I am really wanting to pursue a career in automotive engineering and design. I want to work for a performance car company, maybe Mercedes or Audi? I have been told by a representative at Universal Technical Institute that a degree from there would be a good start to pursue that career goal. Now I know they are trying mostly to get me to want to go into their school, that’s their job.
Quotes from the rep…
“Think about it, All the Credits of an Auto Diesel Program 75 weeks 105.5 Credits We have major Articulation with UOP, Devry, City Univ. Ferris State, and more where the transferrability is good.”
“Yep it would be a Great start into an engineering Career, Meanwhile with these skills you would not be “Starving” like a lot of college students situations are like when they go directly into a 5-1/2 to 6 yr Deg. program. With all the homework and special projects they put on you it’s hard working a part-time job to support yourself. Not at UTI, you go 6 hrs a day, Monday thru Friday and work a p.t. job 5.5hrs a day to pay rent & things, There’s no Homework assigned so you come home after your p.t. job and rest up to do it all again the next day.”
Does this sound too good to be true? Is there a better way of getting to my career goal? If so what is it?
I have no college credit at the moment, just about to finish high school.
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April 4th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
There are no ABET-accredted “Automotive Engineering” degree schools in the USA.
There are only two TAC/ABET-accredited degrees in Automotive Engineering Technology in the USA:
Ferris State (Michigan)
Minnesota State (Mankato)
Kettering University is recognized as the best Automotive-specific School of Engineering, which specializes in turning out graduates for the automobile industry, but it does not have a specific degree in Automobile Engineering (it has an automotive specialty in Mechanical Engineering).
UTI states “there’s no homework assigned”. If that’s true, you’ll have great difficult adjusting to the academic requirements of the three universities listed above.
If you’re mainly interested in Motorsports, North Carolina A&T offers a good B.S. degree in Motorsports Technology.
Hate to disagree with Chuckles, but in fact Engineering Technologists do work in Automotive Engineering. They are not repair technicians. You did not state you wanted to be an Automotive Engineer, and my guess from the mention of UTI in your question is that it would be irresponsible to push you towards a very difficult Engineering degree program
April 4th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
They are one of these “For Profit” schools. They will teach you to be an automotive technician. That is unnecessary to be an automotive engineer. Going there will only make it take a lot longer before you start in engineering. Also DeVry and UoP are seen as diploma mills. Anything with “Technology” in the program name is nothing needed to be an engineer. Only to be a repair technician.
If you want to be a real Automotive engineer the best program is considered to be at Georgia Tech.
Kettering University is not a regular university and they used to be called General Motors Institute and they also turn out engineers that work in the automotive industry.
Also note that Mercedes and Audi generally only hire European educated engineers.
If you want to be an engineer you need to go to a non-profit school