Is it possible to get an engineering degree online?
- Thread starter edprush
- Start date
A PE license is something you get AFTER you take (and pass) the FE exam and after you graduate from college with a B.S. in some engineering field.
If you already have a B.S. in some sort of engineering, then I'm sure there's info on taking the PE Exam in your state posted somewhere online. It's a very extensive test, expensive to take and it's not easy.
Most engineers don't get it unless they need it for something (consulting, etc). I think there's only three prof's in our department at school with their PE.
I understand about testing for the PE.
I just need to get a BS in engineering then study like a maniac for the PE and hopefully pass it.
I just need to get a BS in engineering then study like a maniac for the PE and hopefully pass it.
I don't know of any online-only BS in engineering programs. Most online degree places (IF they're even accredited) are associates type programs. Depending on your backgroudn, you're looking at 2-4 years for a BS in some Engineering field.
I doubt there's anything accredited out there. Though you could rack up some online core courses in pursuit of a degree. But the bottom line is that you'll need to be in a classroom.
What engineering field would you study? You are probably looking at a solid 3 years of course work. Then, you'll need to take and pass the FE. Then you'll need to work in your field for a certain amount of time (5 years?) before you can take a PE.
From what I understand, engineering degrees typically are not offered via on-line programs.
R
From what I understand, engineering degrees typically are not offered via on-line programs.
R
I am looking for the easiest degree in engineering to obtain. Maybe hydraulic.
I have a B.A. degree in Business Adminstration so I might have some applicable credits.
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.
as said above, even if you found an online degree program, I seriously doubt it would be an ABET accredited institution, which is required for Engineering Intern licensure, along with passing the 8 hour FE test (not too bad) . Then you need to work for 4 years under a PE's supervision, and then you are eligible to take the P.E. exam (another 8 hours of goodness, more discipline specific.
What crawled up your back end? Did you even read the OP? There are plenty of accreddited online courses, even MIT offers some distance degree services for those in the armed services. Some people have no other choice than to take courses online or stay at their present education level, if for instance they were a working parent and the nearest school was an hr away? Online exams can be taken at the student's convience and that is absolutely essential in a situation such as that.
I personally don't like online courses, having taken one myself; however I recognize that they do have a place.
Engineering degrees have no place in online-only programs. It is one thing for a BA in Business or a Criminal Justice degree to be online, both of which are essentially based upon how well you can regurgitate reading. It is another thing for an ABET-accredited engineering degre to be offered online. Engineering degrees require considerable amounts of lab work using equipment that most people cannot afford.
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? And that you think that such a degree, that the OP intends on completing on his own, in his spare time, for a couple of hours a week, should be considered equivalent to most undergraduates who spend 30 hours a week, between classes, labs, and homework, for four years, to do? Because that is *exactly* what you are doing by condoning the OPs actions.
I'm sorry that certain people do not have the time to set aside to become an engineer. Extenuating cirucmstances are not an excuse for cheating your way through an education. It's fine for certain online programs, but if you can't spare the time to be a full-time undergraduate, I don't really think you deserve an engineering degree.
If you take 10 hours a semester (which I would consider part-time), assuming 120 (or more) for a BSEE (which is about right), it would take you 6 years to complete. Even if you are brilliant, 10 class hours would mean 10 hours of homework on average per week, which means 20 hours per week total, for six years. The mere suggestion that the OP doesn't want to spend this kind of time and wants to cover himself in grease and slide his way through the system is just disgusting.
Good response. I guess I didn't see that you were emphasizing just engineering degrees with your comments about online courses. I overlooked his second post when I replied:
That sure does make it sound like he's trying to rush through things in the manner you suggested, especially with not having a degree yet. Obviously an employer will pay more for a person with a degree vs one without, but you sure do have to be in the labs for an engineering degree. My dad's an EE major and he strictly wants me to have my electronics labs in actual lab rather than simulated, which I can understand.
JohnCU
Banned
- Dec 9, 2000
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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)...
<--- spent 50 minutes sitting in calculus II working on one problem today
(approximate the integral of arctan(x^2) from 0 to 1/2)...HA! 30 hours/week is a light week for a full-time EE student (as I'm sure you know, beer). Hell I have 17 hours of lecture time alone, add to that projects, lab time, tutorials, studying and assignments and I'm pretty sure I my workload approaches 50-60 hours on a regular basis. This isn't even counting the end of term when everything becomes insane.
