James, I attended ITT Tech between 1981 and 1983. Before I graduated, I interviewed for a job with Texas Instruments. ITT was not then ABET accredited. T.I. was more interested in my knowledge and confidence that any accreditation. Granted, that was over 30 years ago, but I don't think much has changed regarding that issue. I hold a position on the Houston Community College Engineering=20 Advisory Committee, and the employers represented there repeatedly state that they are more interested in the quality of the education=20 than the accreditation. The ABET accreditation mostly tells potential employers or other interested party that they have a reasonable=20 expectation that the school lives up to a certain standard of educational procedure and mininum level of education from that institution. However, the real proof is when the employer interviews the person applying for a position that they get the answer they want regarding that persons knowledge and suitability to be employed by that company. My advice is to look at potential employer websites to gain some insight into what they do, and check their open position requirements to see if you have any of the requirements for the jobs listed. If you do,=20 continue where you are and periodically check the employers you are interested in, and when you get closer to graduation, apply for a position. And as an FYI, many companies pay for or assist in going to a college or university if you study for a degree in a field that is related to the job you're=20 doing, or with the work they do. Hope this helps you decide what you want to do. Regards, Jim > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [OT]: ABET Accreditation? > From: James Burkart > Date: Wed, December 28, 2016 11:44 am > To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." >=20 >=20 > To the engineers in this group: >=20 > I am currently attending DeVry's online Engineering Technology: with focu= s > in Electronics program (BSETE). I am almost 2/3 through the program, havi= ng > been going on and off the last 10 years. I now have the opportunity to go > full time to knock this out quickly which is important to me as I am not > getting any younger (I'm 39 yrs old). >=20 > Originally when I began the program I was told I would be earning my > engineering degree, only later did I do my research and discovered it was > in fact a technologist degree. By then I had already invested a lot of > money in my education with DeVry and so I decided to continue with the > intention of eventually bridging to a masters in engineering program. >=20 > When I started this program DeVry was promising to obtain ABET > accreditation as soon as the first students graduated from the online > program. Well, that's come and gone and they have not yet received > accreditation from ABET. I am in the program now because I was under the > impression that they had received accreditation, but the student adviser > was mistaken and failed to mention that only their program attended on > campus was accredited, not the online program. >=20 > Although I am currently able to attend school full time, it's a huge > financial burden; I need to eventually get out and start earning some > money. I am trying to decide whether to just complete this > non-ABET-accredited technologist degree with just over a year left (DeVry > is regionally accredited at least), or transfer to the state college and > into an actual engineering program, knowing the repercussions will be > having to retake many classes (the state college will only apply a third = of > my credits towards their EE degree requirements) including calc and > physics, setting me back almost 2 years, costing me probably another $20k= , > but leading to an ABET accredited BSEE. >=20 > If the DeVry program was ABET accredited I'd have no concerns, knowing I > would have halfway decent chances of becoming employed in my chosen field > and eventually finding a school that would offer bridge courses into a > masters in electronics engineering program. I live in New Mexico where > DeVry has no campuses so transferring to campus is not an option. >=20 > Ultimately my question is, how important is ABET accreditation? If I > complete my BSETE from DeVry how marketable is the degree, being > non-ABET-accredited, aside from it being from DeVry? >=20 > -- > Sincerely, >=20 > James Burkart > *Filmmaker & Documentarian* >=20 > *Burkart Studios* > 415.738.2071 | Phone > 925.226.4910 | Fax >=20 > *Web:* burkartstudios.com > *Facebook:* facebook.com/burkartstudios > --=20 > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .