student in need of collage

[zoot]

This seems to be the best place for this question, I'm in my junior year of high school right now and I need to start my collage search. I go to a vocation high school where I am majoring in drafting, I am an A student in my Drafting but a C student everywhere else, I want to do more work with mechanical drafting and I was wondering what collages should I look into further. Thanks

[Anonymous]

I think it just depends a lot on your potential and ability to learn on
the fly. I have a 1 year diploma in mechanical and computer aided drafting
that cost me about $1800. It was enough to get me in the door and then I
was able to show them what I can do. The program I took taught me only
drafting and nothing more, everything else I have learned on the job. 11
years later I am doing quite well for myself as a Mechanical Designer,
though a four year mech eng. degree would be nice and would get me more
money I can't complain with the schooling I had. If your goal is to
eventually work for a large corporation most of them will only take on
people with 4 year degrees, at least that is what I have seen in the
Minneapolis area. Good luck on the search.

--
--
-------------------------
IV 9 SP4 No extra Hotfixes
Win xp Pro SP1
Amd 3800 64 Bit
2 Gig Ram
Nvidia FX1000 7756driver
-------------------------
Corey Parks
Design Engineer
Metro Machine & Engineering Corp.
Eden Prairie, MN
www.metromachine.com
cparks(A-T)metromachine(D-O-T)com
(952)-259-3684

"Michael Hunt" wrote in message
news:5007358@discussion.autodesk.com...
I feel bad now. I didn't have to pay anything to learn AutoCAD or
architecture. I started as a runner at an architectural firm in 1986. I
taught myself CAD during lunch and by staying late at night and on weekends.
Started doing easy red marks on interior elevations, then started working on
plans and then moved into sections. Maybe that could work for you.




"Lisa" wrote in message
news:5007282@discussion.autodesk.com...
WOW... is that what they charge now adays???? i payed $10k and the
professors were great!
of corse I got in before the " life long learning classes" so all the extra
English and what not classes i didnt have to take...


"Rafael Gutierrez" wrote in message
news:5007208@discussion.autodesk.com...
I'm attending ITT Tech right now in Southern California... All I can say is
that It was the worst decision I've ever
made its just a waste of time and money. specially money. Professors there
are just plain dumb, most of them don't know
what they're doing, and you usually get them more than twice because they
don't have anyone to teach the class so they
grab the first person that is available. I don't think $36,000 are worth a
piece of paper that says you went there and
obtained their degree, try community college or go straight to a 4 year
university. You were smart enough to come here
and ask your question here, now go out and look for other options.




edwa8511 <>
|>I'm just saying that if you are good with CAD and willing/able to learn,
that I would recommend trying to find an entry level drafting after
graduating. I was a good student in high school, got A's at ITT, and still
learned more at my first real drafting job. Most employers want someone
that can use the technology, but knows that they will have to train you to
do their work. It seems that every job out there requires some type of
degree of some type, but an AAS form ITT doesn't carrie much weight. I
recommend against it when you consider the time and money. If you want to
go to school, try a community/state college or university, in the long run
you will be happier. The more you put into it, the more you get out.

RGTZ

[magan12]

Community college with transfer option (for 4 years). Best value for the dollar. Make sure classes are calculus based. You could take some drafting electives if the core study doesn't offer enough.

[drafter29]

I went to a Tech school that will transfer classes to 4-year schools. I got basic board drafting, then went into CAD. Good all around classes with some practical experience in each field covered. We covered Mechanical, Electrical, Piping, Civil, Architectural, & had electives to cover things like 3-D. I don't remember the cost, but had grants to cover books & some classes. Most of the people who graduate, here, move to cities like Dallas or Houston for more $$$. I stayed here because of family ties & worked some contract jobs through services, then started my own service where I set my contracts & hours.

