<p>Are you willing to go as far east as eastern Pennsylvania? If so, Lehigh University is a fantastic choice (I go there, but please don’t consider my oppinion biased). The engineering here is top notch, and will put you in just as good a position as a top 5/10 engineering school. It is a very “career-based” school, which differs from the “research-based” CMU, UIUC, MIT, etc., which results in an unjustified lower USNWR ranking. However, engineering grads here are ranked 5th for best income potential, tied with none other than MIT. In addition, the aid here is fantastic (I received more money in aid than a friend with similar income who went to an Ivy). If you are looking to go into comp sci. , Microsoft has a large presence here, and they often snatch up our grads.</p>
<p>@bonh3ad, thanks, I found more on recruitment at UIUC. I couldn’t view the event you mentioned but there seems to be another event focused on CS which had a selection of companies including apple, facebook, microsoft which I was comparing in my last post.</p>
<p>[Reflections</a> | Projections Conference](<a href=“http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/conference/2013/career_fairs.html#job_fair]Reflections”>http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/conference/2013/career_fairs.html#job_fair)</p>
<p>In CS, the big well known companies recruit widely, since they have more recruiting resources and more needs. It is the smaller companies that recruit less widely, or stay local.</p>
<p>Today I was watching CNBC and there was a gentlemen on who recruits engineers for the technology sector. He stated that he can not find enough qualified engineers to fill all the positions currently available. I find this quite perplexing because in the US we are graduating many engineers from ABET accredited programs. I have also been told ABET accredited programs teach to a very high level. So my question is, why is there a shortage of qualified engineers?</p>
<p>The key word is “qualified”. There is a mismatch between what universities are producing and what companies think they need. I emphasize think because it seems like more and more companies want to hire entry-level employees who already have experience directly related to the job function. This wasn’t the case several decades ago where companies pretty much expected to have to train you in job-specific skills and hired you because you came from a school they knew gave you good fundamentals upon which to build the job-specific training. That is about the only way this claim makes sense and I have seen articles a few times with business leaders referencing the issue.</p>
<p>Getting back to the OP’s questions, does anyone have any observations specifically about the schools on the OP’s list:
Carnegie Mellon
University of Michigan
Purdue
University of Illinois
We have not had the opportunity to visit but from poking around on this site, I have the impression that for OOS, merit aid at Michigan is very unlikely, that some is available but probably quite competitive at Illinois. People seem to like Ann Arbor, and to feel that it is relatively safe, but my daughter is a little wary of the size of Michigan; she doesn’t want a small school but to her (and me also) Michigan seems like it could be too big.</p>
<p>mathyone,</p>
<p>The OP has not been back since 10/23. I think my question is important and one that would be of interest to any future engineering major. Especially, if they are considering taking out loans to fund their education.</p>
<p>texasna,
I think your question was pretty well answered by boneh3ad. I’ve also heard that sometimes organizations identify people they want to hire, and then write job descriptions that are so specific only the person they’ve already decided to hire will be considered “qualified”. This might be a requirement to bring in a foreigner. The lack of “qualified” applicants (for jobs they never had a chance at anyhow) feeds the idea that there aren’t enough qualified applicants.</p>
<p>I agree boneh3ad put forth an opinion. I am curious as to what other think. We are all here to learn. </p>
<p>Job prospects are an important topic.</p>
<p>I agree with bonehead except I probably have a different take. I usually eventually find a recent grad with some background in what I’m looking for. </p>
<p>For me it’s a combination of taking the right courses and actually learning the material well enough to work in my group. I need an A student to work with the PhD researchers in my group. I need someone who has the intellectual curiosity to work well in research. Often these people eventually go on for higher degrees. </p>
<p>As far as engineering jobs go, they vary in degree of difficulty. I think for the easier jobs, there is not a shortage of candidates. For the harder more difficult positions, there is a pretty large shortage. I need to find candidates who can demonstrate that they have developed some mastery and some intuition from their course work and project work. Not that many students get that. Those that do will do well.</p>
<p>ClassicRockerDad,</p>
<p>In your experience does the “A” student come from any ABET program or do you find certain schools produce more qualified students?</p>
<p>I also would like to know what are the advantages of hiring engineers who are foreigners.</p>
<p>“NO company is going to pay a Purdue grad more money than a Kentucky grad. They all will get paid the SAME.”</p>
<p>I would pay the PU grad more than the UK grad. Would the salary itself be different? Maybe. More importantly, the PU grad has a shot at the job, and the UK resume will go into the “only if I can’t find somebody from a top school” pile.</p>
