Student Testimonials

Civil Engineering

"I chose Civil Engineering because I wanted a challenging yet rewarding career that allowed me to give back to the public in some way. Part of the reason I chose SIUC was the tuition cost when compared to more expensive Universities. Another reason is that my Uncle is an Alumni and spoke highly of the school. The main reason I chose SIUC was after my tour of the campus, I really enjoyed the layout, campus lake, and the town of Carbondale. The quality of education was great. The professors provided the knowledge and hands-on experience for practical applications. I feel like SIUC prepared me well for the workforce. All the presentations, technical reports, and interactions in classes and labs gave me interpersonal skills, presentation skills, and ability to professionally present complex ideas."

Corey Tegtmeier, Graduated 2024

"I chose to study Civil Engineering (CE) because I’ve always been passionate about designing solutions that improve infrastructure and positively impact communities. The field provided a perfect blend of my interests in problem-solving, mathematics, and tangible, real-world applications. Overall, my time at SIUC was incredibly rewarding, and the education and experiences I gained have been instrumental in shaping my career. I’m grateful for the support I received from faculty, peers, and the entire university community. I would choose SIUC over and over again, and I can't recommend the program enough to those who are considering a career in engineering."

Violet Ohl, Graduated 2020

"I chose civil engineering because it was suggested to me by some family members. I didn't really know what it was, but fell in love with it after some extensive research. I continue to fall in love with it to this day. Civil Engineering spans many different fields, specifications, and categories. There is most certainly a field within civil engineering that fits your skill set. The education I received was of great quality and the experiences provided to me helped prepare me for a professional setting for sure. The biggest thing I can suggest is to get involved in engineering RSOs. My time in Steel Bridge and ASCE helped grow my leadership, technical, and communication skills which was invaluable during my transition to the professional world."

Zachery Burks, Graduated 2023

Industrial Management

I feel very blessed to be able to writing this statement. I am 37 years old with a beautiful 9-year-old daughter. Growing up I was a bad student, barely graduating high school. Luckily, I was a good enough athlete to earn a scholarship to go to college and play soccer. I went to a junior college called Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois and received my associate’s degree in liberal arts at 20 years old. I improved as a student while attending Lincoln, but never felt I reached my full potential. I really struggled in finding a career path and had no direction. Eventually, I found a path that I felt was a great fit and grew a passion for it.

Both of my parents immigrated to the Chicago land area from Mexico when they were young. My mother started working at the age of 13 and stopped going to school, ending up working for Marriott as a cleaning lady for over 25 years. My dad stopped going to school after sophomore year in high school and was working 2-3 jobs after having kids and supporting a family. Because of this, schooling was not one of the main focuses in our household, sports were. I just needed good enough grades to play sports and I was okay.

After Lincoln, I went to Carthage college to play soccer and it didn’t work out so I left after one semester. Then I tried to get into programming at Devry University and found out very quickly that it was not a fit and stopped going all together. I worked service jobs for the majority of my 20’s and was never happy about it. There was no future in it but I kept doing it.

The real change in my life came when I was 29 and my daughter was born. The pressure of fatherhood was something I never anticipated. I attribute all of my success in the class room and in my career to that life change.

Shortly after my daughter was born, I decided to get certified in CNC, running mills and lathes. I was attracted to the levels that it could take me. I could go from operator, to machinist, to programmer, etc. It was my first time getting serious about manufacturing and had a chip on my shoulder. I became team leader of the machining department in 18 months. I quickly found out that I reached the ceiling in my company, since I did not have a degree. I was not happy about that and began asking questions about the types of engineers we had at our job and how to become one. Although I was asking these questions, I never saw myself as an engineer. This “dream” seemed unattainable for someone like me, a bad student with no money. The only advantage I felt I had was my work ethic.

I decided to make some calls to College of Lake County in Grayslake, IL and they put me in touch with to Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. It was a partner school they work with at the University Center on the CLC campus and it was only about 15 minutes from where I live. A zoom call with Dr. John Cooper SIU answered all of my remaining questions regarding scheduling and affordability for the Industrial Management and Applied Engineering bachelor’s program. I could not believe there was such a program out there for someone in my situation. With my job offering tuition reimbursement, I took advantage of the opportunity and took a chance on myself. I was admitted the next semester.

