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March 28, 2006
Tips & Schools for Future Engineers
Some 71,000 engineers graduated from U.S. universities in 2002-2003, yet the U.S. still had to import as many as 25,000 additional foreign engineers on special visas to fill jobs...good news for students. Hopeful future engineers should ponder these tips and lists of top engineering schools in the country. And employers should take note.
Some 71,000 engineers graduated from U.S. universities in 2002-2003 — and the United States still had to import as many as 25,000 additional foreign engineers on special visas to fill jobs, reports U.S. News and World Report. That's good news for master's students. Here are some tips for hopeful future engineers, as well as the considered top engineering schools in the country.
First, top engineering schools make offers to about 80 students out of a field of 1,500. As such, what can hopefuls offer to join the lucky academic few? Here are some considerations from U.S. News & World Report.
Research and work. Undergraduate research ideally should be in the engineering area that the applicant hopes to pursue. Relevant work experience adds a similar boost to his or her application package.
Statement of purpose. In talking about one's experience to date and long-term professional ambitions, focus on content rather than great writing. Of course, "sloppy writing will kill you," says Pradeep Khosla, dean of the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Khosla cautions applicants against committing a classic blunder: logging on to the school Web site, reading about a favored professor's work, then claiming it as their own burning interest.
Recommendations. As an applicant, approach a professor who both knows you well and is at the top of his or her field. The recommendation writer's words must carry weight and credibility.
Fellowships. The school will often have links to fellowship opportunities (e.g., from the National Science Foundation or the Department of Defense). The applicant should not only apply, but also make sure the school knows. This shows initiative — and that the applicant might be getting some of his or her own funding.
The following are U.S. News & World Report's 2006 top 10 undergraduate engineering programs (at schools in which the highest degree is a bachelor's or master's, i.e., institutions that DO NOT offer Ph.d. programs in engineering):
1. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
2. Harvey Mudd College
3. Cooper Union
4. United States Military Academy
5. United States Naval Academy
6. Cal Poly – San Louis Obispo
7. United States Air Force Academy
8. Bucknell University
9. Villanova University
10. Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
Finally, the following are U.S. News & World Report's 2006 top 25 graduate schools for engineering:
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. Stanford University (CA)
3. University of California – Berkeley
4. Georgia Institute of Technology
5. University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
6. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
7. University of Southern California (Andrew and Erna Viterbi)
8. California Institute of Technology
9. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
10. Purdue University – West Lafayette (IN)
11. University of California – San Diego (Jacobs)
12. Cornell University (NY)
13. University of Texas – Austin
14. Texas A&M University – College Station (Look)
15. University of California – Los Angeles (Samueli)
16. University of Wisconsin – Madison
17. Princeton University (NJ)
18. University of Maryland – College Park (Clark)
19. Pennsylvania State University – University Park
20. Harvard University (MA)
21. Northwestern University (IL)
22. University of California – Santa Barbara
23. Columbia University (Fu Foundation) (NY)
24. University of Washington
25. University of Florida
Sources
Techies needed
by Caroline Hsu
U.S. News & World Report
Beating the odds
U.S. News & World Report
Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs
U.S.News & World Report (via Yahoo Education)
America's Best Graduate Schools 2006: Top Engineering Schools
U.S. News & World Report
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Comment
5 CommentsNuts, I know graduate ME's who can't get work. They hire Indians (from India) because they will work for a fraction of what American's can.
March 29, 2006 5:23 PMFirst of all, if you survey those 71,000 graduate engineers I believe you will find a large portion are unemployed.
Secondly, American employers are profit-margin oriented, they offer engineering positions to those 71,000 graduates at well below scale (which is rapidly declining), and when they turn it down, in come the 25,000 foreign engineers who will work for pennies on the dollar (which drives the wage scale even lower).
March 30, 2006 5:59 AMThere has been a consistant effort to marginalize the American worker. The national process for licensing engineers is more a game than a logical process. The game afoot is to create exclusivity by screening and testing engineer candidates. The emphasis is on academic credentuals and the ability to pass an academically biased test. Have you looked at the Engineer in Training portion of the test? Unless you are a current or very recent student, you chance of success is -- well -- academic.
Most ironically, most corporations and government agencies use an odd definition of employment opportunity to place nonengineeres in positions that typically require engineering judgement. Engineers are actively discouraged by being locked into midlevel or lower positions by complex rules that nonetheless have them reporting to nonengineer administrators who are more in tune with internal politics than possesing any productive skill.
Possibly even more ironic is that imported engineers are often afforded a much more reasonable process for licensing by their country and by our own government. Those lobbying dollars work wonders. Since US citizens are so independent minded and outspoken, they pose a threat to the unfettered operation of multinational industry and even a greater threat to the financial world.
From my perspective, there is a strongly held view, perpetuated by a wealthy and isolated elite, that the American worker needs to be subdued for industrialists to move forward. If you knock out the underpinning of innovation and application, you've gone far to meet this goal. America will ultimately be conquered by financial interests using corporate quislings to bring about the downfall. Seem farfetched? Without a visible engine of American industrial equality, will there be an example of worker value and expectation of dignity? The brave new world is possibly that of an underclass or peasant class who are fuel for the ambitious whim of an accidental elite; an elite who are at the least as trivial as they are powerful.
March 31, 2006 8:32 PMWell, it's amazing to see people talk about Indians on almost every other Website. Be it Mckinsey (boasting India's great pool of talent and technical capabilities) or the currently held Melbourne Commonwealth Games. It goes way beyond lower wages. In the long run, what matters is how we (Indians) deliver the work. It's a matter of a short time, when you would, hear something like this: "Saudi oil, Japanese cars and Indian Services". I'm just waiting for that day to come.
April 3, 2006 4:31 AM
