OK - finally a real DL thread. I am working with a co-worker who is a technician who wishes to move up to equipment engineering. Our company requires a BS degree (funny - it can even be in accounting - but that is another story). I told him to check out CIE World College for their BSEET program. Has anyone on the board ever taken a course of gotten their AS or BS degree from World College? What was your impression of the program? Do you think it was worth the $2600 a semester cost? How are the instructors?
Sorry to do this to ya' Mr.E, but your post has earned my now-dreaded boilerplate reminder that I'm now inserting into all threads where it's appropriate (and in which I happen to notice it's needed): PLEASE PROVIDE A LINK IN YOUR THREAD-STARTING POSTS TO THE WEB SITE OF THE ENTITY/ENTITIES ABOUT WHICH YOU'RE INQUIRING/COMMENTING SO THAT THOSE WHOSE OPINIONS/COMMENTS YOU SEEK WILL NOT BE BURDENED WITH HAVING TO GOOGLE SAID ENTITY/ENTITIES AND FIND ITS/THEIR WEB SITE(S) THEMSELVES; AND ALSO TO ENSURE THAT THE WEB SITE(S) THEY FIND IS/ARE, IN FACT, THAT/THOSE OF THE ENTITY/ENTITIES ABOUT WHICH YOU'RE INQUIRING/COMMENTING. I'm not trying to nag on or embarrass, or single-out anyone, mind you... but this business of thread-starting posts which refer in casual, off-handed, familiar ways to institutions -- assuming that everyone is as up-to-speed thereon as the thread-starter -- is starting to get out of hand around here. Of course I could have just posted "Link please," but I've been doing that, and it doesn't seem to be working.
The web site is www.cie-wc.edu and from there you link to the BEET program site. I took my A.A.S. from CIE in 1983. I also completed their diploma course in Electronics Engineering in 1981. All credits are transferrable into the BEET program which, frankly, would make me nervous. Sould I REALLY get credit toward a BEET in 2006 for learning how to bias a pentode vacuum tube in 1981? Maybe...but I see that most ABET programs won't accept technical credit that is over seven years old. Anyway, the A.A.S. program comprises the first two years of the four year BEET but the bulk of the technical material is covered in that two years. The upper level BEET semesters are mostly management and general studies. The CIE program was very well designed and quite complete. Instructors were readily available and well qualified. Labs were interesting and instructive. Overall, I'd rate the educational experience a solid B+ (pun intended). In my limited experience, CIE was well recognized in the field by potential employers but not considered valid in the academy. (Yes, I tried.) I'd guess that Mr. Engineer's co worker could do worse, maybe a LOT worse, than CIE and that the company might well pay for it. CIE-WC is DETC accredited but not ABET approved. The degree will bear limitations on its utility. If the co worker really wants to do it by D/L, s/he should also look at Grantham: www.grantham.edu which offers DETC BSET degrees and California National: www.cnuas.edu which offers a DETC BSE degree with an available electrical/electronics specialty. before deciding. And yes, I DO think that these programs end up being worth their cost. One last note: If I were bent on pursuing a purely D/L bachelor's degree from scratch and didn't mind higher math, I'd spend the extra money on CNUAS. It really IS an engineering as opposed to engineering technology program. But that's just me.
I suspect that if Mr. E had wanted people to check out the school and tell him about it, he would have provided a link, even if it meant taking time away from his birthday gala. But he clearly was only looking for current or former students who presumably know how to find their school. John Bear PS: In case the URL Detectomatic will reject my post if it doesn't have a school URL, here's a nice one: http://www.cynicalbastards.com/ubs/
My wife got a certificate in computer programming. Total cost was less than $1000 USD and it got her a new job with our current employer that came with a couple of hundred dollar a month pay raise. Talk about ROI!!! The classes were pretty straightforward and mostly the old style paper DL classes. Anyway, I do remember that when she started enquiring about the program it cost significantly more but it got lower as they negotiated. Bear this in mind when talking to them....
I am currently busy with the World College program and finishing off the last 40 credits of the program. The course is well balanced and instructors always friendly and willing to help. Feel free to PM me if you need any more info.
Maybe it was like that before, but now there's quite a bit of material in upper level. CAD using Microcap Electrical Power and Machines C-Programming Electronic Communications I,II Control Systems I,II Physics Lab Digital Data Communications Senior Design Project About the course level quality. Example: WC have a course named Transient Analysis based on the textbook by Dr. W Stanley. This exact same course is given as a 3rd year course at many other universities, where WC present it already at the lower level in Semester 3
So, then, under those circumstances it's okay to inconvenience the reader? (A rhetorical question) Including a link in a thread-starting post isn't a rule; or not doing so isn't a violation of the TOS or anything like that... nor was it ever presented as such. I'm just trying to make it easier for those who read such posts by posting my little boilerplate suggestion thingy instead of "link please" so that maybe people will start changing how they make thread-starting posts and others won't have to post "link please" so much. That's all. It's not a big deal.
Well, it's been a while since I looked at it. So thirty of, what, sixty upper division credits are technical? I remember taking the transient analysis sequence. The course taught me how to USE known LaPlace transforms but not how they were derived. It was interesting but it was also a table driven "plug and chug" exercise. I don't know how that would compare with the third year course you are describing. I'm also not sure that a technologist really NEEDS to know how to derive them. I remember thinking that the course was weak in mathematics, actually. There was very little matrix manipulation and almost nothing in infinite sequences or series. But there WAS calculus of single variables and limited exposure to linear differential equations. No vector calculus beyond a VERY slight introduction to partial differentiation IIRC. Remember, though, that this was for an ASSOCIATE'S degree, not the bachelor's program. OTOH, a friend of mine is a professor in an ABET BSET program. She tells me that the higher math is de emphasized in some programs in favor of teaching computer modelling techniques. More universal, less elegant, I guess. You can BET, though, that CIE-WC gives their students pretty much what potential employers WANT then to have. I have no hesitation in recommending the school.
I think they beefed up the material since then. The calculus is much more complete. I remember one of the instructors telling me that a lot of course material to be revised about 1-2 years ago. I could compare the Transient Analysis course work with work from one of the Florida universities, where one of my friends did the same course in his 3rd year Technology Degree.
As I understand it, and I am not an expert, one of the common criticisms of BSET programs in general is that, though they require technical calculus, the curriculum does not itself integrate calculus into technology courses. For instance, here in Las Cruces, our state University's BSET program requires a year of general physics and lab but the physics is NON calculus based. In fact, the student does not even take his first calculus class until AFTER he's finished the physics sequence! OTOH, mastering differential equations is said to be the real difference between an engineering degree and a technology degree sooo... ANYWAY, the original poster wanted to know in anyone had taken a degree from CIE or WC. I have done so and I recommend the program if an ABET resident program isn't doable. I am confident that the program has gotten better, not worse, through the years.
