<p>In my husband’s department (Big 10 school, top 10 in their area) they have to rely on self-reporting by the new grads. While they have a number, I’m not sure you can rely on it being 100% accurate.</p>
<p>Every school I know of self-reports. The surveys tend to be pretty accurate for categorical factors like if the student is employed and how the student found the job, especially when completion of the report is required for graduation. </p>
<p>The 6-month after graduation surveys are more problematic. They’re mailed to students and tend to have a low response rate. The students that do respond tend to be the ones that want to brag.</p>
<p>You might also want to see if they have histories of where students have gone to work in the last X many years. Some schools even break it up by geographical region, so you can find out how regional recruiting at a school is (or if there seems to be a preference for where grads migrate to after graduating).</p>
<p>Linymom, if you go visit CMU you should also go see Univ of Pitt. I believe they were just given a sizable amount of money for their engineering school.</p>
<p>I want to thank the other professionals posting for their input about one of the questions I have had about rankings. I think however, one must weigh other variables about what they want in a college experience as well as how good the school is looked upon in the area of engineering. Size of the school, STEM environment versus rounded one and who can say whether a student who starts on one coast won’t decide later to move to the other.</p>
<p>Lakemom: Yes, I’ve heard that UPitt is worth a visit too. They are right next to each other from what I understand… we’ll see what we can do… Also, you are on target with your second paragraph.</p>
<p>Not everyone can get into or pay for MIT, Cornell, Hopkins, CMU, etc. Need a range of options. Thanks for all the input here.</p>
<p>Just to let you know, if your son is a good student and money is a concern, the top schools might not actually be a bad deal. My family definitely didn’t have the money to pay for CMU, but thankfully they were willing to match a financial aid offer I got from a slightly lower ranked peer institution. It’s definitely not a bad idea to cast a wide net and see who comes back with a good offer, then try to show that offer to anyone else that accepted him.</p>
<p>(Also, I saw you mention Jewish neighborhoods, and CMU’s actually right down the road from a rather sizable one called Squirrel Hill. I used to get really bad looks for buying matzoh and a pork butt at the same time. :()</p>
<p>Hi all- excellent information on this thread. Senior daughter looking at Ga Tech but has some concerns about location (primarily that it is close to home), and difficulty maintaining a high GPA(she is a top student - I think the reputation scares her though). She wants to look at other engineering schools but will need great financial aid to make it happen. Any thoughts on best ones for most generous aid?
From my perspective, it would be hard to turn down a full tuition ride (in state) at a very top engineering school to go elsewhere. BanjoHitter - If you’re in the Atlanta area, perhaps you could speak to GaTech’s recruiting stats? Thanks</p>
<p>to: ClassicRockerDad - i was interested to see you mention Cornell and Northeastern as I have a son at each university for Engineering! The one at Northeastern did not choose the school for its ranking in Engineering - I don’t even know what it is. He chose it mainly for the COOP program. Is Northeastern’s Engineering highly respected??? Of course, having two sons in different schools in the same major - makes me compare the two. Cornell is extremely difficult to get A’s - and the one at Northeastern is only a freshman, so I don’t know yet. The one at Cornell had a 3.5 last year, but it will probably go down this semester. He might even get a C (gasp!) or two - and is working his but off! Do you think GPA is extremely important? What are chances of employment out of college with only a 3.0 (or God forbid even lower?)</p>
<p>Even though this is a little off-topic, I want to defend my alma mater. Here’s its CS placement report. Nothing to scoff at.</p>
<p>[Placement</a> Report](<a href=“http://www.cs.cornell.edu/ugrad/cscareers/PlacementReport/2010PlacementReport/index.htm]Placement”>2010 Placement Report | Department of Computer Science)</p>
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<p>Yes. We hire many of our Northeastern coops. I think Coops are a great way to get some perspective on real-world engineering that can provide synergy back in the class room. It also provides some maturity. We also get to try before we buy, which I love :-). A few years back I hired a Northeastern BS who got great experience at another company. </p>
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For a highly technical position, it’s important, but it’s more important to do well in the areas that you want to work in. I can deal with someone who got Cs in subjects unrelated to what I do but got As in our area. </p>
<p>It’s also important to work on projects and to understand everything about those projects even parts other team members worked on so you can talk about them in an interview. Curiosity is a valuable attribute in an engineer. I love it when I interview someone and they can teach me something from what they did. I like to ask a lot of “why did you do it this way?” questions. When the conversation ends with “well, I didn’t work on that part” or “because my advisor said so”, it’s a turnoff and shows a lack of curiosity. </p>
<p>For other less technical positions, it matters less. A 3.0 from Cornell is not bad and should be highly employable, at least in EE, which is what I know. There will be plenty of recruiters going to Cornell.</p>
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<p>They’re absolutely outstanding. As we discussed in another thread, all of the top name companies come to GT. Not only do you have the top oil and gas, aerospace, programming, manufacturing, etc. companies on campus, but you have the high prestige employers as well (investment banks, management consulting, venture capital, hedge funds, GE management training, Google, etc). The opportunities coming out of Tech are very hard to find at any other school, even the other top engineering schools other than Berkeley, MIT, Stanford, and Michigan. To put it another way, the top students out of GT compete for the same jobs as the top MIT and Harvard students. </p>
<p>That said, Tech has a lot of opportunity but it’s a big school meaning that there’s a lot of competition for those jobs. If you’re in the top 10% of the class, the really high salary / high impact positions are open to you. If you’re in the top 30% or so, there are some really good positions but those very top positions are out of reach (where as top 30% at MIT still have those opportunities). The top 50% will have multiple job offers and find a position with a very competitive salary at a nationally respected company. The top 75% will find a job but can’t be as picky. The bottom 25% will probably not find a job at graduation unless they work exceptionally hard identifying opportunities.</p>
<p>Honestly, I think it’s insane to give up a free ride to GT unless it’s for a very exceptional school like Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks RockerDad! What is your take on Industrial Engineering at Northeastern? He seems drawn to that because he originally was interested in Business - but yet he wanted a science/technical background. Do many companies find use for Industrial engineers?</p>
<p>Typical post by BanjoHitter. As if Google and other engineering companies do not hold career fairs at like 80 other schools. </p>
<p>" The opportunities coming out of Tech are very hard to find at any other school, even the other top engineering schools other than Berkeley, MIT, Stanford, and Michigan."</p>
<p>Substantiate that with some kind of facts.</p>
<p>Ive been to several schools including top 100 and a top 10 engineering school. Some recommendations are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Get the job fair attendance lists from the engineering school at the university youre considering for the last couple semesters. You’ll probably find they vary a great deal between schools. Some will have a few hundred employers competing for students … others will have students competing for less than 50 available employers. You can also get a sense of the quality of employers by looking at the lists. If they dont have attendance lists for review at all…run.</p></li>
<li><p>Get the employment salary survey results for the last few years. You’ll probably find these vary a great deal as well. A low response rate is concerning but could be caused by less of a focus on surveys. Look at salaries as those vary a ton (look at both internship pay and after grad pay).</p></li>
<li><p>Check to see if the school has basic facilities for students general use like a decent engineering library. Check that people use it. If they have one library for everyone then I would take that as a possible warning.</p></li>
<li><p>Take a look at the student population… do they seem likable and at least semi serious?..a good portion should look busy :)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I am new to CC and found this thread really interesting. My DD is a junior now and is interested in Engineering and is into Robotics club at highschool. That’s her passion. I am curious what schools your DS decided to apply.</p>