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Safe and Secure! posted:I can't really argue that, I just feel like it's only a subset of the wider field, which I see as including stuff like automata theory, languages, etc. which seem like things that can be studied without doing any programming, though they can be applied through programming. With that analogy I'd think of CS as "wood joining science" which goes into great detail about how to develop hammers, drills, screws, nails, glues, fitting, miter saws and chalk lines, but only passingly teaches you how to actually make a drat cabinet or whatever. I'm probably wrong though.
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Nov 14, 2010 07:29
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Terrifying Effigies posted:For someone who's in graduate school is there as much emphasis placed on seeing your undergrad GPA alongside your current graduate GPA? I did pretty poorly in undergrad but have been maintaining a 3.9 for my MS, so I've just been listing that along with having completed my BS. Eh, probably nothing wrong with that, but realize that there's a pretty wide perception out there that it's actually easier to get an A in graduate courses than undergraduate.
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Nov 14, 2010 07:48
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Pfirti86 posted:Who hasn't heard of Cooper Union? It's a pretty well-known school among at least us academics. Pfirti86 posted:Eh, probably nothing wrong with that, but realize that there's a pretty wide perception out there that it's actually easier to get an A in graduate courses than undergraduate. And gently caress those basic programming classes where the material is trivially easy and 2/3 of the class should have an A+ but they force a bell curve on it anyhow. grover fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Nov 14, 2010 |
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Nov 14, 2010 17:03
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grover posted:Lack of a GPA would be a red flag for me reviewing a resume; it's easy to assume the worst. Is listing 2.86 better than listing nothing? It could certainly be a lot worse, I guess.
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Nov 14, 2010 17:49
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grover posted:I've never heard of either. How are the football teams? I don't know, but the Cooper Union Ballroom Dancing club is looking to have a stellar season this year - http://www.cooper.edu/~gee/ballroom/home.html hobbesmaster posted:Olin gets a bunch of press every once in a while in the trade magazines about how its the future of engineering schools with its project based curriculum, yadda, yadda. Well, there was a flurry of news about it when it opened, then a bit when they finally got accreditation. Sort of an interesting paradigm, though I doubt it'll actually replace traditional engineering curriculum anytime soon. Foyes36 fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Nov 14, 2010 |
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Nov 14, 2010 17:53
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flux_core posted:With that analogy I'd think of CS as "wood joining science" which goes into great detail about how to develop hammers, drills, screws, nails, glues, fitting, miter saws and chalk lines, but only passingly teaches you how to actually make a drat cabinet or whatever.
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Nov 14, 2010 20:23
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SO if I was to do poorly on a class that is important for my major, in particular ME and thermo would it be better for me to retake the class or to get a C and move on? I am afraid that by just taking a C or two will hurt my GPA and make it worse off than if I just took a bit longer to graduate.
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Nov 15, 2010 03:37
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Ingenium posted:SO if I was to do poorly on a class that is important for my major, in particular ME and thermo would it be better for me to retake the class or to get a C and move on? I am afraid that by just taking a C or two will hurt my GPA and make it worse off than if I just took a bit longer to graduate. It's 3 hours of ~130, why bother? It'll end up as .02 difference in your overall gpa compared to getting a B.
