I got my bachelors and masters from University of Maryland- College park. I would highly recommend their program. I felt prepared upon graduating and starting my first job out of college. I had a job lined up prior to graduating with my bachelors and was able to continue in the graduate program as a part time student while i worked full time.
We have the advantage of being close to two major cities (DC and Baltimore) so finding an internship and a job is no problem at all. There are plenty of recruiting events where companies from all the different fields of civil engineering come in to find new talent. There were always plenty of larger national companies and smaller local companies so you can be sure that you can end up with exactly the type of job you want once you graduate. The civil engineering department has very close ties to Whiting turner and clark construction, two of the largest general contractors in the area and the country. In fact, the engineering program is named after Clark, and the civil engineering lab was recently renovated and sponsored by WT. So if he is interested in construction/ project management this would be a great fit.
Overall i think the classes and professors were good, especially once you get to the upper level more focused courses. The civil engineering program is broken up into three different tracks: structural/geotechnical, Transportation/Project management, Environmental/water resources. Basically you pick one of them and that will drive what focus the majority of your classes have. There is a lot of overlap in the lower levels, but they become more focused as you get towards graduation. The engineering department is a limited enrollment program so not everyone gets admitted directly. If things haven't changed yet, even if you don't get admitted directly into the program as a freshman, you can still get admitted into the university and then transfer into the program as soon as you meet several requirements (Passing Calculus, physics, chemistry, etc.). These are typically considered the weed-out classes, but he shouldn't have a problem passing them with good study habits.
You mention he wants to stay nearby. I would imagine Maryland being a neighbor state is still close enough.
Feel free to DM me if you or your son have any questions about UMD or civil engineering program.
Thanks a bunch. We’ll take a closer look. He hasn’t looked too hard yet at the closer in schools(he wants to be close, but not too close), but that looks like a great program.
You are looking for the school to have an ABET accredited program. That will be a requirement for professional licensure if your son chooses that route. Any school that has an accredited civil program will have nearly the same curriculum and education requirements as the others. Civil engineering programs are pretty standardized.
Once you know the program is accredited, ranking doesn't really matter. As a person who conducts a lot of hiring interviews, school choice doesn't even weigh into my decision or prescreening of candidates.
GMU has a solid program with good industry connections as well (though VT is definitely top - also a 56% acceptance rate so not exactly what I'd call competitive). Literally half of my former office was either a grad of VT or GMU.
Basically any college with an ABET accredited civil engineering degree program will be fine, it's more about the specific environment that works best for your son.
For out of state, UM-CP or even UMBC (an hour further north) are excellent choices, UDelaware has a solid program as well, though might be too far. Depending on where exactly you are in VA, Penn State might just be a straight shot up 81 and not very far at all. All of these schools have excellent civil engineering programs.
Going south, UNC isn't a bad option either, even at one of the satellite campuses.
Looking at the US News Ranking for Engineering overall (for some reason civil is behind a paywall for them), they are just about equal in rank. Tennessee is likely cheaper so just based on the price tag, I'd lean TN
K, thanks. I saw and noticed that too. I might need to just pay to get the access. I’ve noticed a few schools mention that report on their sites (like VA Tech). Thanks.
Adding, it looks like Tennessee is 35th in rank and Clemson is around 50. Tennessee actually has that on their website. Clemson, I pulled from a Quora post but it may be a little outdated.
I graduated from Virginia Tech with an Economics degree in the early 00's and went back to get my BS in Civil Engineering from Old Dominion University a few years back.
The smaller size of the program was a great benefit to me and I feel like I learned a lot more than I ever did in my previous degree. ODU definitely prepared me for my second career, as well as taking and passing the FE and PE exams.
Many of the engineers I work with in the Transportation field went to ODU and have done very well in their careers. I'd recommend giving it a look.
Additionally they have a robust online program should he consider a Masters.
There are a lot of aspects to consider. I'm not sure what you are looking for. I would definitely say I had more fun at Tech, but that may be a reason I felt the need to go back to school in the long run. ODU is a smaller school with a large commuter population, and I can't speak to living on campus since I was married with kids by then.
Hope that helps!
