What engineering schools have unusually low placement/graduation rates and/or something bad like that?
Change of major, and drop out rates in engineering are high at many schools – as high as 50-60%, because it’s a tough major, and because many students lack the necessary math going into college.
What you should be looking for is accreditation (ABET) the types of engineering offered, internship opportunities, teacher-student ratio, and support services such as tutoring.
Graduation rates commonly track admission selectivity.
Engineering retention rates are a subject of much discussion and research. In the 1980’s there was lots of criticism of engineering education. Reform started in the 1990’s. Retention does not always track admissions selectivity, but strength of math and physics background (which tends to correlate with selectivity) is an important factor.
An odd comment, since there are 23 Cal State campuses of varying admission selectivity. Also, STEM is a very broad category of majors which have different characteristics in terms of student retention.
Berkeley engineering does retain about 80% of engineering frosh to graduation as engineering majors.
@Mastadon Very interesting article. I think the kids in the less competitive programs are experiencing more rewards for their efforts, which encourages them to keep going and gives them positive associations with studying.
Resilience is a huge predictor of success in general and certainly so in STEM fields. How does a student respond when they make a C or D on their first Chem test? How do they respond if they fall behind on assignments? Do they did deep or give up? Will a student get up on a cold, icy morning to sit through a boring physics lecture? Will they have a tough break-up or rough night and get up the next day, attend class, and go study?
The correlation between SAT midpoint and graduation rates at the 30 schools with the highest percentage of engineering grads is very high, +.82. This is for the entire graduating class at places like MIT and Caltech, not just for the engineering students. I know the grad rate specifically for engineering students at Cornell was about 95%.
To be honest, I would steer clear of programs like Univ of Washington where you have to attend for 2 years then apply to the engineering school and hope and pray they admit you or you are stuck applying again the following year or need to transfer to another school.
So find out specifically what is needed to be accepted to the Engineering program you want after you have completed the basic prereqs.
At my son’s school, they simply declared their major at the end of Soph year. No angst.
Seconding @Lakemom, I would focus on engineering schools that admit directly to the major. They are more competitive but if you are pre engineering and have to fight to declare then it puts more stress on you since you may not make the gpa min.
^^^^^^ Finally. For those who pay out of state tuition, it was a real turn off.
That’s half admitted direct to college and not direct to major. Sure some of the other 50% will be transfers, but probably only 10% or so of the total. There’s NO doubt that UW is a good program IF you get the major you want. I’d still be leary under the new paradigm. There are simply too many equivalent options that don’t include that risk.
It may need a few years to see whether all or almost all Washington Direct to College (of Engineering) admits get their first choice majors, and, if any majors are competitive for Direct to College students, how competitive those majors are.
The likely effect is that competition to enter engineering majors will be lower (or nonexistent for some majors) for Direct to College students than it was under the old free-for-all system, but higher for those who enter the school without Direct to College.
However, this new system does not seem conceptually different from what is done at schools like Purdue, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Texas A&M, Minnesota, and probably some others, where students may be admitted into a designated pre-engineering status where entrance to an engineering major is basically assured if one passes the frosh-level courses, but some popular majors may be competitive, so that entrance to one’s first choice major is not assured.
“To be honest, I would steer clear of programs like Univ of Washington where you have to attend for 2 years then apply to the engineering school and hope and pray they admit you or you are stuck applying again the following year or need to transfer to another school”
They’re changing this
@BrendanG, yes and no. That’s the link listed in #10 above. It’s direct to college, not major though, for 50% of the applicants. I still think most of @Lakemom’s quote is pretty relevant. #13 sums up the new status pretty well.
14: Correct.
OP, you’ll notice no one is providing you with a list of schools to “avoid”. That’s because statistics are not fate or destiny.
Graduation stats have more to do with how selective is the school, and really, nothing about how one individual will perform.
Louisiana Tech has a 52% graduation rate, but if you’re capably of handling an engineering course load, you will graduate. At less selective schools, you get more students “trying” engineering, that end up not willing to do the work, transfer to another school, or find it’s not really for them (Calc? Blah!).
Job placement? As a rule, it’s decent at any ABET accredited program. More selective schools will open up more opportunities (the schools are better recruited by national firms, while smaller programs will be recruited more by local/state companies), but once you’ve been working in the industry for a few years, that advantage will be less noticeable.
One additional consideration is going to a school that is in a city that you are willing/interested in staying in. Local companies tend to contact a local school’s career center looking for engineering students for internships and jobs. Reason being sort of obvious, they don’t have to relocate you nor feel any responsibility in relocating you.
Top students can get internships all the country but regular students may find more luck in seeking internships in the surrounding area of their school So I guess avoid a school that is located someplace you don’t see yourself staying in, even temporarily, after graduation.
Trying to help my son navigate these choices. In at WPI ($$ even with merit), in at Montana State U (nice $ option and they are not crowded - no competition for major) and in at UW direct to engineering where he wants to study comp engineering. UW has higher status but leary of the competition for major aspect. We are in Washington. Still waiting on U Minnesota Twin Cities and Harvey Mudd (reach school). Thoughts on how to compare?