I’m a high school student, struggling to make up his mind about which school to attend (I want to major in Computer Engineering).
I’d like to know how much sway school ranking has in the engineering world in terms of undergrad salary and grad school acceptance.
I’ve been accepted into Texas A&M, UT Austin, UT Dallas, NJIT, Embry Riddle, and University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.
I’m still waiting on Georgia Tech, Case Western Reserve University, and University of Southern California.
Obviously IUC, UTA, and TAMU are top ranked schools. However, NJIT has offered me nearly a full ride, UT Dallas will give me full tuition (I prefer UT Dallas over NJIT), and Embry Riddle will give me $17,000/year (which actually doesn’t cover that much since I’m out-of-state).
Do I follow my nose and pick between UT Dallas and NJIT, or do I go for the bigger name schools and lean on my parents… a lot…
I prefer to pay for college myself, but I don’t want to “cripple” my future career/research opportunities by going to a school that doesn’t present as many options.
Will attending a bigger name school increase my chances of getting into grad school at a college like MIT?
Will attending a bigger name school mean a bigger salary if I don’t go to grad school? X_X
Let me put it this way. My son graduated from Alabama, electrical engineering, after turning down Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, and others. High gpa, great resume, etc. Offers from 5 top defense companies. He was hired by Boeing for an elite top secret unit. He’s working with guys from Georgia Tech, Perdue, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Also guys from Missouri-Rolla, Tulsa, St.Louis, and Illinois Tech. Same job, same salary. You be the judge.
Yes, it will make a difference for grad school, but probably less than you think. As long as the program has a good reputation grad schools will be happy to accept you. With that in mind, customize your curriculum for grad school. That usually involves more math than is required for the UG degree and involvement in research. Many graduate engineering programs struggle to find well qualified American citizens , especially for Ph.D. tracks.
For careers it often mean internships and coop, so look into that as well. If the price difference is huge - like free tuition at UTD vs $40K/yr at GT, you will probably never make up the difference. A big scholarship is a very rational reason to attend a particular university, and engineers are very rational.
There’s always a lot of anecdotal evidence on college confidential about people’s experiences with their kid doing well at a lower tier school and then placing into a higher tier company and it always goes to show that it’s the student that matters more than the school. However, higher tier colleges, especially for engineering, do have much more pull for better companies but this is simply due to a higher average quality of their graduates versus lower tier competitors. All this means is that if you attend a lesser known school you will have to put in more work to make yourself stand out. You will not be barred from any of the opportunities that exist at higher tier schools (there’s only a few companies/industries that really care about school). When choosing an engineering college think about your return on investment by optimizing what school you are most likely to succeed at, graduate with the lowest debt, and has the “prestige.” A 3.5 at a lower tier school will get you into some great companies and grad school while a 2.5 at a “more prestigious” school is still a 2.5…your ship is sunk unfortunately (not probably going to get in somewhere good since most grad schools require a 3.0 at the minimum, usually 3.5+ for PhD).
TLDR: more prestigious schools are higher risk higher reward. Shoot for optimal point that minimizes debt and maximizes GPA/brand.
The main issue is that a lesser known school (particularly if the number of students in your major is small) may not attract much employer recruiting from non-local employers. You would have to be more aggressive in finding and applying to non-local employers.
You may want to find out from each school’s career center where graduates in your intended major go in terms of both employment and graduate school.
I would say that regardless of school, you should prepare to find jobs on your own anyway. Traditional campus recruiting has become less important. Nowadays, all applications are done on the companies’ websites, and initial interviews are by phone and video. It’s easy to search and apply for jobs locally or nationally. Companies have booths at campus fairs, but mainly to chat up their company and direct you to their website to apply. The ones more involved tend to be in the minority, usually local to that school and perhaps lesser known.
I think Jsteez sums it up. You need to excel no matter where you go. A high GPA and strong resume will open all doors for you no matter what accredited school you attend. A mediocre GPA or weak resume will sink you, even from a top school.
No. I’m a Commended Scholar, not a National Merit Finalist.
My parents aren’t sure where I should go (we’re all struggling with the prestige vs. money dilemma). They’re willing to help if needed, but it does put strain on the family budget.
I will second that GPA is most important for the vast majority of entry level engineering jobs. Although everyone shoots for the perceived top job, the reality is that most will work for a regular run of the mill company. No shame in that.
If you use the term reputation instead of prestige, I would say yes, reputation does matter. I know someone who got into a prestigious PhD engineering program despite a relatively low GPA (3.1) because the Ivy League undergrad school had a reputation for excellence and very high grading standards.
But one can argue that if the same student would have gone to a less selective/rigorous program, they could have maintained a higher GPA and might have made it to the same school for PhD.
So, at least to me, the question of whether a top undergrad program helps with a top PhD program admission (in engineering) remains unclear.
I’ve found that school reputation/prestige doesn’t much matter in engineering beyond your first job. After that, your experience and skills will be what count.
I disagree that on-campus recruiting is not important or less important. I study CS at Michigan (there is some overlap in CS and CE jobs since many people in CE decide they want to work in software anyway), and on-campus recruiting is definitely paramount - it is how you get your application considered! Most people I know received their internships at these top firms (Facebook, Google, Goldman Sachs, etc.) through OCR.
Of course. Engineering grads can get jobs from on campus recruiting as well as by doing online applications, networking,etc. . They will be working “alongside” each other, as will engineering graduates that come from many different schools (with differing levels of “prestige”). On campus recruiting still seems to be relevant on many campuses.
@yikesyikesyikes I think on campus is great way to make connections, & to find co-ops.
maybe you can network to future CS students. I know you’re in MI.
Survey: Do you think a CS should look at college with a special name (MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Ivy),
or do you think he should pick best Scholarship at a public school… and do networking via Interns, research,
Resumes?
I think it’s a tough call. I certainly think that graduate schools care where you went to undergrad. Those decisions are made by professors who want you to work for them, and great detailed recommendations from people that are known carry more weight than recommendations from lesser known professors.
I think that there are some jobs, like in my research department, where students have a distinct advantage if they have excelled at well respected schools.
So basically, if your ambition is to be exceptional, like if you want to go into research, then the top name schools can really make a difference. If you are average, you may as well go low cost.
Even in research, there are plenty of “low cost” schools that are well respected. Particularly state engineering schools heavy on research. High cost does not necessarily mean you are going to be exceptional or will be getting an exceptional education.
