<p>Many schools claim that their engineering/business/architecture, etc programs are among the best in the nation. What makes them stand out among thousand of other schools? According to US News, it asked "deans and senior faculty at the undergraduate ______ programs to rate the quality of all programs they are familiar with on a scale of 1 to 5." But this doesn't tell my anything about WHY the program is considered top notch!
So help me out here...How would you define a "good program?" Someone told me that it's the "quality of the academics in that specific program." What does he mean by this??? Aren't the academics in many of the schools similar anyway?</p>
<p>There probably is less difference than most like to believe. Take a look at the buildings and number of faculty in the dept. If they are both good it shows the school is committed to that dept. Good schools have $$$ and it shows.</p>
<p>Another tip: look at the faculty bio's --- if they've received their doctorates from highly ranked schools in the field, it's a good sign. In engineering, you want to find a school that has an accredited program. Ask where alumni go after graduation, what employers recruit on campus as well.</p>
<p>Try to find out what happens to the "average" student in the program. The best students are irrelevant, as they would likely do well wherever they went. What does the program do to give average students the opportunity to excel?</p>
<p>Anyone else want to share your views?</p>
<p>I'm a "hiring manager" at a well-known aerospace company. We have a list of about 100 schools that make up our "preferred" list for new-hires in engineering and science. If your school is on that list, it makes little difference in the hiring decision.....MIT....Va Tech...U Florida....NC State..and a bunch more.....are all considered "good" programs, and a candidate from one or the other is not really considered differently in the hiring decision from an educational perspective. There are many people on these boards that are hyper-focused on a few top schools and it is really quite silly.</p>
<p>Good suggestions above. I'd say also look at the number of courses offered by the department and related fields. And if you can find teacher evaluations look at these too. As an undergrad I had two courses with a Nobel-prize winning physicist who couldn't teach.</p>
<p>Veering off-topic a bit, I'd like to respond to Rogracer, since I've seen him post this before.</p>
<p>Rogracer: You are speaking from the perspective of a particular company which casts a very wide net. I have no doubt that what you say is true for your company. But please be aware that your firm's practices in this regard are not universal.</p>
<p>Over the years, I have worked for a midwestern consulting engineering firm, a New York investment bank, and a midwest-based Fortune 500 company. None of the three of these cast as wide a net as your firm seems to do. The first and third of these were primarily regional/local in their on-campus recruiting, with some exceptions. The second recruited for undergrads at very top schools, period. </p>
<p>At all three it was possible to get an entry-level job by going outside of the established college recruitment process, but much more difficult.</p>
<p>Firms 1&3 didn't cast a wider net due to concerns about yield and retention.At these firms you'd have a better chance of getting hired if you went to the local state U. than if you graduated from Dartmouth. Firm 2 are just a bunch of snobs. But a lot of people want to work at firm 2, and for these people their "hyperfocus" is not in fact silly, in my experience.</p>
<p>Adding to Monydad's thoughts - don't just read the catalog of courses - some schools have impressive catalogs listing courses that are only offered in alternate years or even less frequently. Many schools now have their course registration and schedule online on their web site - if a school you are interested does, do a search to get an idea of how many courses are typically offered in an average semester. Some online schedules also let you look at the past few semesters. In many cases, these online schedules also list how many seats are available, how many have been filled, and how many classes are full. That's great information to know - can you get into classes in the major you want fairly easily? </p>
<p>It's also a good idea to ask the department directly how many majors they have and how many majors graduate in four years (or 5 years if it's an arch. program). The graduation numbers for specific programs like engineering and business can be very different than the school's as a whole. The specific department grad rate can give you an idea of how tough the program is, how much support for students is available, how satisfied students are, etc.</p>
<p>Moneydad- I do not doubt the recruitment policies of the New York investment bankĀ I know what you say is true, even if I consider it to be a bit misguided. My comments were directed mainly to those pursuing technical careers in engineering......where it truly is silly to think getting into MIT or CalTech is a prerequisite to a successful career.</p>
<p>Even for engineering jobs there is some difference. Most employers are regional it seems to me, and they will recruit heavily in their region but only selectively outside of it.</p>
<p>So a graduate of an engineering program with a primarily regional reputation will be on an equal footing with a name program in his region. However the graduate of the name program is likely to have more opportunities outside his region in addition. The "regional school" grad will not see all of these other, more distant opportunities.</p>
<p>It seems like your company will be there for him, but many others won't. The engineering firm I worked for recruited me from the east coast, but they only went to about 5-10 schools outside of the midwest. At that time, anyway.</p>