<p>Does Georgia Tech really live up to the stereotype that its much more rigorous than other engineering schools, like U of I or Purdue? I am thinking of applying but this could be a turn off...could you be in a frat and still have decent grades? Thanks</p>
<p>Well, I feel like noone can adequately answer how the rigor is unless they’ve transferred from GT to somewhere else (or vice versa). However, I will vouch that I have friends in fraternities with 4.0s (and in engineering majors too - it’s not like they’re just getting by in management). So it’s definitely possible to manage both! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me, I’ve been here a year and half now and love it!</p>
<p>I’m a computer engineering grad. For this degree it was a mix of a lot of hard work and a lot of busy work. I’m not sure who “other engineering schools” are but the workload for the top 20 engineering schools probably isn’t that different. It won’t be a walk in the park and you will have to study A LOT and learn how to manage your time efficiently.</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t you apply to a rigorous school? You’ll get a stellar education and GT grads (for engineering at least) are pretty valuable to companies because they know how good the school is, and this applies to other top engineering schools as well.</p>
<p>The people who complain and say that it’s suicide are just lazy. God forbid you have to do work in college.</p>
<p>Who ever said GT was more rigorous than UIUC? Both are rigorous, top-flight engineering programs.</p>
<p>In my experience (and this is just limited to my field), the difficulty and quality of the engineering education is pretty consistent across the top schools. However, there’s a drop off from the “top” schools and the “good” schools. Taking the same class at GT and UIUC is about equivalent, but taking that same class at VT will be significantly less difficult. </p>
<p>GT has the reputation of being difficult because, in the 1980’s and early 90’s, Tech had a low standard of admission (for political reasons) and admitted many students that could not handle the courses. As a result, Tech was considered a “weed out” school where it’s easy to get in but hard to get out. Since then, the GPA and SAT requirements have gone up dramatically, as has the freshman retention rate.</p>
<p>Tech also has a problem because it’s an Institute and not a University. This means that Tech only has majors that have a Technical focus and support the Institute’s mission. So, if you decide that engineering isn’t for you, you can either go to Management (mind you, that’s calculus-based management) or transfer schools. At a place like UIUC (which is a university), if you decide that engineering isn’t for you, you can try education majors, social science majors, liberal arts majors, etc. Then you’ll graduate from UIUC and complain about how difficult engineering is. At Tech, you leave and complain about Tech.</p>
<p>Very well put, BanjoHitter.</p>
<p>Thats what I figured, bonehead and BanjoHitter. UIUC and GT are probably the same, but now that I think about it, no one on the thread commented on Purdue. Around where I’m from in the Chicago area, Purdue engineering is considered easier to get into than U of I engineering. Is Purdue one of those just “good” schools BanjoHitter was talking about even though purdue is in the top 10 for rankings? They do seem to admit less qualified kids than U of I…</p>
<p>Purdue is not a Top 10 engineering school.</p>
<p>i beg to differ BanjoHitter</p>
<p>[Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs - Best Colleges - Education - US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-doct-engineering]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/spec-doct-engineering)</p>
<p>No one considers the undergraduate rankings when determining “Top 10” schools. Look at the graduate rankings.</p>
<p>Who is “no one”?
What is the percentage of males to females at Ga Tech?</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you’re meant to look at the reviews of professional academics of graduate schools to determine how good an undergraduate school is at undergraduate education. This makes no sense.</p>
<p>I don’t know about employers outside of Washington DC or Philadelphia, but at least in those 2 cities, a UIUC resume is not being pushed aside for a Georgia Tech one. They are about the same.</p>
<p>On a related note, after some years in the industry, a lot of folks are going have the same feeling about impact of college rankings as they did when they finally found out about Santa Claus.</p>
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<p>Why are business schools ranked based on MBA programs and not undergraduate programs? That’s just the way it is.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that US News isn’t ranking the best academic school - they’re ranking the best college to attend as an undergraduate. Corporations couldn’t care less about how much fun you had in college - they want the academic metrics which are better measured by the graduate rankings.</p>
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<p>In government work, absolutely. In the private sector, it does matter quite a bit.</p>
<p>GT also has about 3 guys for each girl.</p>
<p>GT was 31% female in Fall 2010. The entering freshman class was 36% female.</p>
<p>Though, you have to keep in mind that Georgia State is down the street and is 61% female with 22,000 students. You also have Agnes Scott (98% female) and UGA (57% female) students that come to Tech on the weekends (and Tech students go to their campuses).</p>
<p>so its not a total sausage fest then?</p>
<p>No GT is not a total sausage fest. As a senior looking at both GT and UIUC, the one thing that makes me nervous about GT is - What if I don’t like engineering? Granted, I wouldn’t go into something like English, but UIUC does have a broader range of secondary majors.</p>
<p>Tech isn’t all men, but it’s also no FSU. Women won’t throw themselves at you- you will need to be social and meet people.</p>