Is it possible to get an engineering degree online?

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: beer

Originally posted by: JohnCU
I have a hard enough problem understanding this stuff when a professor explains it, much less having to do it online... that'd be crazy.

<--- spent 50 minutes sitting in calculus II working on one problem today (approximate the integral of arctan(x^2) from 0 to 1/2)...

taylor series
that shound be easy

FYI, the Ti-89 can do Taylor and McLaurin series

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: beer

Originally posted by: JohnCU
I have a hard enough problem understanding this stuff when a professor explains it, much less having to do it online... that'd be crazy.

<--- spent 50 minutes sitting in calculus II working on one problem today (approximate the integral of arctan(x^2) from 0 to 1/2)...

taylor series
that shound be easy

FYI, the Ti-89 can do Taylor and McLaurin series

I think the point of the lecture was to show us how to do it using a power series, then we're going to move into the Taylor series stuff eventually.

 

[badmouse]

First, there are a lot of people here who don't know anything about online education, accreditation, and the like. For real information, go to the forums at degreeinfo.com.

There is, for example, Univ. of North Dakota , an accredited engineering degree in a distance-learning format.

I happen to have an online degree (CS). It's not easy to do, and people who put it down are really dumb.

 

[MisterYu]

I know USC and Stanford have online distance engineering programs.

USC Distance Education website

I'm currently enrolled at USC in their distance education program for a MSEE while working full time. I watch lectures online, fax in HW, and only go to campus for exams.

 

[edprush]

Originally posted by: beer
There can't be anything accreddited that is online. Most of engineering is lab work! Why should YOU be able to get a degree that most of us engineers bust our ass for four years for? People like you make me sick. I hope to god you can't find anything and I hope you get fired in addition for presenting what are essentially faulty credentials. Furthermore I hope that if you apply with a 'degree' that you got online, your employer finds out that you are essentially a phony and that you are blackballed from most jobs that you would ever apply for again.

Dude, you just don't get it. My boss SAID he would give me a $14k raise if I can get a P.E. after my name. He doesn't give a rat's arse how I get it.

Sorry you had to bust your butt. I want the easy way out.

 

[edprush]

Thanks MisterYu and badmouse!

It looks like I done hit the motherload!

Dag, an engineering degree from USC wouldn't look too bad.

 

[BarneyFife]

Originally posted by: edprush
<blockquote>Quote
Originally posted by: beer
There can't be anything accreddited that is online. Most of engineering is lab work! Why should YOU be able to get a degree that most of us engineers bust our ass for four years for? People like you make me sick. I hope to god you can't find anything and I hope you get fired in addition for presenting what are essentially faulty credentials. Furthermore I hope that if you apply with a 'degree' that you got online, your employer finds out that you are essentially a phony and that you are blackballed from most jobs that you would ever apply for again.

Dude, you just don't get it. My boss SAID he would give me a $14k raise if I can get a P.E. after my name. He doesn't give a rat's arse how I get it.

Sorry you had to bust your butt. I want the easy way out.[/quote]

Do you know how hard the PE test is? It's 2 4 hour sessions with a 1 hour break in between. The FE test has everything in it from Chemistry to Physics to Dynamics to static etc.... You'll never learn that stuff online and you'll have a hard enough time learning that stuff in class. Maybe they'll take a few courses from your BA degree and then you can go to college and take a couple courses a semester. Even at that rate, it will take you a long time because to get a PE you have to work under someone that holds a PE for at least 3 years. By then you might be laid off anyway.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: edprush
Thanks MisterYu and badmouse!

It looks like I done hit the motherload!

Dag, an engineering degree from USC wouldn't look too bad.

Take a look at the USC powerpoint file on that site.
You don't even meet the minimum requirements to BEGIN the degree program.
And then you need to take your tests at a testing center, which may or may not be in your region.
And then you pay $3000+ a course, and you have probably 30 engineering courses, so you do the math.

Read the PPT, it's not going to be any easier than being at the campus, so you had better find 20 hours a week if you want to have it done in, best case, four years.

In any event a PE is still seven years from you right now. I'd bet $50,000 you'll never even get through the FE

 

[alrocky]

Originally posted by: badmouse
I happen to have an online degree (CS).