I really enjoyed my classes and my professors at SIU. They related to my field and helped me understand the work environment around me. I took this program very seriously, it was the path to a much better life for my family. After being used to working long hours and weekends with steel toe shoes on a shop floor for years, this was my way out. I applied my work ethic to my studies and greatly exceeded my expectations. I sacrificed time with family, my partner, my hobbies, and my daughter’s soccer games. I felt really bad about it, but I knew it would be worth it in the end. Now that it is over, I can say that I am proud of myself for the effort and sacrifices I made.

I made my intentions known to my company when I started the program. My position has changed and I am on a career path to a quality engineering job early next year, pending my graduation this fall. It is a very exciting time in my life and I have this program to thank for it. For these reasons, and many more, I [decided to apply] for admission to the accelerated Quality Engineering and Management master’s program to further my career and life goals.

Juan Nunez

Information Technology

I transferred from UIUC. Before that, I graduated from Parkland College. I appreciated the flexibility of being able to complete this program entirely online. Instructors and advisors were always there to help you if you needed it. I never felt I was alone even though I was a remote student. I’m currently working at Fairlawn Real Estate as an IT Intern, and will start as full-time IT Specialist upon graduation. They are thrilled to have me on full-time! Fairlawn was perfect as it gave me the opportunity to stay in the area (Central Illinois) while working a job that aligns with my career goals. Starting salary: $50,000 - $59,000

Best,

Lucas Bennett

Electrical Engineering Technology

I can happily say that my experience in the Electrical Engineering Technology program at SIUC has had a positive impact on my education. The program is extremely well-structured and interactive, and the professors have gone out of their way to make themselves personable and available. I'm grateful for the learning opportunity I've had here, and would recommend it to anyone considering it as a path."

Ethan G. Braun

Mathematics

I joined SIUC in the midst of Covid-19 in 2020. I had to take my first year online and finally got the on-campus experience in fall of 2021. I chose math because I have always loved math. I wanted to be able to teach others how interesting and unintimidating math can be. I chose to do the master's program so that I could teach at a higher degree and maybe even teach entry level college courses later. I received excellent education from the mathematics and education departments. Both were very helpful in preparation for teaching math at the high school level. I was even taken on as a teacher's assistant for some entry level math labs which helped me in teaching even before student teaching. I also had to do many math presentations in my 400 level math classes. In 311A and 311B(teaching secondary math) classes, Mr. Nagrodski was very helpful in taking me and my classmates through scenarios we might get put in as a high school teacher, which prepared me for student-teacher interactions. Due to taking the higher-level math courses at SIUC, I have been able to explain abstract concepts to my more advanced students to get them thinking about the impact math has on things outside of math. I am currently teaching math at Trico High School. I teach transitional math, EL math, and Geometry. With the completion of my masters, I will be able to teach dual credit courses such as College Algebra and Trigonometry. I absolutely love being a teacher, I learn new things every day. Being a graduate student and teaching at the same time definitely has its ups and downs but both my school and the math professors at SIUC have been very flexible in allowing me to take classes online and helping me in any way they can. I appreciate everything SIUC has done and continues to do for me. If I could go back, I would choose SIUC and the math department all over again.

Go Dawgs!
Mercedes Moll

I joined the SIU math department in the spring of 2022 as a transfer student from Western Washington University. Originally, I was a music student, but a professor of mine in community college delivered such stimulating calculus lectures that I couldn't help but go further in the discipline. In mathematics, you can be amazed each and every day. The School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences attracted me for several reasons, not least of which was the excellent roster of researchers doing varied, exciting work. I could list merits endlessly for each of them, but I would be remiss not to note the fascinating work being done at the intersection of number theory and representation theory by Dr. Ban and Dr. Choiy. But, for one who hasn't quite decided which direction to pursue in the field, the department offers a wide selection of specialties, many of which are cross-disciplinary in nature. The department gives students a great deal of freedom to tailor the curriculum to their goals, and faculty members dispense advice thoughtfully and meticulously to achieve this. For my part, faculty members graciously allowed me to take graduate-level courses as an undergraduate and provided time for independent studies in advanced topics. As a result, I was more than prepared for the initial battery of courses taken at the Ph.D level and in a good position to succeed in my qualifying exams. As of last fall, I attend Colorado State University as a Ph.D student and calculus instructor, soon to begin research in abelian varieties under Dr. Jeff Achter.

Best,
Eamon Gannon