<p>If my aim in my career were to get into one of the bigger companies such as Intel, IBM, Microsoft or achieve a high managerial position in a good company, how important is it? I'll probably end up in an engineering school in the 50s- 60s on the rankings and on this forum I feel paranoid that my good school does not match up to the "great" schools out there that companies hound after to recruit. Any help?</p>
<p>And if you're wondering, it's probably going to be U Pitt or Stony Brook unless my financial aid package somehow enables me to go to one of the upper schools. (which is very unlikely)</p>
<p>I think Stony Brook is a really good school. Its computer science, physics, biology departments are super. </p>
<p>I don’t know about Pitt, sorry.
Great schools like MIT, Cornell, Columbia certainly have a stronger network for students to get recruited. But acclaim is not the only thing. I am sure many engineers who got into Google, Intel, IBM right after their graduations didn’t come from MIT. Some of them got it via internship, or career fair. </p>
<p>Right engineering school meaning that you like it. It goes back to pick-the-right-college-101: Find the one that fits you, personally and financially. Some people don;t like big schools because there you don’t get to interact with your professors and peers as often as you do at a smaller community. </p>
<p>Great schools are good because there are many well-established networks and resources already available for students. </p>
<p>Do you actually like where the campus is located? Do you mind going to a large university? What do you expect from the college?</p>
<p>Look at what they offer (like clubs, scholarships, student researches, and etc).
However, location is important. At Stony you probably can’t get a daily internship like students from the City (working for a local firm), because you are living in a suburban area. But you can still do amazing thing on campus.
What matters in the end is your skill. Be practical. Do whatever it takes you.</p>
<p>Thanks for such a thorough and informative answer.</p>
<p>I was also wondering about Stony’s CpE. They really boast and attract students to their computer science but I don’t hear much about the engineering. Would I be better off majoring in CS because of its acclaim and take electives in hardware that I’m interested in, instead of doing CpE and taking electives in CS for software? Or does it really not matter and I’m making a fool of myself by thinking this over too much? </p>
<p>Too much time on my hands this summer I’m afraid…</p>
<p>I can’t speak for CpE actually. Although I was interested in Cpe @ Stony for once…</p>
<p>The CpE program is actually 1/2 EE and 1/2 CS at the level of computer hardware and software, and as well as computer architecture. CS is just an ideal path to become a software engineer today. I say CpE if you really want to understand both hardware and software at the level of a computer, and if you are not sure about your interest in either field. That is, take CpE and decide what you really want to do in the future. If I find software engineering the ideal career, and I’d like to invent the next Google search engine, I think a master in CS will help me a lot (of course the guy who found wolfram was a physicist, but he got helps from cs people too!!)</p>
<p>Your degree does not reflect your ability. Since you will be taking the CS course anyway, choose the absolutely right one that interest you. </p>
<p>What kind of hardware electives are you interested in? </p>
<p>The upper junior and senior courses are pretty much like “concentration” to me. You can always add one or two to CpE. But there are a lot of overlap since for courses at freshman - junior level for both CpE and CS.</p>
<p>This is CCNY sample. Stony may be different in order.</p>
<p>IMO, i dont think it really matters what school you come from. I think the fact that you have an engineering degree is going to automatically afford you with an opportunity to work for those companies since they actually see what YOU can do not necessarily the school you come from.</p>
<p>If your goal is to work for one of those companies you listed and perhaps obtain a high managerial position, then going to a high-ranked engineering program is probably very important but perhaps not necessary. Wherever you end up, take advantage of those opportunities that will help you get to where you want to get. Stressing about it will get you nowhere.</p>
<p>Over at Michigan a lot of the big companies come to you; I see them on campus a lot trying to grab students. At my previous university you had to go to them… I never saw them.</p>