Arizona State University Reviews of Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering

"This was the email I sent describing my situation, trying to request a partial refund. The school lost my transfer credits and was not helpful at all. And they did not refund me a damn thing! 09/10/2022 To whom it may concern, I am writing to let you know that I have had a horrible experience here at ASU. I took college classes in person at Stark State College here in Ohio from 2005 to 2009 and obtained 2 associates degrees in Mechanical Engineering Technology, and Design Engineering. About 3 or 4 years later, after I finished college, I decided to go back to get a higher degree, but found out that a 12 hour shift and 1 class in person was too much for me. I have recently started checking for online classes about a year ago and was exploring my options on where to go. When I found out about ASU and the online Mechanical Engineering program back in May of this year, that really got my interest, especially on how the program works. It really excited me in a way where I could do classes on my own time and get a bachelors degree with a possibility of going higher in related engineering programs, particularly Quality, Reliability, and Statistical engineering. I started my transfer of my credits and got a notification that it was successfully transferred by June 9. I was watching on a daily basis for my status to change from “Pending”. After about 2 weeks, I decided to call to see if there was anything holding it up, just to be told that they do not have my credits. I talked to several different people over the course of a week or so, but Sara Brandt helped me with the process after that. It took about another 2 weeks just to find my credits. Once my credits was found, it took yet another 2 weeks just to go over them. All of that wasted time where they lost my credits had really upset me since I wanted to sign up early for classes so I can get better prepared and get refreshed on some of the topics again. Since I did not know where I was going to start, or if I was going to start at all, I just waited until they finished with my transfer. By July 26, I messaged Sara that my credits was transferred, but was still confused as to what was transferred. After she assured that I can just sign up for English 2 and Calculus 2, I was just going to start with that and finish with the rest of my transferring later. I initially tried to sign up for English 2, but didn’t realize that all of the session A classes were taken. My success coach caught that and told me that I still need a class for session A. So I chose Calculus 2. By that time, it was already within the first week of August and classes started very soon. I had just enough time to get a book and some other supplies just for the class to start. My issue was, I did not have nearly enough time to refresh my mind at all like I wanted to. When I took the class, and watched the first video of integration by substitution, it only showed about 5 examples. It took me by great surprise that most of the homework problems had nothing to do with the video. I had to research each and every problem, which took me hours per problem. I tried various youtube videos and websites just to find possible answers in how to solve the problems. The next day, I tried to message my professor, Mark Ashbrook, that I am struggling in learning with this, and he just redirected me to Khans Academy, the tutoring center, and the discussion board to get help. I tried the discussion board. Not only was it confusing to read out the problems like “((5x^2-(x-2)) / ((e^x)+5)”, sometimes it took an extra day just for another student to answer me. It didn’t seem like it was even the right way leading to the answer, which confused me even further. I tried the tutoring there; not only did I have to wait awhile just to get a tutor, but it seems like not every student had the same resources. Some seemed like they were using a mouse pad trying to draw equations, in which it was mostly scribbles. All they did was help me with 1 problem then they were done, I had to be reshuffled back with another tutor. After 4 hours, not only did this seem to waste a lot of time, I did not learn much of anything from the tutoring. After a week of struggling, I messaged my academic advisor that I was struggling a lot, just for her to tell me that I was already passed my drop out date. This did not make me happy that it was so soon. I did not realize that I was already passed it when I messaged her. I just told her that I will wait until the test to see if I need to withdraw from the class. I was struggling so much that I did not have hardly any time to study the other chapters. When I looked at the discussion board the weekend before the test, someone made a post asking others, “does anyone think that this class seems indefinitely harder than the other calculus course you had taken?” At least 5 people plus myself agreed that it was much harder. I messaged the professor again shortly after that, this time requesting some help from him personally, but again, he re-directed me to Khans Academy website. It seems like he did not want to help me at all, and I started wondering what was the purpose of his job. He did not help or try to teach me anything. When I got to the test, since I hardly even went over some of the last chapters because of myself falling so behind, I did not do well. I did not know half the problems and only answered 6 out of 16 correctly. So I ended up having to withdraw from my class. All of this is highly upsetting to me since I expected more from this college. For how expensive this college is, they do not have hardly any reliable resources to help me learn. I did not see any hints or help from the homework. Also the problems did not reflect to what the examples were. They were much more difficult and there was nothing I could relate to. I had found some websites that could answer some calculus questions, but for a premium price, they could explain step by step on how it was done. It would have been very beneficial if I had access to a practice program at no extra cost to the students for self help in a much more reliable and quick way, without spending countless hours on researching problems. This practice section, which can be separated by the level of math your doing, can show detailed solutions and hints, one step at a time, to help you learn more efficiently and quickly. Doing the same problems, but with different numbers to help you learn the procedures of formulas and how they are solved would have been a game changer. I believe repetition is key to learning in math. Plus you have it in all one place to learn, without searching so many websites and videos outside the college, wasting countless hours. I had tried calling student aid and told them my entire story of what I had just wrote. I was trying to ask for a partial refund, since I was only in the class for 2 weeks, and had a bad experience. They told me there is no refund at all. I was highly upset at this, due to not only the poor learning I received there, but the fact that since the college had lost my credits in the beginning, and set me off by over a month, in which I could have been refreshing my mind on some of these classes, I fell behind and struggled. This is definitely not the experience I wanted. I was expecting to be able to get a great learning experience and to get a great upgraded degree. Instead, I had nothing but issues here. Because of all these issues here, I feel that I should be entitled for at least a partial refund due to the college losing my credits, which is not my fault, and the poor learning structures the college had. I did not learn anything while in class, and the professor did not help me one bit. I feel like this was entirely a waste of my time and money here, and will decide to go to a college in person since I will be able to get help quicker and more efficiently. Please respond with what you feel a fair resolution would be for the school and myself."

