Associate Engineer degree -- how is it viewed around the world

[avivkazaz1]

Hi, I'm Aviv, 21 years old from Israel.
Currently a 2 and a half years long soldier, about to finish in a few months.
Before shipping out to the military I've been in a Secondary high-school and graduated as what they call it abroad "Associate Engineer". As what they present in Israel, it's only familiar in our state. It's basically a 2 academic years of engineering with variety of courses and eventually you get this semi-engineer degree.
I've been thinking about graduating in Israel as a major Engineer but I pretty got lost lately with what to do.

I've been dreaming of leaving Israel and living abroad, currently favoring the US.
The thing is, I'm not sure how it works. Like, how are they supposed to be familiar with my Associate Engineering degree? Specifically mine is a Mechanical but the diploma states (car experience), we had a few courses about cars because that's probably the industry they aimed us to get into. There's a lot of general Mechanical Engineering courses in my transcript but there's also a decent amount of courses about cars. I'm pretty sure that I'll be missing some courses that Associate Engineer has in the United States or anywhere else.

So, I'm wondering if anyone here is familiar with this subject and can guide me towards what to do.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dr.D]

I think I can safely say that this degree is unfamiliar in the USA. You might apply to a few US colleges to see how they evaluate your transcript and perhaps get a better feel that way.

 

[avivkazaz1]

I think I can safely say that this degree is unfamiliar in the USA. You might apply to a few US colleges to see how they evaluate your transcript and perhaps get a better feel that way.

Thanks for the reply.
What do you mean by applying to a college? Like, I know I have to go to some college/associate only university so they can evaluate/convert the degree.
But what do you mean by applying? Do I need to study something?
And is there no way to get a general idea of what it can be evaluated to while being still in Israel?

 

[Dr.D]

"To apply" in this context simply means to complete an application form for admission to study at X college.

 

[berkeman]

Welcome to the PF.

I've been in a Secondary high-school and graduated as what they call it abroad "Associate Engineer".

You might consider contacting your school to see if they know of other students who were able to transfer some of their course credits to universities outside of Israel. They may be the best/quickest source of that kind of information.

 

[avivkazaz1]

Welcome to the PF.

You might consider contacting your school to see if they know of other students who were able to transfer some of their course credits to universities outside of Israel. They may be the best/quickest source of that kind of information.

I wouldn't count on it, it's a really religious college with religious Jews who aren't really into leaving Israel (me and a few friends got into that specific one because the other ones were pretty far away)
I'll try anyway, but if not, there's nothing else to know for sure huh?
I'll probably just go on full major engineer degree. Sadly these 2 years I've done in engineering aren't going to take effect besides getting out of a couple courses.

 

[berkeman]

I'll try anyway, but if not, there's nothing else to know for sure huh?

Here is the transfer page from my undergraduate university (UC Davis in Northern California). It looks pretty helpful. You can probably find similar pages at whatever universities you are considering.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/undergraduate/transfer/planning/

Transferable Coursework
Which courses at your California community college will transfer or fulfill requirements for admission, general education or your major? ASSIST can answer your questions quickly and easily.

If you are attending a college that is not a California community college, you can determine which courses may be UC-transferable by comparing your college's course descriptions with similar courses at UC Davis or at another UC campus. If the descriptions match, the coursework is most likely UC-transferable—after you apply to UC Davis, our admission advisers will evaluate your transcripts to arrive at a final determination of which courses are transferable.

 

[avivkazaz1]

Here is the transfer page from my undergraduate university (UC Davis in Northern California). It looks pretty helpful. You can probably find similar pages at whatever universities you are considering.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/undergraduate/transfer/planning/

It says I should compare my courses with theirs, I'm trying to find their courses but I kind of got lost.
I want to get a general idea if I've been studying the courses they teach at UC Davis, and theirs are probably similar to most other universities

Can you help me find the Mechanical Engineering courses? (associate)
Thanks :)

 

[berkeman]

Can you help me find the Mechanical Engineering courses? (associate)

So the UCs are 4-year universities, and do not offer Associate-level degrees. They offer Bachelors, Masters and PhD level degrees. The students who transfer-in usually have completed a 2-year Associates degree at a 2-year community college, and they are looking to get credit for their community college classes versus the first 2 years of ("Lower Division") classes at the 4-year university.

