Where did you go to college? - alma mater shakedown! (Post Count: 10)

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

We have a pretty diverse group here, where did y'all go to college? Would be neat to see where we're all distributed.

I'll start:

Undergrad - University of California, Davis. Go, Aggies? It's just a little cow town in the middle of the state, pretty quiet but the campus is HUGE! I did NOT study engineering though, so I can't speak much about the quality of the engineering program. Mostly just studied the inside of a red party cup...

Grad school - California State University, Sacramento. Go, Hornets? Local (public) state college, where I *actually* applied myself academically. Not especially well-known for engineering nationally, buuut it was easily the best bang for buck and is regionally well-regarded for training engineers with a practical, hands-on curriculum. I learned a TON. Great school, fantastic program, what a bargain!

Internship - Syracuse University. Go...Oranges? While I wasn't officially an enrolled student here, I did do an NSF-funded research internship that ended up being EXTREMELY (I mean, really) formative for me and I grew a lot and it really helped crystallize what I wanted to do. So, this school is near and dear to my heart. The city was...OK. Good BBQ though.

[leggo PE]

I’m a Catamount! I went to the University of Vermont, where I double-majored in Civil Engineering and German. That classic B.S./B.A. mix!

I also spent a year abroad at the University of Graz, which was an amazing experience.

After college, I was bound and determined to work, which is what I have done since. So no master’s degree or otherwise for this one!

[mudpuppy]

I did my BSEE and MSEE both at Michigan Technological University. I'm presently volunteering on the ECE department's industry advisory committee. I loved living in Michgian's Upper Peninsula and enjoyed the 300"+ of snow, but it's hard to locate there permanently.

[EdgyCheesyGraphite_PE]

I considered a few different options for school. Georgia Tech and Tulane were both finalists. But ultimately I decided to go to the University of New Orleans (i.e. UNO, pronounced "U-N-O", not "uno"). I got my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I decided not to leave home because my dad was very sick at the time, which limited me to UNO or Tulane, as they are the only colleges in New Orleans with that offer engineering. And going to inexpensive state school where scholarships covered my full tuition and books, with enough left over that I got cash back from the bursar every semester, just made more sense than going almost $100k in debt at Tulane.

UNO isn't nationally known, but it's well respected regionally. Its engineering program actually does show up on national rankings because it has one of the best (and one of very few) Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering programs in the country. The undergraduate program is really good and does a good job preparing new engineers to enter the workforce.

I ended up getting a job with Lockheed Martin in New Orleans after graduation, and they paid for me to go back to school to get my masters while working full time. So I ended up going back to UNO to get M.S. in Mech Eng. I will say that the graduate program was kind of disappointing. Their grad school is so small (or at least it was back in the 2000's) that you don't have the opportunity to specialize your curriculum. So few grad classes are offered that you pretty much have to take whatever the college decides to offer. The trick was to get enough students together to petition for certain classes. And you end up taking the same professors over and over again because they only had a few that taught grad classes. But I made the best of it and finished my grad degree. It took me 5 years to finish my MS... remember I was working full time.

[txjennah PE]

I did both my BS and Master of Engineering at Texas A&M. It was a good school, though looking back, I don't know if it was the greatest fit for me - I think squaretaper LIT AF PE's description of "cow town" is accurate for College Station (at least in the early aughts, I don't know about now). If I could do it all over again, I definitely would not have gotten my master's right after graduation, but meh, that's a different story for another time.

I am very much a "2 percenter" and I give zero fucks about the rivalry with UT (which is not even a school we play football with anymore, LOL).

[RBHeadge PE]

Started school at Univ of New Mexico studying Nuclear Engineering. Did that for a couple years, but Albuquerque and I weren't a good fit so I transferred back home and finished my undergrad at Temple University in Mechanical Engineering. I wouldn't say that I had much school pride while I was there. At the time Temple was a commuter school. People took their classes and went back home, especially for the engineering majors.

Next I went to Georgia Tech for grad school. Had a great time, really took advantage of all that was offered there and made the most out of it. Did two years and got out with a MS in Nuclear Engineering, and grad cert in Management of Technology. Immediately went back to Temple (long story) and got a quick MSE in Civil (Environmental) Engineering.

I was never much of a college football fan. I grew up with the Eagles and that was enough for my household. Couldn't have cared less about it when I was at UNM. When I was an undergrad at Temple they were absolutely awful, despite being a division 1 school, they never bothered to develop much of a program over the decades. We would read that they lost 66-3 and we'd be surprised that they got a field goal! I got a taste for it a GT because they actually had a ranked and competitive program. I joked that if Temple and Georgia Tech ever played each other that I would fly to wherever to see the game. Imagine my surprise when they played for the first time in 2019. It was in Philly during a weekend when I was already going to be there. I sat on the Tech side, where a GT shirt and Temple hat. I'm probably the only person to have graduated from both schools so I had to represent (I guess). I got a few questions about it from others in the stand. Well since I graduated undergrad, Temple's program got much better and Tech's got worse. Temple won 24-2.

[chart99 PE]

Iowa State University for both BSEE and MEngEE

Loved my time there, made lifelong friends, love the rivalry and the state. Coming from the suburbs of the 3rd largest city, Ames provided a way different lifestyle that I fell in love with. Small town feel for sure, and the rivalry with Iowa is still one of the most fun. Reminds me of the Cubs/Sox, Green Bay/Chicago rivalries I grew up in. Always seem to pick the underdog as my main team.... lol

[ME2EE PE]

GO VOLS!

University of Tennessee, Knoxville (BSME) 1999.

I grew up in Powell, a suburb of Knoxville. It was a great place to grow up. Our high school was the only school in the state allowed (or "designated") to play "Rocky Top" and have it as our fight song just like the UT Vols athletic program.  I was always a fan of the Vols and my dad took me to my first football game when I was six years old.   I wasn't sure I would end up going to college there.  For reasons that could fill a book, I ended up enrolling in UT and started as an EE major and switched to ME after two years, with internships in between and eventually graduating in six years. My older sister (and only sibling) graduated two years prior in civil engineering.

Peyton Manning was our starting QB his freshman year and the start of my sophomore year. From the fall of '93 until I graduated, I did not miss a SINGLE home game. Tickets were free to the student body and even when tickets were limited, I always knew a friend or friend of a friend who had a ticket available, whether it was in the student section or not. If you were a college sports fan, those were fantastic years to be on campus. The women's basketball team won national titles in 1997,'98 and '99 with a 39-0 record during their '97-'98 season. The football team had a record of 45-5 in the four seasons between 1995 and 1999. Great memories.

[ChebyshevII PE PMP]

Seattle Pacific University '13, BSEE. But I attended Eastern Washington University for one quarter and took some college classes through 3 other higher education institutions before finally completing my degree.

[BlueBluePrint PE PMP]

Tacoma Community College and St. Martin's University '11 BSCE

Had a full-time job and a kid that started Kindergarten when I started at TCC. It was a rough 6-years! But worth it!