<p>In comparison to more engineering focused schools such as MIT, Caltech, or Carnegie Mellon how does Princeton's engineering program stack up? I've always wanted to go to Princeton but there's no point if they have a weak engineering program. In particular I'm interested in electrical engineering and computer science or biomedical engineering. Does anybody know of any strengths in their program? I've heard Princeton has a more theoretical (instead of hands-on) approach to engineering, which I personally am not a big fan of. Also, Cornell is supposed to be the best engineering ivy, so how does Princeton compare to Cornell? Thanks for any advice!</p>
<p>Princeton is very strong for engineering. For some perspective:</p>
<h1>12 - USNews Undergrad Engineering</h1>
<h1>12 - USNews Undergrad EE</h1>
<h1>11 - USNews Undergrad ChE</h1>
<h1>11 - USNews Undergrad AeroE</h1>
<h1>17 - USNews Undergrad CivE</h1>
<h1>13 - USNews Undergrad CompE</h1>
<h1>14 - USNews Undergrad MechE</h1>
<h1>17 - USNews Grad Engineering</h1>
<h1>5 - NRC '95 Grad Engineering</h1>
<h1>4 - NRC '95 Grad AeroE</h1>
<h1>9 - NRC '95 Grad ChE</h1>
<h1>8 - NRC '95 Grad CivE</h1>
<h1>9 - NRC '95 Grad EE</h1>
<h1>6 - NRC '95 Grad MechE</h1>
<p>In short, Princeton is one of the best engineering schools in the country. It is easily on par with Cornell, Illinois, Michigan, Purdue, and other engineering powerhouses.</p>
<p>For a school of comparison Stanford is more appropriate. Stanford and Princeton both offer a good engineering education and strengths in liberal arts. If you are interested in CS then you should know that many of the earliest computer scientists were at Princeton. John von Neumann, Alan Turing, and Alonzo Church, John McCarthy <em>51, and John Kemeny '46 49, were computer pioneers starting over 80 years ago. Robert E. Kahn</em>64 developed the Internet protocol TCP/IP and Marvin Minsky54 started MIT’s artificial intelligence lab. Read the bios of the current CS faculty and you will see that many are considered academic stars.</p>
<p>The engineering school has 130 faculty members who, in 200708, conducted about $52 million in research funded by government, industry, and foundations. Twenty-five members of the faculty are members of the National Academy of Engineering. Current areas of strength and growth include research in human health, energy and the environment, and security. Engineering students learn the fundamental principles of engineering sciences and apply that knowledge to engineering design and practice through advanced courses and independent work. Ample opportunities for study in the life sciences, social sciences and humanities complete a well-rounded undergraduate education that prepares students for a wide range of careers. Approximately 40 per cent of the engineering students are women. Some of the major initiatives of the engineering faculty are in the areas of the environment, information technology, energy sources, and engineering for health. More than 20 percent of Princeton’s engineering faculty are engaged in health-related research. Their work spans projects from inventing tools for disease detection and treatment to creating materials for wound healing, bone implants, and heart valves. Engineering education at Princeton began in 1875. The National Research Council has ranked Princeton as having top PhD programs in Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science.</p>
<p>thanks alot!</p>
<p>The more current USNWR Princeton Undergraduate Engineering rankings published this Aug. 2010:</p>
<h1>11 - USNews Undergrad Engineering</h1>
<h1>12 - USNews Undergrad EE</h1>
<h1>10 - USNews Undergrad ChE</h1>
<h1>10 - USNews Undergrad AeroE</h1>
<h1>NA- USNews Undergrad CivE</h1>
<h1>13 - USNews Undergrad CompE</h1>
<h1>12 - USNews Undergrad MechE</h1>
<p>Here are the most recent (2010) engineering-specific National Research Council quality rankings for graduate programs combining the ‘R’ and ‘S’ scores. I’m listing only the top ten in each category.</p>
<p>CHEMICAL ENGINEERING</p>
<p>1—Cal Tech
2—MIT
3—Berkeley
4—UC Santa Barbara
5—UT Austin
6—Princeton
7—U. of Minnesota
8—Stanford
9—U. of Michigan
10—U. of Wisconsin</p>
<p>CIVIL ENGINEERING</p>
<p>1—Berkeley
2—UT Austin
3—MIT
4—Princeton
5—Yale
6—Stanford