[Anonymous]

I went to a community college... paid cash while working through... couldn't
get financial aid because of parent troubles, but, found out near the end of
my degree that I was eligible for grants because of being a 'minority'
(female in a tech field). ~shrug~ it was worth it, I have friends that went
to 'real tech schools' but, they are still paying off their loans and I'm
not.

wrote in message news:5008627@discussion.autodesk.com...
I went to a Tech school that will transfer classes to 4-year schools. I got
basic board drafting, then went into CAD. Good all around classes with some
practical experience in each field covered. We covered Mechanical,
Electrical, Piping, Civil, Architectural, & had electives to cover things
like 3-D. I don't remember the cost, but had grants to cover books & some
classes. Most of the people who graduate, here, move to cities like Dallas
or Houston for more $$$. I stayed here because of family ties & worked some
contract jobs through services, then started my own service where I set my
contracts & hours.

[Anonymous]

Community College, 4 Drafting Degrees. NO debt, and now I'm the Cad
Manager, In-House Engineer for an Architectural Firm doing 100+ Residential
projects a year. 2 of the draftsman in our office went to tech schools, I
trump them in drafting, design, engineering, and cad managing.
Proof that a 4 year university is not required. Any time spent in a 4 year
university is equal to time spent working under a licensed architect or
engineer. So it's either go to school for 4 years, or work for 4 years.
When going for the license, there is no difference.
My wife is attending a 4 year university, they spend one QUARTER, that's 10
weeks, on computer aided drafting. And in that 10 weeks they cover 6
different programs. But the design portion of the curriculum is intense.
The question....Do you want to design, or do you want to be told how to
design.
The answer...4 Year university, or community college.

(I agree there is an exception to every rule, I know designers with NO
education. But if your starting from scratch the university will be a
better choice.)

[joliver]

A community college is a good place to start, but do not go in thinking the only thing you have to be good at is drafting. If you want to be a mechanical drafter, you are going to need to be an "A" student in Math. And, not being mean, I would seriously look into a course or five in business communication.

[Anonymous]

Business communication?? If you are planning on being a manager yes,
otherwise it'd be more of a personal growth thing. It would help but hardly
necessary.


wrote in message news:5010564@discussion.autodesk.com...
A community college is a good place to start, but do not go in thinking the
only thing you have to be good at is drafting. If you want to be a
mechanical drafter, you are going to need to be an "A" student in Math.
And, not being mean, I would seriously look into a course or five in
business communication.

[Anonymous]

I never took a course in business communication per se, but, took writing
courses (show you how to properly correspond in various media), and a public
speaking course. It may sound silly for a caddie to some, but, when the time
does come for you to explain ideas or propose changes or defend procedures,
etc in a meeting, you'll be better for having had the experience.

"Matt" wrote in message
news:5010728@discussion.autodesk.com...
Business communication?? If you are planning on being a manager yes,
otherwise it'd be more of a personal growth thing. It would help but hardly
necessary.


wrote in message news:5010564@discussion.autodesk.com...
A community college is a good place to start, but do not go in thinking the
only thing you have to be good at is drafting. If you want to be a
mechanical drafter, you are going to need to be an "A" student in Math.
And, not being mean, I would seriously look into a course or five in
business communication.

[krutledge]

You might try looking into Indian Hills Community College in Centerville Iowa. They have a very good cad program.
I know that they are teaching the basics using Pro-E, Inventor, AutoCAD, and Solidworks. This is a two year degree and I believe that John Deere does a lot of hiring from there.

[Anonymous]

That I would agree with. Bus. Comm. just might be a wasted course for some.
Public speaking is generally part of the basic courses for an AA right? I
didn't make it that far in collage 😉

"melanie stone" wrote in message
news:5010754@discussion.autodesk.com...
I never took a course in business communication per se, but, took writing
courses (show you how to properly correspond in various media), and a public
speaking course. It may sound silly for a caddie to some, but, when the time
does come for you to explain ideas or propose changes or defend procedures,
etc in a meeting, you'll be better for having had the experience.