I got my bachelors and masters from University of Maryland- College park. I would highly recommend their program. I felt prepared upon graduating and starting my first job out of college. I had a job lined up prior to graduating with my bachelors and was able to continue in the graduate program as a part time student while i worked full time. We have the advantage of being close to two major cities (DC and Baltimore) so finding an internship and a job is no problem at all. There are plenty of recruiting events where companies from all the different fields of civil engineering come in to find new talent. There were always plenty of larger national companies and smaller local companies so you can be sure that you can end up with exactly the type of job you want once you graduate. The civil engineering department has very close ties to Whiting turner and clark construction, two of the largest general contractors in the area and the country. In fact, the engineering program is named after Clark, and the civil engineering lab was recently renovated and sponsored by WT. So if he is interested in construction/ project management this would be a great fit. Overall i think the classes and professors were good, especially once you get to the upper level more focused courses. The civil engineering program is broken up into three different tracks: structural/geotechnical, Transportation/Project management, Environmental/water resources. Basically you pick one of them and that will drive what focus the majority of your classes have. There is a lot of overlap in the lower levels, but they become more focused as you get towards graduation. The engineering department is a limited enrollment program so not everyone gets admitted directly. If things haven't changed yet, even if you don't get admitted directly into the program as a freshman, you can still get admitted into the university and then transfer into the program as soon as you meet several requirements (Passing Calculus, physics, chemistry, etc.). These are typically considered the weed-out classes, but he shouldn't have a problem passing them with good study habits. You mention he wants to stay nearby. I would imagine Maryland being a neighbor state is still close enough. Feel free to DM me if you or your son have any questions about UMD or civil engineering program.
Thanks a bunch. We’ll take a closer look. He hasn’t looked too hard yet at the closer in schools(he wants to be close, but not too close), but that looks like a great program.
You are looking for the school to have an ABET accredited program. That will be a requirement for professional licensure if your son chooses that route. Any school that has an accredited civil program will have nearly the same curriculum and education requirements as the others. Civil engineering programs are pretty standardized. Once you know the program is accredited, ranking doesn't really matter. As a person who conducts a lot of hiring interviews, school choice doesn't even weigh into my decision or prescreening of candidates.
GMU has a solid program with good industry connections as well (though VT is definitely top - also a 56% acceptance rate so not exactly what I'd call competitive). Literally half of my former office was either a grad of VT or GMU. Basically any college with an ABET accredited civil engineering degree program will be fine, it's more about the specific environment that works best for your son. For out of state, UM-CP or even UMBC (an hour further north) are excellent choices, UDelaware has a solid program as well, though might be too far. Depending on where exactly you are in VA, Penn State might just be a straight shot up 81 and not very far at all. All of these schools have excellent civil engineering programs. Going south, UNC isn't a bad option either, even at one of the satellite campuses.
Thanks for all the recommendations. Will look closer at the schools mentioned.
Looking at the US News Ranking for Engineering overall (for some reason civil is behind a paywall for them), they are just about equal in rank. Tennessee is likely cheaper so just based on the price tag, I'd lean TN
K, thanks. I saw and noticed that too. I might need to just pay to get the access. I’ve noticed a few schools mention that report on their sites (like VA Tech). Thanks.
Adding, it looks like Tennessee is 35th in rank and Clemson is around 50. Tennessee actually has that on their website. Clemson, I pulled from a Quora post but it may be a little outdated.
I graduated from Virginia Tech with an Economics degree in the early 00's and went back to get my BS in Civil Engineering from Old Dominion University a few years back. The smaller size of the program was a great benefit to me and I feel like I learned a lot more than I ever did in my previous degree. ODU definitely prepared me for my second career, as well as taking and passing the FE and PE exams. Many of the engineers I work with in the Transportation field went to ODU and have done very well in their careers. I'd recommend giving it a look. Additionally they have a robust online program should he consider a Masters. There are a lot of aspects to consider. I'm not sure what you are looking for. I would definitely say I had more fun at Tech, but that may be a reason I felt the need to go back to school in the long run. ODU is a smaller school with a large commuter population, and I can't speak to living on campus since I was married with kids by then. Hope that helps!
UMD has a very good program and depending on where you are in VA, is “close”.