<p>My son has narrowed down to these two acceptances. He had attended classes, spent a night at both places. Location, and environment are equal according to him.<br>
I would really appreciate for some inputs to help his decision. Our two specific questions are:
1) Harvey Mudd offers general engineering degree. Rose Hulman offers specific degree. (He is interested in Civil Engineering). Will there be a difference in gaining employment if he has a general degree, not a discipline specific degree?</p>
<p>2) Should he choose a school offer co-op over one does not</p>
<p>Any additional thoughts what he should think about will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Mudd has a great program that produces well rounded, top-notch engineers. They can focus too, but their degree is still an ABET general degree. The issue with civil is that many engineer go on to obtain professional licences (PE). That requires an ABET accredited degree. I’d guess that would need to be ABET accredited in civil and not just general. The Civil Engineers reading will have to chime in to clarify. It could mean though that he’d have to get a Masters from an ABET accredited civil program to get his PE if he goes to Mudd.</p>
<p>On an unrelated note, it’s interesting that he found them so similar. From a non-academic perspective, they are very different. RH is alone in Terra Haute. HM is part of the Claremont Consortium in Southern California. Two things come immediately to mind, brutal winters and girls, or lack thereof.</p>
<p>As long as it’s an ABET accredited degree, it’s fine for PE, even in civil engineering. The P.E., aside from the exam, does not officially recognize any differences between disciplines.</p>
<p>This sounds hard to believe. Has he been to both?</p>
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<p>HMC has only one prof with in-depth Civil Eng background and he is the head of the engineering program. HMC lacks many basic classes in soils, materials (steel) and other basics that your S would have to learn at the grad school level. On the other hand, the core at HMC would provide more exposure to multiple areas.</p>
<p>I think if your S finds the location/environment the same (which I still find hard to believe) and knows he wants Civil E for sure than Rose is the better choice.</p>
<p>My son was accepted at Mudd. It’s an excellent school, but very intense. To me it doesn’t seem like the best choice for somebody interested in a Civil Engineering specialty. RH is also an excellent school per my research, but we never visited.</p>
<p>There are recent HMC grads working as civil engineers for engineering firms.<br>
Also, HMC just announced that one of their senior students received an NSF graduate fellowship to study civil engineering at Caltech (not taking basic courses there).</p>
<p>In place of coops, HMC has all students conducting research or participating in a clinic project in their senior year. In the engineering clinic, outside sponsors fund various projects. A team of students and a faculty advisor work together to evaluate solutions and complete the project and present final results to the sponsor at the end of the year. Thus, engineering students have their “real world” experience during the school year.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information.
He had visited the campus- spent a night with the host, visited class rooms and had lunch with students. He is aware of winter conditions and advantage of the Consortium… and having relatives in southern California.
I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer the question.</p>