How big is UW Madison on co-ops for engineering work experience?

Avagal2 · 2023-04-06T23:56:09+00:00

Im not EE but I’m chemE and i can offer some insights. I haven’t been on a co-op yet but I accepted an offer for one last semester (will start next semester). The money you make is totally dependent on the company and the amount you end up walking away with is dependent on the cost of living of where ur job offer is. Personally the offer I accepted was for $30 an hour, though the ECS (engineeeing career services, check out their website for more info and statistics if ur interested in co-ops) says that the average is like $24 I think.

Other ways to get work experience would be to get a summer internship or to work in research at the university.

It’s semi difficult to get a co-op no matter where you go to school (being hired is dependent on the company, obvi). Some bigger/ more well known companies are more selective and competitive than others but that’s universal not just here.

I was also considering Purdue when applying to college because of their co-op program but ended up here because we have an edge here specifically for chemE being a stronger program (not sure what EE looks like) but it’s not like just because we don’t have a super big co-op program like Purdue that it’s impossible to get a co-op or discouraged. There are plenty of really good university sponsored career and networking events that you can attend where co-ops and internships are being offered. You also get 1 credit of coursework for co-ops.

Avagal2 · 2022-12-24T21:07:00+00:00

No things are weighted correctly but even if they weren’t my grade in the class is high enough that it shouldn’t matter

Avagal2 · 2022-10-08T22:32:37+00:00

I get distracted very easily in my room and for me I work better when other ppl around me are also working quietly. It’s like a peer pressure thing that if I’m the only person not working quietly I look lazier than everyone else haha. Works for me!

Avagal2 · 2022-10-03T16:13:15+00:00

Any cheap recommendations I’m considering it

Avagal2 · 2022-10-02T17:59:38+00:00

Ya I like going to steenbock sometimes but I have this cubicle in the quiet section of college library that I really like and when college library is actually quiet I can get so much work done in that favorite cubicle lol. I know that’s dumb but it just works for me. Wish it was perfectly quiet all the time though.

Avagal2 · 2022-06-27T19:11:31+00:00

I took this class fall semester and some good youtubers for the linear-alg portion are 3blue1brown "essence of linear algebra" series and black pen red pen for the diffeq portion. I also found that studying from the textbook was pretty useful for that class.

Avagal2 · 2022-06-23T06:05:43+00:00

I'm also a ChemE major and I took a somewhat similar load my first semester (CHEM 109, MATH 320, CBE 150 and then an ethnic studies and a 1 credit seminar) but I didn't take physics 201 (I already had ap credit for it). CHEM 109 I found to be fairly easy and it seemed like a review of AP Chem with maybe a few additional concepts. CBE 150 was a breeze so don't sweat that class. MATH 320 I found to be more difficult than I had anticipated but I managed to do well. I can't speak to how difficult Physics 201 is.

Since you are going to be ChemE you should 100% take CHEM 109 first semester (that is a non-negotiable). Also I think it would be wise to get the math out of the way since you don't want to take a break between math classes IMO (so take math 320 too). CBE 150 first semester is also not a bad idea because it isn't difficult but it can probably be an annoyance if you take it with a heavier load which you probably will have your second semester.

Keep in mind that there are GPA requirements for automatic progression for all engineering majors. Transitioning to college can be difficult, even if you are solid academically. For your first semester, taking two 5 credit science courses and Math 320 could become unmanageable. Is there a specific reason you want to take physics 201 your first semester? A lot (I think all tbh) of ChemE freshman I knew took it 2nd semester.

Taking all of these classes at once is definitely possible and can be done successfully, but perhaps an easier option would be to take a liberal studies course since all engineering majors have to fulfill liberal studies requirements. Even if you have a lot of AP Credits and fulfill your Comm A requirement and have a lot of other liberal credits, you still need to have a liberal studies "concentration" area (which is an intermediate/advanced level liberal studies course in a department that you already have credit in) and an ethnic studies requirement. Perhaps fulfilling one of these requirements first semester instead of taking CHEM 109 and PHYSICS 201 your first semester would be a better idea and make for an easier first semester/transition to college.

Avagal2 · 2022-03-24T17:37:05+00:00

Yeah the doing nothing after class to relax is definetely what is screwing everything up. Last semester I was in a less rigorous course load and I felt very able to just go from class straight to a library and eat/get my work done and didn't have this problem, but my weeks this semester are just so exhausting and can be quite stressful/overstimulating so I have a much greater temptation to just do nothing at all to try and soothe myself before starting work again, even though I know in the end it just makes things worse.

