There are many good reasons to become a part of the Civil Engineering family at Rose-Hulman.
 

For starters, consider job placement.  For at least the past 15 years, nearly every department graduate who was actively seeking a position in civil engineering or graduate school admission, had acquired a position or admission to graduate school before graduation.  That includes those who struggle to get through the program and graduate with a low G.P.A.  We have had students over the years who either choose not to seek a position in civil engineering until after graduation so they could focus on their studies, and others who decided to go to work in another profession (we're not talking about flipping hamburgers at the fast-food joint, BTW), but those were few, and even those students typically had been contacted by several civil engineering employers before graduation and received offers. So the bottom line is almost 100% placement of our graduates before graduation.  The high placement rate is due to the high quality education our students receive and the track record our graduates have in industry. It also helps that all of our faculty are very practice-oriented and involved in the professional community in the region and nationwide, thus making contacts that increase the opportunities for our graduates.
 

How about personal attention?  Although some of our faculty do some research, some do outreach to industry, and others are involved in regional and national civil engineering committees, the majority of our faculty time is spent working with our students. The faculty are in the laboratories, available all day on an open-door basis to assist students when they encounter questions about homework, and are also active in some of the students' extracurricular activities with their clubs.  By the time our students graduate, the faculty and students really do feel like an extended family. Although Rose-Hulman is known for exceptionally talented students entering as freshmen, not all of our students fit in that category, and on many occasions the faculty find themselves working with a struggling student who probably would not be able to make it in a program other than Rose-Hulman, where the mentoring relationship between faculty and student is top priority.
 

Quality of education is an obvious reason as well.  Due to our aggressive curriculum, our students move more quickly through more material than most civil engineering students anywhere in the country.  This permits time for us to have year-long senior design projects for real clients to give our students a "real-life" consulting experience before graduation.  The faster pace also allows us to incorporate some typically graduate-level activities into our undergraduate courses.  The students can sustain the faster pace due to the Rose-Hulman pride they acquire and because the availability of faculty throughout the day makes their learning more efficient and quicker.  One example of our students' abilities as they near graduation is reflected in their performance on the Fundamental of Engineering Exam, a national exam many engineers take as they begin their quest for professional licensure.  We expect all of our seniors to take this test, whereas many struggling students at other schools defer from taking the exam until after graduation. Even so, the passing rate of Rose-Hulman civil engineering students is nearly always above 90%, and often nearly or at 100%, while the national average is usually in the range of 70-80%.
 

Career flexibility is another characteristic of the Rose-Hulman civil engineering degree. A number of our graduates have chosen not to pursue engineering careers but rather to attend graduate school in another profession.  An engineering degree is good preparation for a career in medicine, law, and business. We have alumni who are successful attorneys, physicians, and business entrepreneurs.  Some even came to Rose-Hulman with the intent to pursue these alternate careers. Their philosophy was why not get a B.S. in an area that will lead to good employment just in case the graduate school work in law, medical, or business school doesn't work out? That's pretty cool reasoning, we think.
 

Bottom line is this:  If you have an interest in Civil Engineering and like some of the things you've heard about Rose-Hulman, we'd like to meet with you to discuss your joining our civil engineering family.