engineering thread...for engineers [Archive]

crazyinsane105

10-08-2005, 03:16 PM

Well, I go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is the number three engineering school in the United States (it is behind MIT and Stanford Univeristy). Currently I am studying mechanical engineering but I will most likely switch to electrical engineering next semester (electrical has many more job opportunities plus it is a VERY challenging course; then again, which engineering major is easy?:roll: ). Here is the link:

http://www.engr.uiuc.edu/

I was quite surprised when I got into the program. Many other people I knew had gotten rejected. The college of engineering requires at least a 30 out of 36 on the ACT (for those not in the US, the ACT is a test taken by junior and senior high school students. It contains four categories: English, Math, Reading, and Science. Each section has a max score of 36 and the overall test score is the average of those four scores). I had gotten a 29 on the ACT (it's alright, but not excellent) plus I did OK in high school. Anyway, engineering at UIUC is extremely hard: people who start off with a GPA of 3.8 their freshman year fall to a 2.9 their senior year!!! So it is a challenging course.

I highly recommend this university to all who live in the US and are considering to be an engineer. It is not as difficult to get into like other universities (MIT and Stanford, for example) plus getting an engineering degree from UIUC can get you a job almost anywhere! So I highly recommend it. Plus, it is VERY affordable. I am getting a full ride (well, almost) because of my financial aide.

Red Guard

10-08-2005, 03:24 PM

McMaster University, First year engineering program.
McMaster is in Hamilton Ontario, of Canada. We were called "MIT of Canada" as we have the best material engineering program in whole North America. That's pretty much i know about my school. i am working hard to get to mechanical engineering. I don't usually go to english military forum, one of my friend asked me to come here, as i speak english and i operate in chinese military forum.
i would like to ask this forum, to make a friend link with my military forum, and we could both exchange people.

vincelee

10-08-2005, 04:13 PM

don't even start Crazy, University of Michigan Ann Arbor's engineering school is ranked above yours..........******
I'm electrical engineering/computer science and economics.

Making a personal attack against a mod is not very smart at all!!! If you want to argue with me, do so IN A PROFESSIONAL MANNER!!! One more outburst like this and I will report you to DongFeng and the Web Master.

PiSigma

10-09-2005, 01:02 AM

red guard, how come i have never heard ANYONE else say McMaster as "MIT of canada" you do realize Waterloo i the best engineering school in canada overall right? they are ranked number 1 every year for a long time especially in electrical and computer engineering. just have good materials is not that great, since it's not even a big discipline.

I'm a third year chemical engineeing student at the University of Alberta in the computer process control option. last time i checked, we are ranked 18th in the world for chemical engineering, first was Michigan. in fact, one of the most used equations for hydrocarbons (used in oil industry) is the peng-robinson equation developed right in UofA. we are also the top research university for nanotechnology in Canada. we are currently building the world's largest nano-technolgy lab here at UofA, partially funded by the federal government. since our province produce most of canada's oil, we get a lot of funding from the oil industry for our chemical engineering department. i have professors that taught in MIT and Caltech before, so the quality of learning is definitely high.

here's the website, if anyone want to check it out. although i got to say, Edmonton is not the best city to live in.
http://www.ualberta.ca/

sumdud

10-09-2005, 03:02 AM

I thought Stanford majored in business and medicine.
UC Berkeley, which is a few kilometers from my house and a few more from Stanford, also majors in science and engineering, especially in electrical engineering and computer science.

Caltech is also a good school for engineering.
I know UM and UI have good engineering programs.
I thought UC Berkeley was going to be on one of the top.... Afterall, we were ranked 2nd of all universities and it majors in science and engineering....
But my choices: ACME
Aeronautical
Civil
Mechancial
Electrical

rommel

10-09-2005, 08:15 AM

Well, I know that the Polytechnique of University of Montreal is a very good school in engineering.

vincelee

10-09-2005, 06:39 PM

Crazy, you DO realize that I'm

1) YueTheMighty
2) I go to the CoE, UM AA
3) Your football team sucks

right?

and let's not start talking about being professional, there is no such thing until the graduate level. You should come up to Ann Arbor and I'll show you around (the premier engineering school in the US, besides MIT and Berkley)

crazyinsane105

10-09-2005, 06:48 PM

I know who you are vinclee. But that does not give you any right to make personal attacks against me. And yes, our football team does suck.:rofl: Our basketball team is still pretty decent, however. Yes, you do go to UM AA college of engineering and both of our schools are excellent engineering schools. It really makes no difference to me if my school is number three in the country or number eight. As long as I am in the top ten engineering schools in the US, I could care less. Plus the rankings change quite often every year. However, MIT is ALWAYS number 1 (that is a constant) and our schools always make it in the top ten engineering schools rank. So why the big fight?

Also, about the grad school here at U of I, well, let me tell you something about it: people at U of I have an easier time getting into Stanford's grad program than they do at U of I's. Why? Because here at U of I, to get into grad school for engineering, you must have the same qualifications as somebody applying to U of I's PhD program!!! Now that is pretty tough! I was about to apply to Ann Arbor, but once I got accepted into U of I, I decided to go there (it is cheaper for me since I am an Illinois resident and it is not as far away from Chicago). Had I not gotten into U of I, I would have probably ended up going to Michigan Ann Arbor anyway.

PiSigma

10-10-2005, 12:34 AM

your american kids and your football, up here in Canada it's all about hockey!! now that hockey is back, my GPA can start dropping again. anyone here from other canadian engg schools other than alberta and mcmaster??