Ha! For a moment I thought:Counter Strike.

 

[CanOWorms]

I'd be surprised if you could earn a BS/BE in engineering online, even through distance learning. Graduate degrees through distance learning is really common.

 

[Zebo]

lim College of Engineering = College of Business
(GPA -> 0)

LOL

OP, I don't know how old you are but in my 30's no way I could do it again. It takes your life, every second. Try just the 100-200 level eight math/physics classes on your "off" time then get back to us, ok (calc 1,2,3 and diviQ 1,2 , PHY 1,2,3). Someone said above 3 years?!?!?! WTF I rarley meet anyone graduate in 4 let alone 3. Even though he may have the general ed req all engineering, math and science classes MUST be taken in sequence which automatically put you at a minium of four years if you went 16+ credit hours and failed/dropped nothing.

My advice is use your business degree to get an MBA in finance from a real school and try and become a big dik on wall street if money is your main concern. My brother pays more in taxes than your average engineer makes investing wealthy peoples money for Goldman Sachs. But nothing is easy expect 100 hour work weeks.

 

[SludgeFactory]

Yes, you can pick up plenty of graduate engineering classes online. Enough of them are all theory, an M.S. is doable online. Georgia Tech is another place you can check out for that edprush.

However, none of this gets you the B.S. Zebo already went into this, but what's your math background? You do realize that engineering undergrads take a full year of calculus before they can even get into most of the basic engineering classes, right? And you will have to take some other math courses, like vector calculus and differential equations before you can get very far in your major. A *signficant* number of people wash out from taking all these prerequisites.

That being said, I don't see why you theoretically couldn't take these basic math courses online if you can find them. However it would be insane IMO. A large part of the engineering experience is collectively suffering through and working in study groups, or at the least having a couple buddies you can call to bounce problems off of. You know, the problem you've stared at for an hour and a half and are lost on. Depending on the person, you can plow through much of it on your own, but I haven't met anyone who did it all completely alone.

What about chemistry and physics? You have to take those in the first 2 years of a normal B.S. program, and they have labs.

Once you have preliminary stuff out of the way, then really get into your major. And that's where you get stuck with lab after lab after lab. Most of this stuff is structured as team work as well, it doesn't lend itself to independent online assignments, even if you did have a wind tunnel in your garage.

I don't see how you can do a B.S. online. I'm not disparaging the idea of online learning either, I just don't believe it's possible to earn a real B.S. degree without ever setting foot in a lab, given the structure of accredited engineering programs. If your goal is to get an engineering degree, I think you'll have to spend at least a few years as a full time student at a university.

If you find a place that offers an online accredited undergrad degree, post it here, we'd all like to see it.

 

[edprush]

I am still looking..........

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: edprush
I am still looking..........

Good, and I hope you never find it. We don't need incompetent people with a P.E next to their name.

 

[memo]

two months and nothing yet eh?

 

[ThaPerculator]

So what you are saying is that you are fine with the concept that someone designing your bridges, buildings, computers, airplanes, elevators, ships, and oil rigs without ever having set foot in an engineering lab?

Sorry to break it to you and your ego, but there were many buildings, cars, bridges, etc. built before engineering degrees were commonplace. Hell, Frank Lloyd Wright only took general classes for like 2 semesters, and I'm sure he will be known for way longer than you ever will. Somebody is not considered ignorant just because they do not have a piece of paper saying they know what they are doing. Likewise, not every engineer with a degree knows what the hell he is doing.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: beer

Originally posted by: edprush
I am still looking..........

Good, and I hope you never find it. We don't need incompetent people with a P.E next to their name.

Thank you. You are thouroughly amazing and I applaud your responses.

Second year student at University of Toronto, Chemical Engineering.

To the OP:

Look, I don't even have to be worried that you're going to get this 14K raise. You will NEVER get it. With your ignorance, you wouldn't even know where to begin - Engineering is not only something you do for the money. Business and commerence in university can be a joke. It's sickening how my peers get 12-13 hour weeks while I have 33.

