The Case for Clemson Engineering

The Case for Clemson Engineering Aaron Jordan, Jarett Lowrey, Kathryn Rusher

Why go to Clemson?

The campus has a tangible sense of community.

There are many clubs and opportunities to have fun and get involved on campus, ranging from free concerts for all students to student-run media organizations to intramural sports and more.

In Fall 2016 alone, TigerPaw Productions has hosted three concerts. These shows were headlined by We The Kings (pictured), Daya, and Danielle Bradbery.

Attending Clemson can be affordable.

The CollegeBoard estimates the cost of tuition at Clemson before any financial aid to be around $15,000. Additionally, scholarships and loans are available for most students—an average of 61% of total financial need is met, with the average financial aid package around $13,000.

The University is effective at helping students with professional development.

Rated #1 in Student Career Services by the Princeton Review when compared to all other U.S. universities in 2016. When asked why this was the case, Neil Burton, executive director of the Center for Career and Professional Development, offered three reasons:

“First, we really like students, and students recognize that when they come see us. Second, we honor students as individuals and tailor our services to meet their specific goals. Third, we have terrific faculty and staff partners who embrace career development as a campus-wide priority." –Neil Burton

Clemson offers instruction in many disciplines.

The university has a wide variety of programs and concentrations of study. These are broken up into several colleges which are well-respected in the professional community.

Given all of these options, about 20% of students choose a degree in engineering.

Why engineering?

Clemson's appeal to engineers stems from the numerous resources available to engineers for academic and personal support as well as the variety of engineering majors offered at the University.

RiSE (Residents in Science and Engineering)

These two buildings house all of the students in the RiSE program.

Incoming freshmen are greeted with an opportunity to live exclusively with other science and engineering students through the RiSE program. It provides special sections of common freshman-level engineering courses specifically for students in RiSE as well as opportunities such as soldering projects and even stand-up paddleboarding to help these students immerse themselves and find new passions.

In addition, RiSE offers many other perks:

In-hall tutoring five nights a week
Behind the scenes industry tours and events
Peer mentoring
Specialized leadership, development, and service learning initiatives

96% of RiSE students reported that the program eased their transition to college and that they would recommend the program to a friend.

UTA Hours

UTA hours are an additional tutoring opportunity available to all engineering students. These are led by undergraduate teaching assistants who have already taken and succeeded in the course.

Sessions are held from 6:30–10:00pm from Sunday to Thursday in Byrnes and Lever Hall.

Intentional Faculty

A lot of effort is put into developing the program—making it better—and to be a part of that, I think, is a good deal for the students. –Dr. Andrew Neptune

Growing Pains

It's good to experience what they call the growing pains. See what growth is like, then you may have a better idea of how to grow yourself. –Dr. Andrew Neptune

What's next?

After the freshman year, students declare a specific type of engineering to study. Clemson offers eleven undergraduate engineering programs, and one of the most popular of these is Bioengineering.

Bioengineering

At Clemson, there are many opportunities for students to get hands-on research at places such as the new Clemson University Biomedical Engineering Center.

Additional opportunities to get experience are also presented. One former student, Chris Ferreira, is a good example of how the hands-on opportunities at Clemson can help jumpstart a career.