<p>I'm sorry for posting yet another 'decision' thread, but I think we need some help ... </p>
<p>My son (senior in HS) is interested in ChemE or Material Science Eng (MSE), possibly Physics as a minor. He is VERY likely to continue with Graduate School afther his BS. He has quite good grades (SAT1: 2390, 790 in Writing; SAT2: 800 each in Math, Physics and Chem - all in single sessions, GPA ~101.5; good EC's etc; in total 8 APs, so far one 4, the rest 5).</p>
<p>He did NOT get into CalTech and MIT (for lack of R&D and/or competition-activities, we believe, our small private HS does not offer anything special, they're excited already when they get enough students for a Physics AP class - possibly also his essays were not overwhelmingly strong - English is only his 2nd language, we lived only the last 5 years in the US, originally from Europe, Caucasian, but now US citizens).</p>
<p>So far, he got accepted to GATech, WUSTL, UNC & RPI; we wait yet for feedback from Yale, Harvard, Stanford, CMU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Duke (we're living in VA, so all would be oos for us).
Money aside (he DID get a nice scholarship from GATech from their Presidential Scholar Program), could you please help me in ranking the mentioned colleges from an academic point of view? How do you consider the quality of Eng.-education in Yale/Harvard etc. vs. e.g. GATech with special focus on ChemE and/or MSE? </p>
<p>I would worry about this once he has those acceptances in hand – he should have around a month to decide. Trying to figure this out now really only leads to problems.</p>
<p>However, Harvard and Yale are not known for their engineering – out of the Ivies, Cornell and Princeton are.</p>
<p>I use to think that too, that “harvard is not known for its engineering”…or ivy’s in general. I recently read a statement from Brown (not ranked within 100 for grad ME can you believe it) and he said ivy programs take a big hit in the rankings because they’re smaller programs but that their per capita research quality are top ten. I’m starting to the US news is full of it…</p>
<p>It’s not like a degree from Harvard in engineering would be bad. Obviously not (although I honestly don’t know enough about Yale to make judgments). But for engineering, RPI and GATech have a more permeating engineering atmosphere.</p>
<p>Again, this really should not even be discussed until he has acceptances in hand.</p>
<p>But their selection of classes, options for different kinds of research, and diversity of resources available with which to do research is generally a bit lower than the traditional engineering schools. Also, there’s something to be said for having more than five people in your major.</p>
<p>Anyway, I was an undergrad at CMU and majored in MSE and got a minor in Physics, so once he gets accepted there, feel free to ask me anything you like about the program. :)</p>
<p>Okay, I would go with GA tech unless your son gets into Stanford. The top engineering schools are MIT, Stanford, GT, Cornell, Purdue, and a few more. If GT is giving you money already, why not attend? Personally, I would only turn down GT for Stanford. I already turned Cornell down for it, as I am getting free tuition at GT. My plan is to go to apply (and hopefully attend) grad school at MIT or Stanford. I dont think it’s a big deal about undergrad especially in engineering. Is it really worth the extra 40k/year? Maybe, I dont know your circumstances. If all else fails, just take some campus visits.</p>
<p>RiemannZeta brings up a good point… of course you can’t know for sure if he’ll go onto grad school, if you’re his parent and you know him well enough to confidently say that he’ll continue on to grad school, then taking GT is your best bet. I can’t say much about the other programs, other than that Stanford and GT definitely trump the rest and are top class. Not only that, but he’s got a scholarship to GT… I’d say this is a no-brainer.</p>
<p>Missed that my first time through the post. You should be aware that often times schools will try to low-ball you on financial aid offers. If he got a great scholarship at GT, you should definitely show that around to any other schools he gets into to see if they’ll be willing to offer him more money to attend there. When I was accepted to CMU their aid package wasn’t good enough for me to be able to attend, but after I showed them the rather generous one RPI offered, they were willing to match it.</p>
<p>The GT offer is full scholarship + fees + room + board + books + computer + up to $4000 for international travel. I don’t think many schools will match that.</p>
<p>@GP - Unfortunately, the scholarship is not the full-ride, but “only” about a third of the full ride (still about 20k left to pay per year) - but he will get all the advantages of the PS program (studies abroad, preferred treatment in many areas like dorm-selection, internships, co-op programs, etc).