Red Guard

10-10-2005, 11:02 AM

PISIGMA
well, you see, everyone claimes one's own.....UofT would say UofT engineering is the best, which they are pretty good at it. but i don't think waterloo is above us. you see, waterloo is ranking above us, is probably because more employers would like to hire the students from waterloo, waterloo has a better co op courses than we do, we don't have co op years, so their students basicly have more experience when out of uni than us. but mcmaster is better at technologies than they are. we have better professors, more professors with more international prizes. but in canada, you really have to suit yourself in one university, you can't just say one is best then i am going to that one. like i would certainly think uoft has a better aerospace engineering program than either carleton, york nor ryerson, eventhough carleton has a wind tunnel and ut doesn't, right?
i myself have a different view of engineering, which is very different from my best friend who is in waterloo, as my father is an engineer, and his family were not.

JZXT

10-10-2005, 03:28 PM

I am done w/ME at Iowa State, and got my master also. To bad that most of you guys are still biting the books. Or could be I am just too old. Iowa State has one fine ME program.

Oh I missed the 4 day weekends of drinking. And that time for rioting and was watched nation wide on CNN.

crazyinsane105

10-10-2005, 04:20 PM

PiSigma

10-10-2005, 06:39 PM

rommel

10-10-2005, 07:19 PM

UofA country crusade is NEXT WEEK!!! for those of you that don't know what country crusade is, let me explain.
country crusade follows our fine engineering drinking tradition, where the engineers from UofA get loaded onto 4 school buses and drive some small town about 100 km away from Edmonton and try to drink the town dry. we'll drink anything alchoholic there and try to make sure there's nothing left when we leave.

Do you know ?? The Polytechnique (or the engineering faculty of University of Montreal) is the biggest beers drinkers in the City of Montreal. A enginner of Molson calculated the if we construct a pipeline from the Molson Factory to the Polytechnique (20km), this pipeline's construction cost will be entirely paid back by the the amount of beer bought at the Polytechnique in 2 years. Imagine how big drinkers they are...

PiSigma

10-10-2005, 08:37 PM

the is some impressive drinking you guys got there. too bad we don't have a brewry too close to our campus, but we do have 2 bars right on campus.

crazyinsane105

10-10-2005, 09:07 PM

At U of I, engineers are the most unsocial people in the entire campus. Problem is that the school load for engineers (homework, tests, etc.) is a lot and ridiculously hard. By the time you are a senior at U of I enrolled in engineering, your social life is completely dead. You are basically studying your a*s off every day for the entire school year. I am lucky right now: since I'm a freshman, I don't have a huge workload on top of me. That is why I can actually concentrate on things like partying, having fun, going on defense forums while doing my math homework:rofl: , etc. Yeah, it is going to be quite painful next year though. :(

PiSigma

10-10-2005, 09:58 PM

engineering schools are pretty much all like that no matter where you go. homework is just never ending, there are always more lab reports to write. and the exams just don't stop. but it all pays off afterwards, we do get paid more than most occupations once we graduate, if we graduate alive.

JZXT

10-11-2005, 12:15 AM

The Polytechnique (or the engineering faculty of University of Montreal) is the biggest beers drinkers in the City of Montreal

Hey, I was in Montreal previous to last March. Pretty good looking girls out at bars and dance joints. Enjoy some Molson. Oh, no hockey that year.

school load for engineers

Over 1/5 of 25000 (slightly more) are Engineering Majors at Iowa State University. And I can claim that Iowa State was the ONLY school that had a nuclear reactor until dismantled during my last year there.

BTW: My cousin went to UoI-Ch. Urbana, computer science.

PiSigma

10-11-2005, 01:53 AM

we also had a small nuclear reactor in our dent-pharm building, had a meltdown a few years ago. i think they shut it down after that.
we also had a builiding designed by 4 architects and build by 2 construction companies, it's called biological sciences. there are actually doors that open to a brick wall, a shrinking hallway, a lecture hall that can't be found for a month because it's doors were in a closet.

ordinary dude

10-11-2005, 01:54 AM

Wow, there sure are a lot of engineers (engineering students) here at this forum.
I'm doing Electrical Engineering at UBC, can't claim its the best program in the world, but its pretty good. In fact, Canada probably offers a better university education on a per dollars basis. Why? Because I from NYC and go to school in Vancouver

vincelee

10-11-2005, 02:19 AM

"Over 1/5 of 25000 (slightly more) are Engineering Majors at Iowa State University. And I can claim that Iowa State was the ONLY school that had a nuclear reactor until dismantled during my last year there."

not true, we (University of Michigan) have a breeder reactor on the engineering campus. Of course it got shut down after 9/11. What I can claim is that we have one of the two accustically perfect buildings in the world, one of the most advanced free style fabrication plants for processors, one of the best, the other one in Japan, oceanic labs, and a lot of hot chicks.

that, and all our engineering departments are ranked at least in the top 10 in the nation, except biomechanical, which was 13 last year.

PS, our business school was ranked number 1 last year, and our Econ department is ranked above the London School of Economics...

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

MICHIGAN PRIDE!!!

maybe I'll sing the Michigan fight song.....

JZXT

10-11-2005, 07:47 AM

The Ames Project:

"Ames produced more than 2 million pounds (1,000 tons) of uranium for the Manhattan Project."

Stand to be corrected. I should said that Iowa State was one of the first to have a nuclear reactor among handful in the country to produced uranium for the 1st A-bomb. U of I Chicago, UC Berkeley, and Columbia being others.

http://www.external.ameslab.gov/overview/history.html

vincelee

10-11-2005, 07:51 AM

Hahahaha, Just Pulled Off Another All Nighter!!!

God Damn I Hate Signal Processing.

Aluka

10-11-2005, 09:54 AM

I've finished Moscow Power Engineering - MPEI (http://www.mpei.ru) I had a 6-years course (4-year is possible), and my speciality is called "Specialist in Thermal Power Plants", i've studied stuff like thermodynamics, gas dynamics, mechanics, turbines, steam and gas ones, even turbofans. Studying wasn't too hard, since we didn't have much electrical and electronical stuff, which i hate.

