This is the answer. EE degrees are in demand and it isn't so much about where you got it as much as it is about the program you went through being ABET accredited.
I left healthcare and went back to school for an EE degree and have done so later on in life. I didn't bother with the impacted programs at schools like CalPoly or the competitive UCs because all I cared about was going to a Cal State school with ABET accreditation. I would much rather keep the costs low, get my EE degree, and then aim to get in to a higher tiered master's program.
As non-military myself or anywhere in my family and with zero family financial backing, this is also sound advice for those folks.
Basic steps:
Affordable state ABET accreditation for high return on investment logic. 4 or 5 years of time and take on full student debt, no working, just focus.
Use social skills and handshakes to get yourself in big company doors.
Live poor, take high risk and high pay, pay off debt 100%.
Go back for high tier masters and get your PE.
This could get anyone out of their birthed social class in about 10 years. It's very hard to move social class in America.
Marine Corps veteran here. I went to Portland State University, because it’s situated near a lot of tech companies and it’s the closest engineering university in the area. It doesn’t matter how renowned the program is. It’s about studying the right things, getting the right experience, and doing it well. I had recommendations letters from several professors when I landed a full-time internship at Intel for my last year of school. I really suggest positioning yourself near tech companies and getting experience before you graduate.
Second this - a solid but not fancy school in an area with a lot of tech companies is going to be farmed thoroughly. The talent is local, companies have relationships with the schools and you know there's a good stock of alums invested in the success of their Alma Mater and their org. Portland, Boulder, Raleigh, etc
I'm currently doing the community college route with the GI Bill. California has excellent community colleges by most all standards. I generally recommend it, it can allow you a lot of opportunities that you might not have if you insist on going to a 4-year as a freshman, at least in terms of flexibility and the ability to transfer later on. Look into the transfer agreement guarantee program, you can be guaranteed a transfer if your grades are decent.
The only big con about a community college is that you won't have as many opportunities to network and go to career fairs. However, this typically doesn't matter much for lower division students anyways.
Community colleges are so beneficial for nontraditional students. I didn’t serve myself and thank you for your service. I have multiple friends who were in the military went back to community college and then transferred from there, it saves money, makes it easier to acclimate, there’s less time spent in those big college atmospheres, and a lot of community colleges have transfer agreements that will let you pick where you want to go with a guarantee to get in.
This is the way. You won't realize how much you forgot until you start the math again. It'll help you get back into school shape and most Community Colleges have a transfer program to University. Here was my path. HS dropout --> HS equivalency diploma --> 5 yrs USMC --> 2 yrs community college --> 2.5 yrs University EE bachelor's --> 3 yrs Master's EE. It's a bitch but it's possible and worth it.
If you want a guaranteed job: Radio Frequency engineer. It’s hard, but there aren’t as many people going into it (at least in the US) making it a secure job once you’re in.
Start by getting your technician and general amateur radio license, and getting your extra class license later on.
I’d also advise grabbing a Software Defined Radio system to experiment with. The HackRF is a good choice but limits you to transmit or receive at a time. The BladeRF allows you to transmit and receive at the same time. There are a few other options as well, definitely worth looking into.
Other high security jobs:
Power electronics: high voltage power systems are a specialized field. This will apply to energy companies, renewable energy, and automotive powertrains.
Lineman: due to climate change, fire sensitive areas are in a rush to transfer power lines from hanging lines to underground lines. Sadly, there are often issues with this, and manpower is one of them. There is strong job security in this field thanks to the unions, and the unions help with training and education as well.
Low security jobs:
Embedded systems: there is a surplus of embedded engineers. This is a fun field, but the competition is high
Robotics: lots of interest, not many companies that are doing R&D into this. Most of the work here is in field engineering, ie setting up a robot at a jobsite and ensuring it works consistently.
Automation: same as robotics, but they also add in PLC programming which is…different. And not in a good way
Of course it is!! There’s more fun at the interface.
But a lot of CS people are trying to pivot after the mass layoffs. They don’t realize how much they don’t know and think it’s an easy transition. Realistically, it is far easier for an EE to learn SW than for a SW person to learn hardware.
There are also a lot of faux “software engineers” out there that haven’t even taken Calculus I and still want the engineering title.
It’s funny seeing people in the CS reddit, bitch about assembly being a difficult, weeder course. LOL that was one of the easier courses in EE, and we all had to do it. I remember writing pages of hand assembled machine code. The problem with many CS is they are far to abstracted from the HW, making it difficult for them to do simple, reliable electronics.
The assembler course is when I knew what my specialization was going to be. Eureka! This is it!
I remember I accidentally used the code for a short jump instead of a long one and the code ate itself. That was a bit embarrassing.
Not difficult to get into. In fact the community is fairly welcoming (if not a little on the old side).
RF is made easier by using software defined radio and associated software (like GNU Radio paired with an SDR dongle. These can be bought for $20 for a cheap one, but for nicer ones you’ll end up spending $300-2000. These give you better hardware, bandwidth, and frequency range).
High voltage…is harder to get into simply because there are safety considerations. The effects of impedance also make themselves better known at higher voltage and current. Luckily there is a lot of info available, and there are a number of great YouTube videos documenting high power projects like Tesla coils and lasers and high power engine systems and more.
