Their internships make their programs, and a lot of times you can continue the internships part time while you’re still in school depending on the company and how they like you/have use for you. I graduated with about 3+ years of internships; all paid.
Automotive is a field I would not center my degree around. I’d do a general ME/MET degree with an additional BA degree. RITs business school is very good, but I believe UB’s school of business has better rankings.
I’m going back next fall for my MBA, company sponsered, to UB (Executive MBA).
It’s a personal choice, both are great schools for both business and engineering.
As for cost; I graduated RIT having about $27K in loans, and I went there for all 5 years (but I got a TON of grants/scholerships/etc).
Oh, and those who will argue the whole ME Vs MET thing, let’s not get into that again. All I’ve got to say is this… it all depends on what you want to do with your degree. Personally my MET has served me VERY well. I worked in the Aerospace Electronics field for just under 5 years, I’m now in the Medical Device industry and work for Moog as a Project Engineer. I have the sponsership from Moog to go back to school for my MBA (not just $$ and the ok; but a signed letter of sponsorship for their Execuative MBA Program).
Bottom line is this; both colleges will serve you well; both will give you the tools you need to do anything you want; don’t get yourself stuck in a corner by concentrating on automotive; and the rest is all up to you.
Not really knowing exactly what classes you took previously, but I doubt any of it will transfer over to an engineering curriculum, so you’ll likely be starting completely from scratch. Engineering isn’t exactly the type of degree you go get because you’re bored, it requires ALOT of time, meaning homework, studying, projects, labs, etc.
Oh, and probably 2% of engineers actually end up working in the auto industry, so if you think an engineering degree is going to teach you about cars and automatically get you a job in the auto industry you’re sadly wrong.
BTW: I’m an ME from UB, who used to work for Ford in both Buffalo and Detroit, left 4 years ago and haven’t once looked back. So that’s my background on this.
You’re doing the right thing, so no worries. HOWEVER, you need to speak with people who are recent graduates(like a lot of us). We have valuable advice on what our expectations were vs. what the real world is like.
I’ll tell you what. You’re best bet is to enroll at UB. Get into the ME curriculum a bit. Trust me when I say that by the end of the first year, you WILL know whether or not you want to continue that path. If you don’t want to, you cut your loss and move on to another degree program. Spending that money will at least be the best eye-opener you’ve ever had. At best, you will have solidified your decision for an Engineering career path.
having graduated Network security from RIT in '06 and then moving to the DC area afterwards… RIT is NOT known as well as you think it is nationally. Seriously.
Its a good school, and I wouldn’t shy away from telling people to go there by any means. But its a lot of work, especially for ME. I had 3 ME roommates, and 1 Micro-E rommate… they all had way more work than I did, and I had a lot.
Everyone knows the difference between an MET and ME degree… its only the kids that couldn’t get in to the ME programs that try and convince you there isn’t one.
That said, I went to RIT and it was great. I think RIT has a better reputation nationally however cost is a big factor between the two. RITs co-op program is huge. I would never hire an engineer without strong co-op experience, it is much easier to get at RIT due to the history of the program however these days it is becoming more common place so this isn’t as big an issue any more.
In the co-ops you’ll realize that what you make is far less important than the job you have. I co-oped for a defense contractor working on nuclear missile subs, worked for an automotive manufacturer and then had the best job working making plastic zip-lock bags. Don’t get hung up on what you’ll do later.
An ME degree will give you the greatest flexibility in terms of careers after school as just about every industry ever utilizes them.
Why do you want a business degree? It won’t make you any more attractive as an entry level engineer, and will add work to the course load. However if you’re looking to start your own business or something similar I can see it having more benefit. If you want to get in to business / management long term and use engineering as the base, I would think it would make more sense to pursue your MBA after you’ve had industry experience than get an undergrad B-degree (or even worse, waste your time on a dual degree MBA program, MBA w/o work experience is worthless)
I agree with Walter, getting MBA without a real world experience is not as useful, unless you jsut wahnt to get into some finance or accounting type track.
I got hired for product development in the aircraft group and go to UB which doesn’t have an MET type of program. When I was hired I was told that the MET program at RIT was held lower than the normal program at RIT or UB and that for the most part, those people are considered for more of an engineering tech position instead.(obviously) But it’s still great money and it all depends on where you want to be. If you excel in the MET it will probably still serve you really well and you could even end up in a design type of position. But MET stuff is for internal work and not product development.
Walter is right. An MET is not the same as an ME. Sure you’ll find a job with an MET, but it is not held in the same regard as an ME is, plain and simple.
And I’ll be honest, when I review resumes, all things the same I rank the ME’s higher than the MET’s.
Hey, I’m just telling my experience… I’ve had no real hold back in regards to my career and my career path with what I took for school.
I did Military Product Development, Aerospace (Business, Commercial, and Military) Product Pevelopment, and Project/Program management; am now doing Medical Device Product Development/Program Management; and have gotten my approval/letter/sponsorship for my UB Executive MBA from Moog…
I may not be typical, but that’s my personal experience…
Edit: And we’ve gotten into this before on prior threads, and SPECIFICALLY stated that this wasn’t the place or time for that discussion as it’s been gone over before here MANY times… But SOMEONE seems to like to bring it up over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. I’ve also never said they were the same, you can search that…
They care about the school from the stand point of they are not going to look at graduates from local schools in the same light as nationally ranked schools.
I’d say I care more about the school than the GPA.
But the real reason you go to the school is for the connections and networking. The infrastructure in place to get you co-ops and get you a job after graduation.
After your first job, it doesn’t really matter unless you’re dealing with Alumni.
Regarding RIT not being nationally known, it probably isn’t for Business, but as far as engineering is concerned it is, and I run in to plenty of RIT grads. Can’t say the same for UB graduates outside of WNY.
Not saying it is better, just saying to imply that the choice of school doesn’t make a difference isn’t all that accurate IMO.
people will always debate the cost of going to a more expensive school vs a less expensive school.
it comes down to an individual application, go were your heart is. if you go with your heart, it doesn’t matter how much $ you make, or what you do, you’re going to enjoy yourself.