Reply to What are the egineering weed-out classes?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Reputable employers aren't interesting in hiring graduates from non-competitive engineering schools.  The students who actually graduate from the tougher schools are the best of the best.[/quote]

Hiring manager at a tech firm. Disagree with the above.  We actively hire from most ABET accredited engineering programs. We are typical of tech firms, not unusual.

Our experience is that if the student graduated with a -specific- engineering degree (examples of specific degrees include AeroE, CompE, EE, MechE) they are fully capable of doing the work. ABET provides a floor, but it is a high floor, not a low floor.

Our experience is that "rank" and "prestige" of an engineering program do not translate into better on the job abilities. Locally, we are -equally- happy with engineering graduates from CNU, GMU, JHU, ODU, UMCP, UMBC, UVA, VCU, and VT -- provided they took rigorous upper-level in-major electives.

We do not hire students who got a degree in "General Engineering" because they lack the depth of knowledge in a specific field of engineering that we need.

We also find that a degree in "Engineering Technology" covers less material than the corresponding "Engineering" degree. For example, we are not hiring folks with an EET degree - because they are less capable than folks with an actual EE degree. [/quote]
I’ve been following this conversation and this comment captures a point I wanted to make a while ago. “Weed out” classes are just higher level math classes or engineering courses where mathematical skills are applied for analysis in different sub-disciplines. When you compare an engineering degree with the corresponding technology degree you can see that the engineering technology degree doesn’t require calculus and has modified versions of courses that are applications focused rather than analysis focused.

There are two types of “weed out” - mathematical based (can’t get through calculus or the application of it in physics) and pace/intensity based (high credit load of lab based STEM courses). As another poster said, elite schools that don’t have “weed out” already did the weeding through applications. Big public universities are accepting students who haven’t ever taken calculus or physics before, which is why those courses are freshman weed out there.

I find it odd that some posters seem to believe some schools are intentionally being “mean” and trying to get students to drop out through weed out courses. Ummm, no. They are ensuring that students have the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in higher level engineering courses. It’s better for students to discover the workload and analytical thinking required in engineering sooner rather than later. Some students chose engineering as a major because it’s high paying and a “good” career, without really having any experience or understanding of the depths of STEM expertise it goes into. Those freshman courses act as the gateway by providing foundational knowledge and experience. So yes, they do weed out students, but it’s for a reason.[/quote]

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