<p>I was wondering which school has the best engineering program for electrical and mechanical engineering? I know that Tufts and BU is far more prestigious than WPI and NEU, but NEU has the #1 co-op program in the country and they have been improving their engineering programs a lot over the last ten years. On the other hand WPI has a really good engineering program.</p>
<p>So, my question to you all the CC-ers, if you were to rank those schools engineering programs, how would you rank them? (rank academics first and then rank social life, sports, etc differently if you want)</p>
<p>didn’t we just go through this on this board? _ same question but now you have added 2 more universities.
Why not post it on the “majors” baord - you will get a much broader perspective.</p>
<p>If you want to actually be an engineer, I’d advise you to go to whichever of these schools costs the least, excluding NEU which I cannot comment on. </p>
<p>Let me clarify what I was saying. Engineering firms care less about where you went to school then law firms or investment banks do. A lot of people recommend that you should go to the highest rank law school that you can no matter what it costs. Likewise, getting into investment banking is closely tied to attending a prestigious undergraduate. That is not really the case for engineering. Of course there are some firms like google which are easier to crack if you’re from MIT/Caltech, but big engineering firms like Intel, Microsoft, and AMD recruit at lesser known engineering schools like WPI and RIT. </p>
<p>So if you actually want to get a job as an engineer, if one is picking among relatively similar schools (like BU, WPI, NEU, and Tufts), then they ought to pick the school which will offer the strongest education at the lowest cost. </p>
<p>That (the difference between the experiences of the people in the last two posts) is very interesting and really points out how different schools may be perfect for some and not so much for others. I know for instance that the 7 week terms will make it an “easier” place for my S to be than one that worked on a semester system. It’s just how he works. 7 weeks is a better fit.</p>
<p>SRB,
WPI you take 6 courses in a semester, 3 per term. semesters worth of material is condensed into a two month period. Not only can you not miss classes but you have to have superior retention rate. Honestly i have learned so much here at WPI the academic rigor is challenging and is non restrictive meaning you can take masters courses which is extremely beneficial come when applying to graduate programs/jobs. WPI also has great coop opportunities domestic and international in addition to our senior year assignment. Honestly BU just wasn’t the right fit for me. I felt some of the teachers didn’t really care and i was looking for more of a challenge.</p>
<p>^ Other than the teachers, how would you compare the academic rigor between those two schools? Does BU have good co-op options? Do you know if BU students do projects like WPI students or they are mostly stuck in classrooms and are being taught without any real world experiences?</p>
<p>Dude in terms of acedemic rigor? hands down WPI and this is not contestable. Honestly you need to have good motivation to keep up with the pace here. WPI weeds a lot of people out so if you think the methodology for teaching is for you than WPI should be your choice. WPI is known for engineering and the faculty here is very good although there is a huge presence of international professors but they are distinguished and offer a good global perspective on things. I personally love it here and think i made an awesome choice. WPI is not for everyone so i suggest you do some extensive research on your own. Good luck man.</p>
<p>I actually have a method for calculating academic rigor. </p>
<p>Rigor = (SAT 75th percentile)/(Sophomore Year Retention) * 1/10000</p>
<p>One flaw with this formula is that it discriminates against smaller schools. For example, a student at WPI who decides that engineering is not for them will likely transfer and thus not graduate in 4 years. But a student at Ohio State who decides they don’t like engineering will just change majors and graduate in 4 years. </p>
<p>So, using that formula, the rigor for each school is: </p>
<p>Imaginary School with SATs of 800 combined and 100% retention: 0.08</p>
<p>Imaginary School with SATs of 1600 combined and 50% retention: 0.32</p>
<p>So in other words a school that scores a 0.08 has no rigor, and a school with a .32 is virtually impossible. As you can see, these schools have about the same rigor.</p>
<p>So in conclusion, basically, WPI=BU=Tufts, right?? I can go any of those schools and get good education and will be able to get a good job in the field I intend to. Then it all comes down to the cost I guess. Thank you all. </p>
<p>But hey, have more suggestion or want to add something?? ROCK ON. Any suggestion will be appreciated.</p>
<p>I think all of these schools are excellent. Most companies that recruit don’t care where you are coming from. If you do well academically, do some research and gett good recommendations, win awards, you will find that you love your school and that there are a huge number of opportunities. </p>
<p>I like WPI based on its feel and its size. The size of NEU and UMass was a sure negative for me and is what prevented me from choosing them, although they are also fine. There are some places like MIT and Caltech where you will surely be challenged. At any other school or engineering program (WPI, NEU, TUFTS, BU), you will be challenged but how much so is defined by what you want to make of it.</p>
<p>Yeah i transferred out of BU and the school is the largest out of all of them. Classes were huge and honestly some of the kids probably don’t understand the concept of there and their.</p>
<p>Have you visited the schools? They’re different. When selecting a college, I hope that one looks beyond the education, espesially in engineering. Wherever you attend, you will take the same ABET-accredited curriculum, so look at the social life, financial aid, graduation and transfer rates, and living conditions, instead.</p>
<p>I mean, the curriculum are not necessarily the same in all ABET-accredited colleges. University of Texas El Paso (a satellite) and MIT are not at the same level of intellectual rigor or hands-on engineering work.</p>
<p>But when it comes to BU, WPI, Tufts, and NEU, I would say that Tufts and NEU are not as strong in engineering, although Tufts is a very strong school academically. Engineering is hands-on though and I think Tufts is somewhat behind in that aspect. NEU has a good co-op program. BU is overpriced and doesn’t give merit aid. WPI is basically the best for engineering in my opinion among these four because it is hands-on, has an academically rigorous academic program, and has good industry connections with big players like GE, IBM, NVIDIA, etc (you may thing I am biased; not denying it, will be a WPI freshman next year).</p>
<p>If you want to go to do graduate work in Engineering, I think BU and Tufts are equally fine choices. My dad tells me that most people don’t have the attention span to do graduate school in this nation and look for immediate employment instead, even if they get funding.</p>
<p>Northeastern is better than BU in engineering. BU has a decent program but not worth the $$$$. The reason why i say NEU is better than BU is due to coop. I would say WPI offers good internships and also has the most challenging academic environment out of all 4. Tufts in my mind is generally overrated.</p>