Gollevainen

10-11-2005, 10:09 AM

Must say this is like forum for engineer students to discuss about china..but anyway just out of curiosity (and no means to boast about) how much does single semester cost to you (all)? In here all education even in the highest level (in real university) is free (no semester tuitions), only books and studing material isen't...So as many here is from USA, is it possiple to study engineerings if you are really poor? Is there any puplic universityes or something alike?

JZXT

10-11-2005, 10:24 AM

Not free. But scholarships, grants, etc are available if one is determine to seek them and tried to get them.
I got my first 2 years free. But I am still paying off my student loan (and I am going to take the sweet time too). The US govt. will guarantee loans to elgible students.

No matter where you are, dirt poor means that you are screwed either way. Money talks no matter where you are.

But the model for higher education is different in Europe, right? It is much harder to get into University and only the selected can go, right? Anyone know the # of higher learing institutions in Europe?

The universities in the US are opened to anyone that is qualified and able to pay (cash, loans, scholarship, etc..) for it.

Aluka

10-11-2005, 10:46 AM

Was totally free for me, some students, who didn't pass exams well (but still had pass it in some way) have payed like $2000 per year, i think (not sure). Anyway, it's no match to what american students pay.

PiSigma

10-11-2005, 10:53 AM

the tuition in UofA is about $5000-6500 CDN per year. it depends on how many labs there are a week. courses with more labs cost more. international student's have double the tuition, because government don't cover for their costs. i was able to get my first two years for free because of scholarships, but after that, got to dish out my own pockets. it's fairly easy to get bursaries from the school if you come from a low-income family, i can't get any of that because just my mom's income alone already passed the bursary limit, that's not even including my dad's income. student loans are really sweet, the interest is dirt low, and if you drag your feet long enough on paying it back, half the time some of the money don't even need to be paid back due to inflation.

ordinary dude

10-11-2005, 12:43 PM

University education in the US is very expensive if you want to attend the best schools. I was accepted into NYU's dual degree (math and compsci), but the price of $40,000 tuition + living expenses in Manhattan really scared me off. So its off to Canada where a good education is decently priced (even for international students).

I'm not saying Canadian schools are cheap, but they are a lot cheaper to the immediate alternative (US schools)

It seems school pride is slowly take over in this thread. We engineers should not try to "one-up" each other because of some school ranking, just be glad we made it, and pray to God that we will make it out alive.

Gollevainen

10-11-2005, 12:56 PM

But the model for higher education is different in Europe, right? It is much harder to get into University and only the selected can go, right? Anyone know the # of higher learing institutions in Europe?

Actually as far as i know, it's quite different in different nations, but EU is trying to make them all mach each others...In here the term university=yliopisto is aplyed for those traditional schools wich teaches history, languages, medicin, other humanistic studies and so on...but not "engineering" studies. If you want to be an engineer you have to study in these polytechnic shcools wich are called ammattikorkeakoulu. As these polytechnics wants to separate them self from normal vocational shcools, in they english names (like in HAMK's) the term university of aplicated science is used. We who gratuaded from these polytechnics have to use the term amk whit our engineering title so i'm not going to become rakennusinsinööri (costructive engineer) but rakennusinsinööri (amk)...it's reflection of our very jealouss national character...these polytechnics are quite new thing, adpted to become standart whit rest of the europe, and somehow the old engineers feels that we are less engineers than they...just ridicilous...

PiSigma

10-11-2005, 04:15 PM

yes we engineers should band together, the engineering song/cheer used in UofA is also used in other engg schools in canada i believe, i know for sure UofCalgary and UofAcadia uses it. what cheers/songs does US and europe have?

ENGINEERING SONG

CHORUS

WE ARE, WE ARE, WE ARE, WE ARE, WE ARE THE ENGINEERS,

WE CAN, WE CAN, WE CAN, WE CAN DEMOLISH FORTY BEERS,

DRINK RUM, DRINK RUM, DRINK RUM, DRINK RUM AND COME ALONG WITH US,

FOR WE DON'T GIVE A DAMN FOR ANY DAMN (WO)MAN

WHO DON'T GIVE A DAMN FOR US!!!

(1)

My father was a minor from Northern Malamute,

My mother was a mistress in a house of ill repute.

The last time I saw them both these words rang in my ears.

"Get out of here son-of-a-bitch and join the Engineers!"

(2)

An Artsie and an Engineer once found a gallon can,

Said the Artsie, "Match me drink for drink, let's see if you're an man."

They drank three drinks, the Artsie fell, his face was turning green,

But the engineer drank on and said, "It's only gasoline!"

(3)

On reading Kuma Sutra a guy learned position nine,

For proving masculinity, it truly was divine.

But then one day the girl rebelled and threw him on his rear,

For he was a feeble Artsie and she was an Engineer!

(4)

A maiden and an Engineer were sitting in the park

The Engineer was working on some research after dark

His scientific method was a marvel to observe

While his right hand held the figures, his left hand traced the curves.

(5)

The army and the navy boys went out to have some fun,

Up to the social club where the fiery liquors run.

But all they found were empties for the engineers had come,

And traded all their instruments for gallon kegs of rum.

(6)

An Engineer once came to class so drunk and very late,

He was carrying a load that you'd expect to ship by freight.

The only thing that held him up and kept him to his course,

Was the boundary condition and the electromotive force.

(7 - for all the women engineers!)

We are, we are, we are, we are the women engineers,

We can, we can, we can, we can drink twice as many beers.

Come men, come men, come men, come men and drink along with us,

For we don't give a damn for any damn man who can't get it up for us!!!

(8)

The fire house by day, and 40 beers by night,

An engineer may never sleep and still stay just as bright,

And should you ever ask him he how he keeps up his routine,

He'll raise his trusty can of Jolt, smile and say "Caffeine!"

