<p>My cousin is deciding between these programs for a probable major in EE or possibly Computer Science for admission in the Fall of 2012. How would you rank these schools? Cost is not a factor and she cares about these attributes in a university in this order...1. overall reputation, 2. social life, 4. employment prospects in her intended field and 4. ethnic/geographical diversity of the school. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks in advance!!!</p>
<p>Tech, Michigan and Purdue are much better academically and for employment prospects. I’d imagine Tech is is much better for diversity and social life given its location in a city rather than rural america, but couldn’t say for sure.</p>
<p>Informative, your post is not entirely accurate.</p>
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<li><p>UIUC is as strong as Michigan and GTech in Engineering.</p></li>
<li><p>Ann Arbor is not rural</p></li>
<li><p>GTech is neither diverse, nor known for its social offerings</p></li>
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<p>Yes, UIUC is known for being on the same level as Michigan or Tech.
Yes, Michigan (the state, not the college) is known for being cosmopolitan and a rising economic powerhouse.
Yes, Atlanta is known for being non-diverse with little social atmoshere. </p>
<p>lol.</p>
<p>I believe UIUC is considered to be on the same level as Michigan and Tech at least for Electrical Engineering. I know general rankings aren’t everything but this was my impression.</p>
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<p>Wrong to exclude Illinois from that list. Georgia Tech, Illinois, Michigan, and Purdue all have top-ranked engineering programs and are highly regarded in EE in particular. USC is a bit off the pace.</p>
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<p>Huh? Of the schools listed by the OP, USC is the most diverse—the only one that is majority-minority (< 50% white). Georgia Tech has the largest African-American population, but at only 6.5% it’s a pretty meager figure—especially in a majority black city—and not much better than the others. And Georgia Tech is only 5.6% Hispanic, compared to 13.9% at USC. Illinois and USC have the most international students, at 11.4% each, though Purdue is not far behind at 11.2%. I certainly wouldn’t choose Georgia Tech on diversity grounds.</p>
<p>As for “social life,” Ann Arbor is one of the all-time great college towns and the hub of a sophisticated, upscale, rapidly growing MSA of about 350,000 people. This is not “rural America” by any stretch of the imagination.</p>
<p>You guys are missing *the *key factor of contributing to a lack of diversity and social life at Ga Tech…it’s 70% guys and there are a ton of engineers. “Diversity” isn’t simply race. Obviously, Atlanta is very diverse and has a lot going on, but Ga Tech does not. Having that many more guys NEVER helps the social atmosphere. You ALWAYS want more females in the student body or it to be at least 50/50. Having said that, Ga Tech is still a great school, but isn’t known for its great social atmosphere (despite being in Atlanta), especially if you compare it to the other schools listed.</p>
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<p>Good point, bluedog. Saturday night stag parties with a bunch of male engineers choking on their own testosterone would not be my idea of a great social life.</p>
<p>Having gone to an all-male school in the days before that became politically incorrect, I can attest to that result.</p>
<p>The individual has not been admitted at this point to any of these universities. It might be better to have this discussion after the student has gone through the application process and received admission.</p>
<p>USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering’s last freshmen class was 37% female. There are special programs to mentor and support women. Ming Hsieh has poured millions into the EE programs which have provided noted new professors, latest technical equipment and brand new laboratories. The EE department is also the home of the Keck Center for Photonic Technology which includes the Keck Photonics Research Laboratory.</p>
<p>Viterbi is one of only four universities with two National Science Foundation funded Engineeering Research Centers which are the Integrative Media Systems Center and the Biomimetic Micro Electronic Systems Center. </p>
<p>The Los Angeles area is not only a huge entertainment center, but also an industrial leader. SC engineering alumni work at the many military installations, Aerospace, Aerotek, Boeing, Honeywell, JPL, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, IBM, Intel, Qualcomm and Skyworks, among others.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about any of your choices, OP, but it seems everytime I read about founders of tech firms, I’m always coming across UIUC. Some examples: Lawrence Ellison of Cisco and two of the three founders of Youtube.</p>
<p>"Obviously, Atlanta is very diverse and has a lot going on, but Ga Tech does not. "</p>
<p>It’s too bad Ga Tech isn’t in Atlanta.</p>
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<p>Say what? Do you deliberately put out false information?</p>
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<p>informative was just running with bluedog’s comment.</p>
<p>All of the named schools are good.</p>
<p>She may want to add Berkeley and Stanford due to proximity to a large number of large and small computer and electronics companies (an advantage in seeking internships and post-graduation jobs – no need for recruiters to fly to recruit, or students to fly to interview). Both have high reputation in the fields in question.</p>