How many semesters did it take to finish at your 4 year college studying engineering

[land_of_ice]

Referring to any kind of engineering, pick your favorite?
But, how many semesters at a 4 year college does it take to get a Bachelors degree in engineering?
After you take your prep classes at a 2 year college for engineering, then how many semesters will it probably take to finish studying engineering at a 4 year college? Assuming you take an average course load at both the 2 year college before transferring and then an average course load at a 4 year college after coming from the 2 year college?
And also, curious, so, when studying engineering at a 4 year college what is a typical course load per semester if you have transferred from a 2 year college previously and therefor taken some of your classes there? Around how many units per semester or number of classes per semester would a typical course load be like?

 

[edgepflow]

If you took calculus, physics, and chemistry in high school, you can usually finish an engineering degree in 5 acedemic years. Some exceptional students do it in four years.

 

[rhombusjr]

The norm is probably ~7-8 semesters or so. I'm not quite sure where edgepflow gets the idea that it takes at least 5 years to get an undergrad engineering degree, it shouldn't take any longer than most other majors, its still just a bachelor's degree. I've never heard of any standard program that takes 5 academic years of coursework to get a bachelors degree.

Usual course load per semester depends on the school and is usually 4-6 classes. How many courses you have to take depends on how many courses from your 2 year degree transfer to the 4 year program. If you don't have any general education classes to take, you can get an engineering degree in 2-3 years if you take only major requirements every semester.

 

[Chunkysalsa]

Its probably going to take me 9 semesters. The problem is that 1) I didnt start off with calculus or physics. 2)My uni offers classes kinda randomly so there's a good chance you'll get screwed up somehow. 3)I'm going to pick up a math minor.

EDIT: I didnt count summer semesters; I took (taking) 2 7cr summers. Hopefully doing an internship or something next summer but if I get something in town I might do a single class or something.

 

[physics girl phd]

Some students' coursework is extended because of co-op/internships that take place during normal terms, combined with then more-likely scheduling conflicts that result because of when colleges offer courses (it varies, therefore, not just by degree program, but by institution). It's not now uncommon to talk about "five-year graduation rates" -- indeed, it's becoming perhaps more common than talking about the four-year graduation rate (for state universities at least). Our institution is even trying to up enrollment during summer courses and give more summer course-work offerings to improve the 5-year rate for the university overall.

Randomly googling "4-year graduation rate engineering" (or even 5- or 6-) should get you some results from different institutions (and maybe even do a search for the one(s) that you find interesting). I quickly found a http://planning.ucsc.edu/irps/ENROLLMT/july02update/GradRatesTTD.pdf" that tracked 3-year students and talked about the 5- year rate being around 75% in engineering when for the university overall it was around 85%. they had 4- ad 6- year rates and rates for other degree-programs too.

 

[edgepflow]

The norm is probably ~7-8 semesters or so. I'm not quite sure where edgepflow gets the idea that it takes at least 5 years to get an undergrad engineering degree...

When I was in engineering college some time ago, the university I attended was on a quarter system. To graduate in 4 years in engineering, you had to average about 17 hours each term. This is not something most people I knew could do. It took me 5 years. I met two people while I was there that did it in 4 years. One of them was a genius and the other was awake 19 hours per day and wired. Like physics girl phd pointed out, it takes most people 5 years.

 

[Feldoh]

When I was in engineering college some time ago, the university I attended was on a quarter system. To graduate in 4 years in engineering, you had to average about 17 hours each term. This is not something most people I knew could do. It took me 5 years. I met two people while I was there that did it in 4 years. One of them was a genius and the other was awake 19 hours per day and wired. Like physics girl phd pointed out, it takes most people 5 years.

Yes but are we talking semesters or years? Doing a year of co-op is different than having to pay the extra couple of grand that an extra year would cost.

 

[rhombusjr]

When I was in engineering college some time ago, the university I attended was on a quarter system. To graduate in 4 years in engineering, you had to average about 17 hours each term. This is not something most people I knew could do. It took me 5 years. I met two people while I was there that did it in 4 years. One of them was a genius and the other was awake 19 hours per day and wired. Like physics girl phd pointed out, it takes most people 5 years.

We just have different experiences then; all the engineers I know graduated in 4 years from a traditional program or in 5 years with a co-op program (still the same number of semesters taking classes) or have expressed no concern about not graduating in the standard 8 semesters. Also, all of the sample curriculums posted on department websites I've seen display a 4 year degree plan, including gen.ed. and electives, so there's no reason to believe that it should take appreciably longer than that if you started from semester 1 in engineering.

Actually, that's not entirely true, I have known people that have graduated in more than 4-years because of screwed up scheduling. I also know a 3rd year physics major that was undecided for 2 years and is just now taking freshman calc and physics. So yes, it probably will take longer if you don't start your major plan right away or there's some scheduling issues. Still, undergraduate curriculums are designed to be completed in 4-years. All the engineering programs I am familiar with seem to be able to be reasonably completed in 4-years (except at schools that are known for having wonky scheduling). I'm actually quite curious to know what programs are unreasonable for a 4-year time plan. Would you mind sharing where you went to? (you can pm)

 

[Hobold]

Here it is ten semesters with an average of 25 hours per week plus undergrad research for a bachelor's degree. Master's is +2 years and Ph.D usually takes +4 years.

 

[rhombusjr]

Here it is ten semesters with an average of 25 hours per week plus undergrad research for a bachelor's degree. Master's is +2 years and Ph.D usually takes +4 years.

Where is "here," and is that 25 hours of class per week, or class + study/homework time? The +2 years for MS and an additional +4 for Ph.D. is consistent with my experience.

 

[Hobold]

Where is "here," and is that 25 hours of class per week, or class + study/homework time? The +2 years for MS and an additional +4 for Ph.D. is consistent with my experience.

Sorry, here is referring to Brazil. 25 hours of class per week, home studying (we don't have mandatory homework, only recommended exercises) apart. Though I don't know if this course load is good or bad.