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Nov 15, 2010 03:50
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Nov 15, 2010 16:07
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Pfirti86 posted:Eh, probably nothing wrong with that, but realize that there's a pretty wide perception out there that it's actually easier to get an A in graduate courses than undergraduate. Yeah, I've had several professors tell us that as graduates, they expect most people in their classes to get A's and B's. Maybe 1 or 2 C's for people who have a bad day and bomb the final. Sucks because I was so proud of myself for getting straight A's which I never did as an undergrad 
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Nov 15, 2010 17:14
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I was a computer science major, switched to computer engineering. Math is not my strongest subject, so I switched majors into something that has more math! Strangely enough, after switching majors I realized that I was not as bad as I thought I was at math, I was just too lazy to practice. One of the motivations for switching majors is that I want to do something a little more "hands-on", and I want to avoid programming. Also CS was a lot of abstraction and theory, CompEng has fun classes like VLSI, circuits and labs. Did I make the right choice? I have considered switching to EE but I am already 2 semesters into the CompEng curriculum, so I would lose some credits. Another thing, I have 2 interviews lined up for internships. The sales pitch from both sound like QA/software testing. Should I even bother with these, or wait for something better to come around? My GPA is at 2.4 (3.1 for my major), though I expect to raise it to 3.0(3.5 major) within the next year. Chalk up poor GPA to me being a retarded college student who needed to wake up. bobomb fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Nov 15, 2010 |
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Nov 15, 2010 18:25
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Stay at the internship as long as you are learning something (and getting paid) If something better comes along dont hesitate to snatch it up and dont hesitate to leave once you heave learned what youre going to from the job. Any experience is better than none and serves as a jumping off point for your next internship's salary generally.
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Nov 15, 2010 18:44
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Thoguh fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Nov 15, 2010 21:30
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Sweet As Sin posted:Is anyone as miserable as I am right now? I  Luckily this is supposedly the hardest semester, I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel! Too bad I'm about 100x more worried about find an internship in time than I am excited about being only a year off from graduation.
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Nov 16, 2010 09:02
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Does anybody have any experience as a recent Bioengineer graduate? I'm putting myself through hell just trying to get the prereqs required to apply for the graduate program and I'm wondering if it's worth it. Working full-time and taking calc, physics, and organic chem classes. Icing on the cake? I've got a bachelors in English. Laugh it up.
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Nov 16, 2010 21:02
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bobomb posted:I was a computer science major, switched to computer engineering. Math is not my strongest subject, so I switched majors into something that has more math! Strangely enough, after switching majors I realized that I was not as bad as I thought I was at math, I was just too lazy to practice. If you want hands on try Civ/Enviro. Field work, sample taking, etc. If you do Geotechnical Civil you'll be playing with huge drills and yelling at people covered in mud and oil.
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Nov 16, 2010 21:16
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Oneday for Life posted:Does anybody have any experience as a recent Bioengineer graduate? I'm putting myself through hell just trying to get the prereqs required to apply for the graduate program and I'm wondering if it's worth it. Working full-time and taking calc, physics, and organic chem classes. I'm in the same boat with a history B.A  Has anyone here had any experience with ecological engineering? I was planning on enviro, but one of my professors suggested I look into it. It seems interesting, but there aren't a lot of programs for it yet, and majoring in something so broad and interdisciplinary makes me a bit nervous when it comes to job prospects. herbaceous backson fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Nov 16, 2010 |
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Nov 16, 2010 22:01
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Dr. Mantis Toboggan fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Aug 11, 2021 |
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Nov 16, 2010 23:12
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a handful of dust posted:Has anyone here had any experience with ecological engineering? I was planning on enviro, but one of my professors suggested I look into it. It seems interesting, but there aren't a lot of programs for it yet, and majoring in something so broad and interdisciplinary makes me a bit nervous when it comes to job prospects. Hmmm, never heard of that. I would definately go with your gut instinct on this one. Get an Enviro Eng degree (or Civil/Enviro if you really want to maximize job oppurtunties) and if Ecological Eng looks like something you really want to do, just do a masters in it. Much safer career path.
