Trine University Rankings by Salary Score

So I graduated from Trine in 2018 with a BS in chemical engineering with a bioprocess engineering minor. Overall, I am dissatisfied with the outcome, I was ill prepared for today's job market in the engineering field and I regret attending. Let me first explain that I graduated Trine having no experiencecoop or intership in a science or engineering fieldand the lack of experience seemed to make it harder to get a job. When I graduated, It took me about 2 months after graduating (May 5th) to get my first interview... Read More for an entry level engineering position that paid $15/hr, which seemed very low for a chemical engineer. I drove 4 hours to Illinois to interview, and the manager interviewing me was a prick; nevertheless, I was completely respectful. I would have hated that job, but I never heard back. I eventually lowered my expectations and applied for a lab tech position that I eventually landed. But even still, the job was a contract position, and the contract was cut short, through no fault of my own, and now I am looking for work again. It has been 3.5 months and counting, and I still do not have a job. Trine brags about the 97% job placement, but I can't seem to find any details on the methodology of the data collected. From what I gather, they see who got a job or went to grad school within 6 months of graduating. The 97% was from their one and highest year (2014), and the terminology used was "employed or in graduate school". This does not suggest what job was accepted or whether students gave up on looking for a job and said "I guess I'll go to grad school". It also does not suggest how each department fairs. From my class (12 students but I think 2 might've failed), the estimated job placement was estimated at 80%, but this was apparently with only 4 students reporting. And again, this says nothing on what positions were accepted. Specifically with the chemical engineering department, I did not like the way the curriculum was designed. It was very sequential and did not allow for any kind of fast-tracking or getting out of school early. So if you failed a course, you had to wait a whole year before you could continue with the major and wait a year take it again (they only offered the chemical engineering courses once a semester with no room for error). Summers also extended my time there and I always had to take some low-wage summer job to keep a steady income. I interviewed for 2 different internships my junior year, and I was competing against around 20 or so other students. Every other application seems to fall on deaf ears, and I never hear anything backso I would give up due to time restraints. If I would have picked a different major, like chemistry or biochemistry, I could have probably graduated earlier and with a cheaper tuition. I think I should be fair and mention some of the positive aspects of Trine. I transferred in from a community college within the state, and Trine accepted about 40 credit hours from the school, giving me a reduced course load. It did not actually speed up my time in school, and I started off as a freshman at Trineit only took off 1 semester out of the 8 total. I also graduated without any student loan debt, partially because I was in the military and had a GI bill to fall back on. I still feel that I learned so much going to school. That being said, I was pretty miserable attending school, and I often questioned if this is something that I am still interested in. It did not make much sense, however, to change majors after I made so much progress in the chem E major and changing majors would most likely result in a longer time in school with time wasted. I can't speak much for student life on campus because I was not involved much, and had no interest in it. Most of the students seemed like spoiled rich kids but I digress. I am strictly analyzing the education and job prep portion of the university. The best advice I can offer is to think twice and really do your research before enrolling in this school. I believe they have oversold themselves in the numbers they trot out.