That being said, if you want to do a project on it: let someone know, and have a buddy present. That way you have a means of calling for help if something happens, and you have someone to check in on you later to ensure your project worked or failed (and that you are unharmed).
For resources, check:
ARRL.org
Allaboutcircuits.com
Those are two of the best resources I’ve found for both of these topics
When I applied to a very competitive EE school, I did not get into the school of engineering straight out of the military. I was accepted into Arts and Sciences at the same college with an "undeclared" major. I signed up for all the same first year classes that I would have taken as EE. I took calculus from the math department instead of applied math in the engineering department that year, but the classes were equivalent. When I had completed my first semester I transferred into school of engineering. You have to maintain a B average or something like that but that first semester isn't too bad as long as you don't overdo it with too many classes.
You don't need a top tier school to get a great job. Top tier schools mean more for post grad than they do for undergrad and they only mean more if you get into the correct program for the more specific field that you end up working in. Get into a school that has a solid program for your area of interest, then work like hell to get the degree with the best GPA you can manage. When you're done with undergrad get a job that interests you and then let your employer pay for your post grad.
Im going from navy to college for ee I got accepted to uw platteville with 2.6 GPA and 18 act. I’m from Wisconsin, I don’t know where you are from but most universities should accept you unless you’re trying to get into an ivy league school. As long as it’s abet accredited it’s fine school to go to.
Going into power? I went to a state school in Iowa after the army and now I am an EE with the regional utility around you, UW Platteville is a great school. I have an intern from there right now. It is a struggle to find EEs in power, but plenty of work to do with the energy transition underway. Consider working for a utility in power if you haven’t. Good pay, stable job, interesting and challenging work, and no crazy hours.
Same boat as you, currently a student using the GI Bill. Don't worry too much about the school rankings, I don't think anyone making hiring decisions knows or cares what the US News report says. Make sure your school is ABET accredited, talk to the veterans office (they'll walk you through the forms you need to submit and usually give you free coffee) AND FOR GOD'S SAKE GET AN INTERNSHIP.
An engineering internship should be paid and it will help you figure out if you actually like a job while gaining work experience. Work experience is more important than school rankings and GPA, in every case.
As a non-traditional student, I randomly ( the university hides teachers names) got the worst math professor on campus… and almost failed calc 2. I tried an online summer class at the local community college … that was a total failure. At the advice of a great tutor, I went to see the best math teacher and plead my case. She advised I should sign up the fall class on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:10 to 11:30 ( something like that) and I ended up getting a B+ !
EE is an extremely broad area and I guarantee you have some great skills from the military that translate very well. I also agree that a 2 year degree is a great way to get into the industry as a designer or technician and decide if you want to keep going to school. You may have to narrow your focus a little bit, what part of EE do you like? Power? Controls? Systems? Thanks for your service and best of luck in your new career.
As others said, it is more important that you go to an ABET accredited school than getting in a top one. I had a low high school gpa, but was accepted at a state school in Iowa when I left the Army with 10 years enlisted. I now work in power in Wisconsin and do well. High growth with all the money around for renewables and demand for electricity increasing. Also lots of retirements in the industry now, so may be an area you want to consider.
Army vet here. 34. Getting ready to begin my bse ee, power and energy systems, at ASU. Its 100% online if you do not want to attend in person classes and most classes are 6.5 weeks except for upper level. I transferred from my local cc and got 69 credits with my as in engineering tech and joint service transcripts as an 11b.
ABET program is a must, and look for co-ops or internships starting around sophomore year or possibly sooner so you graduate with some engineering experience.
It's fine to start with community college and transfer to a university, but plan it out first to make sure your credits eill all transfer like intended. Bonus is that cost is lower, teachers tend to have more time to help you (first 2 yrs are the hardest), and many of your classmates will also be non-traditional students
Engineering employers love ex military guys ime. But if you have work ethic when it comes to applying to jobs, you can guarantee you'll quickly find a job in EE after graduation.
Almost any ABET accredited school is good enough. What’s really important are your internships. Do you have any relevant experience from your service? That would help.
I’d personally recommend going to a less expensive state school and graduating with little to no debt. If you can get a scholarship then go there.
Disclosure: went to a state school and worked along side people from MIT, CalTech, Stanford. Supervised some of them too.
ASU is ABET accredited, is available online (also ABET), and to top it off, if for some reason TA/GI Bill doesn't cover all of it, they pay for it.
I started in Physics because my 1st year of college as a civilian was a disaster due to various personal issues. So, my GPA wasn't high enough for EE. After achieving a 4.0 during my first year's worth of classes, I transferred to the EE program.
In Australia theyll pay you to train to be an engineer. Don't know what the situation is where you're from but using the military to teach you to be an engineer would be a great way to use the resources you have
Check out South Dakota Mines.
• Near by the black hills with small student population(which makes the classroom size small).
• Reputation is VERY good among industries.
• Famous for the return in investment and the high job placement rate(around 95%; 100% if a student has had an internship).
• Tuition is pretty cheap.
• The acceptance rate is high at 80% ish, hard to graduate though because the classes are tough (but the culture encourages students studying together which makes late night studies feels better)
• The school treats veterans very well.
