<p>Where Duke civil engineers go after graduation</p>
<p>50% Engineering consulting services
8% Engineering grad school
8% Management grad school
8% Law School
8% Medical School
10% Other</p>
<p>Graduate Schools:
Stanford University
Georgetown University
Washington University
Duke University</p>
<p>Employers:</p>
<p>Skanska USA Building, Inc.
L.A. Feuss Partners
Keith & Schnars, PA
Black & Veatch
Delta Engineers
Thornton Thomasetti
Clark Construction Group
The Westly Group </p>
<p>[Where</a> do CEE students go? | Duke Civil and Environmental Engineering Department](<a href=“http://www.cee.duke.edu/cee-graduation-plans]Where”>http://www.cee.duke.edu/cee-graduation-plans)</p>
<p>Duke engineering is a more of a niche program as opposed to CMU with its large number of departments. The ranking is largely a result of research output and historic reputation of being a tech/engineering school. Since CMU’s school is so much bigger, it has more professors, more world-class research, more breakthroughs, etc. It’s name is out there more in the engineering world, showing up in prestigious engineering journals and the like. Duke, with only four departments, still attracts top notch faculty but in smaller numbers. Its research is also world-class but not as apparent since its on a smaller scale. But on a per capita basis for the student, it doesn’t meet anything as long as you’re interested in one of those four disciplines. It’s incredibly easy to get research positions as an undergrad at Duke in many different types of research fields. </p>
<p>CMU is a great school, don’t get me wrong. There would be nothing wrong with choosing it. However, I will guarantee you that the students at Pratt are higher quality from a stats standpoint than the CMU counterparts (who are also very accomplished). This is a reason for this; top students don’t choose a school ranked in the 30s over “higher ranked” schools for no reason (I chose it over Umich and IL, two supposedly higher ranked schools). Some of the reasons being more personalized attention, opportunity for research as an undergrad for everybody and not just the top of the class, top students in general, being a part of a larger liberal arts focused institution instead of a tech-heavy one, great business footprint and top firms recruiting, flexibility in curriculum, study abroad opportunities, etc. If you think there is a chance you might change from engineering as an undergrad (30% do…) or go into business/finance/consulting after graduation, I’d highly recommend Duke. If you are 100% committed to a particular field of engineering and enjoy being a part of a university known primarily for its tech fields, then CMU might be the better choice. (This is of course assuming they cost the same. I’d wait to see Duke’s financial aid as it very likely could be better than CMU’s. That could certainly tip the scale.) </p>
<p>You won’t be giving up huge engineering opportunities choosing Duke even though it’s ranked lower. I can assure you that. But it’s probably fair to say that CMU has more *engineering *firms recruiting on campus than Duke just because of the sheer number of students and number of departments. Duke engineers do very well with the management consulting firms though.</p>