Personally, I think it’s a heck of a deal and hard to beat (compared to >50k per year in other schools).</p>
<p>@Riemann & hadsed: Pretty much my thoughts, too - thanks for your input! We had also looked at Cornell, but we didn’t really like it all that much (mainly location reasons), that’s why my son didn’t even apply. We did visit all the colleges and he really liked Stanford (who wouldn’t???); he also LOVED GATech (mainly due to the SUPERB PS-weekend; they really do an outstanding job there!) - so it’s between the two, I guess. And since I’m quite sure that Stanford won’t throw a bag full of money at him I think it’s pretty clear … </p>
<p>@Racin: Thanks for the advice - we might try that, however, so far he likes GT the most, so we can’t really apply your strategy - unless we use it towards Stanford … LOL (IF he’s accepted).</p>
<p>if he gets Yale, Harvard, or Stanford he should go there for sure. getting a job as an engineer or being admitted to phd programs is not THAT competitive, and no employer or grad school will choose RPI or GaTech over H, all things else equal. in general the engineering field is not prestige-obsessed.</p>
<p>the advantage of YHS could be that he would find other interests in college and be able to interview for hard-to-get but awesome opportunities in banking or strategy consulting. he would also be more likely to find entrepreneurial students and opportunities to network with investors (especially at S!!)</p>
<p>My only real concern would be how many of the major engineering firms go to H to recruit. Regardless of prestige, it’s a small program. With GaTech or RPI, you know there will be hundreds on campus for the career fair.</p>
<p>i write this as an ex-engineer who went to a school like RPI, GaTech, etc</p>
<p>for one, with the harvard brand, i am sure your kid will be able to apply and get an interview for plenty of great entry-level engineering opportunities. there is also a recent trend among elite tech employers to focus on on high-prestige schools (I heard facebook.com will only interview candidates from Harvard or Stanford, not sure if that’s true). </p>
<p>second, the reason engineering firms don’t head to super-prestigious schools is more likely than not because they know the chances are low they will be able to get the graduates. an entry-level engineering job at a large company is not that great of an opportunity; the role is usually quite specialized and your career path will usually lead you to stay as an engineer. to build a high-powered corporate career, you are far better off by starting on wall st or something like that. you can transition from one of the high-power business careers into a traditional corporate path as a manager and end up higher than you would have been if you tried to work your way up from the bottom as an engineer.</p>
<p>the better tech opportunities are in startups, where you can get an equity share of the company and make money when the company exits. you can also leverage that experience later in life to get management positions or even go the co-founder route and create your own startup. a top school brand would help with all that; you never know if your kid would end up dorming with the next bill gates.</p>
<p>if your kid wants to be a “geek” and spend all day working on the tech in the lab, i can understand the point of view that RPI might be better than Harvard. he would more likely be with “his own kind”, and have a traditional on-campus interview path to those types of roles. but i would caution against such a choice because you never know how things might change and it is easier and more feasible to take a “normal” engineering job from Harvard than it is to take a high-powered business job from RPI.</p>
<p>"if he gets Yale, Harvard, or Stanford he should go there for sure. getting a job as an engineer or being admitted to phd programs is not THAT competitive, and no employer or grad school will choose RPI or GaTech over H, all things else equal. in general the engineering field is not prestige-obsessed.</p>
<p>the advantage of YHS could be that he would find other interests in college and be able to interview for hard-to-get but awesome opportunities in banking or strategy consulting. he would also be more likely to find entrepreneurial students and opportunities to network with investors (especially at S!!)"</p>
<p>I disagree with the Yale/Harvard part because those schools are actually not known for engineering especially in the undergrad level. If you want to go Ivy Engineering, go Cornell or even Princeton.</p>
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