<p>I've been looking at the ranking sites such as USNews, and noticed that they put GTech very high in the engineering rankings. #4 overall tied with CalTech, and top 5 in a few sub-specialties. But in the real world, nobody really knows about GTech, at least nobody in my circle. So does GTech really have as great of a reputation as Stanford, Berkeley, or CMU?</p>
<p>Personally I would think GTech's overall reputation is more comparable to that of top state schools such as Penn State or UMD. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>And does anyone know how good GTech's students placement rate is for the top grad schools? I cant find that type of information on their site.</p>
<p>I don’t know what real world you live in, but everyone knows the name. If you travel internationally, GT is a very well known and respected name - in fact because of the number of graduates it’s more well known than Caltech in my experience. It’s so well known that in 1959, when Richard Nixon went to the Soviet Union and met with Nikita Khrushchev as part of the kitchen debate, they started the debate by singing the “Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech” together because it was the only song that both of them knew.</p>
<p>That said, many people with non-technical backgrounds won’t necessarily know of the school’s prestige. Thanks to USNews and a few other places, you need to be private to be considered a top school to most people. It’s rare for a public to break into the popular perception of being “prestigious”, and to do it you need a top law school, medical school, top political science school, and business school (or at least 3 of 4). And even then few schools have been able to do it (UC Berkeley and UVA are the only two that come to mind as having national prestige, and even then Berkeley is usually more known as a “hippie college” than as an educational powerhouse).</p>
<p>UGA spend the better part of 30 years using their political clout in the state to prevent GT from having any of those four critical programs. Ten years ago Tech finally was granted the ability to offer an MBA and has shot up the b-school rankings. Just recently Tech has been granted the ability to expand their political science program. And they’re still pushing for law and medicine.</p>
<p>What do you mean by real world? The real professional world or the world where Dancing With the Stars determines the timeslot of a presidential speech? In the professional world, GT is quite well-known. As I have said before, there are some areas at major companies that are dominated by GT grads.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech is a very strong engineering school. I have heard many very good things about it (though mainly from GT alumni, haha). </p>
<p>However, most non-engineering types probably are not very familiar with it. </p>
<p>I also think they are a little “overhyped” on US News because their engineering department is just huge…the same as USC. More faculty->More research->More publications->Higher ranking.</p>
<p>Then again, the size of the department will probably help you when looking for a job, because employers are familiar with GT graduates.</p>
<p>Overall, its an excellent engineering school though.</p>
<p>The size of a department has little to do with the US News rankings, otherwise places like MIT or CalTech would be hurt by being small, but they seem to be doing okay.</p>
<p>GT is a great school. You won’t be hurting for job or grad school opportunities by going there (at least not as a result of the school).</p>
<p>G-Tech is the MIT of the South and would look awesome on any resume, no matter where in the world you are applying for a science or engineering job.</p>
<p>This came up in another thread: some schools are renowned in STEM circles but not in others. An engineering degree from Rose Hulman or Cooper Union is impressive, but the average man on the street will say “where”? Don’t select schools because the name impresses the average man on the street. He’s not going to be giving you a job interview or recruiting new grads at your college.</p>
<p>^^ hmm yes, that is very true. But part of the reason why I first got into engineering was because I read/heard from many different sources how transferable the analytical skills of an engineer are to areas such as finance and economics. I don’t know if I would pursue a career in finance with an engineering degree, but I would like that option to be open. So thats why I’m a bit apprehensive of GTech’s overall recognition. For instance, an engineering degree from Berkeley/Stanford will probably appeal to many companies and sectors, whereas an engineering GTech degree might appeal to only those that are honed in on engineering. Hope this makes my original post more clear.</p>
<p>“Total Research Expenditures (.15) and Doctoral Degrees Awarded (.0625) combine for over 21% of total weight which really pushed bigger state schools like Georgia tech(No.4) and UIUC(No.5)'s rank up”</p>
<p>What really pushes up GT over other schools is the research money flowing into the school, not the number of students. GT’s graduate program size is consistent with other public schools, but it brings in nearly twice the research funding of any other public school. GT receives about $310 million per year for engineering research, while Texas A&M brings in $164 million, UC Berkeley brings in $152 million, UIUC brings in $124 million, etc. And it does all of that without a National Research Lab attached to the school.</p>
