For engineering, Yale v. Rice v. Northwestern?

College Search & Selection
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<p>I fought against creating a new thread but decided to in the end, hope everyone doesn't mind.</p>

<p>I'll state the financial aid details first, because that's very much going to determine where I end up. This is all need-based, by the way.
EFC - about $9900/year.
Yale - I would pay $1,600/year.
Rice - about $9,000/year, manageable.
Northwestern - unfortunately, $29,000/year, not sure if I want to appeal the aid decision.</p>

<p>I'll venture to say that Northwestern is the best of the three in engineering, but unless I win a lot of outside scholarships, it's not really an option. The appeal process wouldn't do much for me though, since no new hardship type of things happened. So it's down to Yale and Rice.</p>

<p>I'm fairly sure I want to be an engineer. I'm not that interested in going into the financial sector (which is apparently what many Yale engineers do), I'd much rather do the scientific work because that's what I like. Houston seems to have many more engineering/co-op opportunities and connection than say, New Haven. Sorry to bring up a moot point, but I know, Rice is definitely revered in the employer circle, and all that stuff, Yale can get me more connections, etc...</p>

<p>I know I'm rehashing many past discussions. Sorry. I just need some concise advice, haha. atm I'm leaning toward Yale just because of the financial aid aspect - $1,600/year is great. Thanks, everyone!</p>

<p>mmm I also got into Berkeley (CA resident) and would pay about $18,000/year but I'm not considering it because of the size of the school, class sizes, budget cuts, etc.</p>

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<p>dude if you are in at yale for 1600 a year. go there hands down</p>

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<p>oh, I’d also like to have a job after a bachelor’s degree but wouldn’t mind graduate school for the master’s (which would probably happen after Yale).</p>

<p>thanks Hacktacular! I’m leaning that way at the moment too.</p>

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<p>alexco, any chance that your “engineering” eventual major might be bioengineering?</p>

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<p>Just go with Yale</p>

<p>Most prestige + best FA offer = unbeatable</p>

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<p>Don’t we care what kind of engineering? It could matter…</p>

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<p>I don’t think Northwestern makes financial sense in this situation.</p>

<p>If you like engineering and don’t find financial services interesting, I’d be tempted to push for Rice. If you are interested in civil engineering, it would be a much better choice as Yale has no CE program.</p>

<p>Still, $7k is $7k. And engineering is not a prestige-focused field. I don’t necessarily think the Yale degree would close many engineering doors, though it might not open as many as Rice. The Yale career services site does list some traditional engineering employers.</p>

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<p>alexc - </p>

<p>I thought all 3 schools say that they will meet 100% of need? Why the disparity in your opinion?</p>

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<p>Sorry to leave off details! :stuck_out_tongue: I’m leaning toward chemical and materials engineering, and I’m looking for an environmental focus, not the environmental major.</p>

<p>@nugraddad - This is just what was presented to me by the schools. Rice met my need, Yale pretty much covered everything because the income is <$60k, and Northwestern I guess has been known to not meet need in some situations.</p>

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<p>Well, Yale isn’t a bad ChE program.</p>

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<p>That is true, and it’s a combined chemical and environmental engineering program, which I would love. What I think I’m coming down to is whether I’ll appreciate more the abundant research opportunities at Yale, or the abundant jobs and connections at Rice. Houston is a huge, booming city. Although I wouldn’t ever work at an oil company, haha.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input, everyone. It’s really helping to shape my decision!</p>

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<p>USNWR ChE Rankings (Graduate)
16. Northwestern
23. Rice
41. Yale</p>

<p>NRC ChE Rankings (Graduate)
12. Northwestern
31. Yale
45. Rice</p>

<p>===========</p>

<p>USNWR Environmental Engineering (Graduate)
16. Rice
23. Yale
27. Northwestern</p>

<p>NRC Civil and Environmental Engineering (Graduate)
5… Yale
10. Northwestern
44. Rice</p>

