Thoughts on construction science degree - what school?

[TexasLongball]

My son wants to study construction in college. He was on the fence between civil engineering and construction management, and I think he's leaning construction management due to the fact that he wants to be outside and not stuck behind a desk. His big plan is to be a custom home builder but he understands that he needs to work and learn about design, estimating, etc. as well as the business side of accounting, etc.

He has hoped to get into A&M since he was 5 but is looking at backup options. His HS is very competitive academically so the top 10% auto acceptance is not an option. Here are some of the ones he's found and I'd love to hear if anyone can give some of your experiences with any of these programs.

Sam Houston
SFA
UTSA
UNT
Tarleton
A&M Commerce

[WItoTX]

I didn't go to any of those schools, but have a construction management degree.

My two cents, if he wants to be a home builder, just find some home builders, ask to job shadow/work for free with them and see if he likes it. If he like actually building houses, and is good at it, he will get offered a job. He will not be the lead builder right off the bat, which gives him the opportunity to make mistakes, and learn from them, as well as learn how to estimate, understand designs, and manage accounting. OJT is the best training, and he can make money while doing it, as opposed to paying some professor in a school to tell him what the professor would do.

I would avoid the expense of college, especially in a field where there are so many home builders out there now looking for good employees. I know several home builders. All have degrees, but they are in manufacturing engineering, electrical engineering, degrees they could "fall back" on so to speak if the home building didn't work out. But when I talk to any of them, they say getting their degree just set them back 4-5 years on experience they could have gotten in the field if they just started building homes.

[Bullseye07]

Texas A&M has the best Construction Science program in the country. If that’s what he wants to do, A&M should be the first choice.

After A&M I would look at OK st, Texas Tech, OU, UT Arlington and SFA-in that order.

Also know that quite a few people get a Civil engineering degree and then still go to the Construction management side. Personally it doesn’t make sense to me to take a bunch of engineering classes that you’ll never use on the construction side, but people do go that route.

Regardless of the school, internships are incredibly important and he should try to do one every summer. One thing that sets A&M apart is that they are one of the few schools that require students to do a full fall/spring semester internship. Pair that with the summer and it’s 8 straight months of learning the industry and if he does well during that time, he’ll have a job offer a year before he graduates.


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[TexasLongball]

I should've stated the home builder thing better. He doesn't know for 100% that he wants to go that route (he's only 16) but he does want the construction side of things. So with that being said, if he goes more of a commercial construction route, how is the degree viewed for project managers?

I have a friend of mine that has GC'd his own home, sold for a profit, and repeated this 4 times.
My son knows this and sees the "day job" as a way to learn and eventually do his own thing. He's definitely got an entrepreneurial spirit.

We haven't looked outside of TX but we'll check out OSU and OU, as well as TT and UTA.

[Das71198]

My son wants to study construction in college. He was on the fence between civil engineering and construction management, and I think he's leaning construction management due to the fact that he wants to be outside and not stuck behind a desk. His big plan is to be a custom home builder but he understands that he needs to work and learn about design, estimating, etc. as well as the business side of accounting, etc.

He has hoped to get into A&M since he was 5 but is looking at backup options. His HS is very competitive academically so the top 10% auto acceptance is not an option. Here are some of the ones he's found and I'd love to hear if anyone can give some of your experiences with any of these programs.

Sam Houston
SFA
UTSA
UNT
Tarleton
A&M Commerce

He could go to Blinn for a year and then transfer into A&M if he has his heart set on attending Texas A&M.

[Bjankowski]

I retired from commercial construction two years ago and worked with many project managers on site. Most of them were on site stuck behind a desk writing RFI's, change orders, pay requests. A lot of them with degrees from A&M, they knew the insides and out of computer programs, reading plans but couldn't tell you how to hold a screw when staring a three inch wood screw.
A great way to become good with the construction science degree is to work hands on in the field while he's going to school. I spent a lot of my time as a consultant correcting engineers on why what they were proposing would not work. Degrees are a great and wonderful thing, hands on experience is priceless.

[BiggieSmalls]

He could go to Blinn for a year and then transfer into A&M if he has his heart set on attending Texas A&M.

This is the most cost effective and smartest way to do it... Both of my kids did this and my son graduates with his masters this December, don't ever over look the junior college route.

[curtintex]

I have TAMU Construction Science interns every year and often hire from that intern pool. It’s the premier program in the country. Other notable programs that I have experience with and/or professional knowledge of are:

UofH
UT Tyler
Auburn
San Jacinto JUCO

That being said, the best program in the country doesn’t give them the knowledge that a few months of OJT does.


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[Berretta Man]

A lot of good advice given out here, one thing I would add is get the degree. It’s been my biggest regret. While a lot of times my experience trumped the younger person with the degree, they would get the opportunities before I did. It made my path a lot harder. Also if you can figure out away to get into A&M do it. Aggies stick together like nothing I have ever seen. I have seen that play out many times in meetings over the years. Wear the ring and they draw to each other.

[7sdad]

Like others have said TAMU is the best choice, my son has a construction science degree from there and it's really paid off. His first job was PM to rebuild Kyle Field and he just finished building the Rangers ballpark.

[justindiehl7]

Grew up around construction all my life. Went to Sam Houston for construction management, honestly didn’t learn much other than the computer programs which is just reading from a book and copying, and a few other data type things. I’ve heard A&M’s program is pretty tough which is a good thing, Sam’s program was a breeze. That being said, it doesn’t matter where they go, I’ve met plenty from both programs that can hardly run a drill or a saw, field work is the best way to learn the industry.


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[HighwayHunter]

I have a construction management degree. I’d advise him to get his Civil engineering degree, just because it opens more doors. As someone else said if he’s really interested in building homes, get a summer job with a home builder and test the waters. It would be easier to move up than deal with student loans/debt in general. If he does a Construction Science degree with A&M he can still become a PE. TAMU has an ABET accredited program and after 5 years out of school he is eligible to apply and take the PE civil exam. Several schools have ABET accredited construction programs.


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[solocam_aggie]

Other than A&M, I don’t have any other knowledge on reputable schools. I would third the Blinn and transfer comment.

5 years now as Superintendent specializing in healthcare construction. Tell him to think about that, as it has paid big dividends for me. Niche market that is always looking for qualified people. I could likely land him an internship working in hospitals to get his feet wet.


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[Fmjag64]

It's just a piece of paper that gets you in the door. Hire the individual not the degree. I could care less what school name the degree has printed on it. So many other important factors in hiring. Not taking away from the good schools mentioned, but that's my 2 cents.

[Dale Moser]

I wouldn't waste time or money on a degree to build houses. There are always jobs to be had in residential, but look custom as opposed to tract....tract home supers know very little about actually building a house. They are just following a template.

But I wouldn't get into building houses, either...