7—U. of Illinois Urbana
8—Georgia Tech
9—Purdue
10–Northwestern</p>
<p>ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING</p>
<p>1—Stanford
2—Princeton
3—Harvard
4—UC Santa Barbara
5—U. of Illinois Urbana
6—Cal Tech
7—Georgia Tech
8—UCLA
9—U. of Michigan
10–MIT</p>
<p>MECHANICAL ENGINEERING</p>
<p>1—MIT
2—Stanford
3—Berkeley
4—U. of Michigan
5—Brown
6—Northwestern
7—UC Santa Barbara
8—Georgia Tech
9—Princeton
10–U. of Maryland</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=National+Research+Council[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=National+Research+Council</a>
</p>
<p>^ That EE ranking looks suspicious. </p>
<p>OP, regarding the theoretical nature of engineering education, I believe this to be the case at all top research universities because the profs are primarily engaged in high level research which involves a more theroetical understanding.</p>
<p>If you desire a more “practical” engineering education I would look at schools like Rose Hulman or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.</p>
<p>^Not true at all.</p>
<p>My son chose Princeton over MIT and knows others who made the same choice. MIT and Caltech are great at what they do, but the environment is certainly not for everyone.</p>
<p>My son has absolutely no regrets and has truly loved his first semester.</p>
<p>Princeton’s engineering is not weak, which you can see by all kinds of rankings. But really the rankings are irrelevent compared to the issue of will this particular environment stimulate you. There are advantages and disadvantages of all flavors so it is really a question of YOU.</p>
<p>Princeton’s flavor is strong fundamentals and advanced research in a liberal arts dominated environment. This is a key advantage if you intend to lead a engineering company or organization at some point because while you work with the best and brightest in the lab you must also hold your own in your comp lit class or your psych class where you will be interacting with the best and brightest in those fields as well. If you don’t want to stay up till 3 in the morning reading about 16th century art so you can be on point during the next day’s precept, then it may not be for you. That’s OK.</p>
<p>MIT, for comparison, might argue that they are a pinch ‘better’ at the pure engineering, but they are just not in the same game in the other departments. For some people, this matters. They are generally thinking all engineering 24-7. Again, that is OK, but think about it in terms of you.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon, although a great school, can’t really make the top dog argument in either engineering or liberal arts. They, like a Rose Hulman,and many others might rightly claim that they are more applied or more practical. The challenge in engineering is that a school that teaches ‘practical’ is teaching you last year’s cutting edge that might hold you in industry for 5 or maybe 10 years before that technique, tool or skill is irrelevent. Additionally, those tools are the exact same things that you will learn either at your summer jobs or the first 6 months of your first job. Engineers love to teach you things and as long as you have the fundamentals to understand it, your supervisors at work will show you the way.</p>
<p>One other thing to think about is the sheer size. Some of the schools mentioned graduate more engineers in a year than Princeton does in a decade. So there may be fewer classes offered and they will be tiny (no place to hide). If you want to work directly with a professor, no problem they’ll give you plenty to do. While at school you’ll need to consider yourself one of the few and the proud and while out of school, you may go years where you don’t meet another Princeton engineer. (Of course when you do meet one, he/she will be the one sitting at the head of the table.) Again, being redundant, this is neither good nor bad, it is just a question of where do you feel comfortable.</p>
<p>thanks alot asiceng, i was really hoping someone would give me some actual insight into princeton instead of just some rankings. based on what i’ve heard, i think princeton could be a really great match for me, but of course it is nearly impossible to get in to so we’ll see what happens! =] thanks again</p>