<p>Don't get too caught up in the "rankings". Who appointed US News as the final judge of quality of engineering schools? Anyway, consider these facts: </p>
<p>1) Rensselaer has been educating engineers since 1824. Thats 182 years (longer than MIT or Caltech). </p>
<p>2) Of the schools you mentioned, RPI has the most talented student body. (I know SAT is not everything but is a good place to start).</p>
<p>3) Of the schools you mentioned the percentage of students studying engineering is far higher at RPI than at the other 2 (hence the name Polytechnic Institute). Don't you think that the best environment to learn engineering is to be surrounded by people who share a passion for
math/science/engineering? Engineering is the heart and soul of Rensselaer, not so at BU and UT. </p>
<p>4) As I posted before, look at Rensselaer's new 218,000 sq ft Biotech Center. Go see it in person and I think you'll be convinced that UT and BU can't match it. </p>
<p>5) I looked at BU's eng program through the link you posted and they only seem to offer 4 major divisions. Rensselaer has areas such as nuclear
,materials, environmental, civil, chemical that BU doesn't appear to offer. This should tell you something about the overall quality of the engineering schools. </p>
<p>I think BU's program is likely pretty good but at RPI you'll get to experience one of the world's great undergrad engineering programs. </p>
<p>It all comes down to what is most important to you. In my case I wanted to be the best engineer I could be and I went to RPI. To others
social seen / well balanced evironment / nice college town is more important. Nothing wrong with that. In that case pick UT or BU.</p>