Cornell Engineering vs. other schools

<p>
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The essential point is that, the aero factor for 'space' requires much more sophisticated design than the design of most commercial jets. Put it bluntly, it might be easier for JPL staff to transfer to Lockheed/Boeing than vice versa.

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<p>How easy or hard it would be for a hypothetical Caltech grad to go to Lockheed/Boeing is irrelevant to my proposed question.</p>

<p>What <em>is</em> relevant is that the resources to be able to study aeronautical/aviation engineering are not as easily found at Caltech as it is at other truly top aerospace programs.. In many cases they hardly even exist at Caltech. That is the real point.</p>

<p>OK I have a question I live in Houston and I'm applying to GIT, Michigan, and UTA for AE. I will probably get a close to if not full ride to UTA would it really be worth the extra money to attend a slightly higher ranked program such as Michigan?</p>

<p>how is rice's engineering? is it in any way comparable to the top 10 engineering colleges?</p>

<p>At the undergraduate level, very little separates the top 10 from the next 10 and Rice is definitely one of the top 20. So yes, Rice is definitely comparable to many top 10 Engineering programs. In fact, given its commitment to teaching, in some ways, I'd say that Rice is better than some top 10 Engineering programs.</p>

<p>how about selectivity? is it easier to get into rice's engineering college than lets say, michigan or uiuc?</p>

<p>No, Rice is more selective. Rice is as selective as the Ivies. Michigan and UIUC enroll 5,000 undergraduate Engineers. Rice enrolls 500 undergraduate Engineers. So even if Rice's applicant pool is one fourth the size of Michigan's or UIUC, it must still be twice as selective!</p>

<p>Ahh ok... so by basic instinct it should be more logical to apply to Michigan and UIUC, since they are less competitive and better in engineering!</p>

<p>Anyway what major is rice known for (or really good in), just curious</p>

<p>Don't forget GT too. Depending on what type of engineering you are getting into, it is higher ranked for undergrad than either UMich or UIUC.</p>

<p>GT is also not TOO hard to get into too (assuming you are at the very least top 5% in HS class, good extracurriculars, and above average SATs) for a world-class education.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankengineering_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankengineering_brief.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In either case, any of those three are better in engineering and probably easier to get into than Rice.</p>

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Who on the Caltech faculty (from any of those departments you just mentioned) specializes on jet/rocket propulsion

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<p>Dimotakos and Shepherd</p>

<p><a href="http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/people/faculty/dimotakis.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/people/faculty/dimotakis.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/people/faculty/shepherd.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/people/faculty/shepherd.html&lt;/a>

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spacecraft design

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<p>Ortiz, among others.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/people/faculty/ortiz.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/people/faculty/ortiz.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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high-speed aerodynamics? aeroelasticity?

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<p>Pullin</p>

<p><a href="http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/people/faculty/pullin.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/people/faculty/pullin.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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n-body orbital mechanics?

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<p>This is basically astrodynamics, in which case you are talking about Marsden.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cds.caltech.edu/%7Emarsden/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~marsden/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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[quote]
I specifically asked for INDUSTRY stats (most engineers go to work in industry, after all, not research) show me where in INDUSTRY Caltech AEs have left an overall larger impact than GT AE grads overall?</p>

<p>Count the number of Caltech AEs in industry and then compare them to the number of GT AEs in industry. Get back to me when you are done.

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<p>I've seen you use this argument several times, and you always conveniently ignore the fact that Caltech simply has far far fewer people than GT does. Obviously GT is going to have more people in the aerospace industry just because it graduates more people in general. That's like saying that most Nobel Prize winners come from non-Ivy League schools. This is true, but a meaningless statement because most people in general graduate from non-Ivy schools. </p>

<p>What you need to show is the PROPORTIONS of GT vs. Caltech people, relative to the number of graduates produced. Hence, I think the burden of proof is on you. You constantly ask for people to show their data, but where is yours? Have you shown that the PROPORTIONS of GT grads are higher than the proportions of Caltech grads? I believe you have not. </p>

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And again where are the Caltech AE faculty? </p>

<p>Don't make the mistake in thinking that Caltech has a good AE program (what program?) just because it is Caltech. You need professors and faculty (more than one) to have a department.