"There is a reason ASU rated Playboy's top party school for so many years. I transfered from Glendale Community College, AZ. My tuition went up 200% and the level of educational experience dropped through the floor. I took several programming courses and the only computers in the classrooms were on the professor's desk. When looking for supplemental study material for my mechanics of materials, I found the PowerPoint slides and lesson plans on another school's website from a course that had been retired more than a decade prior. My Chemistry course was like being in a coffee house. The prof refused to control his classroom and I could only hear 10-15% of the lecture, even up front. These are just a few of the grievances I have against the academics of this worthless school. The school says that your tuition goes completely towards your education, not to the sports teams. I spent $5+/ht for parking on top of a ridiculous tuition but my tuition included free tickets to any home ASU sporting events. There were lots of beautiful buildings and wonderful landscaping. Professor's were frequently unavailable during their office hours. I am happy to say I did not graduate from ASU. I would hate have to put it on my resume. I moved on to a different school. Do yourself a favor...pick a different school."

"Arizona State University is a great university to pursue and engineering degree, especially in the field of mechanical or aerospace. I enjoyed the quality of professors who genuinely enjoyed their curriculum and interacting with students. The size of the program provides excellent opportunities to develop strong research-based relationships with faculty, that make for excellent work experience."

"Arizona State University has become not only the institution that I know and love, it has become a safe-haven of respectable, knowledge-seeking individuals that represent the future of our generation. This institution has provided me the education to feel confident in my major and actually feel excited about entering the real world. I have found that ASU is a very large and diverse institution, however, with the vast size of ASU (80,000+ students), I find that anywhere I go, i feel a connection to a person with an ASU hat or a car decal. It's like walking down the street and seeing your cousin, you can stop by say hi and just talk about ASU. Beyond the camaraderie of ASU, the teaching staff for my major has been very helpful in many ways. Firstly by providing me the tools i needed to improve my skills and become the knowledgeable individual I have become. Secondly they have shown me how top pus myself to do better and excel to the top of my class. Lastly the professors at ASU are always so helpful when it comes to any out of class questions, and actually show a keen interest in our future, education, and general life problems. I would highly recommend ASU to any student, not only for educational purposes but for the overall experience of meeting interesting people and creating a family network that you can take with you wherever you go. Thank you for you're consideration for this scholarship opportunity. I would also just like to add why I am applying: Currently I go to ASU as a full time student (some semesters taking 18 credit hours) in Mechanical System Engineering. I also work about 30 hours a week as a server/manager at El Encanto Restaurants. I am also getting married June 16th, 2018 and I am currently accepted into the 4+1 Program at ASU. This program allows me to complete both a Bachelors and Master's Degree in 5 years instead of the normal 6 years. I have a 3.78 GPA, and am also a National Society of Collegiate Scholars Member. The $2,500 would be going towards my tuition, books, and other academic fees. Please take these things into consideration Thank you once again for this opportunity!"

