Engineering School

D1:
A&M
Tech

Both of which will be a challenge with regard to making the team. But they have excellent engineering programs.

Don't think that SAT score will work for Rice.

NMSU has a good engineering program. Not sure if they are D1, but I would guess that they are. Also not familiar with their baseball reputation.

Solid baseball engineering programs in the south or southwest include:

Cal Poly - San Luis Obisbo, CA
Loyola Marymount - Los Angeles, CA
University of Santa Clara
Baylor - Waco, TX
Cal State Los Angeles (D2)
Cal State Pomona (D2)
San Jose State
Virginia Military Institute
University of Portland
University of San Diego
Long Beach State
Sacramento State
Trinity University - San Antonio (D3)

Taken from US News & World report (Best undergraduate Engineering Programs)

I didn't know how you defined Southwest so I gave you California as well. Also, my son went to school planning on engineering. We found that you needed a little higher SAT, especially Math, then what you indicated (not a lot, just a little).

I am curious about baseball players having the time to major in any kind of engineering in college. We have always heard it is almost impossible to mix the two because of the extensive time needed for classes and labs. What have you all experienced? Thanks for your answers.

Baylor is not thought of as a serious engineering school. It's engineering program has not even been around that long.

I think it would be extremely, extremely difficult to do baseball and engineering. At a good engineering school, significant study/homework time is required (often 6-8 hours per day on weekdays and 8-10 hours per day on weekends). And to graduate in four years requires an average of about 17 hours per semester in some programs.

I know others will say otherwise, but my son had intially hoped to study architecture and play ball (architecture being very similar to engineering in terms of time committment).

He was told by at least 4 separate schools, by the coaches there and the architecture department that it simply could not be done. The time alone was impossible, with these types of classes requiring afternoon labs almost daily and at the same time as practice/games.

this came from the "horses mouth" so to speak at these schools. Again, I know others will say it can be done and my hat is off to you if you can pull it off.

quote:

At a good engineering school, significant study/homework time is required (often 6-8 hours per day on weekdays and 8-10 hours per day on weekends). And to graduate in four years requires an average of about 17 hours per semester in some programs.

I am an Electrical Engineer and this sounds about right to me. I remember a couple of times studying all weekend trying to solve one problem. We used to have a saying. When you see all these kids on Saturday afternoons with their faces painted and going nuts at football or basketball games, those are likely not your Engineering students who would more than likely be killing themselves in the library during those times.

All that said. I wanted my son to study Engineering but his school does not offer it. He is taking Computer Science which is also fairly rigorous and where there are also various lab requirements. One way to do both - sports and a tough academic dicipline, is to take a lighter course schedule. Obviously, that can be more expensive but it can help one balance competing demands.

You are right about the time required to major in Engineering. And I have heard it said that if you want to major in pre-med, archetecture or engineering, forget about the extra curricular activites. I am very proud to say my son graduated in May '06 with his degree in Mechanical Engineering (in 4 years) and played varsity ball all four years. It can be done.

Engineering/baseball is a tough combo. My son started with that in mind and soon switched to Business. It was not the classes that were the most difficult to manage but is was the labs!!!

With so much science and upper level math they all required labs (3 a week)that were only offered during the afternoon....during baseball practice. If you miss the labs you don't pass....miss the practices you don't make the team. Tough choicees

Some can do it but mine could not make it work. He switched to buisness and everything is working out for him on the diamond as well as the classroom.

quote:

Originally posted by Ten's Biggest Fan:
You are right about the time required to major in Engineering. And I have heard it said that if you want to major in pre-med, archetecture or engineering, forget about the extra curricular activites. I am very proud to say my son graduated in May '06 with his degree in Mechanical Engineering (in 4 years) and played varsity ball all four years. It can be done.

Would you mind giving more detail on what was required of your son and how he pulled it off - I think the detail you could give would be of great benefit to many of us. Thanks and a tip of my cap to your son.

I am currently a high school sophomore and I am taking two college level engineering courses. One is Civil Engineering and Architecture (CEA), and the other is Principles of Engineering (POE). I can already tell that it will take a lot of work in college if I continue into engineering.

I have always wanted to go into some type of engineering or, I realize it would be extremely hard but I have put thoughts into being a heart surgeon.

But it seems like go to into either of the fields, I would have to give up baseball.

I think I'm going to go talk to my high school counselor about what my options are and what I should be doing now.

Look at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.

