CNU or UND? No big mistake :-)

First of all I would really like to thank all who participated in this forum and elsewhere. The information I have gleaned from these pages have been extremely beneficial to me.

One of my goals (in addition to my degree goal) is to sit for (and, of course, pass ) the journeyman examination for state licensing. I have since found out (on good authority) that in order to sit for the examination, you, of course, have to have your degree. The interesting point is this: the degree must be ABET!

It would have been a severe mistake for me to have attended CNU. Thanks to the efforts of many people who contributed to this forum, (and those I have conversed with via email) I am now enrolled in UND. (University of North Dakota).

As has been pointed out before, the labs must be taken on campus. However, I will be working closely with my advisors both at UND as well as at my community college. Since the BSEE at a distance is relatively new, UND is still working on new delivery methods for the labs…to this end, I’m hoping to take the labs at my community college and then transfer the credits in. UND’s program director has stated to me that they are open to new ideas.

So, once again, I just wanted to share my gratitude. It is always important to have accurate, timely, and truthful information before beginning any endeavor…and thanks to everyone here for helping me in making an informed decision.

 

Good luck to you!

North

 

Thank you for your well wishes...I cannot have too many of 'em

 

I assume that you have done this, but make sure that the UND distance program is also accredited by the ABET. It would be a shame to find out that the accreditation only applies to the campus based program.

Regards,
John

 

Good point. Few people (including faculty teaching in ABET-accredited programs) appreciate that ABET accredits programs, not schools or departments. I would suggest sending an email to Dick Suhar for clarification. I believe that Dick is (or was) an ABET program evaluator.

 

Incidentally, there are schools that have both accredited and non-accredited Bachelor's programs in engineering fields. For example, Cornell has both ABET-accredited programs and the so-called College Program. People who pursue the College Program still get a major in Electrical Engineering or another engineering discipline. I recently hired one such person (whose major is listed on her Cornell transcript as Chemical Engineering).

 

The BS in EE (Electrical Engineering) is a rigorous program...just as rigorous, in fact, as what you would expect in a classroom. The engineering program, at UND is ABET accredited.

 

UND is a good choice! Go Sioux!!

John

 

Yes, welcome to the UND family! This is a fine time to be affiliated with this university-on-the-rise.

Cory Seibel

 

Just wanted to underscore Gert's point. I remember several years ago this accreditation of programs (some yes, some no) was the case at Lawrence Technological University--the old L.I.T.--and it required careful checking to find out which was which.

 

I stand coreected:

Let me quote, "California does not require that an applicant be a
graduate of an ABET institution in order to test for the professional
examination. Graduates are currently allowed under the Business and
Professions Code Section 6753 (b) to test for the professional engineers
examinations."

So there you have it.

I still think I would have a tough time goig on to grad school w/o an ABET EE degree as well as having it RA is just icing on the cake.