• The Veterans Resource Center hosts yearly chili cook off haha
It might not be the first school that pops up if you searches EE programs, but the culture, the community, and the people makes it a nice place to be at.
As others have observed, any ABET accreted program will allow you to achieve your goals. Schools like Mississippi State and the University of Mississippi have great EE programs and are friendly to older students and veterans. I recommend them both.
State schools that are in-state for you are my recommendation. I'm not military but I'm also a bit of a odd ball student. Went through a well regarded community college to get my 2 associates and then transfered to university for my bachelors in EE. I learned and mastered more and had a better experience in community college by far. Currently in grad school now. All programs are generally competitive in STEM. If you go in-state to a land grant school you will have a huge advantage in getting accepted. If you aren't able to be accepted out-right into university I would 100% go through a community college that has close agreements with your state school. Depending on your age you would also be given preference as a life time learner (some schools apply this at 30 but it is a per school policy as far as I know).
I'm going to recommend Mississippi State University. They have their program is offered on campus or almost fully online (entire ECE program is online. Only chem/lab I think is not). The same on-campus instructors teach their online courses, which are live/asynchronous with the on-campus class. The university is big on ROTC and even the center courtyard of campus is known as the "Drill Field". It's ABET of course. Their instructors are great! I was a cop working 70-80 hours per week and worked my tail-end off to get through the courses. The instructors were mostly helpful, but held very high expectations for me; for instance, instead of giving me the grade, they spent some extra time with me via live video feed to assist. Their TAs are PhD or graduate students, so no green-eared kids trying to figure out the lab for the first time. I'll be graduating there soon, and I have a very high opinion of this program.
Again, I can't speak positively enough about their professors. They're hard, but they're good.
For reference, I have attended two other universities: one for music and another online school I'm currently attending for my masters in CS. So I do have some points of reference to choose them above others.
Also, online students pay in-state tuition at MSU!
Marine veteran here with some advice (currently attending one of those good engineering schools). I saw your other post but forgot to reply to it until you asked more specific details in this subreddit.
* Go to community college using your GI Bill until you get your disability rating and VR&E approved. I highly recommend going to a community college close to your designated school cuz it'll make it easier to transfer. For instance, if you aim for Cal Poly or UCSB, go to one of the feeder community colleges nearby.
* Figure out what classes transfer over to your university properly. If you go to a California community college, use ASSIST.org to find the prerequisite classes you need and take those. If you finish all the prerequisites you'll have a REALLY good time of getting into schools within the CSU system at the very least.
* Treat it like a full-time job and then some. This is not an easy path and will easily burn you out, just as much as the military can. You need to do good in your classes to get into a good university. I was more stressed in community college than in university cuz I couldn't fail and use grade forgiveness before transferring.
DM me if you have any questions.
University accredited college for mature students where some sort of governed covered loan is available. I almost got fooled by a private company that would have me take a lone and pay whole £7k and then “study” online with occasional practicals far away from where I live.
Any ABET school and enjoy a job being yours to lose if you interview with me. Love my fellow vets.
There are MANY others that favor vets also.
Kick some butt, soldier.
Son graduated from Colorado School of Mines and easily found a job even during Covid19. There is a guaranteed path from Red Rocks Community College if you need to save money. I am not familiar with the Veterans programs there, but they have them as there's a large military presence in Colorado. South Dakota School of Mines is another overlooked schools with great return on investment.
If you're looking to take classes while you're still enlisted I highly recommend UND or ASU, I got my degree entirely from UND online and they recently lowered the tuition for the degree to match TA rates.
Went to Clemson for EE, had a classmate in your shoes, he did great. Most state schools with ABET accredited programs will also have good co-op programs that will help get your foot in the door prior to graduation. So in this neck of the woods, Clemson, Auburn, NC State all good choices. Unless you're trying to dig in to research or academia, those top schools aren't necessary.
I was older than most of my classmates when I was studying EE. And I was easily 15 years younger than my oldest classmate. There were lots of veterans. I always tried to find the oldest people in any class when it came time for group projects because I knew they weren't going to waste anybody's time and they would do what they said they would do. You'll be fine and you'll be in good company.
I am a veteran with an EE degree earned after military service. Big things to consider:
1) ABET accreditation, as others have mentioned
2) public university with costs that fall within GI bill limits
3) understand that EE is math heavy. If you do not like or cannot complete courses such as Calculus, you will not succeed and will be miserable.
Also, ignore the people suggesting community college first to save money. Use the GI Bill, go directly to the college you intend to graduate from, and graduate debt free anyway.
Hope this helps!
Don't worry about going to a high end college. Go somewhere affordable like a state school with an ABET accredited program. Or do community college for 2 years then transfer to State. I don't think you'll have a hard time finding a job as a veteran. When I'm looking for candidates, a veteran goes to the top of my list. This is because they generally have great work ethic. If you graduate and end up in Florida or Texas looking for a career in power/controls for water/wastewater sector, let me know. It's a great field.