<p>I haven’t looked at USNews in a long time but one component of the engineering ranking used to be “opinion of new grads according to practicing engineers.” That’s one good place to start in terms of national hire-ability.</p>
<p>The PU grad also has a leg up on getting into higher-tier grad schools should he choose that route, which will just amplify the effect.</p>
<p>None of which means UK isn’t the best place for the OP. OP hasn’t given enough information to provide meaningful advice.</p>
<p>I’m retired USAF (pre 911, GI Bill not transferable), currently an Army civilian working in Japan. I’ve lived most of my life overseas and can’t really claim any state as residence, although I’m originally from South Dakota. I make $105K/year, 85 job, 20 pension but have made that kind of money only in past three years. Have daughter in college, Sophomore year. My son has a 3.97 GPA and is currently ranked 3 or 4 in class of 58, Department of Defense High School. He has been taking rigorous courses, completed 3 AP classes in Junior year and scored high enough on all 3 to earn college credit. Black Belt Karate, soccer team, involved in the community, bi-lingual and literate English/Japanese. I have managed to save $60K for him for college. He has MIT (dream), A&M (target),and South Dakota School of Mines (settle). I’ve also asked him to look at Arizona and Carnegie Mellon. His desire is Mechanical Engineering. Comments/recommendations solicited, including schools not on this list. Thank you.</p>
<p>Try the net price calculator on each school’s web site to get an idea of what need based financial aid will be like at each school.</p>
<p>We’re non-Dakotans whom are biased for SDSM&T. Rigorous engineering education at a bargain price. Great career prospects, judging from the caliber of companies that recruit at SDSM&T.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>“NO company is going to pay a Purdue grad more money than a Kentucky grad. They all will get paid the SAME.”</p>
<p>No they don’t. Engineers from different schools have different starting salaries. i.e. for chemical engineering:
Texas A&M $76K
U Texas $74K
Purdue $65K
Penn State $68K
Alabama $70K</p>
<p>mechanical engineering:
Texas A&M $72K
U Texas $72K
Purdue $59K
Penn State $65K
Alabama $65K
CMU $63K</p>
<p>BUT, from the data above, the discrepancy is more due to the industry recruiting in each region. For example, UT and A&M have high salaries since they are recruited more heavily by oil and energy companies. ChemE’s in the midwest will likely go into manufacturing because that is the predominant industry in the area. The industry one enters largely affects starting salary.
IMO, rankings are useless since the only metric used in US News is peer assessment score which is based on research output. Figure out what industry you’re interested in, and which schools are recruited by that industry. E.g. if you want to work in energy, pass on Purdue and CMU and look to the gulf. If y ou want to work in manufacturing, stay in the midwest. If you’re an electrical engineering/CS type, pass on Purdue, Texas, and Penn State, and look to Stanford, Berkeley, or even SJSU/SLO</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I find certain schools more productive. My favorites are</p>
<p>MIT
Cornell
UIUC
Michigan
Penn State
Purdue
Columbia
Cooper Union</p>
<p>Since I’m in Boston. There is obviously an east coast, cold weather bias there. There are great warm weather schools too, but for some reason many students there don’t like our winters. I think we do well in the midwest because Boston is actually balmy compared to Champaign or Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>Why do people prefer public schools? There are less opportunities for research, as there are often hundreds of more students in the same class as you, leading to more competition for research spots, as well as many 200 student classes. </p>
<p>Of course there are more chances at research, with better facilities and such, but does the 10,000 engineering student population really worth going to the school?</p>
<p>Whereas if you go to a private school, such as a MIT, RPI, Caltech,Johns Hopkins, etc. You see less students with more opportunities to learn. The student population is often less than the public universities, as well as having a better setup of peers. If you attend a UIUC or Purdue, you have a safe chance of sitting next to the person who ranked dead last and scored a 1700 on their SAT than sitting with people that ranked around the same as you with the same stats. Wouldn’t a prospective employer like a graduate from this school, over a graduate from Purdue? I mean, wouldn’t the private schools be better qualified?</p>
<p>Also financial aid is higher for OOS, as a state school won’t give you aid for OOS whereas a private school will as they want you to attend and make the price affordable.</p>
<p>Most people, even with top-end grades and test scores, are not getting into private schools of the MIT or Caltech level. The less selective private schools do not necessarily fit your view of them, particularly for engineering.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The student who graduates in engineering from a less selective school will have proven himself/herself as being able to handle studying engineering. That is what matters to an employer, not what his/her high school credentials were. PhD programs also care how you did in college (research and course work), not what your high school credentials were, although your college’s major department’s reputation in producing quality PhD students (which does not necessarily correlate to the college’s admission selectivity) can matter.</p>