Hi everybody! I’m a high school senior and I plan to study engineering in college. Right now I’m thinking either mechanical or chemical, possibly with a minor in computer science. My question is, how good is Harvard’s engineering program? I was doing research and it looks like they only have one ABET-accredited program which is just general Engineering Sciences, with various tracks. Harvard also never ranks in the top 10-15 engineering programs. However, obviously Harvard is a great school with great liberal arts and I love Boston and the Harvard feel. My question is, do you think I should pick Harvard for the name/community/ambiance, or a better engineering school such as Carnegie Mellon for it’s higher ranked engineering program.
Harvard is not a serious choice for a serious engineering major. Obvious question: have you looked at MIT? MIT has a strong liberal education as well as science and engineering. There are several colleges that have both engineering and liberal arts programs. Don’t think Harvard is a good choice.
When my older son expressed an interest in going to Harvard for engineering, my brother, now a retired engineer for a Fortune 50 company, told him to go to his second choice school - our state flagship, which has a very good engineering school. Engineers don’t come from Harvard was his basic message. My understanding is that most engineering concentrators at Harvard don’t wind up actually doing engineering. If what you really, really want to do is be a working engineer, someplace like Carnegie Mellon may be better.
However, in my son’s case, his other interest was in the classics. After a year, it became clear that he belonged in the classics, and that he didn’t really like the curriculum associated with engineering. So, it’s a good thing he went to Harvard.
Thus, an important question you need to ask - how committed are you to a career in engineering?
If you are sure you want to do engineering, CMU is an excellent choice. While you are there you can branch out into one of the many, excellent sub-specialties they have, but that is up to you. By the way, I am a CMU alum but I’ve been out long enough that maybe my bias doesn’t show that much! By the way, the emoticon was invented by a CMU CS professor (Scott Fahlman). Best of luck to you.
Why oh why ?!? When you have the most renowed technical school in the world in Cambridge, why even consider Harvard? Are you a legacy there? And MIT has lot of coverage in other areas of Humanities and Social Sciences as well.
Btw, I agree with @notjoe that many engineering concentrators do not end up being engineers. Many wind up being entrepreneurs or going to professional schools (Business, Medicine or even Law). Harvard is a great place to be if you aren’t 100% sure you want to work as an engineer later on - but even if you do, you will still have great opportunities to find a job or go on to graduate school.
Following up on @notjoe, we just finished a week of college tours and met kids every school who had started out in one major and ended up in another major, sometimes after an interim major or two. We also met a lovely engineering major at Brown (also not an engineering school the way that CMU is) who was deciding between MIT and Stanford for graduate school. So I guess I would give some thought to the overall academic and social environments.
I will point out that, according to US News, Harvard has the 20th best graduate engineering program. Not MIT, but still quite good. For undergrad programs, US News ranks the Harvard program 23rd.
However, the Harvard program has the 5th best Return on Investment over 30 years. That means that, given what the school costs, Harvard engineering grads earn much higher than average over a lifetime.:
Although you haven’t explicitly stated this, from the way you posed your question, it seems as if you may have already been admitted to Harvard and CMU, and are now trying to decide between the two.
You asked if you should pick Harvard for the name/community/ambiance or CMU for the better engineering program.
My feeling is this:
You should pick Harvard.
Not for the name or the ambiance, though.
First, you’re young. You think you like engineering now, but you could take your first engineering class and hate it. At Harvard it’s easy to change majors, and almost any other department you choose will be world class. That won’t be the case at CMU.
Second, Harvard has a great CS department (the main CS building was built by Bill Gates!) You said CS was a minor you were considering.
Third, MIT and Harvard have full cross registration. So, if there is something you really want to take that Harvard doesn’t have, MIT is right down the street.
Fourth, MIT is right down the street. Proximity means a lot. You could easily get a summer internship or job at MIT.
Fifth, Harvard has a better alumni network.
Sixth: The caliber of student of student you’ll find at Harvard overall will be much higher than at CMU (although CMU is a great school.)
I think the only reason you might pick CMU over Harvard is if you have been dreaming of being an electrical engineer since you were 8 years old and absolutely nothing else in the world would make you happy.
I unfortunately did not get in to Harvard, making this choice much easier! Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so hasty to assume likelihood of admission; anyway, I’m currently in the process of deciding between CMU and a couple state schools. Thanks everyone for all your helpful comments and good luck to any seniors out there still waiting for their decisions!
Congratulations on your wonderful acceptances! For those still interested in engineering at Harvard, I’ll pass along a little information about my son’s experiences. As of next year, both EE and mechanical engineering will be ABET certified along with engineering sciences. S is doing the ABET certified BS, but a non-ABET BA is also an option.
The coursework now follows ABET requirements, so the depth and breadth classes are the same at Harvard as at other colleges. One perceived negative about engineering at Harvard is probably the gen ed requirement. Engineering concentrators must take the same number of gen eds (8) as other concentrators, so along with 20 engineering requirements, it’s a packed schedule. For those students who don’t come in with a solid preparation in math and physics, it’s probably close to impossible to complete in 8 semesters.
My son has been taking 5-6 classes per term to allow more room in his schedule. That said, he’s enjoyed the gen eds and it’s obvious to me that the liberal education he’s receiving is fantastic in many ways. Rather than a technician, he’s becoming a truly well-educated young man who is interested in many things other than just a narrow focus. Engineering concentrators at Harvard tend to be entrepreneurial in nature and more interested in the application of new technology rather than designing specific bits and pieces. Many go into finance or on to business school, but they want the rigor and discipline of engineering because it sets them apart from other majors.
S has also said that all of his engineering professors so far have been fantastic - really interesting and great teachers. He had a hard time choosing between Harvard and more engineering-specific schools, but now he’s very happy that he chose Harvard because he’s not limited to a narrow, highly technical area.
Thanks for that great report “from the field,” so to speak. I know that Harvard has been working hard to upgrade their engineering. When my son started there in the fall of 2012, these efforts were already well underway. It’s one of the things that made him decide for Harvard.
In the end, it didn’t matter, as he’s a classics concentrator, now, but if he’d have continued in engineering, I believe it would have been the right choice, for many of the reasons provided by both you and @GregB77777.
By the way, the emoticon was invented by a CMU CS professor (Scott Fahlman). Best of luck to you.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so hasty to assume likelihood of admission; anyway, I’m currently in the process of deciding between CMU and a couple state schools. Thanks everyone for all your helpful comments and good luck to any seniors out there still waiting for their decisions!