Looking for some input on colleges that offer engineering. Here are my questions:

1. Are there just 3 engineering schools in Kentucky--Louisville, UK and WKU?

2. Any information on D3 engineering schools in the area? Surrounding states?

3. Have heard many people talk about Louisville's reputation as a great engineering school. Anyone familiar with UK's engineering program? (U.S. News and World Report lists UK's engineering at #94 and Louisville Engineering at #124.)

 

Thanks. :thumb:

What type of engineering?

What type of engineering?

Computer Engineering.

Computer Engineering.

I would not put much stock in the general rankings of engineering schools. Computer engineering has little in common with fields such as mechanical, mining, chemical, or civil engineering, and those programs will factor heavily in the ranks for schools like UK and U of L.

 

I am no expert in this area, but I strongly suspect that you will find that the best Computer Engineering programs are in areas like Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, TX, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Large cities with large populations of Asians will be where you find the best technology programs.

I am not sure if they specifically offer a computer engineering degree, but I believe NKU's College of Infomatics is considered very good. They are one of less than 10 colleges focused in the computer infomatics area. That may not be what you are looking for education wise but they are worth checking out.

Like Mitch Rapp said, don't take to much stock into rankings. But if you do, UK has the top engineering program in KY. WKU has a joint type program with UK, not sure if it is like this for every type of engineering there, but a chunk of their classes they essentially watch a tv with a UK teacher on it teaching the class to UK students in person. I have heard good things about UL also. I can't speak for UL, but at UK once you get about into your 4th or 5th semester the classes usually become pretty small and are more of a high school type environment. I have heard that Georgetown offers engineering but could be mistaken. I know UK has tours specifically for the engineering program, I'm sure the over schools do also, check them out and see how they look.

Like Mitch Rapp said, don't take to much stock into rankings. But if you do, UK has the top engineering program in KY. WKU has a joint type program with UK, not sure if it is like this for every type of engineering there, but a chunk of their classes they essentially watch a tv with a UK teacher on it teaching the class to UK students in person. I have heard good things about UL also. I can't speak for UL, but at UK once you get about into your 4th or 5th semester the classes usually become pretty small and are more of a high school type environment. I have heard that Georgetown offers engineering but could be mistaken. I know UK has tours specifically for the engineering program, I'm sure the over schools do also, check them out and see how they look.

Thanks. The only info I have found on the internet is the 3 Kentucky schools I mentioned.

Thanks for the info on UK. Most people I talk to are very familiar with Lousiville's Speec School. I just have not met many folks familiar with UK's program.

I am no expert in this area, but I strongly suspect that you will find that the best Computer Engineering programs are in areas like Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, TX, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Large cities with large populations of Asians will be where you find the best technology programs.

Good info. But we need to be thinking about costs---scholarship opportunities, in state vs out of state tuition and the KEES money, too.

Thanks. The only info I have found on the internet is the 3 Kentucky schools I mentioned.

Thanks for the info on UK. Most people I talk to are very familiar with Lousiville's Speec School. I just have not met many folks familiar with UK's program.

 

I will start by echoing a lot of the comments about rankings: I did a big look into them when I was an undergrad because Dayton's administration was -- at the time -- making a big deal about moving up in them. The rankings are calculated based on a lot of things and the actual quality of the education is only a part of it.

 

What UofL and UK both do exceptionally well is serve the City of Louisville and the Commonwealth. They provide solid classroom foundations with opportunities for internship and cooperative education that result in well-trained engineers that are hired by countless local firms here in Kentucky. Now, they don't get extremely high on the rankings because they aren't sitting on huge piles of money, 50 acres of research facilities, or produce a hundred future doctoral candidates.

 

But for schools that give quality educations producing capable and qualified job candidates and that lead to careers in the field: you can't go wrong with UofL or UK. Now, I only know about UofL, but I don't know a single person that went through their time at the Speed School and worked hard that didn't come out with a job.

*Obligatory plug for the University of Dayton*

 

Engineering is what originally took me to UD. Now, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into mostly because I wasn't sure what I wanted as a kid and I had a bunch of people tell me "Hey, you're good at math; you're good a science. You should be an engineer." That didn't last long.

 

Nonetheless, UD's School of Engineering was fantastic. I had a lot of friends go through there and most of them finished at Dayton and moved back closer to home. They still managed jobs because the education is known regionally to be pretty solid. (It suffers the same rankings issues as Louisville and Kentucky due in part to the lack of a pile of money.)

 

Now, I specifically mention this because of the boatload of scholarship and grant money available at Dayton to make a Catholic education more affordable. The particular package UD put together for me made it nearly the same price as UK or UofL would have been had I elected to go there. The initial cost looks daunting but that's because private universities make their hay on getting as many students as possible to pay full price while fighting for fewer excellent students to fill schools with smart, capable kids using scholarship money.

 

Give it a look at least. If it isn't feasible, so it goes... but the package they put together for me, my brother, and my sister made UD VERY competitive with public universities.

 

*End of Alumni Association Obligation*

I have several former students who are successful chemical engineers who are UK or UofL graduates.

As far as D-III in the area, I can only think of one: Rose-Hulman. It's a FANTASTIC engineering school in Terre Haute, Indiana. Two guys I graduated from Trinity with went there. If they were indicative of the types of students that ended up at Rose-Hulman, it must be quite a place. Really sharp guys.

*Obligatory plug for the University of Dayton*

 

Engineering is what originally took me to UD. Now, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into mostly because I wasn't sure what I wanted as a kid and I had a bunch of people tell me "Hey, you're good at math; you're good a science. You should be an engineer." That didn't last long.

 

Nonetheless, UD's School of Engineering was fantastic. I had a lot of friends go through there and most of them finished at Dayton and moved back closer to home. They still managed jobs because the education is known regionally to be pretty solid. (It suffers the same rankings issues as Louisville and Kentucky due in part to the lack of a pile of money.)

 

Now, I specifically mention this because of the boatload of scholarship and grant money available at Dayton to make a Catholic education more affordable. The particular package UD put together for me made it nearly the same price as UK or UofL would have been had I elected to go there. The initial cost looks daunting but that's because private universities make their hay on getting as many students as possible to pay full price while fighting for fewer excellent students to fill schools with smart, capable kids using scholarship money.

 

Give it a look at least. If it isn't feasible, so it goes... but the package they put together for me, my brother, and my sister made UD VERY competitive with public universities.

 

*End of Alumni Association Obligation*

UD came up last night in the conversation. We do want to check it out. The only downside is that current GF is planning to go there and that would just be weird. :lol2:

Watch for additional fees. At UK it was an additional 50 or so dollars per engineering credit hour. Now you don't start taking engineering classes until your sophomore or junior year but I was usually paying an extra 600 - 800 dollars a semester.

Also, tell who ever to stick with it if it is what they want and think they can do it. The first couple years are full of weed out classes like physics 1 and 2, calculus 1-4, and chemistry 1 and 2. The second half of the programs, I don't want to say get easier, but more interesting and manageable. Like I said earlier they become smaller classes and easier to build some type of relationships with the teacher.