<p>$15K/year is not bad, but how many faculty do they have in their physics department and what is there collaboration with other engineering departments? Going to any graduate school in engineering requires that the student evaluate not just placement, but size of program, related disciplines, partnership with industry and research papers published.</p>
<p>You want the ability to do good research for a graduate degree that is preferably original research, and you want the faculty fully funded for research through grants from govt, industry or the college itself. On top of that the faculty should have some decent publications. It doesn’t have to be an MIT or Cal Tech, but it should be solid.</p>