Hey guys I’m a high school sophomore researching about different colleges in general just to get a feel for which ones I might apply for. I’m planning on majoring in Engineering or something physics based. Please let me know which colleges have the best engineering programs. Thanks!
Have you talked to your parents about what they will contribute for your college costs, and have you and they run net price calculators on various colleges of interest? For most students, cost (including as affected by state of residency) is the most important factor in selecting a college.
Of course, your academic credentials will also affect which colleges it is realistic for you to be admitted to (including to your desired engineering major, which may be more selective than the college overall).
The college you get into will, in part, depend on your ACT/SAT scores, and GPA, and help you formulate a lost of where you should apply. Have you taken the PSAT yet, as a practice? What sort of GPA do you have after two years of high school? What math class are you taking now and what plan do you have for 11th and 12th grade math? What physics class are you taking?
can you take AP classes at your high school?
You could look for Engineering physics programs. There is a great one at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.
U of Colorado Boulder also offers engineering physics, as two examples. You may want to give some boundaries for geography, as there are so many good programs on the east and west coast if you prefer either of those locations.
College rather than university?
You can google best engineering undergraduate programs and get a list, but you need to know your budget and have standardized tests scores to figure out which schools would be a reasonable fit.
Other things to think about:
- What size school you’d be more comfortable with
- Urban or more rural campus
- Geographic location
- Undergrad only or schools with graduate/PhD programs
But, budget comes first and foremost.
Many state universities (especially the “flagship” campuses) have strong engineering programs.
They also usually have lower sticker prices, even for out-of-state students, than private schools.
UC Berkeley, UIUC, UMichigan-AA, and UT-Austin have highly regarded programs (but may not offer much if any FA for OOS students). Check out the programs at your own state schools.
Private schools with the most famous/prestigious/selective programs include Stanford, MIT, Caltech, and Cornell. These schools tend to offer relatively generous need-based aid (but little or no merit money) for families earning less than about $200K/year with commensurate assets.
If you need financial aid (as many students do, especially those planning to attend private schools), be sure to run the online net price calculators (or ask your parents to do so) for any schools that interest you.
For most enginering fields, what matters is ABET accreditation. Provided you graduate from a program that has accreditation, your coursework will be substantially the same as at any other, and your starting salary will be exactly the same. So if money is tight, you can choose the cheaper institution.
@lostaccount - In the US, the terms “college” and “university” are often used interchangeably when referring to institutions of higher learning that award four year bachelor degrees. Whether an institution itself has the word “college”, “university”, “institute”, “academy”, etc. as part of its name is entirely up to that institution. There are number of colleges that offer engineering as a degree program. Engineering is not restricted to places that call themselves universities, academies, or institutes.
ABET matters in some engineering fields but not all. For CS, as an example, it is not really a top-of-list concern. Browse job descriptions and you’ll be hard pressed to find ABET as a requirement or even as a “nice to have”.
Starting salaries are never the same. Most starting engineering jobs come with a base pay and stock based incentives (options or RSUs). While all new grads may be hired as say a Grade 5 engineer, that grade has a range of pay somewhere in a $15k - $20k band. Additionally, the stock based incentives very widely even for new hires as an incentive to the most sought after candidates. So, taken together the total compensation package for new hires is never “exactly the same” and may actually be quite different.
@Rivet2000 "While all new grads may be hired as say a Grade 5 engineer, that grade has a range of pay somewhere in a $15k - $20k band. "
What are you talking about? Are you saying the pay can vary by that much or are you saying 15k absolute pay? The average pay for a new graduate engineer is easily 50k+.
Saying base pay can vary by $15k - $20k. So, new grad A can have base pay of $80K and new grad B (at same company) can have base pay of as much as $100k
@Rivet2000, those differences wash out pretty quickly though as you get deeper into your career.
OP, to answer your question, there are LOTS of fine engineering programs. What you deem best will fall largely on what you decide is important. What you are looking for can be quite complex and your list of schools may not end up with all the usual suspects on it. That’s OK.
Actually, I’d say they remain and even get larger for the high performers. Grade level bands within a company exist at every level and differences in stock incentives can even be greater.
@Rivet2000, I didn’t say that compensation bands don’t exist. They certainly do. It’s just that the advantages an institution’s name brings at hiring almost immediately disappear. From that point on stratification is dependent on performance and the school one attended has very little correlation to that. It’s clear who has drive, curiosity and competence once on the job. There are pedestrian Caltech and MIT engineers and superstars from Podunk U. That’s not my opinion, but what was conveyed to me by the head manager of one of NASA’s most famous projects ever (and Caltech professor at the time).
Yep, I agree there. Academic value proposition ramps down in importance as work experience ramps up.
Yes, that’s certainly true, if the distributions of talents from Caltech/MIT overlap with that of Podunk U. However, that doesn’t mean a Caltech/MIT graduate on *average/i isn’t more talented than that of Podunk U.
If you were picking hires by throwing darts at lists of graduates from different schools, the average would be more relevant.
While ABET accreditation sets high minimum standards and learning goals, schools have options in terms of curricular organization, in-major electives, and how much beyond the minimum standards they may require. Any ABET accredited engineering program will be good for preparing someone for a career in engineering, but some may be better academic fits (in terms of the factors given previously, not necessarily related to admission selectivity) for the student than others.
Where ABET accreditation specifically matters is for those who want to get a PE (Professional Engineer) license (most common in civil engineering, but of interest for anyone who wants to work on infrastructure used by the general public) and as a prerequisite for the patent exam.
Otherwise, it is mainly an indication of the degree program meeting a high minimum standard of quality, so that an employer can have reasonable confidence that the graduate has learned the expected engineering science and design for entry level employment in engineering. Some well known colleges for engineering may have enough reputation that they do not need ABET accreditation to maintain credibility with employers (other than where specifically needed for fields like civil engineering where PE licensing is common), but most will maintain ABET accreditation for programs where it is applicable.
First you will have to see what your parents can afford.
Then you will have to see what your GPA and SAT are.
Look at your State U for the best value.