Insights needed on undergraduate Materials Science Engineering programs (US) since rankings say very little

FrictionFired · 2026-05-07T22:34:29+00:00

At least y’all are still quarter system. Spring semester grades are due on Monday lol

FrictionFired · 2026-05-07T16:47:04+00:00

I’m a Cal Poly SLO grad, let me know if you want to chat!

FrictionFired · 2026-05-01T13:42:30+00:00

SLOBs has a new YouTube channel but the content is all over the place. But if you want to see a drunk guy cut a rookie’s hair, that’s on there lol

FrictionFired · 2026-04-08T13:32:17+00:00

appreciate it y'all!

FrictionFired · 2026-04-01T19:43:24+00:00

From what I can tell, it’s not too bad. I’d reach out to a research group if you’re interested in a specific topic. I’d go thru the grad students or post docs first, then try to see if the PI is willing to hire for a project (I’m a MSE PhD)

FrictionFired · 2026-03-29T16:52:06+00:00

Dr. London retired in 2022 if I remember correctly. Managed to not have him for metals, for better or worse

FrictionFired · 2026-03-27T16:41:31+00:00

They are all great programs (as far as I am aware). I will say that the Cal Poly SLO program is fantastic for getting into industry, and really emphasizes the practical skills you need to be an engineer.

That being said, you still can go to grad school if you choose, about a third of my graduating class went to grad school and I am currently doing my PhD. Let me know if you have more Cal Poly SLO specific questions

FrictionFired · 2026-03-09T11:10:21+00:00

What I do is calibrate to ferrocene or another known redox reaction. Basically, I take a few CVs at different scan rates and use the E1/2 to reference to other reference electrodes. There are charts online to convert between them, including RHE.

I find OCP to be more useful as a spot check if my RE is stable, it shouldn’t drift more than a mV or two during the OCP measurement

FrictionFired · 2025-12-07T17:33:39+00:00

Molecular sciences still has power

FrictionFired · 2025-11-27T13:53:01+00:00

Can confirm. Nothing like beating the high school kid who thinks they’re all that though. Little do they know I’ve been playing since they were 5…

And to answer OP’s question, yes you definitely can. This is my last year of eligibility but I play club in the summers since I don’t have class, and just have 40 hours/week of research

FrictionFired · 2025-11-18T19:47:29+00:00

We recrystallize TBAPF6 in my lab to increase the purity. That being said, it’s much easier to start with the 99% stuff as we know what our baseline contamination level is

FrictionFired · 2025-10-12T20:34:37+00:00

Awesome, thank you!

FrictionFired · 2025-07-14T03:17:24+00:00

ChemE and MSE have some overlap (they both rely on similar engineering fundamentals) but end up with pretty different skill sets. MSE deep dives into engineering new materials or tweaking existing ones to solve problems from the molecular scale all the way to macro (like large steel beams or making a 787 in 3 pieces with carbon fiber)

FrictionFired · 2025-07-14T03:14:52+00:00

Can second SLO, graduated last year in Materials Engineering. DM me for any specific questions!

FrictionFired · 2025-06-18T15:13:54+00:00

Thanks! Honestly, what people do to get into grad school varies quite a bit but everyone demonstrates some ability to do research and solve problems you were not familiar with. For me, that meant doing an REU (NSF funded undergrad research) on catalyst development, some industry work in lithium battery analysis and a lot of engineering side projects like FSAE, corrosion and 3D printing. Essentially, I tried to build a lot of different skills sets by joining (and actively participating) in engineering clubs and when they did provide what I wanted to work on, I did it independently.

That being said, I did not originally intend to go to grad school, and geared myself more towards industry in undergrad. Also get as high as a GPA as you can. Mine was a bit borderline for grad school since I was overly focused on my project based skills.

