Students can expect to spend long hours studying, says Ives. I guess six to eight hours a day outside the classroom and lab would not be a bad estimate. Besides tuition, students should expect to pay a lot for textbooks. Graduates will be well-rounded materials engineers with excellent design, processing, mechanics and communication skills. Grads will have the ability to select the proper materials for the application and the ability to work in teams with other engineers, says Ives.
Graduates typically find jobs as process engineers and development engineers.
They may also be manufacturing and design engineers at refining companies, ceramic companies, polymer companies and even microelectronics companies. In the U.S., students must graduate from an accredited engineering program, complete four years of practical work experience under the supervision of a professional engineer and pass a state exam before they can be registered as a certified professional engineer. The Inside Track Tiffany Biles knows where she wants her future to go and what it's going to take to get there. Biles is a materials engineering student at Purdue University. Looking back, she says she could have taken some other courses in high school that would have helped her at university.