(9)

A man sat in a tavern with a lovely neighbour lass,

And stared when more than nineteen times she raised and drained her glass,

He said "you've out drunk four strong men and half the bar my dear",

But the maiden smiled demurely and said "I'm an engineer."

(10)

We drink and drink and drink and drink and we are Engineers,

We drink and drink, and we'll kick your ass if you try to steel our beer,

We drink and drink and drink and drink and throw up on the floor,

Then we brush our teeth and drink and drink and drink and drink some more!

(11)

Now you've heard our song and you know we are Engineers,

We love to love our (wo)men and we love to drink our beer,

We'll drink to anybody that comes from far or near,

Cause I'm a Hell-of-a, Hell-of-a, Hell-of-a, Hell-of-a, Hell-of-an Engineer!!

drinking and bad jokes are obviously the theme of engineers to us, we really are crazy people

ordinary dude

10-11-2005, 04:38 PM

Yeah, the chorus sound right, UBC use it too. US school dont use a common chant, they all have there own.

crazyinsane105

10-11-2005, 05:48 PM

The tuition here at U of I is about $10,000 a year. Add to that the dorms which are a good $7500, special fees and such which are a good $1580, and books which can run up to a $1000. That is a good $20,000 a year. How am I paying for it? Well, through tuitions, grants, scholarships, and some student loans. How did I get them? In this country, US students have an option of filling out a form called the FAFSA. This form determines how much financial aide you will receive from the US government. I am receiving around $19,500 a year (I have to pay for those stupid books) from the US government. Now, it is generous, but it depends on a HUGE amount of factors. It depends how much your parents/guardians make per year, how many siblings you have going off to college, etc. Out of all the people I know, me and two of my friends have received a full ride here to U of I. Everybody else is either paying out of there own pocket or taking out MASSIVE AMOUNTS of student loans (which, unfortunately, will take them a good 20 years to pay off).

JZXT

10-11-2005, 07:30 PM

Here is one:

Three engineers were discussing the marvel of the human body.
The electrical engineer said, “All those electrical signals traveling through the body, god must be an electrical engineer.”

The mechanical engineer argue,” look at all the joints and the amazing movement of the human body, god must be a mechanical engineer.”

The civil engineer respond,” No, who would have been so smart to make both the waste exits to be recreational tool also, god had to be a Civil engineer.”

vincelee

10-12-2005, 02:02 AM

the thing for FAFSA is that you must show NEED. Better to just score excessively well on the PSAT and get scholarships.

crazyinsane105

10-12-2005, 05:50 PM

the thing for FAFSA is that you must show NEED. Better to just score excessively well on the PSAT and get scholarships.

I am in some very good luck. I actually DO need the money from FAFSA because my dad doesn't make a whole lot of money a year and my mom is a housewife. For others who are going to get rejected from FAFSA, your advice is the best.

swimmerXC

10-13-2005, 06:46 PM

PSAT sucks i took it yesterday, math and reading was a breeze, writing... lets just say :nutkick:
i got a 70 in math, 65 in reading, and 56 in writing last year
191/240 although i qualified for NMS but never got it
hopefull this year i get better than that!
Ann Harbor.. i wanna go there or clatech; mostly b/c of some books i read about ann harbor
EDIT: but most like i wanna go to euro somewhere, away from the US

crazyinsane105

10-15-2005, 12:42 AM

swimmerXC

10-15-2005, 11:40 AM

i got a question to our older chinese members here...
do they offer scholarships in china?

PiSigma

10-15-2005, 01:33 PM

there are different incentives for university in china. most high school students need to take an national entrance exam to get to university. but this entrance exam mark is also based on the number of universities in your province, so if you province have a lot of universities compared to people, then the grade u need to get in is lower, if a province like shangdong, where there is not enough universities and a lot of people, the mark needed to get in a university will be a lot higher. the highest mark possible is 720. provinces like Jiangsu, shangdong, hubei are traditionally high mark provinces, and places like beijing, shanghai, and tibet only need very low marks in the high 300s or 400s. while the high mark places need maybe 500s and 600s.

but if the student is just extremly smart in high school and did very well, like a 99% average or something in an elite school (schools have rankings in china). then some universities might decide to "bao song" you. which means they don't need u to take a entrance exam and just let you in. usually in this case, they also give full scholarships.

of course if you can score within the high 600s and low 700s on your entrance exams, top schools will literatly sent people to your door and beg you to go to their university and give u money to go. after first year, most scholarships are very much like scholarships in north america, you need certain GPA to apply for or need to do certain things in school.

clarkliu

12-10-2005, 02:18 PM

:) First of all, i am a chinese who is studying in Canada. i am in Engineering Physics. My stream is photonics engineering. Photonics deals a lot of laser stuff. Basiclly, fibre communication, semiconductor lasers and high power lasers are the areas that we learn. We also learn how to fabricate semiconductor devices on a siliocn wafer. I guess in the near future, high power LEDs will replace the normal light bulb due to its high efficiency(theoretically up to 100% efficiency) . Also, the integrated optics will replace integrated circuits. In the tiny silicon chip, we can put photodetectors, laser diodes, multiplexer and optical path in it. The device has many advantages over integrated circuits.:china:

PiSigma

12-10-2005, 03:39 PM

Clark which university are you studying in? your engg phy stuff sound like the EE stuff we have here in UA, our engg phy is more nano oriented. but then again i could be wrong, since i'm in neither.

sumdud

12-10-2005, 08:58 PM

FriedRiceNSpice

12-10-2005, 09:04 PM

PSAT results are due next week. And I don't really want to see what I got... since I know it won't be as good as my SAT score. I got an amazing SAT score though.

PiSigma

12-10-2005, 09:36 PM

there's no restrictions on where you go to university in china, in fact major universities send out people all over the country to recrut the best kids to their university. they basically send a person to each major city armed with a list of the best students in that city and start knocking on doors. if only mediocre student with acceptable grades for most universities.. just start applying. of course different majors required different marks from the national exams. medicine and engineers and business require high marks since they are popular and kinda brain demanding, arts not so much.

crazyinsane105

12-12-2005, 03:49 PM

Yeah, it's time for finals this week! My classes aren't too hard, but the problem is that I slacked off this semester and I'll have to do well on the finals to make up.:( Then again, a class final is worth about 30-40% of your grade so if I do well on them I can pull off decent grades. And to Sumdud, I sorta sucked on my PSAT (I got a perfect score in the math, but don't bother asking me about the writing and reading parts). I did much better on my ACT though. I suggest that you buy a book on preparing for the ACT and SAT. They cost about thirty bucks, but trust me, they can gain you a couple of extra points so the books are worth it. The best books to buy would be from a company called Kaplan and Princeton Review (my favorite is Kaplan). Just spend a couple of hours on the books and you should be able to do better on the exams.

maglomanic

12-12-2005, 04:55 PM

Well, I go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is the number three engineering school in the United States (it is behind MIT and Stanford Univeristy).
http://www.engr.uiuc.edu/

The college of engineering requires at least a 30 out of 36 on the ACT (for those not in the US, the ACT is a test taken by junior and senior high school students. It contains four categories: English, Math, Reading, and Science. Each section has a max score of 36 and the overall test score is the average of those four scores). I had gotten a 29 on the ACT (it's alright, but not excellent) plus I did OK in high school. Anyway, engineering at UIUC is extremely hard: people who start off with a GPA of 3.8 their freshman year fall to a 2.9 their senior year!!! So it is a challenging course.
.

Good to hear that mate.
I did SAT when i first enrolled in an under graduate school ( a third tier one too :o ). My score was like 1320 combined ..i dont know how that mtaches up to ACT scores but i heard there is no guessing penality in ACTs while i had to pay that penality :(.
Anyways my score isn't taht great considering it's out of 1600 but it was 90 perecentile both in reading and math. But i still ended up delivering pizzas to pay for my tuition:p .Well i am glad it's over, and am working now. I majored in computer Science by the way ..so i don't know if i even belong in the engineering category ..lol.
I heard alot about your University specially it's computer science department which is one of the best in country. I really wish if i coudl score good in GRE and go to anyof the top schools, but not currently. I'd work few more years.
Besides getting job hardly depends on going to good schools in most cases. I know this guy who went to Gerogia Tech and is pretty much doing what i m doing.(just trying to make myself feel better :p )

Anyways guys good luck with your education!

maglomanic

12-12-2005, 04:59 PM

The NMSQT(PSAT) sucks. It was easy in one part, then hard in another.

I don't know if PSAT is same as SAT but if you have to prepare for SAT ..go for this book called "Cracking the SAT" and practice from "10 real SATS". The later has ten actual tests from college board. And yeah these tests prove nothing just money making ploys for ETS.You can very well crack both tests and score high without knowing what you r doing.

PiSigma

12-12-2005, 09:36 PM

clarkliu

12-12-2005, 09:53 PM

The NMSQT(PSAT) sucks. It was easy in one part, then hard in another.
I took it in October, and the writing part was..............
well, if the job is to find an error, you can find none.
I still haven't got my results back.

I have a question when you mentioned that: what's the difference between a LED light source and a regular bulb?

As for the marks, what can you do if you want to go to an university of another province in China?
hi, i am going to answer your question. What is a LED? LED stands for light emitting diode. I know you never studied that before, but i will tell you it is basically a semiconductor device that has p-n junction structure. The emission occurs when you apply a forward bias current through it. Usually we design a hetero structure to form a quantum well between the p-n. When the electorns flow through the p-n junction, they will "drop" into the quantum well and "jump" from higher energy band to lower energy band. This energy band is called "bandgap". When the electron loses its energy, the engergy becomes photon energy. So, the bandgap determines the energy of the photon. And we know the speed of light is a constant(in one media), and energy=h*c/lamda , here "h" is plancks constant,c is speed of light, lamda is the wavelength of the light. Therefore, the bandgap of the semiconductor material determines the wavelength of the emitted light or you can also understand it as colors. Theoretically, this energy transition process can be 100%, but due to phonon, auger phenomenas, the actual efficiency is smaller but still much greater than light bulb or fluorescent tubes. In the light bulbs, the efficiency is so low. most of the electric energy becomes heat. Thats why you can't touch a working 100W light bulb by hand. Otherwise your hand could be burned. Thats not a efficient way to get light from it. Or we can say light bulb has efficiency of 16 lm/W, and LED has efficiency of 80lm/w (current technology). A a regular LED has power scale of mW and light bulbs has tens of W. So, if we have a 10W LED light source, it could be brighter than a 100W light bulb. one example is the Sony new TX series laptop. The backlight of the screen is a LED array instead of Fluorescent tubes.

sumdud

12-14-2005, 01:22 AM

ok american kids.. what's SAT and PSAT??? we don't have that in canada. we just got provincials here for high school worth 50% of the mark.. then go to university and feel terrible about ourselves. i can gladly say i just got 90% on my fluid mechanics final today.. feeling good about myself.. but then again, that's my easiest one so far.
SAT stands for Scholastic Aptitude Tests. It is a test that determines whether you get to enter an university(as a freshmen), score depending on your grade and the school you are applying to.
This test is not required, however, for entering community and city colleges as a freshmen.

There are 2 tests: 1 and 2
Test 1, Reasoning Test, has a writing, a math, and a reading section, with an essay portion of 25 minutes in writing section. (Which is a *****, you try writing something in 25 minutes......) And you are penalized for wrong answers.......
3 ****** hours of hell for all normal people at a ****** expense of $40.

The ACT is an alternative to the SAT1, it does not penalize for wrong answers, but it has an extra science section. (Go Engineers!!!!!!)