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Nov 17, 2010 04:48
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Dr. Mantis Toboggan posted:Haha, nice. If I decide that what I really enjoy is software development, my ideal work environment would probably be a startup, similar to what my friends are doing. A couple of them are doing well making iphone apps and web apps after having taught themselves programming after not majoring in CS. I would probably pursue a degree anyway though to open up more opportunities. Make friends that work in the industry at any level, and ask them about their interview questions etc. as well as what they do day to day. Often interview questions where way harder than what you do 90% of the time at work, and it should set some expectations for what you will be doing on the job, and what you will need to know to get said job. You could easily be a great programmer at level X for some company, but 5 years of programming slick AJAX/UI stuff, or doing basic business logic can dull your ability to solve more academic problems. Now the knowledge to solve those problems is useful, don't get me wrong, but depending on what you end up doing you could work for years and never be faced with having, to say, create an optimized algorithm for sorting a pseudo random array of N items that form semi groups, or being able to run analysis on the grouping found in a data set and determine hit probabilities. Hell, you might actually be applying some of the process they are looking to see in your daily work, but end up stumbling over the more abstract nature of the question. Getting hit with open ended questions that are basically there to get you to apply CS concepts and see your thought process can be confusing as hell if you have spent 10 years writing internal business apps that don't really give a poo poo about n^2 scaling issues. The kind of interview questions and knowledge you are expected to show off for an interview will vary wildly by company and interviewers. I say this as someone in a similar situation, doing small scale software with a non CS degree. At this point I plan on getting enough experience that I can get into a solid if modest masters program for Computer Science (I have no illusions about going to my alma mater, they are in the top 5 CS programs in the country. I sure as hell wouldn't take me without an undergraduate in the discipline!) That is also something to consider. You might find yourself better off looking for a decent Masters program that will let you play a bit of catch up and avoid going into debt for a second bachelors(remember, federal loans wont be an option this time around). I have known art/music majors that have done their masters in EE/ME and it can actually take about the same amount of time as getting your second bachelors.
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Nov 17, 2010 13:49
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Dr. Mantis Toboggan posted:You are right in that actually enjoying my work would be invaluable. Out of everything I've done in school throughout my life, I've always got the most enjoyment and sense of accomplishment from solving math problems. That was sort of present in economics, but there was no real tangible application behind that math in econ, which I think is why I didn't enjoy it. I'll have to admit that econ and finance aren't my strong suits, but my understanding is that applied math is critical to a lot of high end financial institutions. Everyone has a predictive model for how the stock market will turn out, and the people behind those models tend to be incredibly smart people with very impressive degrees. So perhaps there's a way to take what you already know and apply it to a fiscal field in a manner you enjoy? It seems to me that before you start looking at a university you should see if there are any other jobs out there. If you've already done this without success then kudos to you for being thorough. Another area of straight math that I've heard a LOT of people enjoy is cryptography. Once again it's not my area of expertise, but given how important encryption is to our every day lives it could be another area where you might find enjoyment. That would probably require an advanced math degree instead of an engineering degree. I recently discovered a new show on Science channel that does a great job of showing what engineers do. It's called "Catch It, Keep It." Basically three contestants (not necessarily engineers, but definitely mechanically inclined) are presented with a challenge. The contestants have 48 hours to design and build a solution to prevent a prize from being destroyed by various threats. If the prize is intact then the contestants win the prize. Example challenges include a year supply of beer having to withstand the explosion of 3 sticks of dynamite placed a foot away from them, a $1500 ceramic grill being fired out of a giant slingshot while giant air cannons fire cans and bowling balls at it during flight, and an X-Box and accessories sitting on a pad soaked with flammable liquid while catapults shooting flaming projectiles at it. Oh yeah, and the X-Box also had to survive a 2000 lb car jumping off a ramp at 40mph and landing on top of it. It's my favorite show.
