UA and ASU are two engineering schools that I am considering.
According to US News, ASU has a better engineering program. However, I don’t really like the fact that it can be considered as a party school. I need your input on which school I should choose.
I haven’t visited either campus but I would like a beautiful campus with a nice college town.
Just let me know what you think of these two schools for engineering. Thank you!
Check their ABET accreditation for your program of interest. If they are both accredited it comes down to other things like location and cost.
Quality-wise they are very similar. ASU engineering dept is about double the size of UA’s dept. Our impression from tours is that ASU portrays itself as more of a weeder program, and UA as more supportive to its students. Both have nice campuses but are different in terms of the surrounding town and general feel of the campus. I agree with the above poster–look at the majors and concentrations that are most important to you and see which seems to be a better fit. My D would have chosen UA over ASU (ended up elsewhere) but we know several happy ASU engineering students and grads.
Of course it depends upon the particular engineering discipline. Lake Jr. took a Materials Engineering course with a professor who earned the B.S. at ASU. By all reports the professor was pretty sharp and a great teacher.
ASU isn’t any more of a party school than most other big universities. The frats were recently ejected off campus so all their parties are off property. Tempe is a great town, if I do say so myself. An international airport/hub is literally 15 m away and easy access to Scottsdale or Phoenix if you are so inclined.
Have you visited and/or spent an overnight?
I said I haven’t visited either campus in my original post
Ooops, sorry. Will you be able to do an overnight?
If you like one better, go with your gut. Do check what engineering specialties are offered and that the program you’re interested in is indeed offered. Then do the overnight at both, and compare your impressions.
You can’t really go wrong.