<p>When I first started looking at colleges, I thought that Cornell was the one for me. It was an Ivy, number 1 (well, # 2 according to US news, but what do they know) in my desired area of study, and top 10 in other fields I'm interested in. My scores match up with what their incoming freshman were last year, and im an urm (horray!), so acceptance is a possibility and i wanted to do ED next fall. HOWEVER, I started visiting colleges this month, and i realized whether i just wanted the prestige, or somewhere i could shine. Stevens IT is one school I really liked, I would most likely get into their honors college, they have amazing opportunities for research and internships and co-ops, and I would be able to earn my Masters in 4 years, or 5 and only pay for 4. They are ranked 80 last time i checked, and all their other areas of study are around there as well. And those are the "types" of colleges I'm looking at. Do I want to be an "average" student at an amazing college, or a top student at a still good college. And Im not being lazy, I want to be the top so i can have more opportunities to enhance myself and my resume, not just cruise on by. I guess what I'm looking for is what you would do in my situation, and stories and feedback on others who were in my situation and how they turned out. Oh, and I'm interested in Engineering Physics/CompSci mostly, and with my constant browsing on here mech e and materials e have peeked my interest as well, in case you were wondering. (Any suggestions on good places to study these would be good as well, North east/ Mid Atlantic preferably)</p>
<p>“Oh, and I’m interested in Engineering Physics/CompSci mostly, and with my constant browsing on here mech e and materials e have peeked my interest as well,”</p>
<p>These programs are tough to get through everywhere, and ABET accredited Engineering programs are fairly standard no matter where you attend. Lazy students who aren’t committed just don’t survive past the first year. So the short answer is that for these particular major fields, the name on your diploma really doesn’t matter all that much. If you like Stevens, it is perfectly fine to go there.</p>
<p>What is your state of residency, and do you have cost limitations?</p>
<p>Even some not too well regarded overall schools are good in some subjects (e.g. University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Stony Brook University for computer science), so they may be worth considering as safeties (they are also not that expensive for out of state). If you are a resident of the respective states, be sure to consider schools like Pennsylvania State (University Park), Rutgers (New Brunswick), University of Maryland (College Park and Baltimore County), University of Virginia, University of North Carolina (no engineering but does have computer science), and North Carolina State.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) is also worth a look if you are willing to go there, since its out of state cost of attendance is relatively low. Same with Cal Poly SLO for engineering and computer science.</p>
<p>Of course, if you are looking at high selectivity schools for engineering and computer science, there is always MIT.</p>
<p>“I would most likely get into their honors college, they have amazing opportunities for research and internships and co-ops, and I would be able to earn my Masters in 4 years, or 5 and only pay for 4.”</p>
<p>It sounds like you have identified some very tangible benefits going to Stevens but you’re worried about the prestige factor. Would going to Cornell compensate for not having those opportunities? There are plenty of people who will tell you Cornell all the way. But engineering is a tough major and I think it would help you get through by going to a college that has you excited about it as oppose to just trying to keep up with the other engineering majors at Cornell. </p>
<p>You might consider contacting some engineering firms in your area of interest and see what they look for when they’re hiring new people.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 :
Thanks for that insight, i figured that they would be similar, but i didn’t know they were that closely related. And I’m more focused not on the difficulty of the class, i know i can handle that, but my fellow students and if i can shine where i go to get more opportunities.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus :
I live in New Jersey, and my when I do the Cost Calculator thinggy on school sites I come back with 25-30K a year, and their eyes didn’t fall out of their head, so they can pay at least that. I was also looking at Rutgers New Brunswick and Newark. Actually, a lot of kids from my school in the past few years have gotten full rides to Rutgers with similar stats to me. As for MIT, I haven’t fallen in love with it yet(haven’t visited it yet), and from rumors I’ve heard is that if one person gets in at a school, it is much less likely for others at the school, and some of my good friends REALLY want to go to MIT, and have my stats (I have better EC’s tho), so i dont want to take the chance away from them unless i would really conciser going there. But if i do end up liking it, SCREW THEM :P</p>
<p>@sadilly :
That’s true, I have found a lot of reasons to go to Stevens, but i could be a little biased. Stevens is the only one i have visited so far, and i didn’t know about any of the opportunities there beforehand. So I can’t really say if Steven’s opportunities are really that outstanding compared to Cornell or other schools without visiting them first. Who knows, maybe what i thought at Stevens was actually the norm everywhere! (probably not, i think nearly 100% of their students did research, internships, and co-ops) And it’s a really good idea to call the local engineering firms, better go straight to the source and ask them what they want.</p>
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<p>That would be a pretty good deal if you get a full ride, since Rutgers New Brunswick is generally considered good in physics, math, computer science, and engineering.</p>