I am a community college student getting ready to transfer schools next fall, but I have also been accepted to Purdue (Electrical Engineering) for the spring semester. If I stay at the community college there would only be two courses I need to finish, and I would rather be busier than that would make me. My question is should I go to Purdue spring, or apply to more schools in the fall and choose a slightly more prestigious one such as GTech or UMich? All would be out of state. I would like to pursue at least a masters after graduating, and would like to have a chance at top schools like Berkeley. Any advice is appreciated!
Purdue is a pretty exeptional engineering school I doubt the ones you mentioned are better or more prestigious undergraduate or graduate. Remember your audience is other engineers.
The first thing to ask is if you can afford those OOS schools when you are limited to a $7500 loan each year. Next, @TurnerT is correct that GT and UMich are no more prestigious in engineering than Purdue. I work with grads of each of them. And entry into masters programs are much more dependent on GRE, GPA and recommendations.
Purdue engineering is very highly regarded… an engineering degree from Purdue will NOT limit your grad school options at all.
Thanks for the responses! Why am I limited to 7.5k annually? I live in Florida so the only in-state school I am considering is UF, but I am not that big of a fan of their EE program.
Federal direct loans without a co-signer are limited to $7,500 for each of junior and senior years. Generally, more loans than that require a cosigner, which is not a good idea for either the student or cosigner in general.
What is wrong with UF?
Their EE program is ranked kind of low, 31st overall, and I was kind of wanting to get out of state. I also prefer the class sizes at Purdue to UF, at UF it seems like I would be lost in the mass. Is it just the cost bit that I should be considering? I haven’t heard back from Purdue with whether or not I will be getting any scholarships.
A ranking of 31 is NOT low. There are thousands of universities in the US. Do you think the EE curriculum is any different, say, between Berkeley and Florida? [It’s not.] The only difference is the students at Berkeley will be a bit more academically competitive, and you will have to work quite a bit harder to get that A. But the actual curriculum? Really no different.
And the difference between Purdue and Florida? Meh… not so different that you should go into significant debt.
31 is not exactly a low ranking.
You can check Purdue’s class sizes in its schedule. UF does not seem to list class sizes in its schedule, though.
With Florida’s common course numbering system, you are also more likely to know what courses will transfer for subject credit. For Purdue, you can check at https://selfservice.mypurdue.purdue.edu/prod/bzwtxcrd.p_select_info to see if your CC has its courses listed.
The above is spot on, but difficult for a 19-20 year sophomore to really appreciate. I went to CUNY-City College for my undergraduate engineering degree and went on to the University of Michigan Engineering Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, completing my MSE in 10-months (Fall/Spring/Summer A - [4/4/2-courses per semester]). CCNY prepared me well, in despite of the “low ranking” of its engineering program.
The Cost of Attendance at UF is ~$20.5K per year, while Purdue COA is ~$42K. UF will offer you the same (core courses)/similar undergraduate courses as Purdue and I doubt the class sizes will be any different once you start your EE courses. If you have excellent grades (+GRE scores) at UF, you can get into pretty much any graduate EE program. I think you should also take a closer look at UCF and USF engineering programs. What is your overall GPA at the CC you are attending?
Excellent point!! The State University System clearly shows all “Common Prerequisites” per major required to transfer from CC to their 4-year universities.
For engineering the gold standard is ABET accreditation. The UF EE program has been accredited since 1936.
http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=13&ProgramIDs=
Go there
My overall GPA is 4.0, but I think I may be looking at getting a B in calculus 2 which will bring it down:/ I am in all honors courses and Phi Theta Kappa though, I also have a paid mathematics tutoring position at the colleges math center. Would it be fair to say that the ABET accreditation is more important than repute at the undergraduate level? I really appreciate the responses! I am first gen so this is all a bit new and I don’t want to make a poor decision in this aspect! Will I really be able to stand out at UF? I was thinking that for graduate applications being in such a large student body might make it more difficult for me to differentiate myself. I am kind of seeing that the cost difference is more critical than repute. Is it at all relevant that me “dream job” would be at NASA? I thought UCF and USF would be less heavily recruited by NASA than other schools like UF and Purdue. Again thanks for the advice!
You’d be smart to stick with Purdue and finish your BSE there. You will have no disadvantage for grad school and save enough to pay for your masters.
OP is not currently at Purdue. OP is a student at a Florida community college considering various universities to transfer to. The various out-of-state public schools including Purdue are likely to be much more expensive than the Florida public schools at in-state prices.
This link is quite old (2003), but it indicates that NASA recruiting may be wider than you think:
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/recruit_feature.html
It does not look like a complete list, since there are known other campuses that NASA recruits at (e.g. UA Huntsville, which is near a NASA facility). You can also apply to NASA on your own:
http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/highered.asp
https://intern.nasa.gov/
You also can ask the career centers at each of the places on your list about where their engineering students get jobs and internships.
To answer your original questions, yes IMO your undergraduate school will matter for grad school admissions. That said, Purdue is widely respected for engineering.
It does, in my opinion. Purdue is a good school, though.