Great academics...has an engineering school

Good team...improving each year...plays in Atlantic Sun; Team should make a serious run of A Sun title this year

Several players on team are in engineering;

Hi
My son has applied early decision to Wash U in St Louis and will double major in ChemE and finace.The school is DIII and they play most of their games at home.

I have spoken to an assistant coach at Harvard and he says it is hard for position players to be major in engineering in coolege. Pitchers can do it at DI but everybody it is hard.

My son was told at Wash U that academics is first and baseball second.He will come in at the school skipping general chemistry and going into differential equations,and staring organic chemistry and quantum mechanics.He wants to play baseball but his vocation will be something else.OtherthAN golf baseball players miss more class time usually.

quote:

differential equations,and staring organic chemistry and quantum mechanics

Oh yeah, I took those also.... or was it football 101, basket weaving and my schools best course (taught by the coach) hotel and restaurant management.

I hate when these young kids are sooo much smarter then me

Beenverygood... The schools mentioned above are good engineering schools, but I think a DI school and engineeing is tough, my son grad from West Point w/ Structural engineering. The biggest issue is what you put first. Put baseball first...classes will suffer. Put classes first, game will suffer. It is rare to do well in both.

My son attends University of Delaware and is studying Mechanical Engineering while pitching for the baseball team. He curriculum is very difficut, but 2 years into it he is doing very well and is able to juggle everything. Between baseball workouts and school, he has little time for anything else, but fortunatly he has the support of the coaches, etc. UD isn't in the South/SE, but it is a beautiful campus and a very good school.

How about VMI...they have a very strong Engineering program and it is one place that you can major in engineering and play baseball. They play Division 1 baseball, the program is growing every year and they are completing an over 4 million dollar renovation to the baseball stadium. While not easy several of the players are engineering majors. While it is a military school there is no military comittment...it is available if you are interested. This past year they posted two wins over Auburn, took two games over Winthrop that was ranked 14th at the time.

Our son is an ME major / Pitcher at University of San Diego. USD has a very small Engineering School which is good and bad. Good because he knows everyone and all the professors and they are very supportive.He is a very conscientious student. Bad because there are few sections offered for each class. Last Spring all of his classes were scheduled for MWF. He was on the road for 5 straight weeks, missing every Friday class. The only professor that was difficult to work with was for his math class. The Engineering Profs were accomodating. His roommate is an ME major and he is friends with the other students which helps him stay up-to-date with homework, etc.

He has taken 17 units every fall with 14 in Spring. He had 9 units prior to starting college. He plans to take 3-4 classes this summer which will allow him to graduate in 8 semesters (normally a 9 semester program). I asked him this weekend "ARE YOU CRAZY???". He said "all the hard GE classes are pretty much done. Now it's all ME classes (Rocket Science) and they're a piece of cake". On top of this he works about 15 hours a week on campus Supervising the Sports Center. He does a lot of his homework there ("That's why they call it Work-Study Mom!")

I'll withhold my final analysis until he graduates but so far I'd say it can be done if you are very disciplined and focused. Try to get as many units completed BEFORE you start college. AP tests, Jr. College classes during the Summer or during your Sr. Year are great cushions for any Student Athlete.

I think most of it depends upon the baseball program.

At school where son is at, they said no way, can't do it, you would miss too many labs. Most labs are in the afternoon, so is practice. You can't miss class and you can't miss practice. After two years, I understand why they said what they did.

Different baseball programs have differnt expectations of their players. During recruiting, this should be discussed.

It doesn't hurt to call the engineering dean at a school you are interested in and ask him/her directly if its possible to play baseball as an engineering major. Their answer may surprise you.

btw most of my son's ap classes don't count towards his engineering degree progress i.e. UC accepts his AP score on history and gov't but they aren't part of the engineering program requirements/options , thus many of the AP units awarded to him "count" but won't help him graduate on time or early, he'll just graduate with extra units.

As far as AP classes, you have to check with each school. Initially his Stat AP wasn't going to count for anything except units. He was originally an Industrial Engineering major. It counts toward the ME curriculum and fulfills his Engineering Stat requirement because he had scored a 5. That, and Coach saying he would pay for his Summer School got him thinking about graduating in 8 semesters. Before the summer after High School he checked with USD to find classes that would count toward his degree. He took Calc 1.

Thanks everyone for the great input. I have been away for a bit and am now catching up on things. I have told my son that graduating in 5 years is okay by me. We have looked into some of the schools mentioned but now have a few more ideas.