So you want to compare your classes that you have already taken against the "Lower Division" classes on this list:

http://mae.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/EMEC1617Reqd-11.14.16.pdf

You can find the course descriptions for those classes here:

https://mae.ucdavis.edu/courses/

And a general description of the Mechanical Engineering program here:

https://mae.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/mechanical-engineering-major/

Hope that helps!

 

[jrmichler]

In the US, a two year engineering degree makes a person a designer. Designers draw (model) parts. They are expected, for example, to be able to get shaft tolerances from a bearing catalog. They are not expected to do more than simple calculations. They are closely involved with making all the parts fit, and designing parts that can be manufactured. They do simple projects on their own. They work on more complex projects under the direction of an engineer with at least a four year degree. You need to be able to use at least one 3D modelling package, SolidWorks is a common one. If you apply for a job in the US, just say that you have two year mechanical engineering degree.

US engineering departments typically have a mixture of designers and engineers.

 

[avivkazaz1]

So the UCs are 4-year universities, and do not offer Associate-level degrees. They offer Bachelors, Masters and PhD level degrees. The students who transfer-in usually have completed a 2-year Associates degree at a 2-year community college, and they are looking to get credit for their community college classes versus the first 2 years of ("Lower Division") classes at the 4-year university.

So you want to compare your classes that you have already taken against the "Lower Division" classes on this list:

http://mae.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/EMEC1617Reqd-11.14.16.pdf

You can find the course descriptions for those classes here:

https://mae.ucdavis.edu/courses/

And a general description of the Mechanical Engineering program here:

https://mae.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/mechanical-engineering-major/

Hope that helps!

That's cool.
I failed to find what the courses mean tho, I'm familiar with some of them, but there's random stuff like "Classical Physics" a bunch of them and I failed to find what it specifically means but never mind, just got a good idea of what's going on.
So this is the requirements to get in the UC Davis with Associate Engineer degree to Major Engineer?
Do they get like 2 years off from the Major Engineer degree or how does it work?
Because here, in Israel, we are required to do the whole 4 years but as an associate you are free from doing a couple of courses but not too much.

In the US, a two year engineering degree makes a person a designer. Designers draw (model) parts. They are expected, for example, to be able to get shaft tolerances from a bearing catalog. They are not expected to do more than simple calculations. They are closely involved with making all the parts fit, and designing parts that can be manufactured. They do simple projects on their own. They work on more complex projects under the direction of an engineer with at least a four year degree. You need to be able to use at least one 3D modelling package, SolidWorks is a common one. If you apply for a job in the US, just say that you have two year mechanical engineering degree.

US engineering departments typically have a mixture of designers and engineers.

Thanks, good to know :)

 

[CrysPhys]

In the US, a two year engineering degree makes a person a designer. Designers draw (model) parts. They are expected, for example, to be able to get shaft tolerances from a bearing catalog. They are not expected to do more than simple calculations. They are closely involved with making all the parts fit, and designing parts that can be manufactured. They do simple projects on their own. They work on more complex projects under the direction of an engineer with at least a four year degree. You need to be able to use at least one 3D modelling package, SolidWorks is a common one. If you apply for a job in the US, just say that you have two year mechanical engineering degree.

US engineering departments typically have a mixture of designers and engineers.

Just a word of caution: The OP's 2-yr "Associate Engineer" degree from a foreign school is not necessarily equivalent to a 2-yr associate's degree from a US community college. Some employers require foreign degrees to be evaluated for US equivalency. For general background info, see

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html