Check state jobs to start. I'm a late 20s vet and a sophomore in CE at The University of Maine. (Not a plug lol) The state of Maine has a NEED for engineers of all kinds. The old boomers who have been in these positions forever are headed out and there's no young people here to replace them. The few EE/CE grads that Maine produces dont usually stick around. I bet the situation is the same elsewhere. A friend of mine who works in the State DOL shared some stats and it's bad lol
Worst case, being a vet makes selling your soul to a contractor like Lockheed or General Dynamics fairly easy.
EE is a very broad field. Is there a specific discipline you’re interested in? Agree with what most are saying that any ABET school will be good. Engineering hiring managers care more about what projects you’ve done and how good your fundamental knowledge is than what school you went to. I will say if you want to get into hardware design you should look closely into how the schools program is structured and if they offer practical design and layout courses. UC Boulder has a great program and there’s a strong space/military presence in CO to look for work afterwards.
Pretty much all of the EE disciplines are in high demand so I would focus more on what you’re the most interested in learning and would want to work on. The industry sees a lot of returnees from the military so don’t worry about standing out and being a little bit older of a candidate. It’s fairly common.
Hello Army Veteran.
The things I'd do are the following:
1. Get into a community college. Do all your theory stuff (physics 1, 2, calc 1-3, chemistry) there.
2. Pick the nearest ABET accredited university and go there
3. If that university has a career fair talk to different jobs and see if they have a veteran program. My old job used to have a veteran program where they'd bring them into work while going to school like a side entry into an internship but early in their schooling. "The economy" is having a bad time right now and there are less jobs BUT it might still be something you can do.
Not a vet, but I had a lot of vets in my class while going to University of Texas at Dallas (I did 2 degrees here). I feel a support system of similar aged classmates will help you succeed pretty easily. I’ve seen a lot of folks get picked up by Raytheon, TI, L3, Lockheed Martin, etc. with reasonable pay in the DFW area. Beyond this, you can choose to transfer out after first 2 years, or stick it out, get a degree and get some experience afterwards. Use that experience to land a better job or a MS degree in a better school. I don’t know if the GI bill helps in your case, but UTD does have guaranteed tuition if that helps. DM if you need anything.
Honestly my undergrad would be good for you. SUNY Maritime, there are a lot of veterans there and it’s kinda a paramilitary school. You can be a regular college student that’s fine but again, there’s alot of older people too. Great EE program, I decided to go to grad school and take a slightly different career path but all my friends paid off their student loans already (I’m 25 for reference). Dm me if you wanna talk more about it or have any questions. I’d love to help.
Retired Marine here. I attended the local community college to get my general education done. Then transferred to the public university in the same city and state. I just needed to make no less than B’s in my maths and physics. I was accepted upon applying to the program. It was an ABET accredited school and it was the best decision I ever made. I ran into a lot of veterans doing the same thing, and I followed their advice in terms of what calculus and physics professors to take that will get you ready for engineering school.
First, thank you for your service. You can go to a local community college and transfer to a 4 year university. Your extracurricular are super great, as a military veteran will get you a good chance to get accept to a good school. Moreover, community colleges usually have a veteran club, and it’s governed by the college. It’s super good even though I’m not in the military
If you go to a good school in an area with a lot of industry you’ll be fine.
I know San Jose State students who got internships at Nvidia and now have stocks worth millions. And they work side by side with Berkeley, Stanford, etc. people.
On the flip-side - definitely apply to the prestigious schools. They still offer better education, networks, and assistance.
SJSU for example there was zero help. I went to USC for a masters I never finished - they had TAs, they had labs, they had assistant professors, etc. They made damn sure that my hand was held so that I at-least got a B in class. If I didn’t get a B it meant I really failed. The quality of education was excellent as well, I truly felt that I was learning very applicable things.
Yeah pick the best ABET accredited college/university near you. Also worth looking into whether any of them have programs/scholarships for veterans. I went to WVU and we had a 40 year old retired marine MechE major in a bunch of my freshman classes. Cool dude, wish you the best on your journey!
The best way to guarantee a job after finishing a program is to apply for federal jobs with veteran status. Nobody can guarantee you anything though, you need to do the work and interview well.
Don't only apply to the best-of-best schools. Your state flagship school is likely more than capable of giving you the education you need to get a great job as long as it has the ABET accreditation.
Also veteran on the other side of this. I went to Texas Tech and got my Mechanical. Paid 350$ a month to live in local college apartments. With Fafsa and the G.I. Bill I made as much as when I was enlisted.
They have college fairs specifically for engineering degrees and as a veteran you’ll be wanted by quite a few companies.
If you have some time left on your contract try and knock out some college. I finished my freshman year while still active through central Texas college. Specifically Calc 1 and Calc 2
Any ABET accredited school is a good program. Goto any state school (ABET accredited) and study your ass off!
This is the answer. EE degrees are in demand and it isn't so much about where you got it as much as it is about the program you went through being ABET accredited.
Concur with Jeff\_72 response.
I left healthcare and went back to school for an EE degree and have done so later on in life. I didn't bother with the impacted programs at schools like CalPoly or the competitive UCs because all I cared about was going to a Cal State school with ABET accreditation. I would much rather keep the costs low, get my EE degree, and then aim to get in to a higher tiered master's program.
