<p>I currently had 3 choices and wanted to have some views on the universities.</p>
<p>I applied mechanical engineering for all the 3 but got Electrical Engineering for UC San Diego.
The other two is Mechanical. Which university is the best in term of opportunity to work during and after study huh?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
<p>If you want to live and work on the west coast after graduation, then go to UCSD. If you want to live & work in the midwest, then either of the other two would be perfectly fine. If your in-state for one of those, that would be the one.</p>
<p>DontPanic1, you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. I was a mechanical engineering undergrad at UIUC and had job offers on both the east and west coasts at graduation. I know people who work all over the country that I graduated with. Both UIUC and Purdue have national reputations that can land graduates a job anywhere in the country. UCSD even has some national pull, though to a lesser extent.</p>
<p>I also know for a fact that UIUC and Purdue have strong co-op and intern programs. I don’t know enough about UCSD to comment on that aspect of their program though. I can also say that I know MAYBE 1 or 2 people from my graduating class at UIUC in the MechSE department that didn’t have jobs. I am sure there were more, but the placement rate was VERY high, and that was right in the middle of the recession.</p>
<p>Im still in dillemma of choosing between UCSD and UIUC.huhu…</p>
<p>It’s kinda trade off between the cost of living and the job available. More jobs available in San Diego but the cost of living could be high right…Im still thinking. Is it easier to get job where it’s nearer to your university?</p>
<p>I don’t agree that “It’s kinda trade off between the cost of living and the job available”. It’s more true to say it’s a trade off between ME at UIUC and EE at UCSD. They are both national universities that will allow you to work anywhere.</p>
<p>“Is it easier to get job where it’s nearer to your university?”</p>
<p>Yes, that’s true, but it’s more likely that you’ll get a job where there are jobs, and many engineering jobs are available on the coasts.</p>
<p><a href=“http://engineering.illinois.edu/sites/engineering.illinois.edu/files/Salary%20and%20placement%20summary%208.09.pdf[/url]”>http://engineering.illinois.edu/sites/engineering.illinois.edu/files/Salary%20and%20placement%20summary%208.09.pdf</a></p>
<p>Take a took at the 2nd page.</p>
<p>Yeah, you really aren’t looking at it the right way. You can go to UIUC and get a job ANYWHERE!</p>
<p>screw Purdue. Go either UIUC or UCSD. UIUC have great ME and EE department and UCSD have great biology and chemical area of study. If it’s either ME or EE, go UIUC.</p>
<p>Wow, what sound reasoning from CSmajor5. You know, I was thinking about going to Purdue, but I just realized, “screw Purdue”</p>
<p>Bonehead, while yes you can get a job anywhere in the country with a good engineering degree, it’s easier to get jobs closer to where you go to school. There are more local companies that recruit. This is doubly true because if you can get a local internship you’ve already got an in with a local company. If somebody is looking at two very similar schools in different regions I always tell them to consider where they want to work afterward.</p>
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<p>If you can get into both UIUC and Purdue program and pass on UIUC program is like passing on Stanford / MIT for Georgia tech / UIUC. UIUC is undoubtably better than Purdue in almost all engineer programs and will serve him better when he look for a job.</p>
<p>chuy, that may be true of most schools, and certainly is even true of the top schools, it is not quite as pronounced at said top schools. You will always have a lot of local companies coming to recruit banking on the fact that a lot of people want to stay put. However, one of the key differences between a top tier school and lower tier school is that at the top schools, employers from all over also come to recruit, and lots of them!</p>
<p>For example, there are more new graduates hired from UIUC at Microsoft than any other single company, including places like U. Washington. That is because of the fact that UIUC has a very well known and renowned CS department. That means graduates are in demand even to companies outside of the Midwest. This is true of any school with a very well known department, and the more departments they have that produce in-demand graduates, the more likely it is that far away companies are going to come since they can come and recruit from multiple departments.</p>
<p>At a school like Illinois, where just about all of the engineering departments are very well known, there are tons of national and non-regional companies coming to recruit in addition to all the regional ones that every school gets.</p>
<p>I know tons of people, myself included, that had many job offers from companies on the East and West Coasts, for example. Tons. UIUC does not limit you to just the Midwest as DontPanic1 seemed to claim when saying:
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<p>In fact, I would argue that even on the West Coast, for any major engineering employer, a UIUC degree holds at least as much weight as a UCSD degree with the exception of companies that specifically target UCSD.</p>
<p>UCSD is a fine school. A very good school, even. However, it is closer to being a regional university than UIUC is.</p>
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<p>I am a UIUC grad, and even I know that Purdue is a great engineering school that is essentially a peer school to UIUC. I would even argue that depending on your situation, it is not a bad idea to pass on MIT/Stanford in favor of UIUC/GT, as the atmospheres at each school are totally different, and those schools are ranked 1,2,4,4 in overall engineering so you certainly aren’t exactly going to lose out on anything by going to UIUC/GT over MIT/Stanford other than a lot more debt and a slightly bigger “Wow! factor” on your resume. The difference in actual education is arguable.</p>
<p>I know, and everything you said is true, I’m just saying that all other things being equal you’re better off going to college closer to where you want to work. Trust me, I know that you can end up anywhere. I’m graduating from Virginia Tech and have a job in Canada.</p>
<p>And I am saying that unless you go to a top university in your field, you are better off going somewhere closer to where you want to work. If you are going to a top university, it doesn’t matter as much.</p>
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<p>I wish all the big corporation HR recruiters have same mindset like yours. “The difference in actual education” or “Degree from which university or institution matters” </p>
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just to clarify it’s 1,2,5,4 . Georgia Tech is #4 and UIUC is #5 for this year’s ranking</p>
<p>No, they are tied at 5 actually, so we are both wrong ([Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-doct-engineering]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-doct-engineering)).
1,2,5,5… Every year it seems like GT, UIUC, and CalTech flip around randomly in that 4,5,6 position.</p>
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<p>For the most part, they would for schools in the top 5 to 10. I suppose somewhere like Goldman-Sachs wouldn’t be recruiting as much at Purdue, but for normal engineering jobs, it is roughly equal.</p>
<p>Thanks guys,
so ME at UIUC is really better than EE at UCSD huh?
I think UCSD is just quite attractive to me because it’s a UC and it’s a great research university.</p>
<p>UIUC is famous for CS and ME is not that bad. So, it’s between engineering or somekind of wow of UCSD huh…Do you guys still think UIUC is better?</p>
<p>I stand by my original statement, and I was talking in generalities; there are always exceptions. The rest of this thread is totally splitting hairs! His career will depend much more on his own actions (i.e., high GPA and having internships) than on which of these 3 schools he goes to.</p>
<p>Both UIUC and Purdue are excellent schools for engineering. So is UCSD. You wont lose at all by selecting any one of them. Hail Purdue.</p>
<p>^Boiler Up!^ Have you seen Neil Armstrong Hall!?! That should make your decision for you.</p>