School Question

Status
Not open for further replies.

EOJ

Member
I have a question, Electronics related, is there a difference between Electrical and Electronic Engineering? I'm under the asumption that Electrical has to do with power grids and powerlines and all that.

If you could do it all over again, what universities would you want to attend to reach your Electronics Engineering Degree? What areas would you speacialize in? Thanks


EOJ
 
There'll be no single answer to that, I assure you. It depends on the university/college, but in my case electrical engineering students have to attain a mastery in electronics, while studying electrical courses (you are pretty close, power is heavily an electrical subject) we'll have subjects like energy conversion & transmission, high voltage and so on.
Electronics would cover devices, semiconductor physics, electronic circuits (transistors, diodes, bla bla bla) and so on and so forth.
I'm an EE student, covering both areas, but I'm not specified to expertise (like some offer EE with an emphasis on power electronics)
There's a fine line between those two.
 
In many aspects its related on both sides. Your electronics all need to get their power from some place so that make having basic power electrical knowledge necessary to a point.
Or when dealing with the electrical power systems there is still a heavy degree of electronics involved in the monitoring, control, and power conversion aspects so its necessary to have reasonable electronics knowledge as well.

Basically do you want to consider 3.3 V -24 Volts at a few amps or less a normal range to work with or do you want to consider 24 - 1200 volts at 10's to even 100's of amps a normal range to work with? Electronics covers both of these power levels.

Personally I tend to specialize more with dealing with the higher power end of the electronics stuff. I still have to understand the logic and circuit board aspects well but I also have to understand the higher power level handling aspects too!
 
Since you are in Oceanside, you should look into UCSD. If you willing to commute south then you have USD and SDSU. Considering commuting, and relocation cost, UCSD sounds like the way to go, and they do have a good reputation. Another school close to Oceanside is U of San Marcos, but I am not sure if they have an engineering program.
 
I personally prefer SDSU as UCSD is a bit more uptight and pretentious. I have taken classes at both.
 
I'm in the orient.. University of Malaya. Not the best engineering place, but I'm very happy with my thesis supervisor, a director for the department's Centre of Research for Applied Electronics (CRAE UM), he is an alumni of Bridgeport, and I'm learning a lot from him. And he's certainly a very formidable professor, a champion of the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products 2005.
 
Hi EOJ, in regards to your question, I like to differentiate between electrical and electronic engineering. Unfortunately, I think, most colleges and industries don't make that distinction.
 
so in your advice, what subjects (physics, trig, calc) do I need to focus on before persuing the electronics engineering degree? It's been a while since I've been in school. What should i be doing now to make my life a little more easier down the road? Are they're any schoold that stand out for their electrical engineering programs? Sorry for a million questions. Thanks in advance!
 
EOJ, You do need physics but you can't take that class without calculus, and you can't take calculus without taking college algebra. There are many major prep and gen ed courses that you need to take prior to any serious EE level classes. Click this link for a list of required classes at SDSU. https://arweb.sdsu.edu/es/catalog/0910/webfolder/Electrical%20Engineering.pdf
Also check out the SDSU website.

You might want to contact MESA. This is in San Diego. If it has been awhile since you have been to school you might consider a Junior college to start out and fulfill your gen eds and some major preps. Mira Costa is a North County JC, perhaps this should be your first start.
Welcome to MiraCosta College - A public California community college serving coastal North San Diego County
 
Last edited:
As an older than average student get some realistic input from the college you are planning to attend and then do some serious independent follow up work on whats actually involved in getting into the core classes related to what it is you plan on actually doing. It could save you a fortune financially and time wise.

I went back to school a second time in my late 20's and got a massive education in run around and BS. Had I sat down and taken a much harder look at what actually related to what I wanted to do I could have skipped a good deal of expensive and completely useless fluff and filler classes and could have saved loads of time and money as well.

Also look hard at the actual class requirements and unlisted pre requirements they dont tell you about as well. They may tell you all you all need is a specific algebra and a calculus class to get into a physics class and that is what your class schedule will show until you try to sign up for those two classes. Its only then that you will find out that you have to take an unlisted algebra or pre calculus class or two ahead of those listed classes to get into the actual classes "first listed" in your course curriculum books. That little unlisted bit of class work will instantly make your 4 year degree just become a 4.5 year experience or more.
Also expect that the semester to semester class schedules will never ever follow the right semester to semester layout. They will likely always have two or more classes recommended in almost every semester that have at least one time and schedule or location conflicts. By doing so they make you have to take one later than whats in the original course schedule. That makes your now 4.5 years experience get bumped out to a more realistic 5 years.

On top of that if you have to retake any classes (I never met anyone who didn't have at least one redo class) for any reason expect to add another semester or two as well.
In the end your supposed 4 year degree will likely be 5+ years and about 50% more overall cost than what they told you on day one when you signed on.
Unless your a sports major. Then expect your 4 year degree to be at most 4 years and likely under budget as well being they will kiss your butt the whole time if you do any level of sports activity while there.

Lastly keep absolute obsessive and detailed track of your transcripts, class records, attendance records, and every single piece of work and information that relates to whom you are and what you are doing in every single class and aspect of your time spent there.
I found out the hard way they make mistakes and they make them big and often. Without exact proof of your existence and actions you are the one who pays for their loosing your records of what classes you where in and everything else as well.

