Graduate school:Princeton Engineering vs.Carnegie Mellon Engineering,which has a better reputation?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

Hello. I am an international student who was recently accepted to both these schools for M.E. According to U.S. News, Princeton is number 8 (above #11 ranking for CMU), and of course Princeton has the “elite” ivy status, BUT I keep hearing from people that CMU is pretty much along with MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and CalTech as being “THE” elite engineering schools (#5 on USNews). Some of my close friends even think a Princeton engineering degree looks “weird” because it seems like I didn’t get into a school like CMU

I think if I were in the U.S. (and staying in the U.S.) , I might go with CMU, but it is very important the international prestige of the school. Often the international employers will exclusively look at the “prestige” of the overall school and some HR departments might not even know what C.M.U. is. Moreover, I would like to leave open the possibility of branching out after engineering long down the road into business.

Does a Carnegie Mellon engineering degree have a higher prestige factor than a Princeton one for international engineering firms? Or does it not matter it is in engineering, and I should just take the best school name overall (Princeton)?

thank you!

2

I can’t speak to your home country but here, the two are both very well regarded and it’s no use trying to determine which is better. It can’t be done. Pick the one that fits your research interests best.

3

For graduate school you should look at the programs areas of focus compared to your interests.

4

For engineering, I would give CMU the edge (I was surprised Princeton was that high, I think of them more for the sciences!), but I agree that even a small difference in research areas would be much more important.

5

I am looking to go into the industry, and they both seem roughly equal for my research interests.

@boneh3ad @nordicdad