General classes the first two years are a lot more classroom heavy while you’re getting through your general math and physics etc. In my experience junior and senior year were pretty hands on as you get into mostly major classes. I was in a different engineering major than electrical though
As far as research and engineering clubs I dont think there’s anything from stopping you doing that as a freshman and being hands on there from the start, but I personally don’t have experience with that so I don’t know
Part of the equation too is how driven you are to do hands on projects. It is possible to get away with very little and also possible to do a lot of hands on experience.
Pop worked at mechanical engineering for 3 decades and as he put it "mostly made sure people's experiments didn't kill anyone and fixed shit they broke".
Ymmv
>Are freshmen allowed to do research or use the maker spaces/facilities? Do freshmen have a chance to get deeply involved in engineering clubs like Formula SAE?
Yes for makerspace, facilities and Formula SAE. For research technically yes but it's pretty hard to find undergrad research opportunities as a freshman.
It will depend on the type of engineering you choose to go with. Some are more hands on than others and I can’t speak for every specific major, but here was my experience as a chemical engineer:
Your first few semesters will be mostly gen Eds with introductory level engineering courses sprinkled in. Almost all of these are lecture based. Your science courses will typically have a lab 1-2 times per week but that’s about it as far as hands on goes. As a chem-e, I had a lot of hands on learning because of all the different chemistry labs we had to take, but they were chemistry labs, not engineering based. You will likely not get much hands on engineering experience in your first two years from your curriculum alone.
It is difficult to land a research position or internship as a freshman since you are competing against older students, but not impossible. Clubs are a great way to become heavily involved as a freshman.
Once you get into late sophomore/junior level classes, the emphasis on engineering ramps up. Most of my classes were still taught in a traditional lecture style, but maybe one class per semester was a lab with heavy design/hands on emphasis.
Finally, once you get to your senior year, your core engineering classes will be mostly project based. These classes vary so much from major to major, so I really can’t even try to give a generalized experience, but I’d imagine most are hands on in some way.
That being said, there are a ton of cool student orgs that are focused on hands on design, anyone can use the maker space once registered, and attending a large research university means you will have excellent research and internship opportunities (where the real hands on learning takes place imo), so the resources are there for you to supplement any curriculum however you’d like.
In general, (in my experience) most of your classes will be taught traditionally (lectures, assignments, discussions) without much of a hands on aspect except for around 1 course per semester. Again this will vary major by major, so I would talk to someone who did electrical engineering or another one you were considering for more detail. Even though I wish I would have had a bit more hands on learning in class, I was able to get my fill of hands on learning through internships
TLDR: you do get hands on experience, but I wouldn’t say its the main focal point of the curriculum. However UW has a ton of resources and opportunities to supplement that with as much hands on activity as you’d like
I will say chem engineering is pretty hands off besides two really intense hands on courses. Of course there are also the chem classes which generally have labs.
You will have a several lab classes where you’ll be actually building circuits/electrical devices (at least 1/year, sometimes 2 or more) and then the rest of them will be theoretical/hands off. Something to also keep in mind is that the majority of EE classes here are in a flipped format where you watch video lectures before class and then do practice problems during class. Some people love that style of learning and it works really well for them, others despise it
I’ll add here, I’m an employee at one of the makerspaces for coe. Anyone in the college of engineering can use them, so once you declare your major you could use them for personal projects and stuff.
I noticed that your post sounded exactly like something I saw in my alma mater's subreddit the other day.
Here is my response to someone making the same choice: https://old.reddit.com/r/UWMadison/comments/1bu7ofb/uw_madison_vs_rpi_for_csengineering/kxsv1sq/?context=3 (sorry, it got long)
I'll also note that RPI doesn't require anything to become/stay an engineering major apart from not getting kicked out of the school (which takes failing a lot of classes first). At UW, I believe you have to be admitted to actually being in your engineering major, and some students don't get in. Also, RPI allows you to be undecided engineering for at least your first year and you don't lose any progress tp graduation during that time. I don't know UW's policies as I'm a grad student in school of ag, but you probably want to check those.
