<p>I am a sophomore EECS Major (CS, CE or EE I'm not quite sure yet) at Case Western Reserve University- a good, private school (Ranked #23 for EE by US News). I was curious as to how hard it would be for me to get a job out west- Denver, Salt Lake City, Silicon Valley, etc. being that I'm going to a school, that although is good academically, is not usually mentioned when people speak of "top engineering schools" and virtually unknown outside of the Midwestern US. Do hiring managers at firms in these areas even know of the school? Would someone from a school like Case have equally as good a shot, better, or worse than someone from a school that is known regionally in the area? (UC's, Cal Poly, Cal State Schools, etc.)</p>
<p>If you have done well academically, and had a reasonable junior/senior year summer job or research project, the answer is positively yes.</p>
<p>Case is very well known in industry as well as academic circles.</p>
<p>P.S. Despite what many naive posters on the board seem to think, your gradepoint matters. Big-time. If you want to design axel rod assemblies for a supplier to Ford, a 2.9 will suffice. Want to work for anyone doing cutting edge stuff? Better be above 3.6, more likely above 3.75.</p>
<p>I'm starting to look at jobs and talk to professers and career advisors. It seems to have a lot to do with connections and networking. </p>
<p>If you know students from your school that have gotten hired where you want to work, or if your career office can put you in contact with one, then it will help a lot. Also, look at companies from your target geographical area that specificially recruit from your school, and may even hold on-campus interviews. (do you have a job fair?)</p>
<p>I'm a senior BME at Case. I have to agree with both of the above responses - Case is definitely known all over the country. Work hard to find a great summer internship next year (specifically in the area of the country that you'd like to eventually work) and consider doing research or working on a project during the schoolyear. Your resume will have sell you really well since most companies won't fly you out for an interview for just a summer position...I can't judge the value of the resume services by the career center, but try to show it to a prof or two and a few friends for feedback before you send it off.</p>
<p>Do you have friends/family out west? A few internships I interviewed for were concerned about my ability to find an apartment for the summer and live so far from my family</p>
<p>My best advice would be to get to know your professors really well (I am still learning how to do this). I've found most of the EECS professors to be quite nice, use their office hours (I've taken way more EECS courses than any BME should, but I'm in the Bioelectricity sequence). I'd also suggest doing some research about where the professors went to grad school - if any of them went to school out west, they probably made some professional connections there, ask them! Doing a little "name-dropping" can't hurt when you're looking for a summer job (obviously be discreet and only do so if you know the professor personally).</p>
<p>Also, if you haven't checked out the e-recruiting website, do so, it's a great resource, and there are job listings from all over! Keep an eye on it year-round to get an idea of what companies go out of their way to get Case students: <a href="http://cwru.erecruiting.com/er/security/login.jsp%5B/url%5D">http://cwru.erecruiting.com/er/security/login.jsp</a></p>
<p>Thanks guys for the advice. I was also wondering about the specialty sequences in EE. Do companies really ask in an interview "Oh, your an EE, well what did you specialize in?." Does the specialty bear any importance at all when it comes to landing a job in any particular field? I would rather be working with electronics specifically (Computers, Microprocessors, Semi-conductors Nano, etc.) and not designing control systems and sensors for some factory, or working in a power plant. I have a summer job updating CADD drawings all summer in a paper mill and the stuff that they "engineer" seems pretty boring to me (processs control insturments, etc.), while I love my coursework in EE thus far. Would it be beneficial to specialize in Semi-conductors, software, hardware or the like in order to be able to get a job working with the parts of EE that interest me?</p>
<p>P.S. CtheFlute I have met and had a few different EECS professor, and they are really helpful and outgoing. A lot of them let and prefer you to call them by their first names.</p>
<p>I think that because not all college require students to pick a specialty in EE, you probably won't be asked about it in an interview. However, you can choose to use that as a selling point for yourself. If you bring it up (putting it on your resume and/or mention it in an interview) that will show you have specific interest and knowledge about that topic, which may mean the difference between getting a job offer and not.</p>
<p>First -- CWRU is well known nationwide in both science and engineering (think Michelson and Morley's reputation).</p>
<p>Second -- if you're interested in a specific part of EE and know you don't want to go into a different area, then it's not a bad thing to specialize as you still get the general training. If you want to go to an area outside your specialty, just don't mention it...after all, you have the same courses as someone who didn't specialize.</p>