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<p>Nobody is saying that a school is good just for the name. But you constantly harp on the fact that Caltech supposedly doesn't have a dedicated AA department. By that argument, MIT doesn't have a CS department (because it is encapsulated within the unified EECS division). I fail to see what having a dedicated department really has to do with anything. </p>

<p>Take the argument to its logical conclusion. Harvey Mudd is arguably the best purely undergrad engineering school in the world. But it doesn't have dedicated "departments". Yet anybody who knows engineering schools cannot deny the notable success of Mudd engineering graduates, especially compared to the small number of graduates it produces.</p>

<p>Look, the point is, there is no need to go around attacking other schools. If you want to promote GT, then that is your prerogative, but there is no need to go around trashing other fine schools.</p>

<p>I would also like to make the distinction that CalTech owns JPL...the single aerospace entitity that sends the most successful unmanned spacecraft to other planets (and research on our own).</p>

<p>Plus, JPL has really good food... if you are ever there, check out the Californian Sandwich... mmmm....</p>

<p>
[quote]
I specifically asked for INDUSTRY stats (most engineers go to work in industry, after all, not research) show me where in INDUSTRY Caltech AEs have left an overall larger impact than GT AE grads overall?

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But in terms of raw impact made in industry and employers , it lags behind Tech and other schools

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<p>What kind of impact are you talking about? Are you saying that those system test engineers at Lockheed are making <em>impact</em> in the aerospace industry? Talking about raw numbers in industry is futile. When you are questioning the strength of a program, you should observe the average contribution of the graduates from that program. In other words, you should compare the average accomplishments between Caltech AE grads (who work in industry) and Gatech AE grads in aerospace industry. Quoting the number of Caltech AE grads in research fields (as opposed to going for AE industry) as an AE program quality indicator is silly. </p>

<p>LOL, in California when we say Tech, we refer to Caltech. But in general, Tech refers to <em>MIT</em>.</p>

<p>Rice is known for four areas:
1) music program (Shepherd School of Music is really incredible)
2) architecture program (very, very strong in architecture)
3) science/engineering programs (very, very strong in engineering, and a lot of people are in biochem, chem, and electrical engineering... civil's really small, but packs a punch... in the past two years, all of our grads who decided to go to grad school went to MIT, Berkeley, and Illinois)
4) academic disciplines (really good linguistics, psych, history, etc... strong overall university, so the strong academics are kind of an aside)</p>

<p>"all of our grads who decided to go to grad school went to MIT, Berkeley, and Illinois"</p>

<p>why would they go to illinois, just wondering...</p>

<p>anyway i am glad that rice is "very, very strong in engineering" - i think i will be applying there, because i love the atmosphere there, and also because of low tuition fee</p>

<p>Illinois has the number one grad program in civil/structural engineering, tied with Berkeley.</p>

<p>Plus, <em>I'm</em> here! So why wouldn't they all want to be here? ;)</p>

<p>ya but if the rice student wants to go to illinois for grad, y didnt the student just go there for undergrad too?</p>

<p>Because the undergraduate education at a big state school isn't always as good as its graduate program. So students decide to attend a school that focuses on undergrads and THEN move to the big state school.</p>

<p>Not all state schools. Some state schools, like UVA and Michigan, offer the same kind of attention as you would get at a small, private research university like Columbia or MIT.</p>

<p>Eh.....</p>

<p>Still doesn't have the same "small-school" feel. I've visited Michigan. Totally doesn't have the same feel as Rice.</p>

<p>I really loved my undergraduate experience at Rice. Yep, I got a good education, but more than that, Rice allowed for a great deal of self-discovery and offered a ton of really cool extracurriculars. I loved the atmosphere there. I went into college feeling like, "Okay, I've worked my butt off in high school, I'm into a great college, I'll do the coursework, but what I really want to do is to experience all that stuff that I'll never have the opportunity to do, ever again."</p>

<p>Michigan would never have let me set foot in their marching band, let alone hand over the reins and let me be drum major. (Though, I'm pleased to say, I have played glockenspiel on the field of the Big House to a full crowd, and it rocked!)</p>

<p>So for me, it wasn't about attention. It wasn't about the academics, as much. It was about the experience. Once I graduated, I had the tools I needed to dive headfirst into the academic part of the mix, but I also feel like I'm a much more well-rounded, confident, content, zen person as a result of my time at Rice.</p>

<p></p>

<p>Airbarr, Rice, Brown, Dartmouth and Princeton aren't typical research universities. I was referring to research universities like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Columbia, Northwestern, Penn, Cornell etc...</p>

<p>Alexandre - not sure I can figure out how you made the distinction you did between research universities and...not...?</p>