<p>You would of been better off at MIT Stanford or Berkeley they have much better lib arts than harvard has engineering.notice i didnt include caltech there lib. arts prog is ok</p>
<p>For the record, the above rankings posted by Byerly are for Grad school, not undergrad.</p>
<p>Undergrad engineering rank has historically been high 20s, low to mid 30s.</p>
<p>Is it easier to get into Harvard if you mark engineering?</p>
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<p>Is it easier to get into Harvard if you mark engineering?</p>
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<p>No, they don't care what you put -- primarily because it's so common for students to change their minds. They only time they'll pay much attention to your intended major is if you're already deeply involved with internships or independent research in an area, and your interest in your major is just one element of your overall involvement in the field.</p>
<p>I've had many concerns about Harvard engineering as well, and I have talked to many people about it, including Harvard students in the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences. So here's the gyst of what I've learned about the whole situation. I am not certain that I will be majoring in engineering (could also do math or chem and physics), but I've been leaning toward it.</p>
<p>Yes, Harvard engineering is not the best, but it is not bad either. You are all exaggerating quite a bit. Harvard does offer specialized engineering concentrations (although I believe the degree itself is still engineering sciences). Harvard actually has the specific type I am interested in studying- biomedical engineering. And the president is putting a ton of funding into boosting the engineering department...it is definitely headed toward great improvements in the near future. Also, cross-registration is not that difficult, or so have said some Harvard students themselves.</p>
<p>Also, I chose Harvard because I wanted to do math, science, or engineering in a liberal arts school, where I would be exposed to other subjects that interest me and a more diverse student body. I can sacrifice a top engineering education for a good one in order to get the top in everything else. In the end, the opportunity cost (MIT engineering) of going to Harvard does not outweigh the benefits of Harvard, for me at least. Also, there's always MIT for graduate school, which is more important than undergrad. Just an alternate perspective on the matter.</p>
<p>Having said all of this, if I get to Harvard and dislike the way the engineering program is run, I may very well go with one of my other possible concentrations, which are excellent at Harvard. It's best to keep your options open.</p>
<p>Thanks Hanna, I was just making sure my acceptance wasn't a mistake.</p>
<p>please note that the rankings that the poster "byerly" posted earlier in this thread are u.s. news's GRADUATE and not undergraduate engineering rankings, which are available at the link below but only to paying subscribers:</p>
<p>there is no valid explanation for byerly's preference for and citation of the graduate rankings on an undergraduate message board, except that the undergraduate rankings are even LESS favorable to harvard's program.</p>
<p>Welcome, F,SCOTTIE! The new kid in town!</p>
<p>How fitting that your maiden post was commenting on Princeton's "prestige" vis a vis Yale, and that your 2nd post was a dig at Harvard!</p>
<p>Le plus ca change le plus ca le meme chose ...!</p>
<p>thanks for the left-handed welcome, but i didn't post to "dig at harvard." instead, i posted to correct what i think to be a dishonest use of data. i will say no more on the matter, and let this board's readers do with the undergraduate and graduate engineering rankings what they like.</p>
<p>"How fitting that your maiden post was commenting on Princeton's "prestige" vis a vis Yale, and that your 2nd post was a dig at Harvard!"</p>
<p>Must you take any criticism towards Harvard as a personal attack towards you</p>
<p>Unless departments have totally distinct undergraduate and graduate programs, it makes sense to look at the rankings of the graduate programs. I do not believe that undergraduate programs are ranked; and yet so many college applicants ask about the strength of specific programs. </p>
<p>As for the difference between MIT and Harvard, note that MIT has the HASS requirements which, I believe, can be even more numerous than Harvard's. The humanities and social sciences faculty at MIT, incidentally, is absolutely top notch. What you won't have at MIT in terms of humanities and social sciences is breadth of offerings and depth within a specific field. So just as engineering majors at Harvard take courses at MIT, some MIT students take courses at Harvard. The MIT student who took part in the admission session we went to raved about a couple of classes he'd taken at Harvard.
The other important difference is the students. The interests of the Harvard students will be far more varied than those of MIT students. It can be a great thing if you want to hang out with students who have different interests from yours, or it can be a obstacle (though by no means a big one) to forming impromptu study groups.</p>
<p>"I do not believe that undergraduate programs are ranked"</p>
<p>marite: Where have you been. US News does separate undergraduate and graduate rankings for engineering; has done for years. </p>
<p>Of course the UG and Grad programs are distinct. Undergrad courses, in general, lay a foundation. Grad courses are more and more specific. </p>
<p>In any case, the Harvard UG and Grad programs have gone unrecognized by its peers and have been ranked in the 20s and 30s for many years. </p>
<p>There is no shame in a department being ranked so low, especially when the school's emphasis in on Econ, Gov and Physical sciences.</p>
<p>Engineering is the red-headed stepchild at Harvard. It likely always will be.</p>
<p>okay, my bad. I'm used to other programs which do not draw firm lines between undergraduate and graduate offerings. For example, in math, once past the introductory calculus and tutorials, a very large number of courses at Harvard are labeled for undergraduates and graduates.<br>
I looked up the issues of USN&WR which I have, the 2003 college edition and the 2005 graduate programs edition. In 2003, Harvard's undergraduate engineering program ranked 31 among engineering programs at schools at which the highest degree was a Ph.D. In 2005, its engineering Ph.D. program ranked 19.</p>
<p>Well, one person's opinion, but I had occasion to ask a professor and department chair in engineering at an Ivy (not Harvard) about Harvard engineering. The reply: </p>
<p>Not as highly regarded as many others </p>
<p>The US News ranking pretty well captures the opinons of engineering faculty around the country</p>
<p>but </p>
<p>Engineering grad schools love Harvard undergrads. </p>
<p>So don't let the relatively low ranking deter you from going to Harvard in engineering if you plan to go to graduate school. I don't know about how employers would look on someone with a Harvard undergraduate engineering degree only.</p>
<p>USNews is well aware that its rankings of graduate engineering programs are somewhat more reliable that its rankings of undergrad programs - particularly when it comes to subspecialties - since the rankers are generally less familiar with the programs they are ranking (to put it mildly!)</p>
<p>I expect that USNews may address the problem in the next issue of Americas Best Colleges - due out in September.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, those in the know would urge potential applicants to take the undergrad rankings with a heavy dose of salt - particularly if they are interested in small sub-specialties such as bioengineering.</p>
<p>(In the meantime, tone down your language, f.scottie, my boy!)</p>
<p>It is likely that the rankings are accurate for the top 5 schools in a specific discipline because these schools would have received an overwhelming concensus. After that, it's probably anybody's guess.</p>
<p>I just cannot believe there is little prestige in Harvard engineering... Harvard anything is prestigous. Harvard was my first choice for a long time. It wasn't until I actually visited MIT and a few other things happened that I changed my mind.</p>
<p>"USNews is well aware that its rankings of graduate engineering programs are somewhat more reliable that its rankings of undergrad programs - particularly when it comes to subspecialties - since the rankers are generally less familiar with the programs they are ranking (to put it mildly!)"</p>
<p>It's fascinating to see how some people can support these rankings when they promote "their school" in one field, yet criticize the same rankings when "their school" isn't at the top.</p>
<p>as seen above, cornell has the best ivy league engineering school.</p>
<p>Did you read the link provided?</p>