We were in Boston for the marathon and my son loved the area so much he wanted to look at schools for Electrical engineering. He also wants to stay involved with his music especially jazz ensemble.
Info about the schools, its surrounds and if one program is better than the other is greatly appreciated.
Boston is very much a college city. BU is actually in Boston.
WPI has one of its 53 project centers in Boston, but the University is located 50 miles away in the second largest city in New England. Worcester is also home to seven colleges including Clark University, Holy Cross, U Mass Med School and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, et al.
U Mass,Amherst is in a beautiful country setting with a number of other, smaller colleges in the same town including Amherst and Hampshire.
All three offer ABET accredited engineering programs in EE. WPI has the widest selection of Engineering options followed by U Mass.
All the BSEE programs are highly regarded. Any rankings you may find are actually based on the votes of teaching faculty in the EE field and are more a reflection of the number of graduates teaching. Small graduate schools do not make an impression in this ranking process. All these Universities have excellent graduate placement. For WPI’s 2018 EE salary, graduate school and placement data go to https://www.wpi.edu/student-experience/career-development/outcomes. Download the PDF and view page 23.
Because of ABET accretion rules, many argue that their is little or no difference in the programs. Actually, ABET offers some flexibility here. How and when you register for courses vary between Universities. Today, all programs boast project education. As WPI requires three projects, you may want to view https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning… If an engineering student loves music, how do they pursue these interests at each university? How flexible is the scheduling? How much input does the student have in planing their studies. Do they have a lot of options within their field?
Your son’s progress will be “pulled” by his interests in the subject matter How is that interest nurtured? There is no substitute for involvement within the university environment. Are the other students as curious as he is?
If possible, see all three on campus. Talk to the students.
WPI '67
You should also look at Northeastern for engineering in Boston.
@2019boston - My daughter will be attending WPI in the fall for biotechnology. I know that music looms large for many in the student body - there are many wonderful opportunities to pursue his musical passion as well as get a solid engineering background. https://www.wpi.edu/news/infusing-stem-music
Amherst and Worcester are not at all like Boston. In the Boston area also consider Northeastern, Tufts and Olin College.
My daughter is an incoming engineering student at Northeastern and will be also playing in music ensembles. NEU has a Jazz Ensemble and offers a Minor in Performing Arts. There was also a small scholarship available to music students if they committed to playing in an ensemble ($3-5K if I recall).
@2019boston - Has your son taken a second SAT and/or the ACT? All 3 schools in your original post (not to mention TomSrOfBoston’s suggestions of NE, Tufts, and Olin) have average SAT scores higher than the one mentioned on another thread.