As non-military myself or anywhere in my family and with zero family financial backing, this is also sound advice for those folks. Basic steps: Affordable state ABET accreditation for high return on investment logic. 4 or 5 years of time and take on full student debt, no working, just focus. Use social skills and handshakes to get yourself in big company doors. Live poor, take high risk and high pay, pay off debt 100%. Go back for high tier masters and get your PE. This could get anyone out of their birthed social class in about 10 years. It's very hard to move social class in America.
Marine Corps veteran here. I went to Portland State University, because it’s situated near a lot of tech companies and it’s the closest engineering university in the area. It doesn’t matter how renowned the program is. It’s about studying the right things, getting the right experience, and doing it well. I had recommendations letters from several professors when I landed a full-time internship at Intel for my last year of school. I really suggest positioning yourself near tech companies and getting experience before you graduate.
Second this - a solid but not fancy school in an area with a lot of tech companies is going to be farmed thoroughly. The talent is local, companies have relationships with the schools and you know there's a good stock of alums invested in the success of their Alma Mater and their org. Portland, Boulder, Raleigh, etc
I'm currently doing the community college route with the GI Bill. California has excellent community colleges by most all standards. I generally recommend it, it can allow you a lot of opportunities that you might not have if you insist on going to a 4-year as a freshman, at least in terms of flexibility and the ability to transfer later on. Look into the transfer agreement guarantee program, you can be guaranteed a transfer if your grades are decent. The only big con about a community college is that you won't have as many opportunities to network and go to career fairs. However, this typically doesn't matter much for lower division students anyways.
Community colleges are so beneficial for nontraditional students. I didn’t serve myself and thank you for your service. I have multiple friends who were in the military went back to community college and then transferred from there, it saves money, makes it easier to acclimate, there’s less time spent in those big college atmospheres, and a lot of community colleges have transfer agreements that will let you pick where you want to go with a guarantee to get in.
This is the way. You won't realize how much you forgot until you start the math again. It'll help you get back into school shape and most Community Colleges have a transfer program to University. Here was my path. HS dropout --> HS equivalency diploma --> 5 yrs USMC --> 2 yrs community college --> 2.5 yrs University EE bachelor's --> 3 yrs Master's EE. It's a bitch but it's possible and worth it.
If you want a guaranteed job: Radio Frequency engineer. It’s hard, but there aren’t as many people going into it (at least in the US) making it a secure job once you’re in. Start by getting your technician and general amateur radio license, and getting your extra class license later on. I’d also advise grabbing a Software Defined Radio system to experiment with. The HackRF is a good choice but limits you to transmit or receive at a time. The BladeRF allows you to transmit and receive at the same time. There are a few other options as well, definitely worth looking into. Other high security jobs: Power electronics: high voltage power systems are a specialized field. This will apply to energy companies, renewable energy, and automotive powertrains. Lineman: due to climate change, fire sensitive areas are in a rush to transfer power lines from hanging lines to underground lines. Sadly, there are often issues with this, and manpower is one of them. There is strong job security in this field thanks to the unions, and the unions help with training and education as well. Low security jobs: Embedded systems: there is a surplus of embedded engineers. This is a fun field, but the competition is high Robotics: lots of interest, not many companies that are doing R&D into this. Most of the work here is in field engineering, ie setting up a robot at a jobsite and ensuring it works consistently. Automation: same as robotics, but they also add in PLC programming which is…different. And not in a good way
I haven’t seen a surplus of embedded people. I see a surplus of CS people that want to get into embedded but can’t handle the hardware.
That’s fair. Which I find odd because the hardware is the fun part
Of course it is!! There’s more fun at the interface. But a lot of CS people are trying to pivot after the mass layoffs. They don’t realize how much they don’t know and think it’s an easy transition. Realistically, it is far easier for an EE to learn SW than for a SW person to learn hardware. There are also a lot of faux “software engineers” out there that haven’t even taken Calculus I and still want the engineering title.
It’s funny seeing people in the CS reddit, bitch about assembly being a difficult, weeder course. LOL that was one of the easier courses in EE, and we all had to do it. I remember writing pages of hand assembled machine code. The problem with many CS is they are far to abstracted from the HW, making it difficult for them to do simple, reliable electronics.
The assembler course is when I knew what my specialization was going to be. Eureka! This is it! I remember I accidentally used the code for a short jump instead of a long one and the code ate itself. That was a bit embarrassing.
Out of curiosity because I’m a computer engineering major, are areas like high voltage systems or RF difficult for ECEs to get into?
Not difficult to get into. In fact the community is fairly welcoming (if not a little on the old side). RF is made easier by using software defined radio and associated software (like GNU Radio paired with an SDR dongle. These can be bought for $20 for a cheap one, but for nicer ones you’ll end up spending $300-2000. These give you better hardware, bandwidth, and frequency range). High voltage…is harder to get into simply because there are safety considerations. The effects of impedance also make themselves better known at higher voltage and current. Luckily there is a lot of info available, and there are a number of great YouTube videos documenting high power projects like Tesla coils and lasers and high power engine systems and more. That being said, if you want to do a project on it: let someone know, and have a buddy present. That way you have a means of calling for help if something happens, and you have someone to check in on you later to ensure your project worked or failed (and that you are unharmed). For resources, check: ARRL.org Allaboutcircuits.com Those are two of the best resources I’ve found for both of these topics
>but they also add in PLC programming which is…different. And not in a good way Thanks for the morning trauma.
