Kettering Isn’t Your Parent’s University
Posted on April 8, 2008
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On Saturday I took Z to an open house at the local private school I’m hoping to send her to for high school. As a result we started talking once again about college (it’s a college prep school). I used to be adamant about the needs for a college education, but as I’ve wizened my opinion has changed. I now believe that most people would be better served taking the tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars spent on a four year university and invest it in personal education that allows them to get real world experience while educating themselves.
Obviously there are certain exceptions: medicine, law and industrial engineering are the big three. Each of these fields require highly specialized training before heading into the workforce. Enter Kettering University and their engineering co-op programs. Kettering was recently listed in U.S. News and World Report as “the #1 University in the nation for Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering” in its annual “America’s Best Colleges Guide for 2008“. Through their co-op programs, Kettering students rotate between traditional classroom learning and on-the job paid internships every three months. Unlike any other internship program at major universities Kettering’s co-op program begins in a student’s freshman year, thus providing them valuable practical experience throughout their college career.
This is the perfect blend of formal education and real world experience. Personally, if I ever have the need of an industrial engineer, I’d much rather have someone with four years of solid experience and a college degree, then someone with just the latter. Wouldn’t you? Besides, by following a program like this the students themselves can actually begin their lives four years earlier and are far less likely to spend the entirety of their 20s paying off the loans they likely took out to get that piece of paper in the first place.
Tags: college, Education, engineering, Kettering University, review, U.S. News and World ReportRelated Posts: » Filed Under: Education
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