does anyone here go to ferris or knows someone that goes there in the automotive technology program. im currently at macomb, but was thinking of transferring to a university next year and going to school full time. ferris seems to be the only university in michigan that has an automotive based program, and im really considering trying it out. i just wanted some feedback on the program if anyone is in it, or has completed it. im also considering transferring to msu for mechanical engineering, how much would that play over into the automotive field?

 

When I was in high school, the teacher I had in my auto tech class went to Ferris. He really liked it and was always telling us about how good of a school it is. Before he was a teacher he worked as a tech for GM.

 

I'm a student at Ferris in their welding engineering program and I really enjoy it here. The university is known for having majors that not a lot of other schools in the area have, but they have many other popular degrees as well. It makes it nice for students like me because there is often many jobs for few students when you graduate.

For example, my degree is only offered in 2 other places in the nation, with one of them being Ohio State, and the other is some school in Utah that I haven't heard much of. Last year, there were over 90 employers that came to recruit about 30 students who were graduating seniors in my program.

My advice would be for you to come up here and talk to some of the faculty in the automotive department, and maybe they can point you to some students that would have some helpful advice.

Michigan State's mech. engineering program would be another excellent choice, but will likely cost more, be more focused on math, and will have less of the technical hands on aspect that you will find at Ferris. It would likely play over into the automotive field very well (especially being in Michigan) but it is all on what you make of the degree.

If you have any other questions about the area or Ferris feel free to ask and I'll be glad to help you out. There's at least one other person I know that goes to Ferris here on the board so I'm sure he'll chime in too.

 

When I was in the injection molding field [23 years] I worked at a company that took on Ferris students on a intern programe. Ferris has the Best plastics programe out there IMO. As the general foreman I got to work with these fine young folks. We hired a few guys and gals from Ferris and they knew there stuff .

 

I currently go to Ferris and work for them as well. I've got a nice benefit set up where they pay for my school while I'm an employee. Ferris has a lot of ups and downs around here but overall they are a very decent school. There's a lot of technical majors that they are getting more into and it's really taking off. I've had two friends graduate through the automotive program. One(2 year auto mechanics degree) didn't want to move so he's still working around here(where there aren't many good jobs available) He averages about 33k a year. The other went through some automotive and then slid into auto body. After he finishes up his engineering classes this fall he's off to Florida to start at his first job offer of 40k a year and probably doubling that within 2 years. Since that was just what he wanted he didn't even consider other offers, so who knows hey may have gotten more. Also I have 2 friends that graduated in the Plastics program. Both had trouble finding work just out of school, but it was mainly the timing of when they graduated. Everyone was having trouble finding work. They both currently live in Grand Rapids now. One works for Steel Case, I'm not sure doing what, but they have this giant headquarters that looks like a huge glass peramid. That's where he goes to work every day. He's making roughly 40k but just started there less than 6 months ago. Another is a good friend that started as a Quality Engineer for an injection molding corp. That was about a year and a half ago. He started at 44k and now is pushing the 60k mark and just got a promotion. I could go on forever about the people I know in the HVAC and similar technical programs having offers to make over 30k a year to start and they have 2 years of school to finish first. Some are getting interns for the summer in areas like Cali making 20 bucks and hour and getting school credit. Again Ferris is really focusing on the Technical aspect of education now a days. Trust me, they've spent over 100 million over the past 4 years I've worked here on new buildings,upgrading facilities,etc. Plus I really like the automotive building in the summer. There's a lift I love that my Z resides on through most of it's transformations during those months. Mine's the only car in the place. It's great having keys to everything.

 

whatever you do get at least a bachelors. You can do almost anything with a 4yr degree. There is someone with a 4 yr geology degree doing mech eng work where i work. its retarted like that, but if thats what it takes...

 

I went to ferris several years ago because they were one of the few to have an architecture school.
Had a great time there. Joined Phi Kappa Theta (is they ar still around there, I don't know... I heard they were gone)

 

Its always beneficial to go to school and get your bachelor degree as long as you are careful about what concentration you go into. There are a lot of schools that are offering degrees like "Hotel Management" and you can't really get a decent job with some of these degrees, they are easy degrees to get and are offered just so people can say they got a degree. I hope I didn't offend anyone but that is just the way it works with these degrees.
Mechanical engineering is totally different than mechanics work, you won't get any hands on experience and you will spend most of your time in math, physics, and sitting behind the computer studying C++ programming. Also there isn't going to be a huge demand for mechanical engineers in Michigan in the near future, there is going to be a glut of them because many companies like Visteon and the big three are laying off a lot of their engineers to outsource the work overseas. From what I have read there will be a big demand for biochemical engineers and the field for electrical engineering looks steady.
From what I have heard Ferris is a good school (I graduated from Eastern Michigan University so they will always be my choice ), you should talk with one of the advisors or deans of the engineering department to get and idea of the different programs and prospective jobs.
Good luck to you and study hard.

 

I graduated in accounting from Ferris (not Automotive). They actually have alot of good programs there. Beautiful town to live in (quiet and clean). Don't really remember my first three years there, but it was a good experience from what I remember. LOL

 

yea i hear what youre saying about the degrees, cause on their site theres like a million degrees i never even heard of. i kinda view ferris as like a "trade university," its got all the specialty programs of a trade school, but at the same time its an accredited university. i think that this will be beneficial for me because companies will never be able to out-source technicians, and as technology evolves there will always be a demand for skilled technicians.

 

My point was just that you don't want a useless degree that doesn't have decent income/job potential; a technical degree would be good, especially since auto manufacturers and engineers are designing automotive components to have a life of about 50k miles (this saves about $100 per car instead of making the parts last longer and it gives the dealerships the income for fixing them), most parts in the future will fail soon after the warranty expires which means auto technicians will always have a job.
For instance, if the federal government makes Chrysler recall all the 4X4 durangos and dakotas from 2000-2003 because they made their ball joints too cheap to save a penny, it just means more work for technicians.

Good luck and may I also suggest that if you take auto classes that you save some money for parts and get a car that you can work on in class instead of working on a shop car that everyone tears apart and rebuilds/replaces the same thing. This way you can learn while you fix up your car.