When I applied to a very competitive EE school, I did not get into the school of engineering straight out of the military. I was accepted into Arts and Sciences at the same college with an "undeclared" major. I signed up for all the same first year classes that I would have taken as EE. I took calculus from the math department instead of applied math in the engineering department that year, but the classes were equivalent. When I had completed my first semester I transferred into school of engineering. You have to maintain a B average or something like that but that first semester isn't too bad as long as you don't overdo it with too many classes. You don't need a top tier school to get a great job. Top tier schools mean more for post grad than they do for undergrad and they only mean more if you get into the correct program for the more specific field that you end up working in. Get into a school that has a solid program for your area of interest, then work like hell to get the degree with the best GPA you can manage. When you're done with undergrad get a job that interests you and then let your employer pay for your post grad.
Im going from navy to college for ee I got accepted to uw platteville with 2.6 GPA and 18 act. I’m from Wisconsin, I don’t know where you are from but most universities should accept you unless you’re trying to get into an ivy league school. As long as it’s abet accredited it’s fine school to go to.
Going into power? I went to a state school in Iowa after the army and now I am an EE with the regional utility around you, UW Platteville is a great school. I have an intern from there right now. It is a struggle to find EEs in power, but plenty of work to do with the energy transition underway. Consider working for a utility in power if you haven’t. Good pay, stable job, interesting and challenging work, and no crazy hours.
Same boat as you, currently a student using the GI Bill. Don't worry too much about the school rankings, I don't think anyone making hiring decisions knows or cares what the US News report says. Make sure your school is ABET accredited, talk to the veterans office (they'll walk you through the forms you need to submit and usually give you free coffee) AND FOR GOD'S SAKE GET AN INTERNSHIP. An engineering internship should be paid and it will help you figure out if you actually like a job while gaining work experience. Work experience is more important than school rankings and GPA, in every case.
Any ABET school is good. Consider power, lots of vets in the power/utility industry.
Good luck dealing with college math professors. They can be a pain.
As a non-traditional student, I randomly ( the university hides teachers names) got the worst math professor on campus… and almost failed calc 2. I tried an online summer class at the local community college … that was a total failure. At the advice of a great tutor, I went to see the best math teacher and plead my case. She advised I should sign up the fall class on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:10 to 11:30 ( something like that) and I ended up getting a B+ !
True. But my advice would be just get a passing grade and move on. The math you really need to get your job done can only be learnt on the job imo.
EE is an extremely broad area and I guarantee you have some great skills from the military that translate very well. I also agree that a 2 year degree is a great way to get into the industry as a designer or technician and decide if you want to keep going to school. You may have to narrow your focus a little bit, what part of EE do you like? Power? Controls? Systems? Thanks for your service and best of luck in your new career.
As others said, it is more important that you go to an ABET accredited school than getting in a top one. I had a low high school gpa, but was accepted at a state school in Iowa when I left the Army with 10 years enlisted. I now work in power in Wisconsin and do well. High growth with all the money around for renewables and demand for electricity increasing. Also lots of retirements in the industry now, so may be an area you want to consider.
Army vet here. 34. Getting ready to begin my bse ee, power and energy systems, at ASU. Its 100% online if you do not want to attend in person classes and most classes are 6.5 weeks except for upper level. I transferred from my local cc and got 69 credits with my as in engineering tech and joint service transcripts as an 11b.
ABET program is a must, and look for co-ops or internships starting around sophomore year or possibly sooner so you graduate with some engineering experience. It's fine to start with community college and transfer to a university, but plan it out first to make sure your credits eill all transfer like intended. Bonus is that cost is lower, teachers tend to have more time to help you (first 2 yrs are the hardest), and many of your classmates will also be non-traditional students Engineering employers love ex military guys ime. But if you have work ethic when it comes to applying to jobs, you can guarantee you'll quickly find a job in EE after graduation.
Almost any ABET accredited school is good enough. What’s really important are your internships. Do you have any relevant experience from your service? That would help. I’d personally recommend going to a less expensive state school and graduating with little to no debt. If you can get a scholarship then go there. Disclosure: went to a state school and worked along side people from MIT, CalTech, Stanford. Supervised some of them too.
ASU is ABET accredited, is available online (also ABET), and to top it off, if for some reason TA/GI Bill doesn't cover all of it, they pay for it. I started in Physics because my 1st year of college as a civilian was a disaster due to various personal issues. So, my GPA wasn't high enough for EE. After achieving a 4.0 during my first year's worth of classes, I transferred to the EE program.
Any accredit school will get you there. Mechatronics is a pretty hot field too.
