How many years as undergrad?

[CJM]

Best advice I can give is to take classes that will transfer at your local community college. This way it costs way less and you get the same credits you would at the big school.

[DHC6twinotter]

Best advice I can give is to take classes that will transfer at your local community college. This way it costs way less and you get the same credits you would at the big school.

I agree. Most of my gen ed was taken at community college. When I transferred into mechanical engineering at a real college, I could have graduated in 3 years. After staying in ME for 1.5 years, I figured math wasn't for me. I switched majors to Geography and graduated in another 1.5 years.

A lot of schools offer what is called a 2+2 program. One of my old roommates did this for some sort of engineering (can't remember what--maybe computer?). Most of the time, these programs will let you go to community college and earn an associates degree, then you transfer to a real college and continue on with your B.S. or B.A. It's a great way to save money.

Also, while this doesn't apply to you since you (scuba) are out of high school already, some colleges have a dual enrollment program. This program allows a high school student to take college level classes. These classes will fulfill both the high school and college requirements, and are free to take, except for maybe a small processing fee. For example, I was home-schooled, but I took college level Spanish I and Algebra II at the local community college. These classes counted towards both my high school and college requirements. So, I took all my CAD related classes, many of my required English classes, Algebra II, and Spanish I at community college during my last 2 years of high school. Price came out to $9.95/semester, plus books and some drafting supplies. Total for the 2 years was under $500. It's a great plan.

A guy I know took so many college level classes while in high school, that when he did graduate high school, he only had 2 years of college left. Lucky. Benefit of being homeschooled I guess.

Anyways, sorry for rambling on.

[CJM]

Indeed good advice ^

I am doing the 2+2 right now but took the year off just cause I was sick of the daily grind and wanted some cash instead of barely working and being broke.

Anyways, its a good idea if you can to try and take some summer classes. I always worked fulltime and then some every summer so I couldnt, but several friends did and even if its only one class thats 1 more less you gotta take during the year and since its summer most of its more relaxed then the regular semesters b/c well everyone else is relaxed.

Either way so long as it doesnt take you forever when you get that paper your good. Some jobs even offer to pay for bettering yourself. So say you get a job and explain to them you are still going to obtain the degree but already have say your AA-they may pay for it!

[mastacox]

I took 5 years for my Mechanical Engineering degree (normal at my school is somewhere around there). Mainly I didn't do it in 4 because I wasn't willing to take 17-20 credit semesters and stayed around 12-15 credit semesters instead, which I feel helped me concentrate on the classes better and still have time for a part-time job, hobbies (my 92 4Runner), and a social life. I was also able to take a few extra classes in addition to my regular course schedule, which helped me branch out a bit into computer science and philosophy.

If you can do it in 4 tuition will be a year cheaper, but stress levels can hit critical levels when you're doing school 24 hrs a day 7 days a week IMO.

P.S.- Summer classes are a great idea I wish I took more advantage of. I took one summer class for my entire college career; it ended up not only being one of my favorite classes, but basically got me my job too.

[Scuba]

Thanks for the advice guys, ill look into all that...Time for a math test...lol...

[Seanz0rz]

basically engineering degrees at my school (cal poly pomona) take 5 years. very very few people get out in 4, most in 5, and more and more in 6 or later. i got stuck doing some math classes that i didnt feel i should do. they were so easy that i didnt do the homework or study, so i ended up failing them. i never failed classes because i partied too much. in fact, so far ive had alot more fun in highschool than i ever had in college.

for me there were some barrier gateway classes that i couldnt pass (either because i was too lazy or because they were genuinely difficult). i have just recently gotten through those, so now im kickin butt and flying through these courses that are both interesting and challenging. i am learning alot, and enojying it. the problem with those low level classes like basic physics and math, i did those in highschool, so i had the attitude that i was "better than that", something that is very dangerous in college... treat every class like its the most important class, and give it your all... haha.

[Small_words]

4 years for my Mechanical Engineering degree. I had one semester where I took 18 hours, the rest were 21. If you're an engineer, spend as much time in the lab tinkering as you can. The theoretical stuff is good, but playing around with a vehicle is a great way to learn how the different disciplines work together. The reason developing countries try to make cars is because it takes a high level of manufacturing and design expertise to make a decent car.

[oly884]

P.S.- Summer classes are a great idea I wish I took more advantage of. I took one summer class for my entire college career; it ended up not only being one of my favorite classes, but basically got me my job too.

Summer classes are the best, since no chemical engineering classes were offered in the summer, I took core classes/prerequisites and loved it. At MSU, we had 6 week, and 12 week courses, monday through thursday (3-day weekends, oh yeah), longer classes, but to be done in 6 or 12 weeks is so awesome. No BS, just go in, learn, test, etc, and get out. I'd take my entire college career like that!

I HIGHLY suggest taking summer classes to not only speed up the process, but also make it easier to get the boring/troublesome classes out of the way.

[surf4runner]

6 1/4 i was 2 units short to grad, so i paid out the ___ to get those last 2 units=internship.
took a 5 break after HS... since i already knew everything.

i paid for it myself and went to 4 yrs of CC then transfered to UCSB and graduated.
student loans were paid off in <2 yr2 that way!

[tulsa_sr5]

4yrs, but that was for a business degree, no way I could have done an engineering degree in 4. From this thread I appear to be the only non-engineer on the site?