"ASU is not the place to go if you are looking for an academically rigorous college experience. Professors routinely passed students on who had in reality failed the class by introducing a massive curve, since they are forbidden to fail more than a certain percentage of students. In reality, the students didn't even know the basic competencies of the class. That created a vicious cycle, because then those losers are in your class next semester (which builds on the class they should have failed but didn't), and they don't know what the hell is going on. The professor then teaches to the bottom of the class so he doesn't lose them, and you end up with a degree a few years later and realize that you actually didn't learn a whole lot. The instructors were good quality overall, though I had my fair share of instructors that were of foreign origin, making them very difficult / nigh impossible to understand. The online classes are terrible if you ever take them - basically recorded in-person lectures with all the background noise, people shuffling / coughing, definitely not worth your time. The one positive thing is I went to ASU on a full ride scholarship, so I didn't pay a dime for my school. And now I'm working as an engineer at a company in the top 25 Fortune 500 companies, so I guess all is well that ends well, and I really can't complain. Still, I feel like I got cheated out of what I deserved."

"Arizona State University is the largest university in the country with over 80,000 enrolled in classes on their multiple campuses in Phoenix Area. It is nationally ranked in a variety of categories and was U.S. News' #1 most innovative school of 2016. Not an Ivy school. Being such a large school ASU has huge numbers of resources dedicated to helping it's students go farther and achieve. As an engineering student I saw first hand the time, effort, and money ASU devoted to building labs, acquiring equipment, and hiring professors all so the students could participate in and learn about some of the most ground breaking research being done in the country. And yet, even with all the indications of ASU's size, they do an excellent job of providing aspects of the small college feel. The different degree programs are broken up into individual schools, and it is through those schools that you experience ASU. I spent much of my time in one of several study areas devoted to engineering students, and after a while, faces start to become familiar, you know your way in and around campus, you develop friendships with your peers and even some of your professors. The engineering school is the second largest at ASU's Tempe campus, but as I finish up my bachelor's degree and prepare to go back for my master's, I know most of the students who will be graduating with me. I have developed great friendships, great career connections, and have received one of the premier educations to be found in the U.S. Students at ASU can go on to do amazing things, and the entire university will be there to help you get there."

"Arizona State University has embarked on a complete revamping of their image over the past 10 years or so. The once perennial top 10 party school of the USA is now a formidable competitor to private schools with household names such as Stanford, Harvard, MIT, etc. in the fight to enroll the most gifted minds for the future. ASU is now a notably recognized research institution with affordable tuition rates because of its public standing. It has been rated as the number one school for innovation by the U.S. News and World Report for 2016, ahead of both Stanford University and MIT. ASU has equipped itself to both grow as a research university and as a shaper of young and eager minds. With money to spend, ASU has already begun to attract the top researchers and lecturers in all fields. The institution, as of this year, boasts four Nobel Laureate faculty as well as the best ranked honors college in the nation. These facts, combined with the influx of talented lecturers and researchers, will no doubt lead ASU to become one of the top destinations for brilliant minds in the future. As a student of ASU, I gained the knowledge and connections that will make me successful in the future. The professors and staff are always helpful. The programs and their curriculum are rigorous, but not discouraging. In my own studies, I excelled because of ASU's resources for success. I was welcomed into research labs and extracurricular organizations with open arms, all of which helped me obtain three internships during school, two in STEM and one in business. My experiences at ASU will undoubtedly lead to success in my career, and, best of all, my pockets were not completely dried up in the meantime."

"Do not attend ASU. Its highly expensive. Most people attend this school for the parties. Let me tell you, there are hardly any parties my friend. The few parties you can find, are exclusive, frats or 'cool' people. ASU is pretty much just reliving your high school years. As far as your education, you'd honestly be better off going somewhere else. The education here is awful. Especially in the engineering school. You get loaded on with tons of coursework that is impossible to keep up with. Very few teachers curve and expect way to much of you. I am trying to do you all a favor. Also, the dorms are awful. I have had multiple cockroaches in my dorm room and mold growing on my carpet because the maintenance beanors don't know how to fix our shower pipes properly. Not to mention, it is very dangerous in tempe. Someone was STABBED on CAMPUS GROUNDS. There was a drive by shooting ON CAMPUS GROUNDS. Nobody is friendly at this school either. Everyone is very cliquish here compared to my friends schools. I went to visit my friends at there respective schools and I had a blast! In the 2 days I was there I met and befriended 7 people. People at ASU feel they are too rich and good for you so there is no bothering to make friends. The girls here aren't even that attractive to be honest. You would never have a chance with of the girls at this school unless your a 12/10 in attractiveness. That is how dumb girls standards here are. I hope this informally written review helped influence your choice in avoiding this school. If you already decided to attend, good luck my friend. Let me know if you need help with schools to transfer to because that is what I did after attending 1 year here. STEAR CLEAR OF ASU!"