<p>I am trying to understand the advantages/disadvantages of graduating with a BS Mechanical Engineering from schools in different tiers. For example, if a student graduates from a regionally or locally acknowledged program--such as the Milwaukee School of Engineering or Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls--is the student then disadvantaged when it comes to seeking employment or graduate school in other geographical areas because the prospective employers may not be familiar with the school's reputation? What about chances for getting into a good graduate program from schools such as these that appear on the Princeton Review list/peer review, albiet not high in the rankings?</p>
<p>A big difference might be in the quality and quantity of firms that recruit there. Salaries seem pretty similar acrosss most schools.</p>
<p>D's close friend just graduated from Arizona State in Mechanical engineering.Had good internships(Motorola) and has job offers ,now interviewing.In a market where your program is the "only game in town" ,like ASU in Phoenix, I would suspect for your job offers,the rep of the program locally would be enough.Hard to say about grad school but do most mech engineers go straight on or do they work for awhile,and then wouldnt the work experience be of more importance?</p>
<p>In the year my husband completed his "Engineers" degree (he had a BS, had worked 4 years, then went to grad school 3 years for this degree) the industry he went to work in was in a huge, huge slump. He had multiple, excellent offers all the while people were being laid off left and right. </p>
<p>I think there is a lot of variability in terms of opportunities in engineering depending on where you went to school ESPECIALLY in years when the relevant industries are at an ebb. </p>
<p>Currently the average age of all petroleum engineers is 49...which means that anyone who can pull themselves away from the meaningful creation of video games and decide to try to make it in the energy industry instead (because it isn't all about exploiting the planet) probably will have a fine career ahead of them...</p>