Hello all. merit chaser mom here. Looking at BAMA, Mississippi State and Texas Tech.
Planned major: EE.
I have been pouring over ASEE website trying to compare programs. One thing that stands out to me is Mississippi State’s EE department has twice the $$$ in Research Expenditures than either Texas Tech and BAMA. I don’t know what to make of this. D would love to get into research early in her undergrad program. Leaning towards MS in EE but not PhD.
There is absolutely no way to realistically make a statement like this for a student who hasn’t even started their BS yet. It would be best to kick this can heavily down the road.
The short answer is “it can.” The more complicated answer is “it can, but how much likely varies by department.”
Departments with greater research expenditures (per student) are more likely to have research opportunities for undergraduates and to be doing research in impactful fields. Ultimately, though, that still comes down to whether the department as a whole and faculty individually like to hire undergraduates to do research.
Heavy research can also make its way into the classroom by providing a wealth of examples for the faculty to use to motivate a problem. Again, though, that depends on how willingly those faculty draw on that experience for classes.
I’d say that on average, it is beneficial and I can’t see any reason why it would ever hurt. But the degree to which it is beneficial can be highly variable.
Thank you @boneh3ad, Off to try and learn what research each school is doing.
Has she visited any of them? We were fortunate to tour quite a few programs. Some that looked solid on paper, hence the visit, turned to solid NOs after.
As a metric for judging undergraduate education, I wouldn’t think it would be very granular. Afterall, some very respected programs have very little to show for research budgets because they don’t have doctoral programs.
I’m with @boneh3ad in that it probably doesn’t hurt, but I wouldn’t stretch that to inferring that it de facto helps.
Thanks @eyemgh we are local to Texas Tech, visiting the others this summer.
D was accepted into the REAP program at Tech. Hoping this leads to building some relationships with faculty.
https://www.usaeop.com/program/reap/
Grad programs don’t necessarily translate to a better undergrad experience. Alabama has the best networking out of those three and Huntsville is an aerospace hub (Lots of EE’s work in aerospace).
I am not trying to resurrect a thread here, but what should I, as a parent, and my kids look for, specifically, on a tour. I am a lawyer. I would never advise my kids to be lawyers. That being said, I know what to look for in a law school. I am at a complete loss as to what to look for in an engineering school.
@Peruna1998, I’ll send you a PM so we don’t ping the OP every time there’s a response. Long story short, it depends on what matters to your student.
@Peruna1998 curious why not advising your kid to become a lawyer?