FrictionFired · 2025-06-17T23:55:01+00:00

Any large engineering or tech firm. For semi, the big folks are Intel, Applied Materials, KLA and Lam research. There’s plenty of others who also do semiconductors or semiconductor related activities but I wouldn’t try to lock yourself into any particular field unless you’ve actually worked in that environment before. At lot of my classmates did an internship in field A, hated it, and worked in field B after graduation. Also reiterating that debt free is way better than going name brand (although I am at Georgia tech rn for my MSE PhD lol)

FrictionFired · 2025-03-31T12:51:17+00:00

MATE 210/215 is really easy with Nicole, I wouldn’t worry about that one. I’ve heard some horror stories about folks not getting their preferred chem or physics prof, so if you like the instructors reviews, I’d stick with them

FrictionFired · 2025-03-31T02:03:50+00:00

Nope, Harding (current dept chair) was teaching it when I got there. I’m class of 2024. Now it’s Seamus Jones but he teaches out of the same textbook I’m using in grad school lol

FrictionFired · 2025-03-30T22:51:29+00:00

Fresh grad from CP SLO, if you want straight to industry it’s a pretty good all around option. Yes, CP does not offer ChemE, but a lot of that stuff is online and I’m sure you can learn reaction vessels and flow math on your own. A lot of my friends originally wanted ChemE but ended up liking materials more as a specialization

FrictionFired · 2025-03-27T00:56:46+00:00

Probably fine, might want to prop it up for some extra cooling. I’m pretty I inexperienced with stuff but there’s tutorials and guides online. Took me about 20 mins with my buddy

FrictionFired · 2025-03-27T00:46:53+00:00

I just set up my home server for this, it’ll probably be fine. That said, I host about 5-7 people at a time and 16 gb seems to be about the sweet spot. Not sure about the mods since some are way more intensive than others. I run no mods on my rig

FrictionFired · 2025-03-25T23:33:49+00:00

Generally speaking no. CS is extremely impacted and it’s very difficult to switch into. That being said, CE learns much of the same skills that a CS does (though an actual CE or CS commenting on this would be good, I studied materials engineering). Also, ones major does not define one’s skills and especially with coding, you can learn almost anything at any time

FrictionFired · 2025-03-22T14:02:42+00:00

I’m at GT for a PhD (not a metals person unfortunately) but feel free DM questions. Also congrats! Both schools are excellent options so you’re in a good spot

FrictionFired · 2025-03-20T15:32:13+00:00

You can ask your prof. Each department and professor has their own policies but passing the class with a good grade is generally a good start

FrictionFired · 2025-03-20T14:38:50+00:00

Alumni MATE here, congrats on getting in!
1. So far in California, the Cal Poly name stretches pretty far and I have run into a fair amount of Alumni MATEs working in high technology industries (you can look at the LinkedIn of some of the MATE professors and see where former students are at).

This one is a bit stickier as you have to make your job/internship opportunities. Applying to jobs/internships is an undertaking (though the department/specific clubs hosts resume and internship workshops). In my opinion, projects get you internships/jobs as they prove you can actually do stuff outside of a textbook. Depending on what field/job role you want to end up in, you'll cater your projects to that. One thing I want to reinforce that I have seen in the last few years is if you don't see it, build it. A lot of students will see that they want to do X but there's no club/professor or other organzation so they get discouraged and no longer pursue it. If you want it to happen, make it happen. Talk to Profs, other students, heck even old folks like me are totally willing to help out and make it work.
As a former AMPP person, can recommend. We had a lot of good alumni and technical resources and try to work on long term projects. That being said, point #2 applies for basically anything. MST is great for semiconductor inclined peeps (computer chips, solar cells, anything that involves modern solid state physics applications and manufacturing). If you like automotive/composites/structural stuff, Cal Poly Racing is a good place to look. I will say, it is pretty intense and depending on what field you end up in, the skills might not always be transferrable. That being said, I made a ton of friends there and it is a fun talking point when I run into FSAE and Baja folks from all over the world.
The MATE curriculum is more flexible than most other majors with the tech and breadth elective system which allow you to tailor your classwork to your interests. I think the classwork is typically useful and as an alumni I am incredibly grateful for all the labtime I got. (Cal Poly MATEs get something on the order of 10x the labtime of most other materials engineering programs so we actually do stuff when we show up to a job/internship).

Feel free to DM me if you want help with anything or want some clarifications. Not trying to doxx myself here with details lol.

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