Salcedo, O. H. (2016, June), Do Philosophy Majors Make Good Systems Engineers?  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26859

\bibitem{asee_peer_26859}
  Salcedo, O. H. (2016, June), \emph{Do Philosophy Majors Make Good Systems Engineers?}
  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  10.18260/p.26859

Oscar H. Salcedo.  "Do Philosophy Majors Make Good Systems Engineers?".  2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2016.  https://peer.asee.org/26859 Internet.  16 May, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_26859}
  Oscar H. Salcedo.
  "Do Philosophy Majors Make Good Systems Engineers?".
  \emph{2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2016.
  https://peer.asee.org/26859 Internet.  16 May, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_26859
author = "Oscar H. Salcedo"
title = "Do Philosophy Majors Make Good Systems Engineers?"
booktitle = "2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2016"
month = "June"
address = "New Orleans, Louisiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/26859}
number = {10.18260/p.26859}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - In an effort to diversify the pool of applicants to our graduate Systems Engineering program, we decided to experiment with a four non-engineering students who nonetheless had high interest in Systems Engineering graduate work. The first cohort was admitted in 2009 and we have tracked their professional experiences since graduation.
This paper is a qualitative and case-study approach which looks at themes and issues encountered by these four students in a graduate Systems Engineering program during their academic career and also 3-4 years into their professional careers. These students came in with Bachelors in Philosophy, Healthcare, Business Administration, and Supply Chain Management. All completed leveling courses primarily in Mathematics and Engineering. Leveling courses were dependent on the student’s background and were in the range of 5-8 leveling courses.
We found that all of these students took two semesters longer to graduate because of the leveling courses. We also found that all four had higher grade-point-averages then their peers in graduation.  All reported increased motivation because they felt they had “something to prove” because of their non-engineering background.  Three to four years after graduation the report being seen by their colleagues and by themselves as successful Systems Engineers working in large aerospace, telecommunication, and automotive industries.
The paper outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the effort from the student’s perspective. We also offer recommendations which we feel may be factors to consider in similar efforts to diversify applicant pools for specific programs.

AU  - Oscar H. Salcedo
CY  - New Orleans, Louisiana
DA  - 2016/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Do Philosophy Majors Make Good Systems Engineers?
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/26859
DO  - 10.18260/p.26859
ER  -