SAT2 is a collection of subject tests. You choose usually 2 of them to be taken as entrance requirement.

(Note: you do not have to take these tests if you transfer from Community colleges to universities at all.)

PSAT: Preliminary SAT $12
Just a practice, but the test can be used to apply for schlorships.

but i will tell you it is basically a semiconductor device that has p-n junction structure. The emission occurs when you apply a forward bias current through it. Usually we design a hetero structure to form a quantum well between the p-n. When the electorns flow through the p-n junction, they will "drop" into the quantum well and "jump" from higher energy band to lower energy band.
Thanks, Clark
I get your words, expect here: p-n structure, quatum well? Can you explain these words?

is p-n structure the semiconductor/tungsten wire, where on "p" is the start where the eletricity come out and travel to "n"?

drop? into the quatum well? How does it "drop" into a quatum well?
All I know is, when you are doing this, the electrons get excited with energy and for a nanosecond jumps up an orbital before coming back down and releasing light. Is the difference in orbital as the electrons jumps the well?

Do LED light have virtuely an infinite life?

(Wonder if I can create a stovetop with the old tungsten lightbulbs.)

drunkhomer

12-14-2005, 01:33 AM

hey PiSigma, we got SAT and PSAT in canada..wut r u talkin about....i took mine

sumdud

12-14-2005, 06:59 PM

Maybe not in Alberta?
I know that Vancouver have it.
TUP had it in Vancouver.
Just looking at the school systems, the BC system is different from Alberta's, which is yet also different from Quebec's.
Vancouver has 7-5 while Calgary has 6-6.

So I guess the SATs are different also?
Wonder why Canada has such a messy school system. :confused:

tphuang

12-14-2005, 09:01 PM

hey PiSigma, we got SAT and PSAT in canada..wut r u talkin about....i took mine
you can take it, but it's not required. I took SAT, but that's because my parents forced me into it!!!!

Anyhow, it served me no good.

PiSigma

12-15-2005, 02:41 AM

ya maybe it's just alberta then. in high school basically we got a Provincial exam. everyone have to take it. it's worth 50% of the grades for each subject. and every subject have it, the other 50% comes from normal grades. we use the final combined mark to apply for university and scholarships. provincials are usually a joke, we got them in grades 3, 6, 9 and 12. basically all the important courses in each respective grade. in 3 only math and english, in 12 math, english, social, chem/phys/bio. but since everyone in the province get it. those of us that go to good high schools can sleep through one of those and ace it.

just had 2 finals today.. longest exam i have ever written. if anyone want to go to University of Alberta. and go into chemical engineering, i feel sorry for you. i basically spend 2 hours of non-stop writing.. just for one exam... i hate finals.

drunkhomer

12-15-2005, 04:51 AM

yeah...i'm pretty sure alberta has it 2...its optional...not required

ordinary dude

12-15-2005, 05:24 AM

As a Chinese Canadian who grad from a Connecticut high school, I think I can clarify this SAT thing once and for all.

The SAT is an evaluation test provided by The College Board, the scores are mostly used by universities and colleges in the US, but it is offered worldwide, you can even write them in China. Its just that the College Board doesn't offer too many sittings overseas so its pretty hard for many people outside US and Canada to understand what it is.

The PSAT is used by the US federal government to deteremine which US citizen qualify for government money such as the Bell Grant.

PiSigma

12-15-2005, 08:58 AM

ok, so it's basically a test to write to go to AMERICAN universities... i'm too poor, i can hardly afford a canadian one without scholarships, so don't need to consider american ones. therefore never need to take it.

Gollevainen

12-15-2005, 09:13 AM

So in USA the rich ones get to go in every university which they want and poor people have to take test to proove that they are good enough? Please tell me i'm wrong in here :confused: :confused:

ordinary dude

12-15-2005, 03:23 PM

In the US, good grades get u into university, good SAT and grades gets you scholarships. good PSAT gets you FREE money from the federal government.

But if your dad is willing to donate 2 million a year for you to attend Harvard, then you can attend regardless of your grades.....how do you think G.W.Bush got into Yale and later got a MBA from Harvard.

ps...on of Osama's brother is doing law school at harvard,,,,,,the Saudi Bin Laden family donates millions every year to Harvard.

PiSigma

12-15-2005, 10:22 PM

i'm not suprised, everything need money. if harvard can produce thousands of extremely smart people every year, they won't care if they trade one bad grad for a free lab building or something. it's certainly worth it.

anyone took dynamic process control before??? I HATE THAT COURSE!!!! argh.. engineering ruined my life. <--- official logo of the UofA engineering faculty.

crazyinsane105

12-19-2005, 01:26 PM

So in USA the rich ones get to go in every university which they want and poor people have to take test to proove that they are good enough? Please tell me i'm wrong in here :confused: :confused:

Not exactly. Both the rich and the poor have to take the standarized test. I know myself of some very rich kids who scored OK on the test yet they still didn't get into the school of their choice. I also know of some poor kids who scored excellent and got into one of the best universities this country has to offer. The standarized tests do not discriminate between rich and poor. If you are rich yet you don't take the standarized tests, you won't get into any school. It is a MUST to get good scores to get into the top universities here regardless of income, race, gender, etc.

vincelee

12-19-2005, 02:23 PM

the National Merit Scholarship is actually provided by corporations instead of the Goverment. Government gives Pell Grants.

***** *******!!!!!
A one-liner is a one-liner.
Now this is the club room, so I'll let you off.
But don't try to run weird with the idea of it.

sumdud

12-25-2005, 04:46 PM

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all engineers alike!

Fairthought

12-27-2005, 04:52 AM

Gollevainen,

You can do badly on a standardized exam, like the SAT, and still get into a prestigious school (Harvard, Stanford, Yale). A very big factor for admittance here is do you have any family in the alumni in the school in question? How important are these alumni members, ie. how much money do they donate?