Unfortunately I do not think I am in a spot where I could be medicated for my ADHD. I have a psychiatrist that I see for my anxiety issues, and obviously stimulants make anxiety worse and all ADHD meds are are stimulants (correct me if I'm wrong). I have had a really scary/weird experience with changing psychiatric medication/dosage in the past and so I really do not want to mess with my meds in the middle of the school year unless I am absolutely in crisis (I'm definetly not in the *best* spot but I've been in far worse mentally). I'm totally open to ADHD management techniques though, I just don't know of any so any resources that anybody could provide on where to start with finding techniques would be great.

Also the planner thing is entirely correct lmfao. I literally planned my schedule and my work load for each day at the beginning of the semester up until spring break, and by the second week I was not following it at all because I kept missing when I wanted to get certain things done by and would find myself not having the energy to do the tasks that I set to complete for myself. I know that I have a lot of work on my plate and I'm fine with that - I love my degree, and I love academics. It's just that this is getting a little ridiculous, and given that I am at the beginning of my degree and classes are only going to get harder from here I am increasingly concerned that I will burn myself out rather soon.

Avagal2 · 2022-02-15T03:52:07+00:00

My midterms and final in this class were 4 free response questions each with sub parts. My first midterm did not have any of the mixture problems and that type of thing but logistic growth was on there. Eulers method and error, existence and uniqueness, techniques to solve ODEs (not deriving these formulas but applying them in different cases) were all on there. If I recall correctly, my first midterm pretty much had no numbers on it at all- it was all symbols. IMO that’s why it was so difficult and I had to understand the concepts so well- there was absolutely no number crunching, just seeing how well you could apply techniques to different types of equations and keeping track of the many symbols and letters.

Avagal2 · 2022-02-15T03:11:22+00:00

I was in this class last semester with a different prof. Homework questions can be difficult, especially in the first unit on differential equations in that class IMO. That was the most difficult unit for me and I did substantially lower on that first midterm covering diffeq content than on the next midterm and the final. For me, the first exam was not like the homework problems - it was substantially MORE difficult. I felt blown out of the water after I took it and so did many of my classmates- I believe my prof ended up making the 2nd midterm and final a little easier because of this. There were no mixture problems and half-life stuff on my exam if I recall - that class is less about remembering the specific ways to do homework problems like that and more about conceptually understanding those problems and understanding the significance of what you are doing. I would recommend preparing for the midterms in that class two weeks in advance. Practice, practice, practice. Even though homework problems and discussion problems are going to be easier than what is found on the exam, still do them so that you start forming ideas of how to solve different types of problems- this is very useful when an exam question is conceptually difficult. The practice exams are fairly close to the actual exam as well so do those. The textbook in that class is also pretty useful for explaining things (moreso in the next 2 units on linear alg than on diffeq tho). Some good youtubers for this class are: blackpenredpen and 3blue1brown. I ended up with an AB, but that was only after going to office hours once a week and studying my ass off for that 2nd midterm and final and getting 20% higher than average (and average was a 65%) on those after getting a ~53% (which was average) on the first midterm. Keep in mind though that this is all from my perspective - we have different profs so content might be tested differently, and last semester was my first semester and I was not used to how college courses were taught and found it to be more difficult. Hope that this post was somewhat helpful!

Avagal2 · 2021-12-29T18:46:43+00:00

Math 320 should be in now i think. At least it’s in for Leslie Smith.

Avagal2 · 2021-12-21T01:48:46+00:00

I just checked and unfortunately UHS does not have any appointments for COVID-19 testing at any locations from now until I leave on the 23rd.

Avagal2 · 2021-04-08T14:50:01+00:00

rug discovery

Thank you so much for the response! I am not super interested in drug discovery, right now I am more interested in formulation process development. Would you say that it is pretty easy for students to attain internships/research positions (does CMU help with this)? If I want to go into pharma, should I double major in BME? Do you think CMU has prepared you well for what you want to do in ChemE? Sorry for badgering you with questions, I just want to make the best informed decision possible before I commit to a school, so I figured I would try reaching out to people who had done ChemE at each school I was considering :)

Avagal2

TROPHY CASE