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<p>Which schools?</p>
<p>H & I are engineers who did not settle on our path until the second year. Don’t fret about committing to a certain specialty while you are still in high school. The freshman year courses for all engineering specialties are very similar with a lot of overlap between Civil and Mechanical. So start off with what you think you might like. Spend your freshman year investigating all the options at your school but sophomore year; be open to change departments if you find something more interesting. To choose a school, find one with depth in several related options to your main interest.</p>
<p>In an engineering type fashion… I would suggest that a grid made up of a list of the important factors may help. Then assign a number scale/value. Try to weigh what is most important. You can laugh, seriously! I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the schools you listed. You already made your first cuts by deciding where to apply!</p>
<p>There is data for each college found in the website
[ASEE.org</a> - ASEE - Publications - College Profiles - Search the Profiles](<a href=“http://profiles.asee.org/]ASEE.org”>http://profiles.asee.org/)</p>
<p>like-- how many engineering students, a list of the research centers, etc. That can help you compare schools as well.</p>
<p>Also, it seems these days that engineering is about 30% female and 70% male. Look to see how active the Women in Engineering organizations are on each of the campuses. It might be a something you’ll want to get involved in. </p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptances!</p>
<p>livn487 - You are assuming that the OP, “LittleRedHood”, is a female? ;D</p>
<p>It is now Dec 30, 2012, and I’m curious where she is attending… if you are out there, let us know!</p>
<p>I, too, am interested in the ABET accreditation need, as my son is planning to major in ECE and Comp Sci at Duke, and Duke’s CS dept is not accredited. Did I read that ABET is not as important because CS is a relatively new major, and also if the school already has good name recognition?</p>
<p>For most purposes, ABET accreditation in CS is not needed per se. It only sets a minimum standard (though it is possible for a CS degree program to be very good but not meet the ABET accreditation standard); a non-ABET-accredited CS degree program can range from very good to very bad, while an ABET-accredited CS degree program can range from very good to just ok.</p>
<p>However, students interested in patent law from a CS background will find that an ABET accredited CS degree is advantageous – otherwise, there are specific science course requirements (e.g. a year sequence of 8+ semester credit units of physics or chemistry, plus additional specific types of CS or other science courses to make up sufficient credit units of allowed science). See <a href=“http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/grb.pdf[/url]”>http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/grb.pdf</a> for more information.</p>
<p>Thanks, ucb!</p>