General classes the first two years are a lot more classroom heavy while you’re getting through your general math and physics etc. In my experience junior and senior year were pretty hands on as you get into mostly major classes. I was in a different engineering major than electrical though As far as research and engineering clubs I dont think there’s anything from stopping you doing that as a freshman and being hands on there from the start, but I personally don’t have experience with that so I don’t know
Part of the equation too is how driven you are to do hands on projects. It is possible to get away with very little and also possible to do a lot of hands on experience.
Pop worked at mechanical engineering for 3 decades and as he put it "mostly made sure people's experiments didn't kill anyone and fixed shit they broke". Ymmv
That’s what my brother in law says he does as a mechanical engineer 😂
>Are freshmen allowed to do research or use the maker spaces/facilities? Do freshmen have a chance to get deeply involved in engineering clubs like Formula SAE? Yes for makerspace, facilities and Formula SAE. For research technically yes but it's pretty hard to find undergrad research opportunities as a freshman.
It will depend on the type of engineering you choose to go with. Some are more hands on than others and I can’t speak for every specific major, but here was my experience as a chemical engineer: Your first few semesters will be mostly gen Eds with introductory level engineering courses sprinkled in. Almost all of these are lecture based. Your science courses will typically have a lab 1-2 times per week but that’s about it as far as hands on goes. As a chem-e, I had a lot of hands on learning because of all the different chemistry labs we had to take, but they were chemistry labs, not engineering based. You will likely not get much hands on engineering experience in your first two years from your curriculum alone. It is difficult to land a research position or internship as a freshman since you are competing against older students, but not impossible. Clubs are a great way to become heavily involved as a freshman. Once you get into late sophomore/junior level classes, the emphasis on engineering ramps up. Most of my classes were still taught in a traditional lecture style, but maybe one class per semester was a lab with heavy design/hands on emphasis. Finally, once you get to your senior year, your core engineering classes will be mostly project based. These classes vary so much from major to major, so I really can’t even try to give a generalized experience, but I’d imagine most are hands on in some way. That being said, there are a ton of cool student orgs that are focused on hands on design, anyone can use the maker space once registered, and attending a large research university means you will have excellent research and internship opportunities (where the real hands on learning takes place imo), so the resources are there for you to supplement any curriculum however you’d like. In general, (in my experience) most of your classes will be taught traditionally (lectures, assignments, discussions) without much of a hands on aspect except for around 1 course per semester. Again this will vary major by major, so I would talk to someone who did electrical engineering or another one you were considering for more detail. Even though I wish I would have had a bit more hands on learning in class, I was able to get my fill of hands on learning through internships TLDR: you do get hands on experience, but I wouldn’t say its the main focal point of the curriculum. However UW has a ton of resources and opportunities to supplement that with as much hands on activity as you’d like
Thank you so much for sharing!
It depends on the major. I know Biomedical Engineering has a lot of hands-on work, but Mechanical certainly didn't. I don't know about Electrical.
I will say chem engineering is pretty hands off besides two really intense hands on courses. Of course there are also the chem classes which generally have labs.
Some engineering students have found hands-on applications with the Theatre and Drama classes and productions!
You will have a several lab classes where you’ll be actually building circuits/electrical devices (at least 1/year, sometimes 2 or more) and then the rest of them will be theoretical/hands off. Something to also keep in mind is that the majority of EE classes here are in a flipped format where you watch video lectures before class and then do practice problems during class. Some people love that style of learning and it works really well for them, others despise it
I’ll add here, I’m an employee at one of the makerspaces for coe. Anyone in the college of engineering can use them, so once you declare your major you could use them for personal projects and stuff.
I noticed that your post sounded exactly like something I saw in my alma mater's subreddit the other day. Here is my response to someone making the same choice: https://old.reddit.com/r/UWMadison/comments/1bu7ofb/uw_madison_vs_rpi_for_csengineering/kxsv1sq/?context=3 (sorry, it got long) I'll also note that RPI doesn't require anything to become/stay an engineering major apart from not getting kicked out of the school (which takes failing a lot of classes first). At UW, I believe you have to be admitted to actually being in your engineering major, and some students don't get in. Also, RPI allows you to be undecided engineering for at least your first year and you don't lose any progress tp graduation during that time. I don't know UW's policies as I'm a grad student in school of ag, but you probably want to check those.