<p>Hello, I have a question regarding the Columbia Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Columbia is high up on my list of colleges to apply for engineering, but I have been hearing mixed comments about the school. I am thinking of Computer Sciences, and I acknowledge that Columbia Computer Sciences is not as good as Cornell or CMU's program.</p>
<p>However, how is Columbia Engineering in general? Is the education quality good and can students obtain research positions easily? Is the employment rate okay? </p>
<p>You need to check the specific department record and the research interests of specific faculty. But generally speaking, the strong Engineering Schools in the Ivy League are Cornell, Pennsylvania and Princeton, with Cornell often thought of as the best of the group (in the traditional engineering disciplines). Of course, Columbia was the place where they first split the atom, in the historic ‘Manhattan Project’ in WWII.</p>
<p>Columbia is traditionally seen as having one of the stronger CS departments among the Ivies (along with Cornell and Princeton; maybe Brown/UPenn/Harvard as well).</p>
<p>Yes, Stanford/MIT/CMU/Cal/UIUC rank higher, but you can get anywhere from Columbia CS that you can get to from any of the other places mentioned.</p>
<p>In any case, so long as you go to a top school or school with a top CS department*, you yourself will be a greater determinant of your success in life than your school.</p>
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<li>And if you add up all the Ivies, Ivy-equivalents, and other schools with top CS departments (which you can roughly put as the schools that Facebook recruits from: <a href=“Redirecting...”>Redirecting...), you’re talking about close to 30 schools.</li>
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<p>Read a bit more carefully. I said that the schools I mentioned are thought to be stronger than Columbia in the TRADITIONAL ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES, by which I mean Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical. I said nothing about Computer Science nor did I say that Columbia was weak in engineering.</p>
<p>I think either way, we’re splitting hairs…sure, we can make fine-grained comparisons between SEAS and Cornell or Carnegie Mellon, but you’re still comparing like the top 25 or 30 engineering/science schools in the country. I don’t think Columbia is going to disadvantage you in the job market, OP.</p>
<p>@LakeWashington : I was addressing the OP, not you (as can be seen by the fact that I didn’t use the little @ sign as I did now), and he/she was interested in CS.</p>