"Matt" wrote in message
news:5010728@discussion.autodesk.com...
Business communication?? If you are planning on being a manager yes,
otherwise it'd be more of a personal growth thing. It would help but hardly
necessary.


wrote in message news:5010564@discussion.autodesk.com...
A community college is a good place to start, but do not go in thinking the
only thing you have to be good at is drafting. If you want to be a
mechanical drafter, you are going to need to be an "A" student in Math.
And, not being mean, I would seriously look into a course or five in
business communication.

[joliver]

I was trying to be polite, It doesn't matter what college you go too. If you fill at an application with as many syntax and spelling errors as your post, you will not even be considered for a position with a firm. How you present yourself is very important to potential employers. Also, as stated by another, this job of the drafter isn't what it used to be. very few firms want an individual to just sit and draw all day. A lot of time is spent in meetings, in the field, talking to clients, and selling ideas. if you can't do that in a clear and concise manner you will not have a very bright future in this business.

[Anonymous]

Joliver,

How were your grades in business communications? I politely counted
at least 4 syntax mistakes in this short post. 😉
I marked them with {} in the original

joliver wrote:
> I was trying to be polite, It doesn't matter what college you go too.

If you fill {at} an application with as many syntax and spelling errors as

your post, you will not even be considered for a position with a firm.

How you present yourself is very important to potential employers.

Also, as stated by another, {this job of the drafter} isn't what it used

to be. {v}ery few firms want an individual to just sit and draw all day.

A lot of time is spent in meetings, in the field, talking to clients,

and selling ideas. {i}f you can't do that in a clear and concise manner

you will not have a very bright future in this business.

[Anonymous]

That's priceless. I think you (joliver) have a very valid point. My point,
to the OP and yourself, was that business communications may be going
overboard. Good communication skills is important in any profession if
someone wishes to be successful. On another point, most drafters to just
sit and draw all day. When a drafter has shown that he/she is proficient in
their job, that person will likely take on more responsibilities and quite
likely will interact with field techs and clients, but not until they sit in
the cad monkey seat for a while.


"Bob S." wrote in message
news:5011257@discussion.autodesk.com...
Joliver,

How were your grades in business communications? I politely counted
at least 4 syntax mistakes in this short post. 😉
I marked them with {} in the original

joliver wrote:
> I was trying to be polite, It doesn't matter what college you go too.

If you fill {at} an application with as many syntax and spelling errors as

your post, you will not even be considered for a position with a firm.

How you present yourself is very important to potential employers.

Also, as stated by another, {this job of the drafter} isn't what it used

to be. {v}ery few firms want an individual to just sit and draw all day.

A lot of time is spent in meetings, in the field, talking to clients,

and selling ideas. {i}f you can't do that in a clear and concise manner

you will not have a very bright future in this business.

[Anonymous]

I can not agree more with this statement. I went there for the 2 year
drafting program and was a complete joke that put me in debt for 30 grand.
Yes I'm not sure I would of not gotten my great job or be where im at now.
But I could of went to a local community college and learned more, and
probably still be where I am? I DO NOT recommend ITT at all. But I have
talked to many, and think its probably a per school type of thing. Once I
got my job at the mid way point, by the end I knew more that all the
professors. Which was pretty sad.

All around, if you want to be a plain old drafter for a arch firm,
structural or what ever, I say a community college is the way to go. Cheap,
take all drafting classes and start shopping around for firms. Our firm is
looking for people 24-7, so the jobs are out there, its the experience and
the first job is the hard part. I sent probably 50 to 75 of my resumes out
when I started at ITT. Now after 3 years for working in a structural firm, I
probably could get a job anywhere.

Again, don't make the mistake many of us had with ITT. Its not what its
cracked out to be anymore, at least in the northern California area.

