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Opinions on Kettering University?

J

jaydee

Diamond Member
I'm considering transfer in the EE program there. To me it seems like the best deal only $20k per year from a well respected school and a steady job 1/2 the year to offset the cost. Am I missing anything significant, know of any downsides? I'm a freshmen at a 2-year college in NY by the way and am looking to transfer out next fall. I'm also looking at Clarkson, Penn State- Erie, and RPI although I highly doubt I'd be able to pay for RPI. Where else should I look? Thanks.
 
Kettering is a tough school. 16-20 credit hours are mandatory to graduate within 4 1/2 years. It is also a very rewarding school. When you come out of it, you come out with 4 years of work experience which is a major bonus on your resume. One negative is the atmosphere. It is a 1 academic building school(they are building a second) and it has some feelings of a high school. Scenic Flint Michigan isnt a nice area, either. Overall, i love it. I am a management major and i adore my profs and my classes. I never thought i'd like playing around with upper level financial classes, but i'm hooked.

The EE dept. is one of the tops in the nation and is very tough.

BTW, tuition is up like a mofo. It has jumped from under $7800 per term for up to 23 credit hours to $8700 this term for me. Its up to $10,000 for incoming freshmen. 🙁 You have a good chance fo getting financial aid though, and you should make over $14,000 a year or so at your co-op. There are a couple of Kettering peope here, i think some GMI alumnis also.

PM me or post in this thread if you want more info.
 
Thanks for the infor. So, out of all those schools, would you recomend Kettering out of the rest? Also, what is not a nice area mean exactly?

I've gotten into contact with Tom Cerny of enrollment management/admissions if you know him, he seemed to think that most of my credits would transfer (they are reviewing them now). I like how they'll tell if your credits will transfer before actually applying. Penn State won't even talk to me without the $50 application fee.

I'm thinking about waiting until the end of my 2nd semester here before applying because my high school transcript has to be sent (with less than 30 credits) and my grades there weren't exactly impressive (~85 overall average) although now I should be between 3.7 and 4.0 at college taking calc I, calc-physics, chem, data comm and comp os's (18 credits).
 
Kettering is lacking in new enrollment right now because of the recession. It was really low this term. Flint Michigan is consistently one of the most dangerous cities in the country. It was hit hard back in the 80's by GM closing a ton of plants(watch Roger and Me to get a feel for the town, at one point Kettering is almost filmed. 🙂) It's not so bad though, because a Kettering ID is a get out of jail free card to the local cops. They dont mess with KU students because they know we have money and are improving the economy there ever so slightly.

If i had to do all over again, I'd go to Kettering. BTW, Kettering grading scale is 65-100. anything under 70 automatically commutes to 65 and is failing.
 
How's the co-op program affected by the recession do you know? Are the job oppertunity's limited: ie. if I want a co-op in Rochester NY, would I have difficulty getting one?

Thanks again.
 
There are a good number of unemployed people, that is because alot of them are lazy. You cannot expect Kettering to hand you a job. You need to be proactive in finding one. A good friend of mine is near you and works at the UPS hub over there. UPS is a big employer for Kettering. As is any of the auto companies, GE, Dana, and a lot of other major ones.

Here they are Looks like NY has a bunch of companies.
 
I thought you were pretty much garunteed a co-op job, since it's required for graduation? I've seen that list, and have my eye on Xerox, but does it generally mean that there will be an oppertunity if I look/ask for it?
 
i suggest you come take a tour of the school and go to a co-op job fair. Bob Nichols will tell you who your co-po advisor is. Get in contact with him/her and find out who has requested students. I would like to have gone into the CIA, but they have a long line of prospective students and a rigorous hiring process.
 
Alright thanks man. I probably can't visit until mid-January so I'm not missing any time here at SUNY Cobleskill.

Anyone else have an opinion?
 
Originally posted by: Shantanu
Kettering University used to be GMI right? How come the name change? Is it still affiliated with General Motors?
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it used to be GMI, but GM cut us off in the mid to late 80's. Then it became GMI techinical institute, and then Kettering. I'm not sure why they changed to Kettering, because it pissed alot of alumnis off.
 
I can't comment on Kettering, but I attend the University of Toledo and we have a co-op program.

The four year engineering programs all have mandatory co-op. You're pretty much guaranteed one, BUT, it may not be very glamorous. A couple of the kids in my class couldn't get a normal co-op, so the university hired them. Their job for the summer was to go around hanging up fire extinguishers and signs, in addition to inspecting the HVAC systems. It didn't pay so well either.

