Engineering department/major insight

Does anyone who is or has a current Clemson engineering student, or an alumni, have any insight to the College of Engineering? Son loves Clemson campus and the vibe, but is also looking at a completely different school in the midwest with a higher rated engineering program in an urban setting.
Would love to hear about opportunities with internships/co-ops/job placement?
Pros AND cons welcome and appreciated.

I am also interested in responses. @mommamo1 Our situation seems similar to yours, only between UF and Clemson. Son really likes Clemson but thinks UF may be better academically. I am interested to see what we learn at Tiger Engineering Day on 4/5. Were you able to get your son into this event? We just went to UF Engineering Day and it was nothing like the regular tours. It was very informative.

@xn3mom Definitely similar. Ours is with Ohio State vs Clemson. From our research, yes, UF and OSU are ranked higher academically as is their engineering departments specifically. Unfortunately, all engineering Tigertown Bound days were booked solid when he received his acceptance. Confused as to why they would not have enough space for accepted students ???
However, he did just attend an engineering information session today along with a self guided tour of the engineering buildings.

He was able to attend a “Buckeye Bound” event at OSU with engineering specific sessions and he was blown away. Right now, Clemson hasn’t met that standard for him. He loves the campus, the south and the vibe of Clemson so that is making it a difficult decision.

Folks I would say don’t over think this thing. All the school mentioned have great engineering schools. The difference between the 45th and 55th ranked engineering school is not going to mean a hill of beans when they graduate from college.

A good student from FU or OSU or Clemson is going to get a good job or into a good graduate school from any of those colleges.

At this level of schools and students, I think they just need to find which “college” based on size, location and campus vibe they feel most somfortable with…

@mommamo1 I’ll let you know our thoughts after Tiger Day.

One other thing I would mention is that I have seen in other threads that even if an admitted students day is full, if your student want to meet with a particular school within the university they will make that happen and often it is a more meaningful visit than a regular admitted students event. So you might reach out to admissions/the engineering school and see what you can set up.

Yes, I did that immediately when we couldn’t get him in. He attended an information session and was able to tour the buildings and chat with the head of recruitment for engineering admissions. It was extremely beneficial for him. However, there is something to be said for “feeling the love” from a potential school and getting hyped up at a day just for accepted students. He got that feeling from the other front runner. While this is our first run through in the whole college admissions process, I can’t help but be disappointed that they didn’t allow for enough space for a good percentage of admitted students in one of their most popular majors. Also, he’d applied in September, so he heard back by 2/15. Anyone after that was out of luck, too. Do you see where I am coming from?

@mommamo1 I sure do see where you are coming from. Another likely problem with Clemson admitted students days are with all the SC kids admitted who can drive there in an hour or two I’m sure that fills them up quicker. However you are correct that a university the size of Clemson should be able to figure out the proper “yield” for admitted students days so there are plenty of spots.

@burghdad stated perfectly!!!

I agree with @burghdad about not overthinking the rankings etc. Have your student decide where they want to live and spend four years.

Also, these Accepted Students days by major are new as of this year. It hasn’t really been something big before so I’m sure they’ll figure it out soon. They didn’t have them for my sophomore (well, i think there was a small one) and we didn’t see the need to attend for my freshman (and we live very nearby) since it was a repeat of a lot of information and my daughter’s decision was made. It’s a very fun day on campus of course, great for those who haven’t seen the campus, nice to see a future cohort, but it’s also just fine not to attend as well.