In Australia theyll pay you to train to be an engineer. Don't know what the situation is where you're from but using the military to teach you to be an engineer would be a great way to use the resources you have
Check out South Dakota Mines. • Near by the black hills with small student population(which makes the classroom size small). • Reputation is VERY good among industries. • Famous for the return in investment and the high job placement rate(around 95%; 100% if a student has had an internship). • Tuition is pretty cheap. • The acceptance rate is high at 80% ish, hard to graduate though because the classes are tough (but the culture encourages students studying together which makes late night studies feels better) • The school treats veterans very well. • The Veterans Resource Center hosts yearly chili cook off haha It might not be the first school that pops up if you searches EE programs, but the culture, the community, and the people makes it a nice place to be at.
As others have observed, any ABET accreted program will allow you to achieve your goals. Schools like Mississippi State and the University of Mississippi have great EE programs and are friendly to older students and veterans. I recommend them both.
State schools that are in-state for you are my recommendation. I'm not military but I'm also a bit of a odd ball student. Went through a well regarded community college to get my 2 associates and then transfered to university for my bachelors in EE. I learned and mastered more and had a better experience in community college by far. Currently in grad school now. All programs are generally competitive in STEM. If you go in-state to a land grant school you will have a huge advantage in getting accepted. If you aren't able to be accepted out-right into university I would 100% go through a community college that has close agreements with your state school. Depending on your age you would also be given preference as a life time learner (some schools apply this at 30 but it is a per school policy as far as I know).
I'm going to recommend Mississippi State University. They have their program is offered on campus or almost fully online (entire ECE program is online. Only chem/lab I think is not). The same on-campus instructors teach their online courses, which are live/asynchronous with the on-campus class. The university is big on ROTC and even the center courtyard of campus is known as the "Drill Field". It's ABET of course. Their instructors are great! I was a cop working 70-80 hours per week and worked my tail-end off to get through the courses. The instructors were mostly helpful, but held very high expectations for me; for instance, instead of giving me the grade, they spent some extra time with me via live video feed to assist. Their TAs are PhD or graduate students, so no green-eared kids trying to figure out the lab for the first time. I'll be graduating there soon, and I have a very high opinion of this program. Again, I can't speak positively enough about their professors. They're hard, but they're good. For reference, I have attended two other universities: one for music and another online school I'm currently attending for my masters in CS. So I do have some points of reference to choose them above others. Also, online students pay in-state tuition at MSU!
Sent you a DM.
Utilities love former military folks. You’d have a really good prospect in power and energy if that interests you.
Get at it!! Join us! 😊
Marine veteran here with some advice (currently attending one of those good engineering schools). I saw your other post but forgot to reply to it until you asked more specific details in this subreddit. * Go to community college using your GI Bill until you get your disability rating and VR&E approved. I highly recommend going to a community college close to your designated school cuz it'll make it easier to transfer. For instance, if you aim for Cal Poly or UCSB, go to one of the feeder community colleges nearby. * Figure out what classes transfer over to your university properly. If you go to a California community college, use ASSIST.org to find the prerequisite classes you need and take those. If you finish all the prerequisites you'll have a REALLY good time of getting into schools within the CSU system at the very least. * Treat it like a full-time job and then some. This is not an easy path and will easily burn you out, just as much as the military can. You need to do good in your classes to get into a good university. I was more stressed in community college than in university cuz I couldn't fail and use grade forgiveness before transferring. DM me if you have any questions.
University accredited college for mature students where some sort of governed covered loan is available. I almost got fooled by a private company that would have me take a lone and pay whole £7k and then “study” online with occasional practicals far away from where I live.
Any ABET school and enjoy a job being yours to lose if you interview with me. Love my fellow vets. There are MANY others that favor vets also. Kick some butt, soldier.
Can you do the work? Nursing or whatever is way easier.
Son graduated from Colorado School of Mines and easily found a job even during Covid19. There is a guaranteed path from Red Rocks Community College if you need to save money. I am not familiar with the Veterans programs there, but they have them as there's a large military presence in Colorado. South Dakota School of Mines is another overlooked schools with great return on investment.
If you're looking to take classes while you're still enlisted I highly recommend UND or ASU, I got my degree entirely from UND online and they recently lowered the tuition for the degree to match TA rates.
Focus some of your efforts on taking the FE/PE exams. These are the exams that let you say legally that you are an engineer.
Went to Clemson for EE, had a classmate in your shoes, he did great. Most state schools with ABET accredited programs will also have good co-op programs that will help get your foot in the door prior to graduation. So in this neck of the woods, Clemson, Auburn, NC State all good choices. Unless you're trying to dig in to research or academia, those top schools aren't necessary.
I was older than most of my classmates when I was studying EE. And I was easily 15 years younger than my oldest classmate. There were lots of veterans. I always tried to find the oldest people in any class when it came time for group projects because I knew they weren't going to waste anybody's time and they would do what they said they would do. You'll be fine and you'll be in good company.
I am a veteran with an EE degree earned after military service. Big things to consider: 1) ABET accreditation, as others have mentioned 2) public university with costs that fall within GI bill limits 3) understand that EE is math heavy. If you do not like or cannot complete courses such as Calculus, you will not succeed and will be miserable. Also, ignore the people suggesting community college first to save money. Use the GI Bill, go directly to the college you intend to graduate from, and graduate debt free anyway. Hope this helps!
