<p>We are tossing and turning between the two....</p>
<p>simba~</p>
<p>I am not familiar with the electrical engineering programs at these two schools, but I just wanted to give you a humongous CONGRATS on your son's Princeton acceptance!!!!!!! Somehow, I missed that! I am so happy for your son that he has such amazing choices ahead of him. Let us know when he decides! ~berurah</p>
<p>come on no one has any opinion? how about just engineering?</p>
<p>I am sure we all have tons of opinions BUT maybe like me, not a whole lotta info. Obviously both are wonderful schools. Have you looked at the course curriculm for each school for EE? Same amount of Calc, physics, circuits, electric wazooa and thermodynamics??? How about Duke's core vs. what princeton wants?</p>
<p>And location, Duke is right up the street from me but Princeton is in Jersey. Different than Texas, one would assume. Any peferences? Eating clubs vs. frats? Locally and I do mean locally (as in small Carolina town and Raleigh) many headed for EE head to NC State vs. Duke. Haven't figured out why but I do know many of the teacher's kiddos that want engineering apply there instead of Duke even though some could easily afford and maybe not so easy get into to Duke.</p>
<p>Is he set on EE? Or maybe just engineering generically? Is cost a factor? They seem about the same price-wise, maybe one gave son more in merit aid?</p>
<p>Ok I started, maybe someone else with some specific info will be able to help more?</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>OK, first with the positives: Both are excellent schools with huge to excellent name recognition. I have not seen Duke, but Princeton is, in my mind, a beautiful Ivy league campus in a great town with easy access to both Philadelphia and New York. But, I'm sure you knew all that.</p>
<p>When it comes to engineering at Princeton, I'm at a loss to explain it, but it just doesn't have a lot of name recognition around here. My company is within an hour and a half or so from Princeton and one would think it would be a prime recruiting place for our engineers (we recruit primarily electrical and mechanical), but it isn't. We get a lot of our engineers from Cornell, MIT, RPI, Michigan, Rutgers, Penn State as well as other places, but I can only think of one person over the last 30 years that I can name who came from Princeton. This doesn't mean that Princeton engineering is bad, by any means, just peculiar that you don't usually hear "engineering" and "Princeton" in the same sentence around here.</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
<p>This thread might be helpful: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=19256&highlight=engineering%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=19256&highlight=engineering</a></p>
<p>and this one: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=894&highlight=engineering%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=894&highlight=engineering</a></p>
<p>Princeton and Dule are somewhat alike, here, I believe, in that the engineers don't necessariliy expect to be engineers forever, if at all. You get this issue all the time with people asking you whay you'd study engineering at one of those places.</p>
<p>I'll give you an example. Three of my roommates were engineers at PU. One (a Big 33 football player in PA) went to seminary and became a minister. Another (PA state champ in wrestling and best kid on the PU team--would have been better but missed a practice each week because of physics lab) worked at Rockwell for a while, got a Wharton MBA and is now CEO of a decent sized insurance company. The third was also a football player and went to work for a chemical company, where he spent his entire career. </p>
<p>I'm sure Duke is similar in the mix of where their engineers end up.</p>
<p>They are both excellent schools. If I were making a choice, I would choose Princeton. It is often noted on these boards to have the southernmost orientation of the ivies, and is the least northeasternish (which isn't saying much). Your son should do his best to make up his own mind. Its a bit difficult to go wrong here.</p>