Do Engineering rankings really matter?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Do they?</p>

<p>I remember someone saying that all ABET Accredited schools teach the same standardized stuff.</p>

<p>Moreover some of the schools I'm looking at are ranked close to the bottom in the Top-50 rankings.</p>

<p>Also for some reason I'm intrigued by the Ivy's approach to Engineering (hopefully I'm not subconsciously prestige hunting) but they're not good in Engineering (barring Cornell, UPenn and Princeton).</p>

<p>So I was wondering if going to a lesser known university (in Engineering) would change anything.</p>

<p>(I'll either work in Finance or in Biotech. My eventual goal is to get into Management)</p>

2

<p>Milki, in some cases going to a "brand name" engineering school does matter.
The main difference in top engineering schools like MIT, Stanford, Cornell, CMU and Rensselaer is that they offer very high quality lab facilities and research opportunities that are accessible even for undergrads.
If you are just looking to learn the basics of engineering and then move into something else, then it may be less of an issue for you. The theory part will not change much across the ABET schools but the top schools give the great facilities and profs.</p>

3

<p>I don't know if I'll learn the "basics". I might want a Masters in the field.</p>

<p>So the advantage the other schools have are better research, facilities and resources?</p>

<p>I want to know what people think of Engineering at places like Columbia or Yale!</p>

<p>Thanks rico.</p>

4

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=187221%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=187221&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>This could help you out</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=363695%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=363695&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>Thanks for the links GatorEng and medha (are you Indian?)</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
The main difference in top engineering schools like MIT, Stanford, Cornell, CMU and Rensselaer is that they offer very high quality lab facilities and research opportunities that are accessible even for undergrads.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>
[quote]
So the advantage the other schools have are better research, facilities and resources?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I would actually say that the real advantage is in the networking. Often times, it's not what you know, but WHO you know that makes you successful.</p>

8

<p>Thanks sakky, you've helped me yet again. Which matters more? Overall Network or Network in Engineering?</p>

<p>For Ex. If it's between Columbia Fu and UIUC, which would provide me the real advantage?</p>

9

<p>Overall networking, Columbia</p>

<p>Engineering networking, UIUC </p>

<p>
[quote]
Which matters more? Overall Network or Network in Engineering?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Depends on what you want to do. If you want to be an engineer, UIUC will provide you a better advantage.</p>

10

<p>Well I want to work as an Engineer initially, but eventually go into Management. Want to start my own company, but starting a biopharma company out of college...Come one!</p>

11

<p>That's very ambitious of you.</p>

12

<p>Thank You and that's exactly why I want to go into the best college I can succeed at!</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
medha (are you Indian?)

[/quote]
</p>

<ol>
<li><p>How'd you know?</p></li>
<li><p>If you looked at my profile, why did you ask?</p></li>
<li><p>So what?</p></li>
</ol>

14

<p>it only matters as much as u think it matters.</p>

15

<p>I can't quite follow you there screwthepc...</p>

16

<p>sorry, i'll elaborate further.
if you're looking at the "quality" of the program itself, it doesn't matter.
Reason is, the "program itself" doesn't change.</p>

<p>first let's establish the preassumption that you dont want to be an engineer all along the way (as u mentioned) and want to go to management position. In that case, top-notch research opportunities like MIT may not be necessary (of course it doesn't hurt)</p>

<p>for the rest of the schools, the only reason a school is good is b/c people "think it's good"</p>

<p>if for 10 years, all the top applicants decided to ban Harvard, and attend Lehigh instead. In other words, for ten years, everyone who would've gotten into harvard goes to lehigh and vice versa, trust me, no one will regard harvard as the #1 top school anymore. Rather, Lehigh will be way at the top.
A reason a school is "top" is just to match the societal expectations. we "expect" harvard to be #1, well, although US news puts it at #2, we still accept it. However, if harvard suddenly becomes #20 in 2008, do u think anyone will believe in USnews?
so to a certain point, the ranks are based on societal expectations, how well u expect a college to be. That's often how rankings work.
if 2008 magazine comes out and MIT becomes #20, not only no one will believe it, all the top applicants will still go to MIT. </p>

<p>bottom line is, engineering rankings only matter as much as you u think it matters. </p>

<p>I hope that was clear enough ^^</p>

17

<p>That was VERY clear, Thanks a lot. So what criteria should one look at?</p>

18

<p>great question.
once the "acedemics" pass a certain extent, so that you get the great education u need and have the ABET credited and the job placement are decent, you can start looking at financial aid (eg. princeton gives the most generous aid), environment (eg some ppl hate west philly), gender (eg. Rose-Hulman inst. of tech has 30% girls), weather (U mich has sucky weather) and what sitting u like (some ppl like urban some like country)</p>

<p>(i try to not list those big-name colleges as example, thus use not as top-notch ones like Drexel, Rose-Hulman, u mich... just so u get an idea)</p>

19

<p>
[quote]
if for 10 years, all the top applicants decided to ban Harvard, and attend Lehigh instead. In other words, for ten years, everyone who would've gotten into harvard goes to lehigh and vice versa, trust me, no one will regard harvard as the #1 top school anymore. Rather, Lehigh will be way at the top.
A reason a school is "top" is just to match the societal expectations. we "expect" harvard to be #1, well, although US news puts it at #2, we still accept it. However, if harvard suddenly becomes #20 in 2008, do u think anyone will believe in USnews?
so to a certain point, the ranks are based on societal expectations, how well u expect a college to be. That's often how rankings work.
if 2008 magazine comes out and MIT becomes #20, not only no one will believe it, all the top applicants will still go to MIT.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>In the short term, I agree.</p>

<p>However, over the long term, things do change. Schools do improve or decline over time. For example, it wasn't that long ago (maybe only 50 years ago) when Stanford was considered a regional backwater school of little consequence. Today I think we can all agree that Stanford is a worldwide elite school. </p>

<p>
[quote]
bottom line is, engineering rankings only matter as much as you u think it matters.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, here I think you have contradicted yourself. You say that engineering rankings matter only as much as you think it matters. The problem is that it's not all up to you. *Employers * also have a say in how much it matters. That's why top employers tend to recruit only at top schools. Google, for example, is notorious for employment practices that strongly tilt towards the top schools. </p>

<p>"For the most part, it takes a degree from an Ivy League school, or MIT, Stanford, CalTech, or Carnegie Mellon--America's top engineering schools--even to get invited to interview. Brin and Page still keep a hand in all the hiring, from executives to administrative assistants. And to them, work experience counts far less than where you went to school, how you did on your SATs, and your grade-point average. "If you've been at Cisco for 20 years, they don't want you," says an employee. "</p>

<p><a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/12/08/355116/index.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/12/08/355116/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Whether it's fair or not, top employers are going to judge you based on where you got your degree. Hence, it's not quite accurate to say that rankings only matter as much as you think it does. It's more accurate to say that rankings matter only as much as *society * thinks it matters, with employers obviously comprising a large chunk of society. It's not like you can just graduate from a no-name school and then sit down with Google and tell them how their recruiting practices are dumb. You're not even going to be able to get into the room with them.</p>

20

<p>but he wants to get a masters in the engineering field and go to business (assuming another MBA)</p>

<p>so why would his undergrad engineering school matter ? as long as he learned what he needs, he can aim for a better grad school and/or a better school for mBA (which we all know is about networking)
once u get a grad degree, no one cares about the undergrad.
and getting into a better school doesn't mean it's easier to get into a top grad program, the proportion is biased b/c different schools have different stodent bodies, but if it's still "u" the chances should be the same (besides MIT's EECS program which pretty much garentees acceptance if you're gpa is 4.2+)</p>