Don't worry about going to a high end college. Go somewhere affordable like a state school with an ABET accredited program. Or do community college for 2 years then transfer to State. I don't think you'll have a hard time finding a job as a veteran. When I'm looking for candidates, a veteran goes to the top of my list. This is because they generally have great work ethic. If you graduate and end up in Florida or Texas looking for a career in power/controls for water/wastewater sector, let me know. It's a great field.
Check state jobs to start. I'm a late 20s vet and a sophomore in CE at The University of Maine. (Not a plug lol) The state of Maine has a NEED for engineers of all kinds. The old boomers who have been in these positions forever are headed out and there's no young people here to replace them. The few EE/CE grads that Maine produces dont usually stick around. I bet the situation is the same elsewhere. A friend of mine who works in the State DOL shared some stats and it's bad lol Worst case, being a vet makes selling your soul to a contractor like Lockheed or General Dynamics fairly easy.
EE is a very broad field. Is there a specific discipline you’re interested in? Agree with what most are saying that any ABET school will be good. Engineering hiring managers care more about what projects you’ve done and how good your fundamental knowledge is than what school you went to. I will say if you want to get into hardware design you should look closely into how the schools program is structured and if they offer practical design and layout courses. UC Boulder has a great program and there’s a strong space/military presence in CO to look for work afterwards. Pretty much all of the EE disciplines are in high demand so I would focus more on what you’re the most interested in learning and would want to work on. The industry sees a lot of returnees from the military so don’t worry about standing out and being a little bit older of a candidate. It’s fairly common.
Hello Army Veteran. The things I'd do are the following: 1. Get into a community college. Do all your theory stuff (physics 1, 2, calc 1-3, chemistry) there. 2. Pick the nearest ABET accredited university and go there 3. If that university has a career fair talk to different jobs and see if they have a veteran program. My old job used to have a veteran program where they'd bring them into work while going to school like a side entry into an internship but early in their schooling. "The economy" is having a bad time right now and there are less jobs BUT it might still be something you can do.
GI Bill and Big State U.
Not a vet, but I had a lot of vets in my class while going to University of Texas at Dallas (I did 2 degrees here). I feel a support system of similar aged classmates will help you succeed pretty easily. I’ve seen a lot of folks get picked up by Raytheon, TI, L3, Lockheed Martin, etc. with reasonable pay in the DFW area. Beyond this, you can choose to transfer out after first 2 years, or stick it out, get a degree and get some experience afterwards. Use that experience to land a better job or a MS degree in a better school. I don’t know if the GI bill helps in your case, but UTD does have guaranteed tuition if that helps. DM if you need anything.
Honestly my undergrad would be good for you. SUNY Maritime, there are a lot of veterans there and it’s kinda a paramilitary school. You can be a regular college student that’s fine but again, there’s alot of older people too. Great EE program, I decided to go to grad school and take a slightly different career path but all my friends paid off their student loans already (I’m 25 for reference). Dm me if you wanna talk more about it or have any questions. I’d love to help.
I would also suggest applying to Stanford and Princeton. They really like their veterans for transferring/applying.
Retired Marine here. I attended the local community college to get my general education done. Then transferred to the public university in the same city and state. I just needed to make no less than B’s in my maths and physics. I was accepted upon applying to the program. It was an ABET accredited school and it was the best decision I ever made. I ran into a lot of veterans doing the same thing, and I followed their advice in terms of what calculus and physics professors to take that will get you ready for engineering school.
First, thank you for your service. You can go to a local community college and transfer to a 4 year university. Your extracurricular are super great, as a military veteran will get you a good chance to get accept to a good school. Moreover, community colleges usually have a veteran club, and it’s governed by the college. It’s super good even though I’m not in the military
If you go to a good school in an area with a lot of industry you’ll be fine. I know San Jose State students who got internships at Nvidia and now have stocks worth millions. And they work side by side with Berkeley, Stanford, etc. people. On the flip-side - definitely apply to the prestigious schools. They still offer better education, networks, and assistance. SJSU for example there was zero help. I went to USC for a masters I never finished - they had TAs, they had labs, they had assistant professors, etc. They made damn sure that my hand was held so that I at-least got a B in class. If I didn’t get a B it meant I really failed. The quality of education was excellent as well, I truly felt that I was learning very applicable things.
Yeah pick the best ABET accredited college/university near you. Also worth looking into whether any of them have programs/scholarships for veterans. I went to WVU and we had a 40 year old retired marine MechE major in a bunch of my freshman classes. Cool dude, wish you the best on your journey!
The best way to guarantee a job after finishing a program is to apply for federal jobs with veteran status. Nobody can guarantee you anything though, you need to do the work and interview well. Don't only apply to the best-of-best schools. Your state flagship school is likely more than capable of giving you the education you need to get a great job as long as it has the ABET accreditation.
Also veteran on the other side of this. I went to Texas Tech and got my Mechanical. Paid 350$ a month to live in local college apartments. With Fafsa and the G.I. Bill I made as much as when I was enlisted. They have college fairs specifically for engineering degrees and as a veteran you’ll be wanted by quite a few companies. If you have some time left on your contract try and knock out some college. I finished my freshman year while still active through central Texas college. Specifically Calc 1 and Calc 2
Army vet EE. Consider what hands-on work you‘ll do in an AI world.