I will define a traditional student as one who attends college (2 or 4 years) right after high school or right after military service. Working as a surveyor while attending school does not eliminate you as a traditional student, nor does not completing the degree in the minimum time. Finances for a higher education can occassionally require work breaks away from class time.
Please respond as to whether you are or were:
A/ traditional,
B/ non-traditional
C/ non-student (experience only). If you got your license by experience only, but now are seeking credits especially for a license in another state, I would put 6 credits after licensing as making you a student. Feel free to elaborate. or
D/ Other, i.e. pursuing surveying after a degree in another field.
This poll is not to discuss the venue for credits, the evaluation of credit programs or licensing techniques, merely to get a sense for the studentness of surveyors. The next threads by myself or others should expand on the subject.
I consider myself a B, because it is not quite a degree in another field.
While I received 6 surveying credits as part of the Civel Engineering program at Lehigh (73) which would have qualified me to be a surveyor at the time I became a PE (83) that was not my intent. By the time I decided to pursue surveying the requirements had been advanced. The next 6 surveying credits I recieved from the County College of Morris (NJ), circa 1995, would have been sufficient for the PA PLS but I lacked the required minimum of "boundary line experience" (25% minimum out of a total 5 years surveying experience) so I continued to take classes while advancing toward a degree. First I took 2 business law courses at my local community college, then legal research at Middlesex County College and real estate law at Warren County College. That was sufficient to qualify as an AS transfer student at NJIT. It took 5 years of part time surveying work after 1995 to gather up the 15 month minimum boundary line experience to begin the PLS application process.
It will soon be apparent that very few here will easily fit perfectly into any one slot.
Paul in PA
I was about as non-traditional student as you can be, taking night classes over a spread of 33 years. My wife was too - earned her BA at age 46 and MA two years later.
I was a combination I guess. I went for three years after high school in 1970 (majoring in History), then dropped out and went to work surveying and then into contstruction staking for large construction firms. In 1979 I hurt my back, couldn't work and went back to school. I got an Associate in Civil Technology in 1980 and a Bachelor in Civil Technology in 1981. LS in 1985 and PE in 1992.
Andy
Non-traditional.
I started working in surveying about 5 months after I graduated high school. I took some night classes at Southern Polytechnic State University while working. After about 3 years working, I decided I wanted to go to school full time. I moved back to WV from GA and attended Marshall University full time, first as a biology major, then as a business major. Grew tired of not having any money so I decided to go back to work full time, in GA again, and take night classes at SPSU again. Finished the classes I needed to qualify to sit for the FS in GA (experience + some surveying classes), then quit for awhile. I am now pursuing a BS in Surveying and Mapping via distance learning while working full time. This is not because any particular state requires it. As a matter of fact, the applications I have submitted, are based on experience. I just want the degree for personal satisfaction. I also plan to pursue graduate studies once I complete the BS.
I am both A and B.
1992 to 1997 or so:
I attended State Technical Institute at Memphis (night classes) right out of high school while working full time. I graduated with an AAS in Civil/Construction Engineering Technology. After that I took the ICS Surveying and Mapping program and graduated with a Diploma.
Fast forward to present:
I am now enrolling in two additional college level surveying classes to satisfy the education requirements for the Missouri Surveying exam. After that I will take classes on a slow/steady pace to eventually earn my Bachelors in Surveying from East Tennessee State University. I may possibly look into other programs to see if my AAS will get me more credit, but right now I am planning on the ETSU route.
Jimmy
E. Started working in Surveying within a year of high school, went on to take a handful of classes at a community college that I felt would help me. (Surveying, drafting, blueprint reading, computer, etc.)
Traditional student in Engineering. The survey experience started three years after graduation.
A
Traditional
Right outta' HS into Surveying in College
College completed
Work hard x 25 =
Early retirement 🙂
B
I've got about 60 surveying specific credits. From various different sources. All while working up to 80 hour weeks. Probably the road less traveled.
In addition to that I have the military 82c training and I completed ICS while in the service.
Ralph
A
Went to College out of High School (Troy University)got my degree in 4 yrs. My freshman, sophmore, and junior year I scheduled my classes where I would only go to school 2 or 3 days a week. I still worked 30-40 hrs week with a firm in Troy or traveled home to work with my dad on the days I didnt have class and weekends. My senior year I didnt work and took 24 hrs of courses each semester just so I could finish up and get my degree.
A. Traditional.
Oregon Tech BA Surveying/Geomatics
I started with a 5 year plan towards graduation from the start so that I could fully compete in Track & Field for 4 years and take one red-shirt year. Towards the end I took a semester or two off to work in the surveying industry. At the end I completed my remaining surveying coursework on campus then went to work full time in So cal, completing my remaining other classes online. In all it took me about 6 years before my degree was sitting in a stack of papers collecting dust in the back room.
I wouldn't trade one day of it. Even that bad time's since they have shaped me into who I am today.;-)
B
within 6 credits of a.a. criminal justice and within 9 credits of a.s. land survey, current lsit, hopeful for the full gig this year. 10 years experience in commercial construction control and layout, about 7 years experience in land surveys
> I wouldn't trade one day of it. Even that bad time's since they have shaped me into who I am today.;-)
:good: :good:
b. not licensed...yet. I am gonna try this, the illuminati, and the Freemasons and see who lets me in first 😉
I was A then B
I started with about 2.5 years of full time college pursing a degree in surveying while working at a small shop part time. Ran out of full time school money and went to work full time surveying. After a couple of years in the field I decided to go back to school part time and get what I needed to get licensed.
A for me. Then 5 yrs after BS I went back to pursue PE, but never finished.
Non traditional here, used to drive truck then went back to school, working on 2nd AAS right now.
C. Went the experience route.
A, Got an Associates Degree in Civil Engineering Technology at TSTI Waco right out of High School. I didn't have the money for a 4 year degree and would not have any college if that was the only thing available.
James
Guess I am an "E". High School dropout, did about 10 days of my Junior year, rod weeding needed to be done for fall seeding and Dad couldn't get to it. I got some groceries and went to the Lexington place, where I now live, from Athena which was home at the time, 75 miles away and batched. Took me and the HD 5, the better part of two weeks to get it done. Chose to join the Navy during that time and stopped at the recruiter on my way home and signed up, 17 years old and 105 pounds. Out in 63 and worked Ranches and also went to Alaska on a Troller, back into the Navy in 65 for 3 years. Then drove truck cross country out of Arkansas until I got so fatigued I was dangerous and came home and drove a grain truck locally. Met my future bride and knew there was not much future for a truck driver with a 10th grade education even with the GED I had obtained while in the Navy. Took a year of Electronic Technology, this program was a 2 year program aimed at research and development, most of the grads ended up in the Silicon Valley, struggled through one year of that and switched to Civil Engineering Technology. Went to work for an Engineering firm with survey crews before graduation, worked part time and graduated on time. The first thing I did was run the level while doing cross sections for the USACE on the drainage's around Umatilla and Morrow Countys, a few years later that data was used for the first flood plane maps, liked the work and I was lucky and was trusted to do the whole spectrum, from talking to the clients and then doing the job from research through the final drawings, yes I was supervised. 31 years old and weighed 135 pounds. That route was kind of circular, hence the "E" rating.
jud