<p>My daugher wants to major in engineering and we are having the discussion whether its better to get undergrad at state school w great engineering program then private school for masters. For example Ohio State or Purdue for undergrad, MIT or Stanford or Carnegie Mellon for masters?? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Go to a school, public or private, where you can get the MS in 5 years. This is often difficult to do if you attend 1 school for undergrad and then another for the MS. One year of extra schooling costs $60K in lost wages alone! </p>
<p>If I was advising my kid it would be to go to a school with a strong engineering program, since those that hire engineers know what schools are good. You can often infer this info by looking at who recruits on campus, although there does tend to be some regional bias.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to predict anything about your D, but keep in mind that nationwide from 1/2 to 2/3rds of those that start in engineering end up switching out. So another consideration probably should be what is plan B if she decides engineering isn’t right for her.</p>
<p>Thanks
mikemac</p>
<p>Many state universities have good engineering degree programs. However, the out of state ones may not have much need-based financial aid compared to in-state ones and the wealthiest private ones.</p>
<p>Don’t assume that there will necessarily even be graduate school in the picture at the end of your daughter’s undergraduate studies. There are a lot of variables here to consider. She may or may not stick with engineering. She may or may not have the grades for graduate school. She may or may not be interested in doing more schooling after four years of engineering.</p>
<p>My advice is always that someone should go to an undergraduate program that gives them the opportunity to get a job they will be happy with after earning their BS. If after that it turns out she still wants to get a graduate degree, that is wonderful, but there is no use taking the chance. That said, some of the greatest engineering schools around are public schools, so it isn’t like you have to break the bank to get an excellent engineering education. Going to Purdue, for example, is absolutely top-notch. I would even argue that for most people, places like MIT and Caltech are pretty horrible undergraduate schools and they are best utilized for their graduate programs (this is based on my experience with folks who did one or the other or both at each of those schools).</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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<p>can you tell us why these top schools are horrible for the undergraduate level?</p>
<p>Boneh - You say Purdue is top-notch. MY DS got into both Georgia Tech and Purdue. However Georgia Tech is in state with the Zell Miller scholarship(free tuition) and OOS at Purdue he was offered a 10,000/year scholarship. So Purdue is 29,000 plus books and GT is 11,600 plus books. In your opinion is Purdue worth the extra money?</p>
<p>Would you guys say that cornell is a good engineering school? I have heard a few of my friends call it a humanities and law school, but I always thought it was a highly merited engineering school. How does it compare to Columbia university? Thanks for your opinions guys.</p>
<p>Bullride -
please post your questions in a separate thread. What you did is called High-jacking on CC ;)</p>
<p>In some engineering disciplines many students find it hard to turn down high-paying jobs in order to attend grad school. At my son’s school, they advised kids interested in the 5-year Master’s program to apply to the program and then just withdraw their application if the lure of employment is too great. Also, many companies will pay for you to finish your Master’s on a part-time basis. So that is also an attractive option for some.</p>
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<p>Well, I have a number of friends and colleagues who did their undergraduate work at MIT and Caltech and I work pretty closely with a group at Caltech doing their graduate work there. Every friend of mine except one who did their undergrad at one of those places has said they didn’t really like their respective school as an undergraduate institution. They tended to place all the emphasis on the graduate programs (not uncommon) and they apparently just didn’t feel like they got a true undergraduate college experience and most of them wish they had. The one person who did like it (he went to MIT) is a really strange guy. Every single one of the graduate students I know at Caltech have told me they love it there but are absolutely happy that they didn’t get their BS there. Now, this is anecdotal, sure, and your mileage may vary. It is just something to consider.</p>
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<p>Most people in engineering fields would tell you that Purdue and Georgia Tech are peer schools, i.e. have very comparable programs with comparable quality. Honestly, I wouldn’t say that I can see any reason to choose out-of-state Purdue over in-state Georgia Tech, especially free Georgia Tech. The only thing I could think of is the fact that I have heard from a number of people that Georgia Tech is kind of a strange atmosphere and either you love it or you hate it. It sounds like there isn’t a lot of middle ground there. Still, you have free tuition there and would have to pay the premium at Purdue. The only way I would say it is worth it is if your son visited both and just hated Georgia Tech and loved Purdue. Then I would say you would maybe want to think about it. Academically they are a wash.</p>
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<p>Cornell is a great engineering school. It just so happens that it is also an excellent all-around school as well. That doesn’t detract from engineering though. Many people would consider that a bonus.</p>
<p>OP - The first step (if not already done) is to check if you’d qualify for much need-based financial aid. If yes, then the cost difference between State U and a private covering full need may be close. I hear that colleges now often have cost estimators on their websites. </p>
<p>My son eventually gravitated more toward engineering schools that were under-grad only. He liked that focus. Other student opt for schools where there would be grad classes available in senior year. There is no one right answer. It’s all about “fit”.</p>
<p>RE: MIT in particular, we too know a lot of people who went to MIT. But I think MIT has responded to that image and has changed the way it handles undergrads. That is the impression I get from current students at MIT.
<a href=“https://due.mit.edu/undergraduate-education-mit/what-undergraduate-education-mit[/url]”>https://due.mit.edu/undergraduate-education-mit/what-undergraduate-education-mit</a>
[MIT</a> TechTV – Common Threads: The Evolving Student Experience at MIT (Trailer)](<a href=“http://ttv.mit.edu/videos/12109-common-threads-the-evolving-student-experience-at-mit-trailer]MIT”>http://ttv.mit.edu/videos/12109-common-threads-the-evolving-student-experience-at-mit-trailer)</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, the most recent MIT guys I know of which I was speaking graduated around 2005 or so. The Caltech guys I know are much more recent.</p>