Engineering hiring is generally regarded as less ranking-conscious than other fields (e.g. consulting and Wall Street). However, on-campus recruiting often has some local preference due to convenience.
@ucbalumnus is absolutely correct here, hiring for engineering from a state flagship is going to be entirely based on GPA. The engineering curriculum is almost equivalent across most of your schools so paying OOS tuition to go to a higher ranked engineering school is a waste of money, use it for grad school. PSU honors program is the right answer.
But is hiring regional? What if I went to Penn State and then would I have to get a job in PA or the surrounding states?
Also, with the statements you guys made, choices between schools should be made mostly upon preference, like umtc vs. umd and asu vs. psu
My internship, which I obtained through the school, was 600+ miles from home. I recently interviewed for a full-time position 1400+ miles from home.
If this is the case, why do so many people in fields other than business always try to get into the top school they can? Is it because of the prestige? and it is worth it if you have the financial backing?
I’m still skeptical about PSU and even Purdue, I’d really like to live on the east/west coast, and I don’t know what would be the best option to take me there. I know Purdue was a good international reputation, but does that mean I will get job opportunities near there?
@bodangles Do you have freedom over your job location generally or were you an exception?
You’re limited by the market – it’s not like you’ll be able to specify “I want this perfect job that fulfills all of my preferences in this specific city” and expect it to materialize – but many employers recruiting here are national and do have locations, even headquarters, in places other than PA.
I would have preferred to intern closer to home, but you get whatever offers you get, so I went to the far location and it was a real learning experience.
@bodangles
that is good to know.
I keep on revising, changing my list in my excel doc, but can not make up my mind. I’m trying to narrow it down to 10 schools, is that a good number? Every time I remove a school I think I am wasting an opportunity. Every time I consider removing schools like UT Austin, I’m hesitant to remove a top 10 school for EE in a location I want, but still, fit the requirements. Heres my ‘uncondensed’ list
Cornell University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
University of Illinois—Urbana Champaign
University of Texas—Austin
University of Southern California
University of Notre Dame
University of Minnesota—Twin Cities
Purdue University—West Lafayette
University of Maryland—College Park
Boston University
Penn State University—University Park
Virginia Tech
Arizona State University
Can anyone help me narrow this down? Should I remove some of the state flagships? I think ASU is a solid safety, so the reach/match is free to change. Are any schools out of my league, where it would be not in my interest to devote time to rather than a more reasonable school?
Sorry I’m being so indecisive and prolonging this thread, I appreciate all the help previously given, thank you.
How are you choosing these schools? Is it ranking? You can’t get into some of these on just stats. You need EC, great essays etc. Do you have top notch ECs? I would really consider one of the PIs RPI or WPI. For WPI you get a very hands on project based robotics experience with trimesters that the students like. I don’t know why you’d pick Northeastern or BU over it for robotics.
You would not have to get a job in a nearby area, unless it were the only one offered. However, you will see a larger number of recruiters from PA and nearby states at Penn State (and Pittsburgh), because some smaller or regional employers may not bother to travel to distant colleges to recruit. If you attend Arizona State, you may see more recruiters from employers in AZ and that region, but fewer from the PA area. Large national employers may recruit at schools all over the country.
You need to compare these universities on other things than rankings as they’re different in culture, location, etc. USC and Notre Dame, there may not be two different environments than South Bend and LA. That being said, I’d remove BU and Va Tech for starters, then pick one of Minn/Maryland and one of ND/USC to get down to ten.
Have you thought of Case Western?
I don’t have many EC’s but the ones I do have I am passionate about. I played varsity tennis all 3 years so far of high school. I do VEX robotics and have gone to the worlds semi-finals, nationals finals. I also do NHS, TSA (national for 2 years, about to be 3, 1st place at states both years). I also do volunteer work at Team Children and have been for a good amount of time. We refurbish/repair computers and sell them at low prices to people who can’t afford them.
Of these, I feel that Vex sells me the most. Shows interest in the field, and shows I put an immense amount of time and hard work into it, to be a semi-finalist at worlds. If you’re not aware of what Vex is, VRC Vex Robotics Competition is a well-known robotics competition (I think). The worlds conference is streamed to ESPN.
@gearmom If I’m majoring in electrical engineering and go to WPI, how would I then do robotics then? Would I do a focus in robotics? Or is there an actual major for robotics?
@bopper
I’ve thought of it, but have not been able to sell it as a school worth applying to. Are there any reasons, in particular, you suggested it?
@theloniusmonk
Any reasons on why to remove VTech? It seems like a good school for the requirements to get in.
@gearmom
I am currently making my list off of forum posts on Reddit, CC, Quora to compare people with similar questions to mine. Then I do research on the location/ranking of the school and add it if it seems like a good fit. Is there a better way to do this? I tried a college match website but those end up naming like 20 schools and the ones they recommend are almost never appealing
VT, Penn State, Purdue, and Cornell are all in smallish towns (40,000 to 50,000); since you prefer a more urban location, are these ok? UIUC is in two towns that are somewhat over 100,000 combined, but still not exactly big city.
@ucbalumnus Even though location is important to me, I’d rather have priority on education. I might be switching out penn state to pitt to match my wants. Cornell is the only ivy I want to apply to, so I want to keep that on the list, same with Purdue. VT seems like it should go.
@Engineer551 WPI is one of the few schools that offers a BS in Robotics Engineering. Often, when people tell you that a school has a good robotics program, they really are basing it on rankings from graduate programs. WPI is a very different school; very hands on, with off-site programs being an integral part of the undergraduate experience. It also has four 7-week terms, which is a very different model than most schools. It may or may not be a fit for you, but I think worth taking a look at. Good luck!
I’m not sure if I can ask follow up questions like this that are not pertinent to the thread, but if I wanted to go to grad school how would that work? Would I quit my job?
I am asking because if I chose to go to UCLA for example because I could get a small advantage in terms of local recruiting, would that not matter if I went to grad school as I would have to leave?
Also another thing regarding the pay, I’m hearing from a lot of people and reading online that finance pays more than engineering, generally. Can people offer both sides? I thought that a finance degree was weaker than an engineering one, and that I could pursue an MBA later or something if I decided.
Elite finance (e.g. major investment banking type jobs) can pay much more, but typical finance probably not.
If you are employed, typical grad school options are to do full time study (leaving the job) or part time study at a local university while staying in your job.
I’ve spent some time and edited my list. This time, I got my naviance login and could eliminate some schools that had close to impossible chances from my school, despite high scores. There were also some schools (UCLA, 30%) that had unusually high acceptance rates
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of Illinois—Urbana Champaign
University of Texas—Austin
Purdue University—West Lafayette
Penn State University (Honors)
University of Minnesota—Twin Cities
University of Pittsburgh
I appreciate any suggestions or feedback
Thank you!