getting in to the industry

huangyhg

getting in to the industry.
hi there, i recently got out of the army and it's nice to finally take advantage of some of that "freedom" stuff everyone's so worked up about.
i've always been interested in building things, even as a little kid. i found the architectual drafting program at my high school my sophomore year, and aced the three years i took. i still talk with my old teacher (who owns and operates a design firm here in seattle) and he suggested that i look into structural engineering. from what i've read this looks like the field for me. whenever i walk into a building i subconsciously critique the way it was built, wonder "why the hell did they do that?" and admiring clever solutions to design problems. it's simply the way my brain works.
my questions to you fine folks:
1. i want to settle down in chicago or new york city for several reasons, but haven't made any final decisions yet. what schools in those areas have good structural/civil engineering programs? what should i look for in a college structural engineering program?
2. how much math will i need? i think i'm behind in this, as i only took algebra 1-2 and geometry in high school.
3. how early should i start talking to employers? i've been looking at different programs and i like the idea of a 5-6 year co-op with time spent both in school and in an engineering firm for work experience.
i know there are a couple more things i wanted to ask, and i'll add them when i remember them.
thanks for any help you can provide,
scott

scott,
it seems like you've put a great deal of thought into this.
as for good engineering schools, there are lots of choices.  the university of illinois (champagne/urbana), the university of wisconsin, the university of missouri at rolla, purdue university....all are good engineering schools in the chicago general area (well...stretched out a bit).  the new york city area also has some good engineering schools near in reasonable proximity (cornell, suny, even princeton)
whatever program you choose must be abet accredited for you to become licensed later on.  those noted are accredited.  digging deeper, look for experience of the professors.  the better ones have some practical as well as academic experience.
you are a bit behind in math, but all that means is that you'll have to do a couple of catch-up courses before digging into the meat of the math courses (calculus, differential equations, etc.).  you have lots of general requirements to get out of the way and those catch-up math courses will just mold in with those.
i would recommend that you not be swayed by the allure of an engineering technology program, that will promise you practical application without all the required math/physics and other fundamental coursework.  that might look attractive on the cover, but you'll suffer later when you try to become licensed.  many technology programs are not accredited by abet and many do not qualify you for licensure exams.
you have at least 8 years ahead of you before sitting for your pe or se1 exams.  it seems like a long time, but it will go quickly.  if you are serious about becoming a structural engineer, work toward the se1 and se2 exams as those are being required in more states to practice structural engineering.  you will have to take an intern exam (fundamentals of engineering (fe)) prior to taking your licensing exams.  this exam is usually offered in your senior year of college and should be taken then.  don't wait until after you've fulfilled your intership to take this exam!  it's much more difficult to pass after you've been out of school a few years!
co-op programs are good, it just takes you a bit longer to achieve your goal.  they usually offer good experience, though.
you'll have plenty of time to talk to employers.  don't do it too early as you might be tempted to be swayed into a particular direction only to find a couple of years later that either the direction of the profession has changed a bit or that the employer is no longer around.
i didn't have much luck finding a co-op program that i was interested in.  when i was in school, the university had several partnerships with major area employers.  typically, these industrial facilities were the employers offering co-op positions. check with the schools and find out what type of employment options they have for co-op students.
if you want to work in structural building design, i would wait until you have your second year under your belt... and then work as a part time intern with a local structural engineering firm. by then you will have had all the basic classes including calculus and statics. because you have drafting experience, you may be able to start working part time even sooner.
i still work for the firm that i worked for in college.
hoo-ah, scott!
if you're coming to new york city (where i work). there are several excellent colleges offering civil engineering as a major with the opportunity to concentrate in structural. the private schools are columbia university, new york institute of technology, manhattan college, new jersey institute of technology, stevens institute of technology, brooklyn poly and probably a few others. they are all good, and they're all extremely expensive, on the order of $25-40k/year. the public school is the city university of new york (cuny) and it has an excellent civil program and it's quite inexpensive (though rents in manhattan and the surrounding area are high, figure $1300-1700/month for a one-bedroom, this is life...).
in your case, however, given your level of experience, you will - my opinion - not want to attend a super competititve school like columbia. why? simply because they are not schools for folks who need remedial courses; they're for folks who took ap calculus in high school and such.
what you probably should do (this is free advice) is take the first couple of years' worth of engineering courses at a local community college. your wallet won't be strained and you will have an opportunity to catch up on all the match while not having to take engineering physics at the same time (that's the physics you need calculus for). get yourself up to speed and get all the chemistry, physics, math, statics, dynamics, and whatever else out of the way and then apply to a big school to finish off the engineering degree.
really like the advice about community college for lafinjack, davevikingpe. lafinjack is way behind most engineering freshmen at this stage in his intellectual development in mathematics, as most engr. freshmen i have talked to have taken ap calculus. mathematics is still the language of engineering, despite all the fancy software today that appears to do a lot of the mathematics for you.
since you are only looking at 'settling down' in those two urban areas, you certainly do not need to restrict your search for engr. schools to those two (generally) expensive areas. you'll want to talk to the engineering co-op office at the schools you are considering and ask them where the co-ops from their school are going to. in general, the calif. schools are connected best to the calif. employers, midwest schools connected best to midwest employers, etc., but don't let that be the only consideration. especially many of the larger engineering schools are well connected, via their career office or via alumni, to many employers around the country or overseas (many structural engineers work on overseas construction projects, so even though the employer is a us company, many of their projects are all over the world).
you are off to a great start, asking the right questions, in the right places, like this forum. the breadth of experience and knowledge in this forum consistently astounds me.