Fact of the matter is, I just laugh at your stupidity for even considering you can obtain a degree of this calibre. Go back to crunching numbers.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: ThaPerculator

So what you are saying is that you are fine with the concept that someone designing your bridges, buildings, computers, airplanes, elevators, ships, and oil rigs without ever having set foot in an engineering lab?

Sorry to break it to you and your ego, but there were many buildings, cars, bridges, etc. built before engineering degrees were commonplace. Hell, Frank Lloyd Wright only took general classes for like 2 semesters, and I'm sure he will be known for way longer than you ever will. Somebody is not considered ignorant just because they do not have a piece of paper saying they know what they are doing. Likewise, not every engineer with a degree knows what the hell he is doing.

First of all Frank Lloyd Wright is considered an ARCHITECT, not an ENGINEER.
http://www.pbs.org/flw/legacy/index.html

<Somebody is not considered ignorant just because they do not have a piece of paper saying they know what they are doing.>
Correct, but someone IS ignorant when they think they can zoom by all the other hardworking people obtaining BASCs and expect it be as easy as business.

 

[edprush]

i bet I could get a fake diploma, take a crash course for my P.E. and be done with it.

 

[eigen]

Originally posted by: edprush
i bet I could get a fake diploma, take a crash course for my P.E. and be done with it.

Listen trolly , It is apparent that you simply lack the capacity to get an enginering degree of any sort.It is a shame your mother did not abort you.My mathematics would own your ass.

 

[DeeKnow]

almost everything is available online... you just have to know where to look

(and oh i forgot to add... most stuff available online is utter crap)

 

[Bryophyte]

Stop to consider the drawbacks of having your PE. You might get more money, but you are now in a scary legal position. Lawsuits against your company for anything you are involved with would have your name right on there along with the company's. They can and do make you the scapegoat.

 

[HokieESM]

i bet I could get a fake diploma, take a crash course for my P.E. and be done with it.

Unfortunately, it would be hard to get that kind of "fake" diploma. Most (if not all) of the PE boards (which are state-wide) required your degree to be from an ABET accredited school. Most of those aren't going to allow "fake" diplomas. Plus, in order to take the PE, you must pass the FE (the Fundamentals of Engineering) exam and work for four/five (depends on the state) years UNDER A LICENSED PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER (some states, such as NC, require that you provide three licensed engineers that can attest to your quality of work over the five years).

The tests themselves are not that difficult for a well-educated engineer. Sure, they're long (they aren't as long as advertised in that I finished over an hour early for each section of the FE... and I'm doing the same on practice PEs--I'm seated in October). For someone with a business background, the mathematics level and the terminology could be daunting (as with any field that is far removed from what one studied).

Now, as far as an online (honest) degree... I'm not sure you could obtain a wholly online one. There are quite a few colleges that offer the "basic" courses online/via satellite... but the junior/senior level classes (and particularly the labs) aren't usually broadcast. There are quite a few GRADUATE degrees that are online-only... but only if you have a remote advisor who can sponsor/watch over your reasearch. And shockingly enough, a graduate degree in engineering does NOT qualify you to take the PE (a good friend of mine with an undergrad in physics, but a masters in engineering mechanics just found this out).

This is probably one of those things where you just have to "suck it up". If I were honestly interested in the field, I would see if I could work with a local state university and take the pre-requisite type courses... and then "quit" for two years to finish my degree at a respectible institution. At that point, the exams and the licensing are just time--with a real degree, the exams aren't that difficult.

 

[beer]

You can get a degree online, whatever, if it isn't ABET accredited it won't be worth a damn when you begin to take the F.E

 

[NumbersGuy]

Some good observations from above plus a couple more:

1. Get the MBA instead, more $, a piece of cake vs engineering school, not to mention an engineering MS

2. Wright was indeed a great architect "only", which is why his well known Fallingwater house is being reinforced to avoid collapse.

3. There's a lot of learning in school beyond the lecture and the hw, which you won't get online.

4. Best online degrees are the MEd and PhEd, what a laugh! These are the folks suntanning, drinking, doping up &amp; sc*ewing around while the engineering guys are working.

5. It takes a special kind of bright fool to go into engineering. :shocked:

6. There are lots of easier ways of getting $14k.


Good luck!