<p>I'm a rising high school senior that is going to pursue bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. If you would please take a look at my list and express your thoughts and opinions toward the quality of each school's engineering program, I'd appreciate it.</p>
<p>**College List<a href="Alphabetically%20ordered">/B</a>
[ul]
[<em>]Carnegie Mellon University
[</em>]George Washington University
[<em>]Lafayette College
[</em>]Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
[<em>]Stevens Institute of Technology
[</em>]Tufts University
[<em>]University of Maryland: College Park
[</em>]University of Rochester
[li]Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>I'm trying to avoid any colleges that charge an out-of-state tuition--I'm a resident of Maryland, but you'll notice that Virginia Tech appears on my list. If you have any suggestions for out-of-state college that are worth the cost, then feel free to make any suggestions.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon is the best school on your list and probably the most difficult to get in. It looks like a good list. University of Maryland also has a good program, as does Rensselaer, Stevens, and Virginia Tech. Not to familiar with the others though.</p>
<p>It’s a slow day at work so time passes by very slowly, lol.</p>
<p>I went to GW and they’re building a $350 million Engineering building and they also have some sort of learning program called SCALE-uP where students work together in groups during class. It’s interesting, but it’s very expensive to go to that school.</p>
<p>Some of these schools are very different from each other, such as Lafayette College which is a LAC that offers engineering vs tech schools vs large state Universities. However, they are all good schools. What are you looking for in a school - size, urban/rural location, male/female ratio of population, sports? What are your stats (grades, SAT/ACT scores) so that we could determine if these are realistic options for you? What can your family afford?</p>
<p>I’m a couple months into my college search (this is probably the fifth version of my original college list) so I’ve already done most of that research, but thank you for offering sacchi.</p>
<p>I also noticed that Lafayette is a liberal arts college, but they’re also ABET accredited for Electrical engineering (my interest). How would the fact that Lafayette is a LAC factor into my decision?</p>
<p>If you are concerned about costs, run the net price calculators on each school’s web site to get an idea of what cost and financial aid will be like.</p>
<p>Your college experience depends on a lot more than just the courses in your major. Attending a LAC is a very different experience than attending a large state University. You could get a solid engineering education at every one of the schools on your list (and a whole lot of others as well), so the question really comes down to the overall college experience that you want to have, which probably outweighs minor differences in quality of the engineering program. Your list of schools is all over the map in terms of urban/rural, size, male/female ratio, etc. </p>
<p>From your list, Carnegie Melon is the only one that I think is an outlier in terms of quality of the engineering program, where it might make sense to select primarily based on program quality. For all of the others, I would recommend you select based upon other reasons, such as your overall fit at the college and finances, etc.</p>
<p>One thing that many tell me about LACs in engineering is that they might not have as much employers to recruit. Also, not too many research goes on in LACs so it may be hard to find someone to do research with. My two cents, im not even in college yet.</p>
<p>sacchi, the reason that my schools are all over the map is because I’m willing to explore other environments outside of the suburban-rural setting in which I was raised.</p>
<p>In a classroom setting, I would like to experience the different approaches to learning that schools like GW offer (i.e., the SCALE-uP program).</p>
<p>I also liked touring the schools that were renovating their buildings and dorms to make everything more modern because I don’t really find the old, decrepit buildings all that appealing–it makes the college seem very austere in my opinion.</p>
<p>Maryland has an IKEA and a subway station, so you can forgive some of the office park looks… Very good engineering school, I’ve worked with a couple grads and they were very good. </p>
<p>RPI is also exceedingly good, as is VT, and Rochester is an interesting choice. Again, based on many buddies who went to those 3. CMU of course is the awesomest if you can get in…</p>
<p>I am just curious as to why you are not considering Maryland. My son is a senior computer engineering major there and the program seems to be EXCELLENT! By excellent, I mean that the place where he is interning loves that he knows what he is doing.There are lots of internship opportunities for the students. He and his friends are being contacted on a daily basis for job interviews. Some have already signed contracts for when they graduate. Starting salaries for these kids have been $80,000+. I know CMU has a great reputation as do many other schools; but when you consider dollar for dollar, I’m not convinced these kids are coming out any further ahead. Perhaps someone can show statistics that says otherwise - I honestly don’t know. Also, you want to explore a different environment than you grew up in. Don’t forget, UMD is close to the city life that DC provides - which is more than in Pgh. (I am not bashing Pgh. as I grew up there and loved it!)</p>
<p>University of Maryland: College Park is on my list. I’d by foolish to not have it on my list as a Marylander. It’s a bargain to go there as an in-state resident.</p>
<p>I’m sort of concerned about the environment at UMD though. Take a look at the rankings UMD earned from students:</p>
<p>#15 Lots of Hard Liquor</p>
<h1>20 Lots of Race/Class Interaction</h1>
<h1>12 Most Politically Active Students</h1>
<p>#17 Party Schools</p>
<h1>8 Financial Aid Not So Great</h1>
<p>#7 Students Study the Least</p>
<h1>14 2012 Top Entrepreneurial Programs: Undergraduate</h1>
<p>I’m an EE involved in research. I also hire recent grads to work in a research group. These are high paying though difficult positions to get because I really need students who’ve aced the courses relevant to my area and know the material well. </p>
<p>From your list, the schools I like a lot are in order are</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Maryland: College Park
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University</p>
<p>I know a lot of engineers from these schools. The schools are rigorous and we recruit there. </p>
<p>University of Rochester and Tufts are less rigorous and while their students can be very smart, I’ve often found that their graduates are not “ready to work”, compared to the students from the more traditional programs. Tufts graduates often go to graduate school and do well there. University of Rochester seems like a great school, but the one intern I had from there really didn’t pan out. We recruit at Tufts because it’s local and that’s probably why I see more Tufts grads than Rochester grads, but the schools seem really similar. Tufts will tell you that they are not a hardcore engineering school and have more of a “Global Perspective”. That might be really valuable in the long run, but probably less so if you don’t go on for further education. </p>
<p>I’ve phone screened a lot of George Washington University graduates, but haven’t found one who was competitive with the more rigorous schools. We recruit there because they are local to DC and we have an office there. </p>
<p>Lafayette and Stevens seem very limited. Stevens in particular seems to require courses just because they have faculty that can teach them, not because you need them. </p>
<p>Why someone would choose Lafayette when they could choose Lehigh is beyond me. Lafayette is barely on anyone’s radar screen, whereas Lehigh, right next door, would be in that first group probably right up there with RPI.</p>
<p>I think there is a benefit to a private research university where there are good opportunities for undergrads to do research. UMD and Poly are well funded because of DoD connections, so I think there are more opportunities at these schools than at many other public schools for undergrads to get involved in serious research. They can be large and impersonal though and require stronger willed students to find the opportunities.</p>