<p>My son wants to study engineering. He did well a an excellent high school, about a 89 ave with 750’s in Chem and Math SAT’s and 5 in AP’s in Physics,etc.</p>
<p>Did not get into Lehigh or RPI which both put him on waiting list. Also University of Rochester put him on waiting list. </p>
<p>He has been accepted to engineering schools at Suny Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo, Drexel and Northeastern. </p>
<li> Which engineering schools are the best to go to from the one’s he’s admitted to…</li>
<li> If he got into Lehigh, U of Rochester or RPI, should he go to one of them versus the others because I think they all have better reps as engineering schools.</li>
</ol>
<p>He thinks he is interested in Mechanical or Materials Engineering.</p>
<p>I wont pick binghamton for engineering, maybe for something else but not engineering. I know Buffalo engineering school is very complete and solid (I am attending here this fall for grad school for structural eng.). Drexel is good bc they force you to get internships, which is good. Northeastern is too much money not enough bang, if you what I mean. So, Buffalo is better compared to those three, in my eyes. If he gets in to the waitlisted schools, I will pick Lehigh. RPI is prob. the better school out of the three waitlist ones. UofR I would not pick. </p>
<p>So my view is:
1-RPI
2-Lehigh
3-Buffalo
4-Drexel
5-NE</p>
<p>Disregard UofR and Binghamton they are not known for engineering.</p>
<p>Not sure what you mean by NEU is too much money and not enough bang, both RPI and Lehigh cost more. Drexel has coop but so does NEU. U of R is one of the top tier school whether it is engineering or not. If cost is a big factor, obviously the SUNY schools are the ones.</p>
<p>U of R is not even ranked as the top 80 ME engineering program. Top tier or not, why would you go to school thats doesnt have strong program. RPI and Lehigh does cost more (about $3000-$4000 difference, whoa!! thats so much) but RPI and Lehigh has a VERY respected engineering program, thats what I meant by not enough bang for your buck. NEU cost about the same while program is weaker (Cost-Benefit analysis people). And Binghamton, are you kidding me? Listen Larch74, your son wants to got to a school where employers are going to look at him and say “I know he got a good education because he went to so and so school”. The truth is, SUNY Binghamton and UofR are probably the best school in that list, HOWEVER the engineering program there are weak. The avg. Joe will look at your son, if he goes to let say UofR or Binghamton and will say “He is a smart kid if he got in” and its probably true. But an engineering will look at he as if he was depraved from his education. But if he goes to RPI, Lehigh, or Buffalo they wont. NEU, Binghamton and UofR are not strong engineering schools. They dont even show their budget and the amount of money that us toward research. That only happens if the school gets to much money or too little to the point where its pointless to show it. However, the other school does. </p>
<p>These are thier (Total Annual Research Expenditures)for thier ME department:
RPI ($3.6 Mill)
Lehigh ($3.4 Mill)
Buffalo ($3.1 Mill) </p>
<p>Thus, making these school top choice. Since they have more money they could spend it on better software, lab equipment, facilities, professors, etc then the other schools. Engineering is very different in the sense that your “typical” good school like Binghamton and UofR or not nesscarliy the best school to go to. To prove it, ask any structural engineer if they had a choice to go to Cornell or UIllinois-Urbana…any true structural engineer will answer UIllinois over Cornell. But your avg Joe would say Cornell, because its an Ivy League, however a structural engineer will look at you like a fool if you pick Cornell (not saying Cornell is bad, its a GREAT school but you need to look at there program 1st). UIllinois@Urbana is where legendary professors and engineers went, you know the ones you learn about in school and the ones who has theorem name after them. Or the engineer who design something like the Sears Tower in Chicago (Dr.Fazlur Khan)!!</p>
<p>I guess we all have our own biases. It is self evident by giving a preference, one asserts which school is more cost effective because they all cost about the same. NEU is not enough bang for the buck but Drexel is? NEU, Drexel and Buffalo have exactly the same engineering ranking in the US News report, but NEU has a weak engineering program? There is more to a school than research money spent or a particular professor. The size, the quality of student body, the facility and the surroundings are some of the factors and different people have different idea of what is important. I am not saying I am right and others are wrong. I would visit the school and make a decision. You get a pretty good feel of what the place is like, at the very least it is another good data point.</p>
<p>Your right NEU, Drexel, and Buffalo are ranked around the same but thats overall engineering, I was talking about ranking in the Mechnical Engineering. And the other factors are important. But I one thing I learn about college is that you make the best of it regardless of the size and the student body, yes these factor whould change you college experience but funny is funny no matter where you go. But in the academics side of things like professors and research, you cant change and have no controll over.</p>
<p>Large amounts or proportion of money going to research mean less money/emphasis going to undergrad education. To my mind that puts the undergrad only or coop focused schools like Kettering, Drexel, Northeastern much higher on the list. </p>
<p>RPI doesn’t let you near any real engineering for a year or two.
Clarkson has tons of hands on and team work, but seems to have a morale issue. It is however one of the two under discussion here that shows up on both the GE recruitment list and the PAYCHECK.COM list of highest starting salary/highest lifetime salary. RPI is the other.</p>