Which Mechanical Engineering/Automotive Engineering Graduate School?

[Conki]

Obviously I'm primarily asking the engineers on this board, but if you have a sibling or a parent who is in the field and wants to give me some input, I'd appreciate that as well.

Here is the situation:
I would love to go to MIT/Stanford/UC Berkeley, but I'm already in $120,000 dept, and those schools are so competitive, it is unlikely I'd get full support from them.

So the first important criterion is being able to get full support.
Secondly, the school should preferably have a somewhat prestigious name, because I want to be able to get a job when I graduate.
Thirdly, I would prefer to get my degree in Automotive Engineering, because that's the one and only field that interests me and has been interested me my whole life.

I'll get my BS degree in Mechanical Engineering in May 2011 from Fresno State.
I have a 3.68 GPA on a 4.0 scale at the moment.
6 times on Dean's List.
My quantitative GRE score is 750.
I've been on the SAE Baja team for the past 2 years.
I'm the treasurer of ASME's local student chapter
I'm the treasurer of Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society.
I'm the vice president, and will be the president next semester, of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society.
I'm the scholarship chairman of Sigma Nu Fraternity.


Here is a list of schools I've been thinking about applying to and the reasons for applying:

Univeristy of Michigan, Ann Arbor - Top 10 school, Automotive Engineering
Michigan State University - Automotive Engineering
Colorado State University - Automotive Engineering
Clemson University - Automotive Engineering ($10 mil BMW contribution in 2002)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Top 10 school, good ME program
UC Davis - good ME program
UC San Diego - Top 20 school, good ME program


Do you guys have any input?
Other schools I should consider and haven't thought of?
Schools I mentioned but should rather forget?

I know it's r3v I'm asking to help me out, but I've been searching around the internet, I've been talking to professors at my school, but I'd like to get some input from actual professional engineers, preferably in the automotive industry.

[CorvallisBMW]

First two that pop in to my mind would be Cornell or Cal Poly SLO, but the schools you have listed are all very good too. I realize Cornell may be out of your $ range though.

[CabrioPunk]

Clemson.

I wish I could go back. A wonderful school through and through. BMW is just up the road.

[Nic01101011]

I went to UC Davis for mechanical engineering, but several of the good professors that did automotive related work have recently retired. But if you're into plugin hybrids and hydrogen fueling and stuff like that, there's still plenty of that going on.

And I second the Cal Poly SLO recommendation.

[Sagaris]

Congrats on the good GPA and other qualifications! Im in my Senior year of undergrad in M.E., just curious as to why/what your plans are for attending graduate school. Do you want to become a professor? get into some heavy research in one particular area? or just have that degree under your belt? I am ready to start making money, sick of spending it so no graduate school for me. I would be curious to know how other engineering undergrad programs compare to the one im in at M.S.O.E. since a 3.6+ GPA is only for pure geniuses. From what I have read, only 11 or 12 people have graduated with a 4.0 cumulative GPA since the school started in 1903.

U of Michigan and Cal Poly SLO stand out as the automotive engineering schools that I have heard in conversation with others and my own findings. I dont have a whole lot of backup for those choices though, those are just the ones I hear about most.

[SpoolnDaapex]

Ill third cal poly. My friends dad has a pdh in chemistry and works for Samsung. I remember him telling me that when they hire people they will almost always hire those who graduated from cal poly.

Also i'm pretty sure they're in the top 10 schools in the nation for mechanical engineering. And i know they have a kick ass FSAE team.

And cheap tuition.

[imdashiz]

I have heard many good reviews on Kettering in michigan and SIU.

[Sailor37]

Texas A&M and UT both apparently have decent automotive engineering programs.

If I were in your shoes, I would get the course descriptions from the schools that you're interested in, and compare them to get an idea of where each one seems to be keeping up with current technology in their courses, and also to see which ones cater more to your area of interest (like structure, emissions, crash analysis, controls, etc) and even make a phone conference appointment with some of the profs. to discuss available teaching assistant or research assistant positions.

Another idea would to be to browse through job descriptions (or even contact various HR departments) in job postings to see if there's any running pattern to what engineers that are currently in need, and that may help you narrow your focus down.

[Conki]

Thanks guys for all the input. I've been thinking about applying to Cal Poly. I know it's a good school for engineering, but I'm not sure how much money they have for research on graduate level.

The others mentioned are also good engineering schools, but don't forget that undergrad and grad programs can be totally different at a particular school.

I think I'll add UC Santa Barbara to my list.