Prestige schools tend to be extremely hard to get into regardless of your test scores (Last I checked, Yale has an acceptance rate of 5%). Connections are key.

But prestige schools are different from technical schools. It is much harder for a moron from a wealthy background to get into a technical school, such as MIT, where test scores take priority. Another category of American colleges are state schools, which give a higher priority to grades than to college entrance exams. Because state schools get state funding, so they are much cheaper than prestige schools or tech schools, and most American college grads are from state schools.

American colleges are expensive and most students (even state school students) graduate with significant student loans to repay.

Ideally, if you want to go to an american college, you'd apply for as many scholarships as possible, and look for a state school that has highly esteemed science and engineering departments. It is not unheard of for a state school to have engineering departments that rival technical schools, and of course there are technical schools that are very prestigious.

Of course, none of this matters until you compare the graduate schools. Undergrad isn't so different from college to college with the exception that technical schools tend to have cooler (more expensive) laboratory equipment for their science/engineer students to play with. On the other hand, technical schools tend to have crappy teachers who care more about publishing their own research than if their students learn anything.

It is in the graduate program where technical schools really shine, as these are primarily research institutes anyway. Providing diplomas is their secondary function.

sumdud

12-27-2005, 05:23 PM

On the other hand, technical schools tend to have crappy teachers who care more about publishing their own research than if their students learn anything.
Also true in some state schools.
In California, we have two fully independent but public university systems:
University of California and
California State University.
While UC is considered better, and is highly ranked (throughout the world) the professors cannot teach. In fact, the job of teacher in UC is not cared at all in UC.
But in CSU, however, professors are required to be able to teach.

swimmerXC

12-27-2005, 09:20 PM

Prestige schools tend to be extremely hard to get into regardless of your test scores (Last I checked, Yale has an acceptance rate of 5%). Connections are key.

Can anyone say Bush?? :roll:
He did get into Harvard and Yale..... with connections; I'm 110% it was not his "genius" skill that got into Yale... w/o connections he would of gone to ITT Tech :coffee:
NOTE: this is not a insultment to anybody... just pointing something out

walter

12-28-2005, 08:03 PM

Can anyone say Bush?? :roll:
He did get into Harvard and Yale..... with connections; I'm 110% it was not his "genius" skill that got into Yale... w/o connections he would of gone to ITT Tech :coffee:
NOTE: this is not a insultment to anybody... just pointing something out

I think you insulted Bush.

sumdud

01-22-2006, 01:42 AM

Uh........how'd Finals go?

PiSigma

01-22-2006, 12:09 PM

finals were brutal... with a 46%... i can still pull off a B+... shows how crappy the class average is... i love the curve.

MIGleader

01-22-2006, 05:03 PM

I think you insulted Bush.

come on...he got a 1206 on his SATs when he was senior. I got a 1210 when I was in SEVENTH GRADE. Thats really saying something.

connections are really essentials. if you attend a private school which is near a prestigious university, you have a higher chance of going ot thaty university. that chance increases if your parent(s) are alumini.

but honestly, for some schools like Swarthmore, $$$ and family connections make up 90% of the acceptance factor. grades and test scores matter little.

sumdud

01-22-2006, 07:42 PM

That's like pulling off with a 4 in the AP Exam......(I think the score needed for a 5 is around 54 out of 100?)

The curve is always nice. :o (Except in weeder classes.)

walter

01-23-2006, 04:37 PM

here in Germany our finals aren't curved. On average about 50% fail any given exam in mechanical engineering courses. But we have three chances to take each exam, so lots of people don't try their hardest the first time around. Also, our final exams are 100% of our grade--no quizes, midterms, homework sets--it all comes down to the final.
:mad:

sumdud

01-23-2006, 10:55 PM

I hate homework, but no midterms?
I might not be the worst in there then I guess. But 3 chances to take it over, that's quite nice.

PiSigma

01-23-2006, 11:24 PM

then just copy down the questions the first time.. go home figure it out..and ace it on the second try... i think it's actually easier to learn with some homework.

crazyinsane105

01-23-2006, 11:44 PM

Who the hell thought that the beginning course to electrical engineering could be so freaking hard. The homework and lectures are a joke when compared to the tests. Vinclee, how did the beginning course of electrical engineering go at Michigan? Over here, I am actually going to have to work hard to pull off an A.

sumdud

01-24-2006, 01:37 AM

I wonder, what does it mean to work hard in college? Is there anything other than studying, or is studying the largest chunk of working hard in college? What about projects?

PiSigma

01-24-2006, 10:14 AM

DO NOT MENTION PROJECTS!!!! my design project is just scary.... good thing i don't need to worry about it until next year. we need to design a very real life like reactor system for some chemicals... a few years back, the prof give old data from a Dow Chemical plant with over 100 chemicals... for them to design... it was not pretty. just thinking about it send shivers down my back.

walter

01-24-2006, 01:22 PM

then just copy down the questions the first time.. go home figure it out..and ace it on the second try... i think it's actually easier to learn with some homework.

not so fast! We have one chance to take an exam each semester, and each semester is a new exam, not the same one you already took. Of course the topics are the same, but the problems are new. I personally would prefer homework, midterms or something to take the wieght off the final exam.

sumdud

01-24-2006, 11:13 PM

design a life-like reactor system??? oOo, May I join? (Hey, a guy likes designing until the day he actually tries it out, and it doesn't even apply to all.:D)

vincelee

01-29-2006, 10:32 AM

how did my 200 level EE courses go? Why do you think I dissappeared for 4 weeks? I clocked over 20 hours in 3 days at the library. In fact, I spent 3 hours on ONE FVCKING ciruit problem....and don't get me started with Semiconductors. Did you know that fermi-dirac needed a '1-' for valence band holes? I forgot that......and oh I wish I can show you my Matlab graph.

