Virginia PE Requirements

EngineerPerson said:

Hello,

I've been doing a bit of searching for this online but I'm a little confused by the information. I have a STEM bachelors degree. Currently, I'm a student trying to decide if I want to pursue a Masters or 2nd Bachelors. In Virginia, if I decide to go into a Master's program, will I be eligible to sit for the PE exam? By the time I finish, I'll have 6 years of verifiable experience working under a PE.

Click to expand...

pgheng said:

Maybe taking the FE exam will help you decide.

Click to expand...

RBHeadge PE said:

Is your undergraduate degree an ABET accredited engineering degree?

Click to expand...

RBHeadge PE said:

A few years ago, one of my engineers was in a similar situation to you: non-ABET STEM BS and MS, and another MS in Engineering from ABET school. They still made him get 6 years of experience before he could sit for the exam.

The master's degree will be valuable to you during your career than a second bachelors. IMHO, it's also faster and easier. And while the ABET engineering degree will make things easier for getting licensed in Virginia, it doesn't really add much else to your CV. But as you indicated above, it's moot since you'll have right experience requirement at the end of either option.

I presume you are working under a PE now?

Virginia does not let you double count concurrent experience and degree-for-experience. So factor that into your experience requirement if you planned on having the masters degree count as a year.

You will need to pass the FE at some point regardless. Take and pass the FE as soon as possible. It only gets harder the longer you wait. If that meant taking Circuits 1, then so be it. You should also self-study on whatever other areas showed improvement on your diagnostics. It's been almost 20 years since I took the FE, so this may not be relevant anymore, but take the general exam, and not the discipline specific FE exams.

Click to expand...