Does your undergraduate institution matter when applying for graduate programs?

[Jamrock411]

@harvard<em>and</em>berkeley

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.

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?

@ucbalumnus

With Florida’s common course numbering system, you are also more likely to know what courses will transfer for subject credit.

Excellent point!! The State University System clearly shows all “Common Prerequisites” per major required to transfer from CC to their 4-year universities.