
Originally Posted by
LongShortLong
Given that you're asking on TGR and you have access to a prime Tahoe location, I say choose a university close enough that you can drive to your parents' pad every weekend. I've found driving late Friday works pretty well for 88, 80 is probably similar, sometimes leaving Thursday to get ahead of a storm. So anywhere in Norcal can work if you're willing to drive a lot.
Big name companies do recruit more at big name universities, so there are some advantages to those degrees. I found the teaching quality was higher at CSU Sacramento than at UC Davis, though as you say, the difficulty and theory content also differs (UC's focuses more on research, so teaching suffers, and too often you'll have a green grad student instead of professor). I've also looked at some online MIT courses, that seem yet more challenging than Davis.
Any place that asks your GPA, if there's a way to focus on your recent studies, or classes in your major, do that if it looks better. Like applying for jobs - mostly no one outside academia cares that you got an F ten years ago. And even in academia, that old F is a distortion to most people. Recent you counts more. Calculate starting from when you got serious. Call it BSME GPA if you're worried about getting called on it, then explain if asked. Same if you got a bad grade in an unrelated elective.
To try a class more heavy on theory, you can look online for one if UNR doesn't offer one. Probably can even take it for credit/grade and get it added to your degree program, as an elective, or possibly replacing a required class. Maybe the prof you talked with can help you choose one, giving you the added benefit of a better relationship with that prof for future advice, letters of recommendation, etc.
If you're headed for research, theory will be more important, especially in your specialty. Otherwise, many engineering grads use little of their education. E.g. I followed the FIU bridge collapse on some of the engineering forums. In general nobody used more than the statics you already know and the solid mechanics you're about to learn. One guy set up a 3d model of all the beams and their interactions, performed an eigenvector analysis and explained what it meant. Clearly the contract engineers (PEs) did not, or their design wouldn't have the weaknesses it had. It's just too advanced a topic for the ordinary engineer. I think the hope is we'll be able to spot some obvious design deficiencies, and often know when detailed analysis is needed, but most engineers aren't doing "school" type work most of the time - it's mostly creating documents, finding/resolving problems, coordinating with your team and other stakeholders, tracking schedules, etc. Your liberal arts background may give you a leg up. Other engineering mags feel free to chime in otherwise.
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