And then there is TechCom.........some times I wonder why I didn't switch over to Econ.

sumdud

01-30-2006, 11:23 PM

My friends thought I should go to EE, not that I really know why.
But from what I know in chemistry, a "1-" for valence band holes..... that's a pore for elections to flow though right?

vincelee

01-31-2006, 02:54 AM

right. That's the slot left over when an electron jumps to the conduction band. If you have an E-field, then the electrons, thus the hole, also move.

PiSigma

01-31-2006, 10:25 AM

don't worry vince, by the time you get to 300 level courses or some 500 level courses like me.. you'll realize everything you learned before that is a joke.

vincelee

01-31-2006, 10:44 AM

I am in a 300 level class, and I gotta tell you, it's a lot more straight forward than, say, circuits, which is a 200 level class.

Gollevainen

01-31-2006, 11:18 AM

To increase the comon knowlidge, can anyone tell me how is things done there in USA or canada? I hear lots of talk about midterms, finals, EE levels and frankly i have little clue what are you talking about...

In here our studying year is divided to four periods. We take courses which usually last one period, meaning 5 hours a week lenght. They can also be divided to two periods, like all my courses at the moment. Usually there is examination at the end (propaply similar to your final???) and if the course is divied to two periods there may be a two exams, one at the end each periods (again propaply similar to your midterm?) We usually get 3 points from each courses (if we pass) and we need 240 points to graduate.

Can anyone kindly explain how the things are done in beoynd the pond like we say in here....????

petty officer1

02-01-2006, 11:04 AM

You guys count a recording engineer?

It is not as complicated as your civil, electonic, mechanic engineer.

BUT! it is still a engineer right?

Gollevainen

02-01-2006, 11:43 AM

engineer is a engineer, there's no midlle ground...you are either normal person or doomed for life:p :p

sumdud

02-01-2006, 06:51 PM

Well, the classes here go either by semesters, twice a year, or by quarters, 3 a year. At the end of the semester/quarter, there is an exam that gives a score from 5 to 1, with 5 meaning the greatest and 3 as passing the class. The exam is what makes up your credits.

But the rest, all hail breaks loose. Since the professors are krappy as hail, they can't teach but you will have to go by their rules. They decide on whether to have midterms, composition, etc......

PiSigma

02-01-2006, 07:01 PM

here are at the university of alberta we have 3 or 4 terms. fall, winter, spring/summer. spring/summer are either 2 monthes terms with crammed classes or if engineering courses lasts for the full 4 monthes.

we go by the 4.0 GPA, 3 years ago it was the 9 point system. that means a 4 is a perfect mark, 2 a passing, 1 is go on "dean's vacation" for a year, anything less than a 1, we keep your money and you go home and stay there.

for every course, we would have an final at the very end, some courses might substitute the final with a major report or presentation. finals could weigh from 40%-60% of the entire course. there are also midterms, which is given at the middle of the term which are worth from 20-40% of the marks. our courses usually have 10-15% for homework, and 10-15% for labs. depends on the course.

sumdud

08-23-2006, 03:04 AM

I was talking at the Chinese military design thread at the AF forum, and the discussion came upon wing designs. I have a few questions, but I decided to move the talk here since I find it more appropriate here.
So, what are cropped, cranked, and compounded deltas? (Are double-deltas a type of compounded deltas?) What is compression lift? How does Double Deltas work? And how does a vortice hope increase lift?

Indianfighter

08-23-2006, 05:59 AM

So, what are cropped, cranked, and compounded deltas? (Are double-deltas a type of compounded deltas?) What is compression lift? How does Double Deltas work? And how does a vortice hope increase lift?
I admit that the discussion of this topic is indeed quite stimulating, and I have already discussed this issue in 2 separate threads.
All discussions are mainly due to the article on delta-wing on wikipedia.

Deltas are :

Pure--Right angled triangle :-

*
..*
....*
......*
* * * *

Cropped--Triangle is incomplete :-

*
..*
....*
......*
.......*
* * *

Compound--Cropped at an angle :-

*
.....*
.........*
..........*
...........*
............*
********

Cranked--the frontal-part of the wing is bent downwards or cranked downwards (similar to the nose of the concorde)

Ogee--The hyponetuse is a curve instead of a segment.

*
.*
.. *
.....*
..........*
.................*
..........................*
*****************
The above was the design of the concorde.

All other types of delta designs are combinations of the above basic types. Canards may or may not be present.
And how does a vortice hope increase lift?
Upon pitching up, drag is produced by the delta-wings due to their large size. Although the pitch may be instantaneous, significant loss of forward speed occurs.
If a low pressure is artificially built above the wings, then the pitch may take place at a lower AoA, and thus retaining the forward speed.

For this purpose, canards are added to provide for generating low pressure above the wings. Upon a turn, the canard "cuts through" the air in such a way, that air is made to pass at a gap above the wings instead of "scraping" the upper part of the wings.

This gap generates low pressure above the wing. Since lift is generated upon the presence of lower pressure above the wing than below it, the pitch-up is eased, with application of lesser AoA and hence lesser drag.

The same function is performed by cranked wings. Air is deflected by them at a gap above the upper surface of the wing. Low pressure is created in the gap and hence lift is generated.

Since canards on aircraft such as the Eurofighter are movable, they can be used to pitch down (by turning them appropriately), braking (by pointing them down) and rolling (by turning one of the canards).
Thus, they may simply be viewed as the tail-planes added to the front.
What is compression lift?
It is the lift generated by shock waves generated by the aircraft. The only known aircraft to have utilised this principle is the XB-70 Valkyrie. (http://www.unrealaircraft.com/classics/xb70.php)

References:
http://www.eurofighter-typhoon.co.uk/Eurofighter/structure.html
Article on canards in wikipedia.