Good school w/ bad department vs bad school w/ good department

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I want to major in aerospace engineering. My question is:</p>

<p>Is it better to attend a high ranked school with a low ranked department (like a Yale) or a low ranked school with a high ranked department (like a Purdue)?</p>

2

<p>First of all, Purdue is NOT a low ranked school. Secondly, Yale does not offer aerospace engineering. I won’t even bother with any more points.</p>

3

<p>Hypothetically though, depending on how good the good school is… If it is indeed a Yale of HYP or something, I would pick it for the name.</p>

4

<p>Except that in the engineering world Purdue <em>is</em> the name over Yale.</p>

5

<p>Why settle for either? Why not apply only to universities that are both excellent overall and in your intended major(s)? I should note that Purdue is not a “bad school” and its Aerospace Engineering (rated among the top 5 in the US) is not merely “good”, it is excellent.</p>

<p>At any rate, for a student who is good enough to get into Yale, you have several excellent alternatives (some equal to Yale, others not quite as good but still excellent) that also happen to be very good in Aerospace Engineering, such as Cal (Mechanical rather than Aerospace), Caltech, Carnegie Mellon (Mechanical rather than aerospace), Cornell (Mechanical rather than Aerospace), MIT, Michigan-Ann Arbor, Northwestern (Mechanical rather than aerospace), Princeton and Stanford.</p>

6

<p>Your adjectives are wrong…</p>

<p>A school that is well-ranked, but not tippy top, is not a “bad school”.</p>

<p>And a dept that is not highly ranked is not a “bad department.” </p>

<p>this sounds like crazy-talk that goes around high school lunch tables.</p>

7

<p>haha well good thing I’m in high school. regardless of whether or not it’s rephrased, the question still asks the same thing. is it better to go to a mediocre college with a highly ranked aerospace engineering department or go to a highly ranked school with a mediocre aerospace engineering department</p>

<p>thanks for your responses</p>

8

<p>This is like the proverbial question about APs: is it better to get an A in a regular class or a B in an AP, the answer being that its better to get an A in an AP. </p>

<p>I think that Alexandre answered your question.</p>

9

<p>Top 10 for Aerospace:
(Where the school ranks nationally)</p>

<p>MIT (5)
GA Tech (36)
Michigan (28)
Purdue (62)
Cal Tech (5)
Stanford (5)
UIUC (45)
Princeton (1)
UMDCP (55)
Penn State (45)</p>

<p>There are many in here that should meet your criteria of both being top 10 in your area of study, and a great university overall.</p>

10

<p>haha consolation and what do you tell the kid who, after not getting an A in the AP class, asks you what he should of done? and, my question is hypothetically implying i don’t get into the Stanfords and MITs of the world</p>