This was posted for the OP's benefit so that he knows what a typical Engineering student goes through. Did you really think they paid engineers an extra $14K a year for a diploma you could get online in your spare time for a couple of years?
While I don't agree with everything that beer said, he raises some excellent points. The fact is that engineering is a degree in which you need to learn a specific set of information. However, not all of this information can be tested on. Learning by going to lectures is very important. You will pick up information that you will not find in any textbook, homework assignment, or exam.
The fact remains that getting a PE licenses is not as easy as you are making it out to be. First, you need a degree from an accredited university. Second, you need to take the FE. Third, you need to work in industry for 5 years (other rules apply as to where you work, who you work for, what you do, etc). Then, finally, you can take the PE exam.
While your current employer will give you $14K a year extra for that PE license, it will take you at least 8 years to get it, assuming you could condense an engineering curriculum into 3 years (which is possible considering that you have some of the pre-reqs out of the way). I don't know what you are making right now, but by the time you have earned your degree, passed the FE, worked 5 years, and passed the PE, you will probably be worth more than the $14K raise your employer is offering.
There are no short-cuts to getting a PE license for a reason. Once you have that license, any time you make a design, you take on a liability that your design won't somehow fail and cause loss of money, injury, or loss of life. Let me put it another way... I wouldn't want someone designing bridges who got their degree on-line and was able to immediately take the PE exam via some short-cut. They could be a great civil engineer, or they could be a complete idiot, but by circumventing the system, we would never know which until it was too late.
Ryan
The fact remains that getting a PE licenses is not as easy as you are making it out to be. First, you need a degree from an accredited university. Second, you need to take the FE. Third, you need to work in industry for 5 years (other rules apply as to where you work, who you work for, what you do, etc). Then, finally, you can take the PE exam.
While your current employer will give you $14K a year extra for that PE license, it will take you at least 8 years to get it, assuming you could condense an engineering curriculum into 3 years (which is possible considering that you have some of the pre-reqs out of the way). I don't know what you are making right now, but by the time you have earned your degree, passed the FE, worked 5 years, and passed the PE, you will probably be worth more than the $14K raise your employer is offering.
There are no short-cuts to getting a PE license for a reason. Once you have that license, any time you make a design, you take on a liability that your design won't somehow fail and cause loss of money, injury, or loss of life. Let me put it another way... I wouldn't want someone designing bridges who got their degree on-line and was able to immediately take the PE exam via some short-cut. They could be a great civil engineer, or they could be a complete idiot, but by circumventing the system, we would never know which until it was too late.
Ryan
The rule of thumb is this:
For every credit hour you are enrolled in, you should plan on having 1 hour of lecture and 3 hours of homework/reading. In engineering (esp EE and ChemE) this ratio can approach 1 and 4. So, if you are enrolled in 15 hours, you can plan on spending 45 to 60 hours a week on classes.
RW- If you think undergrad is bad, try the first year of graduate studies. You will never work harder in your life.
You may work harder in single sessions in undergrad, but the graduate level work never lets up. It is a unrelenting onsalaught of very difficult, time consuming material.
Ryan
I don't work as much as you do it seems. I probably do about 35-40 hours a week, worst-case scenerio. During this week, and other weeks that I don't have tests, I only have 30 hours of work tops. But, I am taking 9 hours of EE (emag, linear signals, data structures) and 6 hours of general (british lit, american foreign policy) that I do very little work on. So I spend about ~25-30 hours a week solely on my 9 hours of EE classes, so I guess your equation just makes sense.
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
taylor series
that shound be easy
Go l33t h@x on the University of Phoenix online, and make it look like your went through they course and graduated validictorian. Nobody'll notice.
The reason you're getting some negative responses in your thread is because people who are in engineering or have gone through it get annoyed when you downplay the difficulty of engineering by asking if you could get a BS online and a PE license. Engineering is hard - don't assume it's just some petty school work that you can do for a few hours at night in your free time while watching The Simpsons. Since you graduated with a business degree, I can understand why you think college is so easy (That reminds me, time to update my sig).
If you are serious about getting an engineering degree within 4 years, prepare to quit your job and enroll in an actual college fulltime and work your ass off. Know what you're getting yourself into.
(That reminds me, time to update my sig). If you are serious about getting an engineering degree within 4 years, prepare to quit your job and enroll in an actual college fulltime and work your ass off. Know what you're getting yourself into.
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