Spend $800 on a single class and be well known in that class for being the top A+ brown noser student there and then have them loose all evidence of you having taken that class and then get told you have to retake it since the computer system lost you some point between the day you paid for it and when the final grades came out. Then be told your efforts in that class never counted so you will be required to retake it and you will understand why.

Dont take me as being mad but rather just as giving advice on the more negative side of higher education experiences being I personally went though all of this. This is the part they do their best to make sure you never see as a new student. I spent a pile of time and money learning this the hard way so dont repeat it if you can help it.

I found the actual class time wonderful and the overall experience to be fun and enjoyable. I just didn't care for the sloppy and often underhanded ways I and many other students got treated at times because we didn't know any better.

Higher education can be fun and worth the investment but never trust anyone to keep track of you and your information while you are there.
 
Gee TCM, your college experience paints a bleak image of college life. I have never experienced any of the issues that you mentioned, but that is not to say they don't exist. I have never had a problem with my transcripts other than transferring credits from one school to another as I have attended several different schools. As for pre-reqs, the schools I have attended plainly list them in the class catalog and I can quickly tell if I have met the requirements.

Once you have selected a major it is best to review the course map for that major at the start. and look at all classes needed for that major. For example; EE major requires physics. So I look in catalog for physics and see that calculus is the pre req, so then I go back to catalog and look up calculus and I see that the pre req is Trig and college algebra, or pre-calc. I then see that college algebra pre req is passing proficiency exam or intermediate algebra, I chose the later. I pretty much made a map of all classes needed to meet all my major prep requirements.

If one creates a course map at the beginning, plans out each semester accordingly things should go somewhat as you plan. As you mentioned there are troublesome classes that cause scheduling issues. This year I had to take a Bio statistics class which is only offered once a year and only one class is offered, so in order to take that class I had to give up another required class, so I simply took another needed class to make up for that class and will take it this summer. So it can be a pain but one needs to be somewhat flexible.
 
Last edited:
The records department people at NDSU would still probably cringe if walked in the door today.
I left a rather wide and lasting impression more than once while there and they more than earned it too.

The records department at MSU, where I did my generals, probably still has a record of how many times they sent my transcripts and medical records down there and I know the records department BSC, where I did my pre engineering, does as well.

NDSU on the other hand never had a record of having had them sent there once.
Yet they had the records of what classes I paid for but never an explanation as to how I could have attended the class for a whole semester, have regular attendance and participation records for that class, yet never have been recorded as having taken it? WTF?

Well if you keep loosing them thats why you dont have any record of it huh?

I am just saying be very aware that its unfortunately still very likely anyone attending any college can have it happen. Its not as unusual as it sounds. I know others that have had occasional problems as well with specific records never showing up or oddly disappearing or simply never being complete for what ever reason.

Keep a paper trail of yourself a mile wide and an ocean deep when your at school. It may be an inconvenience but if you only ever need to fall back on it once to keep from redoing a class its still worth it.
 
well, that guy consulting sure will have a hell of an course analysis to do here. Don't overthink it, buddy, just threw your hat over the wall. The rest is just up to you, God williing.
 
I will reiterate that he should be talking to a counselor. Much of the confusion can be eliminated by just spending a few minutes is the counselor’s office. There should be a pretty good map for courses for the EE degree. In the first 2-3 years, there won't be much variation in courses, as the basics are accomplished. But the counselor will be able to provide guidance as to which courses really count and which will not. For example, there will often be many first semester courses in Physics, but only one will count towards the EE. Once you have something on paper with your counselor, you will be protected from future curriculum changes that affect your coursework WRT courses taken. You'll want to make sure you get something on paper with her.

Also, if you start at a junior college with the idea of transferring to a university, check to see if there is an existing agreement between the schools for course transfer. For example, I started at Pima Community College, but there was an agreement with the U of Arizona that courses I took at Pima would be guaranteed to transfer, provided I stuck to the curriculum.
 
Also, start on electronics projects. They'll help develop interest and participation in class. In my university we have basic Electronics I, II and III, and if you don't know how a transistor works in real life, you'll sooooo not gonna like what you're learning in a class with a didactic lecturer.
 

As a current adult student in the San Diego UC system, I think I have some current first hand experience to offer the OP who is also in San Diego area. Firstly, considering the current economic state of affairs in California, the state universities have cut way back on freshmen enrollment, CA admission Policies . With that in mind and the fact that EOJ is in the USMC and has been out of high school for some time, he will find it difficult to get into a university (Unless his SAT scores are stellar).

As I pointed out earlier, EOJ would do well to consider starting at a JC college, and it just so happens Oceanside is home to Mira Costa college. All he needs to do to get started is take a college level placement exam for math, reading, and English and a few forms. Once enrolled he can then plan out his course map with school advisers. In my early experience, I could not make an appointment with an adviser until I was enrolled in the system.

And yes, the San Diego JC's do have transfer agreements ( **broken link removed** ) in place with the 4 year schools, which the JC path is usually a much easier route, and much cheaper than starting out as a freshman in a 4 year school.
Since EOJ is entitled to military VA school benefits, he can attend a JC for pretty much free, with some change to spare.

Well that's my take on it.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…