General Questions on the PA PE and Application Process

[MechE_in_PA_PE]

Hi folks. I am new here looking for some advice and help preparing for the ME PE. First a little background.

I graduated from PSU with a BS of ME in May 2009 and passed the FE exam my senior year. I've been working as a Mechanical Engineer since Aug 2009. So I am closing in on my 4 years and starting to think about taking the PE. Although there are a few PE's floating around in my company, it is not something that is neccessary, so really the only motivation that I have for getting my PE is personal.

Knowing that PAs deadlines are July 1 for the Oct PE and Dec 1 for the Apr PE and that PA requires that Degreed ENG: "Must have EIT certificate and 4 or more years of progressive experience in engineering work earned after the issuance of the EIT certificate". (Which voids 10 months of internship experience)

My assumption is that since I wont have four years under my belt before July 1, I cant apply for the Oct exam (correct?) Also if I applied for the Dec 1 deadline I will only have a few months more experience than the mininum required. Has anyone had problems with getting accpetance with near the minium years of experience?

 

[John QPE]

You can not apply anticipated experience. You need the experience by the application deadline.

The first time applicant deadlines are earlier as well, be sure you are looking at that date, and not the date for "everyone else."

 

[butch81385]

PA is certainly strict about everything related to the application. You will need 4 years of experience before applying. If you don't have 4 years, you will be rejected. As far as applying with the minimum of exactly 4 years, that is fine. However, make sure that your experience shows an ongoing growth in engineering responsibilities.

I just took the exam last week, and talking with people before and at lunch, over half of the people I spoke with had issues with their first application being rejected for various reasons (usually stupid things such as formatting, but also for things like having their AREE state that they had the same responsibilities year after year).

Check out my blog I've been doing during this process if you need any guidance on the application process: www.aepeexam.blogspot.com

 

[MechE_in_PA_PE]

butch81385 thanks for the info and blog posts, you went through quite an ordeal with your application. I will definately be submitting my application a few months before the deadline! I hope you did well on the exam. Also if you dont mind me asking how many pages did you end up with per year?

Ok now for another question.

As I mentioned I spent 3 summers interning (all prior to my EIT) at the same job for the same PE. I know this time can't count toward my 4 years minium, but can I put this on my amplified service record?

Also do you think a reference from the PE that supervised my intern work would carry more weight with the board than a peer at my current job who is not a PE?

 

[butch81385]

My AREE ended up being 6 pages total I believe.

I would not put any experience on your AREE that doesn't satisfy your 4 years of experience, as it just gives them a reason to reject it.

I would first make sure that you have a reference from every job that you have worked in those 4 years of experience. Then I would add additional references as required. They will want to hear from someone at your current job more than a PE from before you became an EIT, in my opinion, regardless of PE or not. Just follow the requirements (3 PEs or something like that), and you will be fine.

 

[tim1981]

Although I work and live in PA, I took the exam out of state. You are correct (and others have pointed out) that the experience must be earned prior to submitting your application. As for being "close" I wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure everything else is in order, and they can't reject you for having only 4.1 years experience if the requirement is 4.0. I had a one month overlap between the application deadline and the date where I met the requirement, and I was accepted to take the exam.

 

[bradlelf]

One of the guys who just sat for the exam in my office in PA, was previously rejected because there was a 10 day discrepancy between the EIT certificate date and the PE submittal deadline. Mind you he was already working by the time the certificate was issued.

I was on a few conference calls with PSPE regarding the licensure law; this is one of the items discussed to fix.