If
you have any inkling of doubt that you will do
anything else in your career besides engineering then don’t come
to this school. Despite having many programs by name that
would seem to differentiate from the engineering field, Kettering is
STRICTLY an engineering school. The business department is, for lack
of a better word, a joke. The information system program
teaches you how to use Microsoft Access and VB.NET—things that
I learned as a sophomore in high school. The rest
of the classes until your junior year are revamped Industrial
Engineering courses with new names. I say with all honesty
that I have not learned anything about information systems in
class that I didn’t know before I enrolled. Yet, I
can say the co-op experience provided new learning opportunities, but
it was on-the-job learning. The finance major is consists of
two basic finance courses and four accounting courses. The marketing
major is also very bare. The curriculum requirements have been
redone three times since I started in 2004! This
problem also trickles down into your co-op experience. 90% of
the companies involved in the co-op experience at Kettering are
in the automotive/manufacturing arena. Even if you are finance major
you will have to have some mechanical interest in order
to thrive in the co-op process. You do have the
opportunity to make a lot of money if you choose
to work for the right company though. You can also
fluff your resume to immense proportions with the right vocabulary
through the co-op. This gives you a great chance to
get your missed college experience in grad school (Which is
my plan).
Finally, I’ll talk about the social life at
Kettering. Kettering is the place for you if you like
75 % white males. Diversity is sorely lacking. Intramural Sports
and binge drinking are the totality of the typical weekend
Kettering activities. Most of the students come from Michigan or
Ohio, so they often go home. The campus covers about
2 blocks and is encompassed by an impoverished neighborhood and
city. Enrollment has been steadily dropping since I came into
Kettering and I don’t see it changing unless major renovations
are made to the Kettering experience as a whole.
If you are a gear-head, nerd, or introvert, then Kettering
is the place for you. You will be challenged to
your breaking point in academics and social interactions but……………you will
end up with a good job. I WANT MY MONEY BACK!!!
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