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Nov 17, 2010 13:57
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Dr. Mantis Toboggan posted:Haha, nice. If I decide that what I really enjoy is software development, my ideal work environment would probably be a startup, similar to what my friends are doing. A couple of them are doing well making iphone apps and web apps after having taught themselves programming after not majoring in CS. I would probably pursue a degree anyway though to open up more opportunities. Juriko posted:I say this as someone in a similar situation, doing small scale software with a non CS degree. This is what I did, went from EE undergrad to CS masters (4 semesters left). The biggest thing that I've learned from my CS classes (3 prerequisites and the first 3 classes of the program). Was that I new poo poo all of how to actually plan out a complicated project before starting it. Even though that's a bit more of a Software Engineering thing the two programs are almost the same where I'm going for my masters. I've had no problems with the coding/projects but the theory and mostly planning with stuff like use cases/diagrams/...etc. Is what I've found most useful. It makes you take a step back from the code and think about what you're really trying to do instead of living in the world of just writing software. I guess what I'm basically saying is that I agree that if you want to get into a CS masters program but don't have an engineering degree but do have some programming background you can manage. If you've got no programming background you'll probably end up taking 4+ prereqs. Mostly calc 1-3(or 4), statistics, intro to programming, data structure, comp. organization and some kind of discrete logic class.
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Nov 17, 2010 18:52
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Dr. Mantis Toboggan fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Aug 11, 2021 |
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Nov 18, 2010 00:27
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You should contact schools your are interested in, because I don't think most college really have hard cutoffs like that for bachelors holders seeking a masters. They will say what successful applicants typically have, but it isn't a hard requirement by any means, and like all things in life you can often weasel your way around any requirement if you talk to the right people. This is obviously way easier if you are staying in state. At worst they might tell you to take some courses, like data structures and algorithms, at a CC/Uni to meet some minimum standard, assuming you are otherwise an acceptable applicant. Your biggest problem would probably be that colleges have been overflowing with Graduate apps, so the competition could be very rough. Also, I know my old college, the University of Washington, was rolling out a joined BS/M program which would accept postbats(they say they don't, but again if you talk to the department they will). So while it wouldn't be ideal you could probably get through your masters and bachelors in like 2.5 years if you had a decent math background in that kind of program, and the school is well regarded. It is a great place to do a masters. I am not sure about the loan situation, but I was under the impression that you where only covered period for your first degree. I would like to be wrong on that though.
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Nov 18, 2010 01:15
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I don't know how other schools do it, but at my school financial aid and scholarships end after you get the BS. A lot of people will get paid TA jobs, though.
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Nov 20, 2010 05:16
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What do you do when sales lines moving 6 million cubic feet of gas per day star freezing up and the nearest methanol unit is 2 days away?  Improvise improvise improvise!
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Nov 21, 2010 02:49
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If they're critical and vulnerable to freezing why aren't they already heat traced and/or insulated?
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Nov 21, 2010 05:22
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SubCrid TC posted:If they're critical and vulnerable to freezing why aren't they already heat traced and/or insulated? 
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Nov 21, 2010 12:28
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luvs2Bgraded posted:Why are there so many people in this thread who are either alumni or are currently attending Colorado School of Mines? That said, I am currently a Metallurgical and Materials Engineering student at Mines, and wish I could get an internship. Are there actually a lot currently attending? I know we have quite a few alumni. I had no idea other people actually went here too, I'm currently a sophomore in EE (junior by credit after this semester), anyone else currently going? Goon meet?
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Nov 22, 2010 00:41
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ch3cooh posted:What do you do when sales lines moving 6 million cubic feet of gas per day star freezing up and the nearest methanol unit is 2 days away? Cardboard? Seriously polystyrene is cheap and you could build a square tube around that very easily. Throw in some silicone sealant and your good! .... Hope to hell my solar box works well over the next week or so. (we just finished building solar boxes for a 4th year mech project. Interior temperature must maintain whatever standard it is between 9am-7pm, with only 4 Dcell batteries, no PV's/fuel sources, etc. Fun times!)
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Nov 22, 2010 01:07
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bobomb posted:Another thing, I have 2 interviews lined up for internships. The sales pitch from both sound like QA/software testing. Should I even bother with these, or wait for something better to come around? My GPA is at 2.4 (3.1 for my major), though I expect to raise it to 3.0(3.5 major) within the next year. Chalk up poor GPA to me being a retarded college student who needed to wake up. This might just be my pride as a test engineer speaking, but QA can be serious business and is nothing to scoff at. You can learn a lot from designing test cases and test plans and finding other people's bugs.