Jobs ARE more scarce though. I've really got to see it because I've been in college before and during the slowdown in the economy. My first career fair had TONS of companies, the entire first floor of our engineering complex was packed. The spring one wasn't as big, but it never is. The next fall one was noticibly smaller then the one during my freshman year. Same with the spring career fair, smaller and fewer companies. I didn't go to the one this fall, because I am out on co-op, so I can't judge it too well.

It's true, you really need to be out there doing your part too. We have a woman in the co-op department who helps us to get jobs, but she helps out a lot of kids. There's also a lot of companies that actually hire co-ops who may not have arrangements with your university. Call EE related companies in the Rochestor area and ask if they hire interns, you might be surprised.
 
Thanks for the infor. So, out of all those schools, would you recomend Kettering out of the rest? Also, what is not a nice area mean exactly?
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Flint Michigan = grimey blue collar town with high unemployment, high crime, lots of uneducated people, litter every where. Its a shame, Kettering could be better with local manufacturing, technical, industrial support/sponsors, but Flint's militant unionism ruined Flint's chances of ever attracting any meaningful industry again. There was a Fortune (IIRC) study done of those US cities that will never recover economically and Flint was like #3 on that list.
 
DO NOT COME HERE! I repeat don't come here.

I got 8 weeks left to go, and i can't wait to get out of here.

There's a lot of students without co-op's, me included. I've been looking for one for the past 2 years now.

Iamwiz82 is right, they're not gonna hand you a job, u gotta look for them actively. I had an interview with Sun Microsystem a month ago. there was 2 positions open and there was 26 students applying for it.

Since I couldn't get a sponsor (co-op) I worked as a IT contractor in California. My graduation is delayed for 6 months, because I still need to find a co-op and do my thesis.

The area is pretty bad here. My friends just got their house broken into a few days ago. They lost about $6-8k in computer equipments. Last term there was about 10 cars that gotten break into in 2 weeks, and the previous term 15 cars got broken into in the school's apartment complex.

I'm a computer engineer btw.
 
For EE and CE expect to spend 20+ hrs in the labs a week (outside of class time.) The last 2 weeks are the worst, cause all the professors hands you labs/tests all at the same time, then you have finals the following week. We do have a kickass Rec Center though. I would look into RTI (Rochester, NY.) My ex-coworker went there (he's a EE), and it will closer to your home too.
 
Ahh.. Flint, MI. My hometown. I grew up there and lived in the area for 24 years.

I admit that Flint is not exactly the nicest place in the world, but it is not the HOLE that a lot of you people tend to make it out to be. It is an industrial, blue-collar town yes. There are a lot of lazy people up there, I will agree with that, but the people up there are not ALL the drooling morons. If you do live there, you will know what areas to avoid and when to avoid them just like any town.

I miss Flint from time to time, but I definitely enjoy Atlanta a lot more. My uncle put it best when he said "It's a nice town to be from." hehehe

 
I grew up near Kettering. Left the city about 17 years ago and moved a ways west to Gaines township. Having grown up in the community I have to say Kettering is probably the one jewel in that wretched city that is still untarnished. World class is what it is. I rarely go down there anymore. It is just to depressing to see what Woody Stanley and his incompetents have done to my boyhood home. I can remember wandering the neighborhoods around there at all hours of the evening and early mornings without a care in the world and no one bothering you. Those days are long gone now.
 
Ya, I'm also looking at RIT, but not as seriously as the others, they seem to require twice as much liberal arts credits as most engineering schools.
 
I'd like to throw a positive voice in here for Kettering. I'm graduating from Kettering in about 2 months here and it has been a very good experience overall. Class sizes are small so you really get to know your professors, for example, i'm currently filling out grad school applications and I have a ton of professors sending recommendation letters on my behalf because they know me well. True, Flint is not that great, but there are cool things to do and cool people to hang out with, and it's only about an hour from Detroit where there is a ton of cool stuff. As far as a co-op job, I wouldn't think you would have any problems getting one from personal experience. Kettering hooked me up with a job before i even started school as a freshman, and when that job wasn't doing it for me, I quit and Kettering hooked me up with another job in like a month. The reason I really like Kettering is because it seems that they let students do a lot more cool stuff in laboratory type environments than other schools. I have friends that went to U of M engineering and MSU and other places that sat in huge lectures halls and learned nothing. The professors really let us play around with things and learn how they work. For instance, in one of my classes right now I'm building a small jet engine with a car turbocharger and the school is paying for it!
 
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