Taking an NCEES Fundamentals exam is now essentially a right based on education.
For the FE (EIT) the requirement is to have graduated with an engineering degree. However the rules are such you can take the exam as a student prior to graduation. Generally a student with Junior standing can take the exam, typically the college provided at least one exam time each year.
I took my FE exam before graduating but the date on my EIT certificate is not the date of the exam but the date I received my diploma. The current computer based exam alleviates the need for colleges to set up for these extra exams. Some engineering colleges make taking the exam one of their graduation requirements. ABET pays particular attention to the success rate on the Fundamentals and Professional exams as a way of evaluating a particular colleges technical programs.
With the variety of State requirements, experience, Associates or Bachelors degrees the Surveying Fundamentals gets more complicated. If one is applying based on experience I believe one must apply through a State Board. If one is on a surveying degree track the Boards may be bypassed. Having passed the FS some states require a formal application for SIT status. I believe some states start your experience clock from the SIT date and some start the experience clock from the FS or graduation date.
In PA and possibly some other states a Bachelors in Civil Engineering with some surveying credits is acceptable to apply for the FS. In my case I had 6 surveying credits as a part of my BS CE program and received addition credits after graduation. That made it necessary to apply through the state board. Alternatively I could have stayed on track for a BS Surveying and applied based on the degree program. In any case with college credits after graduation I believe you must apply through a Board and not a direct application with college transcript.
I will add another interesting fact from PA. Penn State Wilkes-Barre has an associates and a bachelors program. In the past for the Associates Degree (I have nor checked lately) students took ne surveying courses not required for the bachelors program. Essentially it was two topics in one 3 credit course versus the bachelors requirement to take the 2 separate courses. A student in the associates program could take the FS as a Sophomore thus gaining the opportunity to have subsequent summer or part time employment count in his experience folder. PA starts (restarts) the experience clock after being an SIT.
Many states have varying experience times for the Principles Exams requiring an associate applicant to have more experience than a bachelors applicant. Because of so many variations I would suggest one idealize your effort by a least researching your high school home state, college degree state or states and work experience state or states. One my be employed in one state with significant work time in another state. I doubt it is necessary to research all 50 states but do not restrict yourself to just one.
Paul in PA
