<p>I cannot decide between Cal Poly SLO, Rose-Hulman, or Embry-Riddle. I love them all and am looking at aerospace or mechanical engineering. I could really use some help here from alumni and people who are familiar with these schools. Please do not answer if you are not familiar with Rose-Hulman or Embry-Riddle</p>
<p>DS is trying to decide between a big state engineering school (similar to Cal Poly) and Rose-Hulman and is finding it very difficult as well. Some people will say that you should go where the high end research is happening, i.e., Cal Poly rather than Rose-Hulman. On the other hand, the classes are so much more personal at R-H. I think the largest class even for freshman is around 30. Mechanical is one of the more popular degrees at R-H and their career placement is excellent. They placed close to 100% of graduates within 6 months even during the recession. I can’t get over the name recognition though. I think Cal Poly would be an advantage on the West Coast. Rose-Hulman is probably much better known in the mid-West.</p>
<p>I grew up in the midwest and never heard of Rose-Hulman until I joined this site. I still don’t get why they are listed so high in USNews. But since all three of your choices are on the programs that don’t offer a PhD list I guess you and I are not on the same page. Sign me up for the affordable state U that gets signifcant funding through their PhD research, thank you very much. Hopefully somebody who knows something will show up before this slips to page 2. Good luck.</p>
<p>My bad. I saw that Cal Poly had a graduate program and mistakenly assumed it included Phds.</p>
<p>Excuse me for possibly diverting this dicussion (just take it for a bump) but I found out why I never heard of Rose-Hulman. In addition to being even smaller then than they are now “one of the most notable changes being the admission of women to the college in 1995.” Wow, I had already graduated a decade before they got their first female student. Wow!</p>
<p>Currently a Rose-Hulman student studying Computer Science who originated from Los Angeles , California.</p>
<p>Here’s my take between CalPoly SLO and Rose-Hulman since these were my choices that I had to choose from during my 2010 college admissions time: </p>
<p>CalPoly’s going to allow you to most likely stay in the West Coast (or probably move to the East Coast if you’d like) because they have awesome name recognition. </p>
<p>If you’re looking to get some sex in your college years, your chances are much better by so many magnitudes in San Luis Obispo, California than in Terre Haute, Indiana. </p>
<p>Rose-Hulman has 100% placement rate in graduate school and industry careers whereas CalPoly (if I recall correctly) has roughly ~80-88% (?) in its College of Engineering graduates. </p>
<p>If you’re getting absolutely no aid from both schools and assuming that you might have trouble getting all your classes in CalPoly (and assuming you have no AP credits)…it may take 5 years to graduate because that seems to be the statistically recorded average. You won’t have this problem in Rose provided you don’t get behind in any of your classes. </p>
<p>Projected costs over 4 years (w/o any aid/scholarships at all) :
CalPoly (in-state/out-of-state tuition) $27,000 / $33,000 x 4 (projected tuition increases over each year taken into account) = $108,000 / $132,000
Rose-Hulman - $58,000 (projected tuition increases over each year taken into account) x 4 = $232,000</p>
<p>Average starting salaries of Rose-Hulman graduates tend to be about 10k higher on average compared to those from CalPoly engineering graduates. Because Rose-Hulman lies in the midwest, the purchasing power of the extra 10k (or possibly more) can get you much more compared to living in California. If we had to level this field, Rose-Hulman graduates get paid substantially more. </p>
<p>CalPoly is significantly more diverse than Rose-Hulman by a large degree mainly due to the fact that it’s located from California…and California itself is much more diverse compared to Indiana. </p>
<p>Class sizes in both schools are about the same size seeing how the CalPoly engineering department only has 1287 students while Rose has about 1800. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what I didn’t cover here, but feel free to PM me if you have any questions or simply reply.</p>
<p>All of those schools are excellent choices. </p>
<p>However, I have experience with Embry-Riddle since I graduated from there in 2006 (Aerospace Engineering). The school is excellent in my opinion. I ended up with several job opportunities after graduation (luckily this was before the recession!) with big name companies and government organizations. I chose to work for the DoD as an engineer and am very satisfied with my choice. </p>
<p>As for the school itself (I went to the Prescott campus), it is small but very well equipped. There was a substantial amount of money invested into the engineering department from 2002-2006. The campus now has a new CFD/Thermal lab, new aerospace instrumentation and fabrication building (AXFAB), new computer labs, new library, new wind tunnel building, and new turbine/rocket lab. Class sizes are around 15-25 people on average. All classes are taught by professors, not TA’s. No engineering grad students. High percentage of PhD’d professors, many of whom are from top schools. All things considered, it’s a great school for undergrad engineering.</p>
<p>The campus is also located in a beautiful area. There are plenty of things to do on the weekends if you like the outdoors, and Prescott has a lot of great businesses, including some good restaurants. It is hands down, one of the coolest locations for a college campus if you like the outdoors… completely unparalleled.</p>
<p>Now for the downsides… The school is highly specialized, and for some people looking for a broader education, that can be a problem. There is also a fair amount of misinformation out there about Riddle. Much of it, though, is attributable to ignorance and lack of research. However, if you have any questions about the school in particular, be it the AE program, or the Prescott campus, feel free to ask me!</p>