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<p>Yale engineering is the only school in the country that claims to have a 1:1 teacher to student ratio.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.seas.yale.edu/study-undergraduate.php[/url]”>http://www.seas.yale.edu/study-undergraduate.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Yale’s School of Engineering & Applied Science has approximately 60 professors and we graduate approximately 60 engineering majors a year.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>No, not at all.</p>

<p>But in this situation, despite Northwestern’s superiority in Engineering (at least out of those three), the lack of financial aid is really a put-down. I don’t know how good any of Rice’s Engineering programs are, but despite Yale’s lack of much strength in such fields, you should attend it anyways (as the quotee mentioned, prestige and financial offer).</p>

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<p>Ratio of Graduating Engineering Students to full-time Engineering Faculty</p>

<p>1.0 to 1 - Yale
1.5 to 1 - Rice
1.7 to 1 - Northwestern</p>

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<p>

That’s not consistent with what they say on their website. As of now, there’s huge difference between your calculated EFC and theirs. So I wouldn’t just assume and you got nothing to lose to appeal. NU’s material science is extremely good (it’s also the birthplace of the field) so I wouldn’t give up so quickly without appealing.</p>

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<p>Depends on your interests. If materials or chemical means nano, Rice is way out front, particularly for medical applications. Likewise if you want to do undergraduate research related to medicine. Although NW and Yale have outstanding medical schools, Rice is affiliated with and across the street from, the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world. On the other hand, if you would rather use engineering as a stepping stone to Wall Street, go the Yale.</p>

<p>Rice and Yale are the only universities in the US that have pure residential college systems, a huge benefit IMHO.</p>

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<p>Nanotech is strong at Rice but Northwestern is one of the leading research centers in the world.</p>

<p>The Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center
[Welcome</a> to the NU Nanoscale Science & Engineering Center](<a href=“http://www.nsec.northwestern.edu/]Welcome”>http://www.nsec.northwestern.edu/)</p>

<p>and The International Institute for Nanotechnology
[International</a> Institute for Nanotechnology](<a href=“http://www.iinano.org/]International”>http://www.iinano.org/)</p>

<p>are run by two of the biggest names in the field:</p>

<p>Chad Mirkin, directs the IIN and was last year appointed to Barack Obama’s President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He has won innumerable awards including the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize.
[Winners</a>’ Circle: Chad Mirkin](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/invent/a-winners/a-mirkin.html]Winners”>http://web.mit.edu/invent/a-winners/a-mirkin.html)</p>

<p>Sir Fraser Stoddart directs The Center for Integrated Nanosystems at NU and was the former Fred Kavli Chair in Nanosystems Sciences at UCLA. He was knighted in 2006 for his pioneering work in the field, one year before being successfully wooed by NU.
[:</a> Northwestern University Newscenter](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2007/08/stoddart.html]:”>Nanotechnology Star Fraser Stoddart to Join Northwestern: Northwestern University News)</p>

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<p>

I am not sure what basis you used to make such assertion. Normally, to be great in nano, schools need to have top chemistry and material science departments. NU is actually the one that fits this criteria.</p>

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<p>Northwestern’s financial aid site (this page, specifically: [Appeal</a> an Aid Decision: Undergraduate Financial Aid - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://ug-finaid.northwestern.edu/tasks/prospective/appeal_aid.html]Appeal”>http://ug-finaid.northwestern.edu/tasks/prospective/appeal_aid.html)), if I’m reading correctly, says that they won’t start reviewing my appeal until mid-July, and for my income level, can’t afford to take the risk of committing to the school. If I’m reading it wrong, it still takes two weeks for them to review my decision, which if so, I might consider, but I have no new extenuating circumstances, soooo yeah.</p>

<p>I’m trying to ignore rankings as much as possible and I’m researching the schools themselves. I’m liking Yale more, for all the money they’re investing in the school, and their research interests match mine.</p>