/PT/Login.aspx#:~:text=Subscribe%20now%20for%20as%20little%20as%20%2425

Thanks again! May I ask what field you are in and at what level or geographic area?

[Anonymous]

UMD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/physicists-and-astronomers.htm#:~:text=in%20May%202022.-,Job%20Outlook,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade.

My impression is that physics grad students end up going into math modeling for financial companies (hedge funds, etc.), big data analytics, etc.

My family member thinks fusion might have a chance now. He worked on it for 10+ years, long ago.

What type of physics is your kid interested in?

Wow this link is great, thank you!

You're welcome!

I am dropping back in to make sure the parents interested in advice are very clear that bachelor's level engineering and physics majors are distinct academic specialties in a lot of ways. Physics is more of a niche, whereas engineering is a huge field of study on many campuses.

There's lots of information on the web comparing engineering schools. For a future physics major, I'd recommend the student do more direct, in-person contacts with target school physics department staff. And also check on post-grad employment outcomes. I'm the one who mentioned above that physics grad students seemed to be going into finance. That's because there aren't enough jobs in physics and they can make a lot of money in the finance industry. The only young physics major I know now is attending Cal Tech. I think his research interest is related to atomic particles. I would be more careful about school reputation for a physics major than for engineering just because it is a smaller job market. Have a kid also look through "Physics Today".

https://subs.physicstoday.org/PT/Login.aspx#:~:text=Subscribe%20now%20for%20as%20little%20as%20%2425

Thanks again! May I ask what field you are in and at what level or geographic area?

I am the child of a PhD physicist and on the other side a grandchild of a PhD physicist. But I'm not in a physics field myself. I just know what goes on at my parent's jobs. My parent has a lot of proteges, which is why I have a sense of job market issues.

Schools my family has been connected with include Cornell, Illinois at Champaign Urbana, Case Western Reserve, SUNY Buffalo, Berkeley, and even Montgomery County Community College.

The Cal Tech person I know is the kid of a former co-worker, and is still in school. If not for Cal Tech coming through he might have gone to UMD-CP.

Some academic physics departments exist to produce physics grads. Some are just there to provide necessary support for other majors (pre-med and engineering at one school my parent worked at). This is important to understand when looking at schools. A physics major needs to go to a school that is able to support the needs of majors (variety of electives, good reputation, etc.).

I know I don't have the right background to give others advice on sub-specialties within physics. That's why I recommend getting in touch with academic departments directly. If it seems too nervy to ask to speak to profs, then ask to speak with an undergrad advisor.

Finally, in other threads above, there are some assertions that the brand name or rank of the school doesn't matter for engineering hiring. I disagree with that. There are companies and circles that aren't equally open to people from different schools. That's just general snobbery but it does exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/physicists-and-astronomers.htm#:~:text=in%20May%202022.-,Job%20Outlook,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade.

My impression is that physics grad students end up going into math modeling for financial companies (hedge funds, etc.), big data analytics, etc.

My family member thinks fusion might have a chance now. He worked on it for 10+ years, long ago.

What type of physics is your kid interested in?

I don’t think he knows yet, maybe quantum physics and space. Definitely not financial modeling, he prefers the practical applications.

There are a few NASA posters on DCUM. Hopefully they will respond.

[Anonymous]

UMD is top notch for physics.

Anonymous wrote:UIUC
U Michigan
UMD

in the DMV area, so I'd say probably prefer hiring UMD over the others, the others get more offers anyway from anywhere else