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Nov 22, 2010 01:23
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TrueChaos posted:Cardboard? Seriously polystyrene is cheap and you could build a square tube around that very easily. Throw in some silicone sealant and your good! Polystyrene is indeed cheap and if I were within 2 hours of a store that sold it I would gladly buy some. Unfortunately we were limited to what we had in our pickups. e: as to why they weren't heat traced I'm not sure but my facilities engineer will be getting an earful about it in the morning.
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Nov 22, 2010 02:41
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Aluminum Record posted:Are there actually a lot currently attending? I know we have quite a few alumni. I had no idea other people actually went here too, I'm currently a sophomore in EE (junior by credit after this semester), anyone else currently going? Goon meet? Omaha goon, but its my dream to live in Colorado. If anyone needs a computer engineering intern hit me up 
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Nov 22, 2010 08:22
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ch3cooh posted:Polystyrene is indeed cheap and if I were within 2 hours of a store that sold it I would gladly buy some. Unfortunately we were limited to what we had in our pickups. Ah, you're out in the middle of nowhere, makes sense now.
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Nov 22, 2010 17:07
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Edited out personal info.
Dr. Mantis Toboggan fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Jul 20, 2013 |
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Nov 23, 2010 00:30
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Dr. Mantis Toboggan posted:Any thoughts? With the school rankings and all, it really depends. If you're going to be staying in the same area that you did your undergrad your school name will have more pull if the company has other alum from that school. If you want to move somewhere across the country is matters slightly more. A larger school with a well developed engineering program will help you get Co-op/Internships/Jobs because they have more on campus connections with companies, on campus interviews...etc. But it all comes down to how hard to try with applying and keeping your GPA up so you're at the top of the list for internships. If you get a degree from UW-Milwaukee isn't it still a degree from Wisconsin? I know that at PSU if you graduated from Berks/Erie/whatever your diploma was exactly the same as someone that went to main campus. Or is it different out there? After that grad school is usually all about GPA (at least for night class/part time grad school).
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Nov 23, 2010 00:55
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Edited out personal info.
Dr. Mantis Toboggan fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Jul 20, 2013 |
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Nov 23, 2010 01:01
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Dr. Mantis Toboggan posted:I am back again with a couple quick questions for you guys regarding my quest to return to school to study EE or Comp E. Undergraduate rankings are really not as critical of a thing as some would believe, especially if your plans are to go to graduate school. So long as the school you're applying to has heard of your university, you're probably fine on that count. I went to a top-ten graduate school with people from ALL sorts of undergrad backgrounds, from MIT and Yale to third and fourth-tier public and private schools you've never heard of. What I discovered was that where you went to undergrad often had nothing to do with how good you were as a grad student (in terms of getting through your quals, publishing research, etc.), and I think that faculty realize that too. Now, there are some schools that are better known and connected than others when it comes to jobs and internships. For example, a Stanford engineering undergrad might have an easier time finding an internship at a hot company than a Trine University engineering undergrad (have you ever heard of Trine?). Schools tend to have certain connections, and those can be important. Kids who go to MIT/CalTech/Stanford/Ivies (not really great engineering besides Princeton and Cornell, but an Ivy degree almost always sets you apart) will always be treated a little better than those who go to the vast majority of engineering programs, but it's not like it's such a disparity that you shouldn't go at all. Kids at those schools will also likely have better undergraduate research experiences, which ARE VERY IMPORTANT IF YOU WANT TO GO TO GRADUATE SCHOOL (of course, by 'graduate school' I'm talking about PhD programs, not masters). I'd say that's the biggest advantage to going to a name school for undergrad if your goal is graduate school. If people know who your letter writers are (because they're badass scientists with a lot of publications and clout to their names) it can open doors just as