help me decide my ED school.... or if i should even apply for ED!

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I'm sorta in a difficult situation here. Basically, i'm an Asian guy, really into math and science so obviously i decided to go for engineering. I don't wanna put my stats here; i'm not an excellent student nor am I bad.</p>

<p>Anyways, my EA schools are going to be MIT, CalTech and U of Mich. Now, i was trying to applying to a ED school, one that i would be happy to go to even if i got accepted. (yes, i did think of Cornell, Northwestern, Dartmouth and whatnot, but i'm just putting regular for those schools)</p>

<p>So my question is basically... Columbia Engineering vs UPenn engineering for ED? Which one do you prefer, and why? I haven't really decided which field i want to go in, most likely computer engineering but im not too sure yet.</p>

<p>Any help is welcome, thanks in adance!</p>

<p>Columbia and Penn, while amazing, aren’t as good for engineering as UMich or other ‘lesser’ schools. I wouldn’t recommend ED to either of them.
In my opinion, your list of schools is very strange. Search again and you will be surprised at the great schools you’re missing from your list.
By the way, what is your state of residence?</p>

<p>“I’m not an excellent student nor am I bad.” I don’t have a comment on the ED, but if you want to save yourself some trouble, take out MIT and CalTech off the EA list. The students that apply to these schools are generally very exceptional, and even then they have a very miniscule chance of getting in. I recommend replacing some of those schools with ones that you can realitically get into and are strong in your field, especially looking into schools with strong technology departments (RPI, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, WPI, RIT, ect)</p>

<p>@shawnspencer‌
Actually, depending on the OP’s stats, he could benefit from Carnegie Mellon ED. OP should also apply to UT Austin and UIUC, though he’ll have to pay sticker price at these last two schools.
Not sure what Northwestern or Dartmouth are doing in this list… they’re not exactly engineering powerhouses for the OP’s field, and he is not likely to enter either anyways.</p>

<p>@Fredjan‌ I’m not suggesting that the OP wouldn’t benefit from applying to a school like CMU ED, I’m simply suggesting that if he recognizes that he is not the strongest student at his school, then perhaps MIT and CalTech are out of reach. They are extremely hard to get into and valedictorians and national science fair winners get rejected each year. So unless there is something really compelling about the application, some other schools might be a better fit. As you mentioned, the list is kind of odd considering some of those schools are not well known for engineering.</p>

<p>@shawnspencer‌
Oh, right, I forgot that small disclaimer at the beginning of your post.
I do agree in that OP should reconsider MIT and Caltech. Some of the schools I listed are ranked higher than Caltech for his field, anyways.</p>