Mark Douglas,
MKM & Associates


wrote in message news:5006264@discussion.autodesk.com...
I don't know if I would recommend ITT. I went to one after high school and
earned an AAS thinking that I could get a good drafting job. All of the
places that I applied for jobs didn't see the training that valuable; they
would have rather seen more experience on my resume. I went back to school,
University, to get a better degree, and to earn some money I did get a job
as a draftsman. After I got the job I asked my boss about my resume; he
said the ITT training wasn't that critical. Looking back I realize that I
spent almost as much money at ITT getting a two year degree than I did for
my BS, maybe more. I recommend going straight to a real college. Drafting
is a dying profession, I regret not aiming higher to start with.

[joliver]

That is priceless. A little of the pot calling the kettle black? I agree that Business Communications may be a little overboard and a Communication class is sufficient. I guess I was looking at the companies that I have worked for and using that as a barometer for the importance of presenting your work and your ideas. I, fortunately, have never worked at a company that I was required, or even coached, to just draft. I would get bored very quickly. And, I have worked for companies of all sizes and specialties. All of them were in the Residential field, mostly production, some custom.

FYI

I received a 4.0 in Business Communication. Was awarded the "Top Gun" award, and graduated Valedictorian of my class.

[Anonymous]

I've got a BSME from a university so I never took a Business Communications
course. I'm curious how the two compare. Is BC a single class or an entire
course?

The only English classes I took were Expository Writing (i.e. English 101
taken freshman year) and Technical Writing for Scientists and Engineers (a
senior level course taken during my senior year). I never really had formal
class training with public speaking or presenting, but we still did quite a
bit of both in most of my classes. Most non-technical classes required a
minimum of essay writing while some required term papers or formal
presentation. Many technical classes required the same.

Four year universities seem to have the expectation that you have already
learned adequate communication skills before entering. If not, you'd better
learn on your own in a hurry. It's like the whole of your educations is one
large course in communications.

Patrick

[jsanz]

1

[ladonna101]

Where are you from and where are you willing to go. May sound funny, but Western Kentucky University has an excellent program for the area you are interested in. Not too expensive either as a state school. You should be able to handle your gen eds. Check out the Architectural and Manufacturing Sciences department. You would obviously be more interested in the Manufacturing side.

[jsanz]

Hey what's up everyone, I just happen to run into the topic.

First of all, Let me start by saying that I agree with all of you about the education from ITT is not too great.(but I am glad to have been given good opportunities) I graduated from The AS CAD degree, I was able to find a job, but continued to learn at my new place of employment(where I was a mechanical drafter). I went back to ITT and got a BS of Industrial Design, Which was less pleasing then the CAD Degree but I was able to learn a few things that would help me down the line. Before completion of my BS degree I was able to obtain a new job as an Architectural Drafter (not Industrial design, but ok) where I realized that I would like to become an architect. I did research (quite a bit) on Architecture Schools and talk to Academic advisor and Admission Counselors from various schools. I found out that there were actually some schools that would accept my degree (not my credits but my degree, go figure)and I was able to apply for the Master of Architecture (M Arch), First professional Degree from a N.A.A.B (National Architecture Accrediting Board) accredited school. I worked on my admissions portfolio, night and day(with the help of some of the skills I obtained while in the industrial design program). I submitted it in march of 2006, and I have just recently been accepted and will be starting in the Fall. Now hopefully if everything goes as plan I will become a Licensed Architect

I know that when you have a degree from ITT its hard to even get an interview, the person in charge of hiring looks at your resume and sees that you got your education from ITT Tech, so he pushes your resume to the side(sometimes never looking at it again). I know I have struggled to get Interviews, but the times I was able to get one I was able to seal the deal and get the job.

Whatever you decide to do never regret the decisions you make, instead always look forward at what might be next. I am not saying I recommend ITT education, but if you have to go there or you are already there, Just try hard and work hard and you might be able to accomplish your goals.

Jsanz

Message was edited by: jsanz