Note: I graduated with an engineering degree at the Univ. of Pittsburgh and knew the first football player to graduate in engineering and know exactly what everyone is talking about regarding the hard work and discipline required.

if you do engineering there will be conflicts. If your priority is to have fun playing baseball while you go to school, i say go for it. Your degree will last a lifetime. If your priority is to use college baseball to advance to professional baseball, i'd look into a business or liberal arts type degree.

I know I'm late to the party, but I'm a college professor in chemical engineering and wanted to add a few things to what has already been said.

I have had all kinds of student-athletes in my classes, baseball, wrestling, hockey, lacrosse, and track. The number one factor in their success or failure in the engineering curriculum is themselves. I have had "A" student-athletes and "C" student-athletes. Playing a sport just means they have to be more disciplined and better with time management than their non-athlete classmates. The students who do sports generally have practice, games and homework, with very little free time. If they are good students, they do fine in the engineering curriculum.

These days very few engineering students graduate in 4 years. Unless you are going to a place where you pay by semester instead of by credit hour, it is worth it to take 5 years instead of 4. In general, fewer classes per semster = better grades. When it comes time to find the first job GPA matters, but 4 years vs. 5 years to graduate does not.

AP credit is the best bargin out there. If your son can get AP credit for Calculus, Physics, or Chemistry, they should go for it. It will save them time and money (if they aren't on scholarship).

Regarding labs, I would talk to the department chair of the specific discpline of engineering you are interested in at each university. In some places departments will put the labs on "flex-time" for athletes. This semester I have two student-athletes in my lab course and whenever they need to leave town for a game or have a practice conflict, we just reschedule their lab time for a different day during the week. It is not a big deal to do this.

It is also possible to sit down with an academic advisor and map out a plan to see if you can make it work. You need work with the advisor for the specific department you are interested in, though. Do not work with the general university advisors as they are not aware of all of the nuances of engineering classes/curriculum.

My son is a sophmore middle infielder with a mechanical enginering major and a business minor. He's attending D3 WPI. He chose WPI over two D1 schools with engineering programs that were recruiting him. He also happens to be a starter on the team. I would agree with Tiger Paw Mom, that it depends on the baseball program. However, I would add that it also depends on the school.
Usually in D1 programs it is very difficult to play any varsity sport and complete an engineering major. That doessn't mean it can't be done but it is very difficult.
You may want to look at schools that specialize(for lack of a better term) in engineering degrees. These are usually D3's or D2's. These schools conduct their athletic programs around their academic programs. Examples of very good engineering schools are D3's(MIT, RPI, WPI,and others) and D2's(Florida Tech, Rowan,and others).
The baseball programs are pretty good and very competitive.
It really depends on how important the academics are to the student-athlete. When I advised my son I told him to go where he was going to get the best education and that the baseball program was #2 on the priority list.
Having said that I would also tell you that you need to be realistic. Most engineering schools that are ranked by US News require a very high SAT score. Usually the average score at the top 25% of the schools is around 1300(old SAT). With an 1110 it may get a little difficult to be accepted to the top tier of schools regardless of athletic division.

Engineering schools in Virginia will require better GPA and Sat than you are listing. VT , UVA and VMI have very strict guidelines for engineering students today.

BeenVeryGoodToMe:

Having graduated from Pitt you probably know about the engineering program at WVU. Also, if your son would be interested in an NAIA baseball school, West Virginia University Institute of Technology is an enginering school located in Montgomery, WV. It is a small state school with an excellent reputation in enginering.

Good Luck.

TW344

Thanks Everyone. He has decided to attend school at Baylor University to pursue Mechanical Engineering. He had been recruited by some D3 schools but was more interested in pursuing his education than playing baseball with the recognition that getting a good degree was more important than playing ball. He also felt it important to get a degree from a name brand engineering school. I support his decision. He may try to walk on at Baylor but he recognizes that it is a long shot given the large talent pool in the program.

Thanks to everyone for the posts. Thanks to Nitric Acid for his/her post as it may help many potential student/atheletes. To TW344 - Yes, I am aware of the good program at WVU but he didn't want to go North and was not too interested in going to far from home.

quote:

Originally posted by BeenVeryGoodToMe:
He had been recruited by some D3 schools but was more interested in pursuing his education than playing baseball with the recognition that getting a good degree was more important than playing ball.

Not to sound well, the way this is going to sound but, he could've done both. Many DIII's are very strong academically. A degree from a DIII school does NOT mean you got a "not good" degree. Maybe it's a regional thing but many of the DIII schools here in the Northeast are quite prestigious. Of course if one of his criteria was staying in Texas or close to home, then he probably made an outstanding choice. Good luck. Hopefully he can continue to play baseball in the summer.