<p>How reputed is the Fu Foundation to employers and grad schools compared to other engineering schools such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon, etc.? People have been telling me that its not that great of a school, but thats hard to believe considering that Columbia is an ivy league school.</p>
<p>Columbia engineering has a good reputation. I am currently working in a large engineering defense company and know a few co-workers who have graduated from Columbia. Their technical performance is on par with graduates from other top engineering programs.</p>
<p>people who tell you its not a good school dont know what they are talking about.</p>
<p>it's true that 1/3 of your engineering class will end up on wall street, 1/3 in grad school, and only 1/3 in an actual engineering discipline but that doesnt say anything about the quality of the school</p>
<p>it doesn't have a specialty that it is recognized for as being tops in the world. Carnegie Mellon and MIT are probably better shops to learn CS in. but no employer will look askance at a SEAS degree.</p>
<p>Im in the grad program at SEAS and one thing I don't like about it is the lack of course selection. But the students there are some of the smartest I've ever met.</p>
<p>what are the benefits of a liberal-arts engineering program such as Columbia's as opposed to a pure math/science program such as MIT's? Do employers look down on engineers w/ a liberal arts background???</p>
<p>"Do employers look down on engineers w/ a liberal arts background???"</p>
<p>Liberal arts is not a big part of the program. However, your question is more applicable to the 3/2 students. A 3/2 student will have a pretty large liberal arts background but they will also be going to school for 5 years so they end up with a comparable amount of science classes compared to kids at MIT, etc...
The heads of the 3/2 program at Columbia will tell you that they have employers who specifically inquire about kids at Columbia who are in the 3/2 program. IMO, it is a good program to do if you want to get into management, banking, etc because of the well-rounded education you will receive.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Liberal arts is not a big part of the program. However, your question is more applicable to the 3/2 students.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thats not true, its applicable all around, SEAS students have to take about half the core plus a few extra non-technical (liberal arts) electives, that is ALOT more liberal arts than you'll find at most engineering schools.</p>
<p>due to abet there isnt really THAT much difference between engineering degrees.</p>
<p>reference: <a href="http://www.engineering.columbia.edu/students/academics/dept/cheme.php?tab=undergradreqs%5B/url%5D">http://www.engineering.columbia.edu/students/academics/dept/cheme.php?tab=undergradreqs</a>
and
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/org/c/catalogue/degre.engin.ch10.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/org/c/catalogue/degre.engin.ch10.shtml</a></p>
<p>as you can see, while MIT requires a little more bio related things for chem.e.'s, there still exist the nontech elective requirements and whatnot.</p>
<p>all you are proving there is that MIT has comperable liberal arts requirements that have nothing to do with abet as far as i can see...check out CMU's chem E dept, from what i see they dont REQUIRE liberal arts: <a href="http://www.cheme.cmu.edu/education/undergradcatalog.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.cheme.cmu.edu/education/undergradcatalog.htm</a></p>
<p>Electives: To obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, students must complete 06-100 and one other Introductory Engineering Elective (xx-100/101). There are also five Unrestricted Electives. At most, (9 units) of ROTC or physical education can be counted toward these electives. Students must discuss their choice of electives with their faculty advisors .</p>
<p>From my experience at work, the hiring managers don't know how many liberal arts courses you have taken, or compare how many liberal arts courses students from different schools take. They look at your resume, note the name of the school you graduated from and note your GPA. The number of liberal arts courses you take is not a big deal.</p>
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[quote]
We recognize that an engineering student must become broadly educated in the humanities and social sciences and, if he or she chooses, in the fine arts as well. Whether one wishes to study a foreign language and culture, understand the economic, political and social forces that change nations, or learn the linguistic, artistic, and cognitive processes that make us what we are, an educated person must be a student of life. In order to assure this, a total of eight courses (approximately 20 % of a student's program) must be taken in the humanities, social sciences and/or fine arts. Note here that these eight courses are totally independent of and in addition to those unrestricted electives mentioned earlier. This liberal education requirement represents one of Carnegie Mellon's strongest traditions, dating back to the late 1930's with the introduction of the "Carnegie Plan" for liberal/professional education.
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</p>
<p>from: <a href="http://www.cit.cmu.edu/default.aspx?id=264%5B/url%5D">http://www.cit.cmu.edu/default.aspx?id=264</a></p>
<p>most colleges have this. its part of abet.</p>