much as a solid GPA can. Personally, if I met a kid who went to University of Wisconsin-Madison undergrad for chemical engineering, I might have a bit more respect for him over someone who went to, say, Ohio State or LSU. But not a ton. quote:Further, how much do graduate school rankings matter for getting a job? Grad rankings are a bit more important for certain fields, but not so much for others. For example, go to any top-ten chemical engineering department faculty list. Noticing any trends? You'll see a lot of faculty from the same schools: MIT, CalTech, Berkeley, Minnesota, Princeton, Delaware, Wisconsin-Madison, UIUC, and Stanford. Sure there will be some from not-so-big-name programs in there, but the majority are going to come from other top-ten/fifteen engineering schools. So yeah, rank seems to be important if your goal is to become a professor at a top R1 school. For other fields, it can still matter, but it won't be quite as important. What REALLY matters when it comes to a graduate career is your adviser. Your adviser's reputation and quality of research is EXTREMELY important when it comes to applying for jobs. His or her connections are what you will need once you start to write your dissertation and finally leave school. You could go to MIT but have an awful relationship with a new faculty member (who may not be so famous yet, and might not even get tenure) and leave a bitter person, or you can go to Purdue (a good school but not top-ten) and have a MUCH stronger experience with a tenured and well-known adviser you get along with. Or maybe you DO find that perfect guy at Princeton and have a great time; the important point here is that adviser trumps school every time. Your adviser gives you resources and guidance in your dissertation, gives you projects, helps you publish in journals that get your work out there, and will be critical in finding you work.
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Nov 23, 2010 04:44
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seo posted:Omaha goon, but its my dream to live in Colorado. If anyone needs a computer engineering intern hit me up Did you go to college at UNL or UNO? After getting invited to an Honor's day thing at UNL, i'm actually leaning their moreso than CSM. Lincoln is only 3 hours away compared to Golden's 6. Can anybody give feedback on the SMART Scholarship program? I just found it today looking for scholarships. I can't enter yet as I'm only a senior in high school. I'm really interested in working in the Defense Industry though so this sounds like a good idea in theory for me. I realize one of the biggest draws is that the scholarship would pay for all tuition. I'm fairly certain I'll get a large scholarship, if not a Regent's from UNL covering all tuition also though. I still have lot of time to think, I just like to get future plans kind of hammered out far in advance. As of now, it's easy for me to consider graduate school for a master's or possibly a PhD. Does anybody know what their philosophy is on graduate school? I also hear that is something you should do right after college, rather than waiting a few years. Forgetting valuable knowledge, blah blah. Surely somebody from both sides of the aisle can comment on that. So many questions before college 
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Nov 24, 2010 02:03
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Dr. Goonstein posted:I also hear that is something you should do right after college, rather than waiting a few years. Forgetting valuable knowledge, blah blah. Surely somebody from both sides of the aisle can comment on that. I can comment on this a bit. Everyone that I've talked to (I work in defense) says to get a job first then get your masters. This is because the company will most likely foot the bill for it and you're making money at the same time/gaining experience. Also if you do another 2ish year of school after undergrad and then get a job you'll basically come in at the same level as someone with just an undergrad. Most places don't really care a whole lot about having a masters right out of college (10 years down the line it matters a bit more if you're switching companies or trying to move up in your own company). So to put it another way. If you go for your undergrad and get a job and your buddy goes to get his masters and takes him 2.5 years before he goes into the job market you'll have 2.5 years of seniority at the company and probably like half of the way through night classes grad school. Your buddy will come in as a new hire with maybe a 6 month seniority bump. If you want to get a PhD you'll most likely have to quit your job. Unless you're doing something super special the company probably won't pay for it. At least were I work you can start masters from day 1 and get as many as your want in related fields which for me translates to something like EE, CompEng, CompSci, MBA, Technical Management, Systems, Physics, Math/Statistics that will be automatically approved.
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Nov 24, 2010 02:26
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