<p>I'm having issues finding a list of colleges to apply to. Although I am applying for engineering, I'm having trouble finding medium sized engineering schools that are good. Right now the best looks are Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and UPenn. Although I want it to have a good program, I also want to be able to have alot of fun while I am there which is why schools like MIT are not the list. I am also very interested in doing General Engineering. Any ideas for schools to apply to? Thanks!</p>
<p>The Rochester Institute of Technology has a generally underrated engineering department. On top of the rigorous academics (I’ll concede it isn’t Stanford level, but it’s pretty awesome), the co-op program is a HUGE leg up. Some will call me bold for this claim, but I believe a top 25% RIT engineer w/ solid co-ops has the initial earning potential of a lower-mid Ivy engineer.</p>
<p>OP, what do you consider medium size, and what do you consider fun? Those who actually go to MIT have a lot of fun, though maybe not the same as you seek. Also, what are your stats and budget? The schools you listed (and others suggested) may be perfect but may be out of reach or unaffordable for you. </p>
<p>@Poi–University of Rochester is good with merit money? Can you elaborate?</p>
<p>@Network–I don’t disagree with your bold claim. I also wonder why RIT seems to be underrated. Everything about it points to more respect than it gets around here. What do you think is the reason(s) for their “underratedness”?</p>
<p>I don’t want to hijack the thread, but to respond to Chardo: the fact that they don’t have enough PhD programs to be ranked as a national university doesn’t help. Also, they let in a lot of people who aren’t really cut out for the course work, which hurts their selectivity metrics and retention numbers [a LOT of people drop out or transfer to SUNY programs]. I think the idea is to squeeze out tuition dollars. And again, I won’t say that the raw academics compares to places like Standford/Northwestern/Ivies, but it’s certainly comparable engineering programs at places like Bucknell/WPI/Lehigh.</p>
The goal of getting thru an engineering education and having a lot of fun (in the sense most people mean of parties, leisure activities, etc) are incompatible. Those who get thru the training, and who later get ahead on the job, are those who find engineering and related activities to be fun. There is a reason that nationally only about 1/3 of those that start an engineering major finish it.</p>
<p>Fun as in going out to parties and stuff like that. Medium size is like 7,000-20,000 for me. Money isn’t an issue and getting into schools isn’t an issue either (not trying to sound like i’m bragging)</p>