<p>My son and I attended an information session in our local area last night and he left with an extremely positive impression of the school. Based on what he heard last night, he feels that WashU would be a great fit for him. We regret having not found the time to visit the campus this past summer and now are not sure we can arrange a trip before he applies. </p>
<p>We knew beforehand it was one of the top-tier universities overall, but the Engineering school seemed to get unnoticed when compared to Engineering schools at other universities. Their USNWR ranking at 40 is very respectable, but not ranked as high as some of the other departments. He is interested in Mechanical Engineering.</p>
<p>Here are some of his questions:</p>
<p>Do Engineering firms actively recruit Engineering students on campus for intern/regular jobs?</p>
<p>Have recent (Mechanical) Engineering graduates done as well landing jobs as graduates from other Engineering schools, from what you can tell?</p>
<p>What will the new Engineering quad have in the way of facilities and/or extra space, that they don't have currently?</p>
<p>Is there any sense that their Engineering department will rise in national ranking or be considered one of the "up and coming" E-schools in the near future?</p>
<p>Any information you can share about the strengths and weaknesses of WashU's Engineering school would be greatly appreciated. My son looks forward to gaining greater insight into WashU's Engineering opportunites, from the CC perspective. </p>
<p>Wash U is a great school, so no matter how the engineering school is ranked, you can still be sure that the quality of the education your son would receive here is outstanding. I’m majoring in mechanical engineering and will offer my brief input in the time I have before I must leave for an exam:</p>
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I know that Wash U’s engineering office (located in Lopata 303) works very actively, setting up internships/co-ops with engineering and other firms. The engineering office is a very valuable resource that will help your son if he plans to look for a job or internship.</p>
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While I cannot provide any statistics at this time, I see no reason why Wash U graduates should have any difficulty in landing jobs. Although Wash U might not have quite as much uniform name recognition across the country as other schools like Princeton and Yale, anyone responsible for recruitment at an engineering firm certainly knows of Wash U and its extraordinary programs across all disciplines.</p>
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I don’t know what the new engineering facilities will offer that is currently not available, but I can assure you that I have seen building plans and the whole operation looks very impressive. Whitaker Hall is (I believe) the engineering school’s newest addition and it is a great facility. I’m sure the other buildings that are currently or soon to be under construction will be an excellent addition to the university and the school of engineering. I’ll bet you can also find more detailed information about the project on [Washington</a> University in St. Louis](<a href=“http://www.wustl.edu%5DWashington”>http://www.wustl.edu).</p>
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As Wash U rises in prominence, I’m sure it will work even harder than it does now to improve its engineering school so that it may someday have a comparable rank to Wash U’s overall rank, according to USNWR.</p>
<p>I can speak positively about the engineering department here and about Wash U as a whole, and I encourage your son to continue exploring Wash U as a potential home for the next four years.</p>
<p>RaVNzCRoFT, Thank you so much for your reply to my post. I will make sure to pass on your comments to my son’s questions when he returns from school today. Good luck with your studies and enjoy the remainder of your college experience!</p>
<p>Whitaker is not the newest. Whitaker is actually over a decade old.
Brauer is the newest, as it was just opened for use this semester. Green should be done by next fall.</p>
<p>I’m an EE, and I can tell you that the engineering school is ridiculously supportive, especially my department.<br>
If you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to answer. But essentially, wustl is just full of win.</p>
<p>I kind of assumed that since the university seems to be expanding east past Brookings, Earth & Planetary Sciences would have come first, then Whitaker, Brauer, Green, etc.</p>
<p>Just wanted to voice my support for the Engineering school! I’m a sophomore chemical engineering major, and have absolutely loved the supportive community that my fellow ChemE majors have formed. I like to think that’s part of what sets the engineering culture at WashU apart from other top-tier engineering programs. A quick anecdote: we had a couple of difficult problem sets due this week, and there were at least 5-10 of us working on the sets together at any given time on Sunday and Monday night this past week (they were due Tuesday). </p>
<p>Another note: I chose engineering at WashU because I sought out a school with a strong engineering program but also a strong liberal arts program because I was interested in interacting with bright and vivacious students from all sorts of academic divisions. I’m certainly glad I made that a part of my decision process, because I recently decided to undertake a second degree in psychology. At since I’m at WashU, I’ll be lucky enough to be a student in a top-tier engineering program AND a top-tier psychology program; not something you can say about many schools.</p>