CMU vs. Swarthmore

<p>After looking at all my offers I got down to these two, but I'm having a hard time deciding. </p>

<p>I'm pretty much sure that I'm going to go to ECE (Electrical and computer engineering), CMU has a good program for that, but i've heard going to Swarthmore would be better if i go on to grad school. Could anyone in this field tell me how important is grad school if I get a EE or CE degree? Would it make a big difference?</p>

<p>People have been telling me that CMU is more practical and Swarthmore is a really good school. I wanna hear what you have to say on it. Thanks`</p>

<p>Almost no difference financial wise.</p>

<p>I would make the decision based on your gut instinct. What type of environment would you thrive in? Do you want to be with lots of engineering students, or do you want to be an engineering student in a college full of people pursuing all types of interests?</p>

<p>Swarthmore probably has the most liberal-arts-based engineering curriculum in the country. People can switch in and out after the first year, maybe even after. Do you want that kind of base, or strict focus on engineering?</p>

<p>thanks for your advise. I think I might go with swarthmore in the end… i guess</p>

<p>I am not planning to do an engineering major, but I can tell you that Swarthmore’s engineering program is very general. You can’t major in civil engineering or electrical engineering; just engineering. That means that if you want to become an engineer you pretty much have to go to graduate school with an engineering degree from Swarthmore. If you go to Swarthmore, it’s important to decide early whether you want to do engineering or not (as in, early freshman year), because there are many requirements. If you haven’t done any engineering until the middle of the sophomore year and then plan to major in engineering, you might be out of luck.</p>