First of all, please remember that the admissions committees at business schools and the HR departments at finance companies are professional organizations. They know GT.</p>
<p>Second, the weight that they will assign to a particular school’s name will depend greatly on the position sought. If you apply to an entry level finance position right out of GT’s undergrad, they will probably pass you over in favor some Ivy League English major, because they trade on the school name recognition for those positions. If you apply to an MBA program they will probably place you on par with “big name” gradutes, because they know and value the rigor of the GT program. If you apply to a financial engineering position with a relevent GT graduate degree you will be ahead of the vast majority of applicants.</p>
<p>Third, while keeping your options open is good, I would recommend excellent opportunities in your first choice field over excellent opportunities in your back-up field or mediocre opportunities across the board. You don’t indicate what other schools you are considering, or how likely you think it is that you will be going into finance. As such, it is hard to say whether or not GT is a good choice for you, but I would be very wary of passing up that school if you really want to be an engineer.</p>
<p>FWIW, I don’t really know a ton about the finance world - all my knowledge is second hand. I have been an engineer for a while, and while I do not know ANY former Ivy League engineering undergraduates, I do know several GT, UIUC, Purdue, and Michigan grads. I know them because they have been singled out at my company (a Fortune 100 engineering/manufacturing company) for their engineering excellence.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech is a top-notch STEM University and is a top ten or even top-five engineering college. Period. It really is the MIT of the South, like I said. Not to sound like a jerk but it is a pretty well-known school, and just because you and your circle hasn’t heard of it doesn’t mean it’s not prestigious–it mainly says that you and your circle aren’t really well acquainted with schools that aren’t mentioned on tv, apparently. If you were up for a job and the interviewer hadn’t heard of G-Tech or wasn’t impressed by them, then you are being interviewed by a total boob and you probably wouldn’t want to work there.</p>
<p>I get the feeling you really like the idea of name-dropping your college to people you meet and seeing their reaction. If <em>that</em> is how you are selecting your college, you are going to college for all the wrong reasons. Maybe I’m wrong, but we get a lot of people on CC here (high school students, mainly) who are in love with the idea of being an Ivy League/Stanford/MIT blue-blood type and practically wet their pants at the thought of saying “when I was at Harvard…” in conversations.</p>
<p>To add to what cosmicfish said, some employers do indeed hire based on whether or not their employees went to Ivy League/MIT/Stanford, the same way McDonald’s usually puts their most attractive employees in the drive-through window and at the counter, and puts all of the ugs in the kitchen (I know of what I speak). Let me ask you this, do you want to work around people who make such snobby, Niles-esque hiring decisions?</p>
<p>I like TomServo’s post too, but I might hesitate with agreeing that Georgia Tech is the MIT of the South. It’s just that in the U.S. our media is dominated by the Boston-Washington corridor and to a lesser extent, California. Thus, Georgia Tech’s academic standing doesn’t get a lot of notice in the general news of the day. When there’s a breaking story that involves science or technology, the talking heads run to a Boston-Washington Corridor campus, or to Stanford or UCLA. I’m generalizing, but you get my point. In any event, the training for engineering at Georgia Tech is rigorous and well regarded among professionals, including major corporations.</p>
<p>Can anybody think of another school in the South with a STEM reputation like GT’s? I can’t. And I don’t count Texas as the South, that’s just wrong. I’m sure there are plenty of fine STEM universities in the South, but GT always shows up in the tip-top rankings of American schools.</p>
<p>TomServo, why don’t you adjust your question to the OP above by adding the bold below and see if the OP reacts with a different response:</p>
<p>Let me ask you this, do you want to work around people who make such snobby, Niles-esque hiring decisions,* while you net about $5-10 million per year in your Investment Banking or Private Equity job**?*</p>
<p>I would call Austin more Southwest than Southeast. College Station isn’t really Southeast or Southwest. Along with southern Louisiana, it’s “gulf coast” but it’s also very Texas-centric. Either way, it’s not really the Southeast.</p>
<p>But I had to classify Texas, I’d either group it with Oklahoma and call it “Southcentral” or I’d split it and call the western half Southwest and I would group the eastern half with Southern Louisiana and call it “Gulf Coast”.</p>