The University of Central Florida

Date: Jan 26 2014
Major: Mechanical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I graduated from UCF in the Fall 2008 at the beginning of the recession. Unfortunately, like most recent graduates, I had to move back home with student loans that were starting to mature. Initially, I got some responses from prospective employers but no interviews, and I finally decided to study and take the EIT/FE exam to hopefully help my chances of getting a job. I put a good deal of time and effort into studying for the exam, took the exam, and I passed.

Its been over five years now and I couldn't even get an interview let alone a job.

I knew an aerospace engineer, high GPA and honor student, who graduated around the same time I did and is in the same predicament. In retrospect I regret going into engineering at UCF and putting the time and money (student loans)into a degree that, in terms of getting a job, is worthless.

During my time there I spent two years applying for internships through the CO-OP office and couldn't even get a single interview, and I knew lots of people who got the same results.

There is opportunity for students at UCF, and I knew kids who got engineering jobs. The main problem with most schools is the fact that they don't educate incoming students on what they need to do academically (ie. level of studying and workload) and internship wise to succeed. I had no idea about the level of competition there was for internships, or the fact that you need to be associated with a research program to help develop contacts for possible job leads.

I hate people who read reviews like these and say,

Well, that's your responsibility

I disagree. Yes, its my responsibility to do well in school and try to make an attempt to gain practical experience. However, is it too much to ask of the administration at UCF to have a brief talk with incoming students and give them a run down on what it takes to actually get a job with the degrees they soon will be putting a substantial amount of time and effort for?

Anyways, I know there are a lot of kids at UCF who, like me, are trying to make something of themselves, and I hope they do succeed. The problem is the fact that too many won't succeed, and they'll probably wind up in debt with no future prospects. If you're considering this school, please be careful, and make sure you have a clear understanding of the expectations required of you to be successful in your field of study.