Only application fees will be over $1000 ffffuuuu

[Conki]

Congrats on the good GPA and other qualifications! Im in my Senior year of undergrad in M.E., just curious as to why/what your plans are for attending graduate school. Do you want to become a professor? get into some heavy research in one particular area? or just have that degree under your belt? I am ready to start making money, sick of spending it so no graduate school for me. I would be curious to know how other engineering undergrad programs compare to the one im in at M.S.O.E. since a 3.6+ GPA is only for pure geniuses. From what I have read, only 11 or 12 people have graduated with a 4.0 cumulative GPA since the school started in 1903.

U of Michigan and Cal Poly SLO stand out as the automotive engineering schools that I have heard in conversation with others and my own findings. I dont have a whole lot of backup for those choices though, those are just the ones I hear about most.

I have a good GPA because I spent 2 years at Indiana State studying Automotive Technology Management and Mechanical Engineering Technology. That school and those majors are easier, and I got 4.0s 3 semesters with 18 units. Then I transferred to Fresno State and lost all my credits, so I had to start from scratch. In 2 years I finished 6 semester worth of stuff, that meant I had to take 21, 26, 30, 27 units each semester, respectively. So I kind of sacrificed my GPA to minimize the time I lost by not studying the major I should've from the beginning.
I'm not saying that Fresno State ME is hard, but it's much more challenging than Indiana State MET was.
But the difficulty of a class depends on the professor the most in my opinion. The first thermodynamics class I took I didn't do well in, and got a D. Next semester I took it with another professor, and not only did I understand what was going on, but I got an A that replaced my D.
Now I'm in advanced thermo, and already registered for an elective super thermo for my last semester.


Why did I decide to go to graduate school?
I don't have a green card or citizenship, and employers here don't want to make the extra effort to apply for a work visa for a kid right out of college with no professional experience, so I don't stand a chance against comparable American students.
With a masters degree though, especially with some research experience, I will be more desirable hopefully.
And for some reason I find joy in learning and knowing more and more, and it would be nice to have a better knowledge about the field I want to work in when I actually start working.

It would be nice to start earning money right now though, I would do it if I could:)

[rwh11385]

School of Hard Knocks, aka the real world. A lot of good companies will pay for your graduate classes even in these times. With a resume like yours, a real job shouldn't be hard to come by.

edit: We posted at the same time. You could still H1-B anywhere without governmental / defense contracts probably. Worth a look. Try these guys: http://www.myvisajobs.com/007-09-SO.htm At least you are not aero / nuclear.

[Conki]

School of Hard Knocks, aka the real world. A lot of good companies will pay for your graduate classes even in these times. With a resume like yours, a real job shouldn't be hard to come by.

edit: We posted at the same time. You could still H1-B anywhere without governmental / defense contracts probably. Worth a look. Try these guys: http://www.myvisajobs.com/007-09-SO.htm At least you are not aero / nuclear.

Thx, of course I'm not giving up on trying to get a job either.
However, the responses so far haven't been really encouraging:/

[CorvallisBMW]

Getting any engr job right now sucks. I started searching in January of 2009, took me over a year to find my current job. And it's not in my field, has below-average pay and zero room for advancement. But it's a job.

The auto industry seems to be coming back nicely though. I'd say 18mo of grad school would have to graduating at the perfect time to pick up on the upswing in car sales that we will (hopefully) see in the next 3-4 years.

[drumad]

^yeah, it took me about a month to get a job, and that's only bc I had an internship before

To be honest, I get that your interest is in automotive engineering, but to find a job in it would be sort of difficult. I initially did Mech Eng bc I wanted to get involved with anything cars, boy, was I wrong. I'm in the shipbuilding industry now, go figure. But! I get to play with big machines, haha.

I am now in grad school for Systems Engineering. My company is paying for the degree. Like someone said above, if you can get in the same situation, do it.

Plus, if you're really pressed on a graduate degree, you really need to be absorbed into your area of study. Especially for engineering, I see the only point of getting a graduate degree is to conduct research or change your career path (<<<< what I'm doing [I want to do either traffic research/analysis, energy management, or just management, yuck]).

Buddy of mine got an ME and he does land vehicle advancement/research for General Dynamics. Pretty cool, I guess, ahah.

I just read on how you like to learn and be all scholarly and shit. Try getting that Ph.D. My vibrations professor worked at VIR, taught us over webcam, and conducted research at VIR. This guy, http://www.me.vt.edu/people/faculty/ferris.html. Especially if you're able to do some legit research, you can get grants and have your education paid for with money on the side from doing RA/TA work.

[drinaldis]

Want a job in engineering? Two words.... Silicon Valley.