<p>I'm a rising senior looking at going into chemical engineering and the price difference of going to an in-state school and a private college is HUGE. I'm specifically talking about the difference between Oregon State Univ. (around 6 grand/yr) and Tufts (+40 grand/yr). Would it be worth it to go to a more prestigous university that has the name for the money I would be paying? How beneficial would it be in terms of availability of jobs, starting salaries, or getting into grad schools. Any thoughts would be helpful.</p>
<p>If your familiy is dirt poor, go to tufts. If they are rich and can pay for your education, go to tufts. If they are rich and cannot pay for your education, go to Oregon. LOL</p>
<p>Tufts won’t cost you $40K per year after financial aid. What are your SATs? Why are you only considering these two schools?</p>
<p>Those two schools are actually peers when it comes to engineering. Of course, Tufts has far more motivated students, if that matters to you.</p>
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<p>The majority if kids at Tufts, like at most private colleges, receive no financial aid. And it’s closer to $50K if you’re paying full freight.</p>
<p>Tufts is hardly a big name in engineering</p>
<p>I didnt even know they had an engineering program (Tufts)</p>
<p>So, take that as you will</p>
<p>Some of the best chem engineering programs are public and much cheaper than Tufts:</p>
<h1>3 Wisconsin (tuition and fees: $22,270)</h1>
<h1>4 Minnesota (tuition and fees: $15,476)</h1>
<p>Top students from these programs may benefit from the schools’ strong industry connection.</p>
<p>Minnesota is probably the best bargain in the country for college. And Chemical Engineering is its standout program with 3M and Medtronic nearby providing lots of internships and job opportunities.</p>
<p>“name” is of limited importance in engineering hiring, less than in some other fields, and the names that matter are diffferent; they are the names that have strong engineering programs, rather than national prestige in liberal arts.</p>
<p>The very top programs have national recruiting. Most other shools may have more regionally focused recruiting. The flagship state schools are often considered “better” but regional employers will usually visit the other local programs also. And if they interview you there, hiring depends on you.</p>
<p>It may well be the case that certain private college grads choose graduate studies or other vocations at a higher proportion than the public colleges, and perhaps they are advantaged in this regard, I don’t really know.</p>
<p>But for employment in the field, my guess is that opportunities from Oregon St may be somewhat regionally focused. Whether this is “bad” or not is up to you.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Tufts.</p>
<p>Top graduates from either school can get into any graduate chemical engineering programs in the country.</p>
<p>i wouldn’t go to tufts for engineering. we arent exactly a strong school but our strengths certainly aren’t in engineering.</p>
<p>post #11
I meant top graduates from either Wisconsin or Minnesota can get into any graduate chem engineering programs in the country. My apologies for not being clear.</p>
<p>My family wouldn’t qualify for finacial aid which is another minus to tufts (b/c they don’t have merit scholarships) but that doesn’t mean I want to pay that much money for school. Which brings up another question I have. Which is more important, where you go for grad or undergrad? And I think that most engineers go to grad school, but I’ve heard that so get a job after undergrad and they then pay for them to go to grad school…anyone else hear this?</p>
<p>I’m not just looking at tufts, but it’s one of the more prominent ones right now just b/c I like the atmosphere of it. I’m looking at other schools such as:
Carnegie Mellon
Worcester Polytechnic Inst.
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.
Lafayette
Lehigh
But the thing I don’t like about the more technical ones is it seems like the social life is more lacking. Which is why places like tufts and lehigh (which aren’t completely focused on the math & sciences attract me). Anyone know of any good schools where there is a happy medium between social and academic?</p>
<p>Have you looked at bucknell? Its a lot like lehigh and has good engineering.</p>
<p>“But the thing I don’t like about the more technical ones is it seems like the social life is more lacking.”</p>
<p>Perhaps the social life may be more robust at schools that have higher proportions of non-engineering students. The combination of a a strong program in chemical engineering , yet with engineering students being a relatively small proportion of the total, is probably most likely to be found at a large, diverse university. </p>
<p>Post #107 of this link gives proportion of students at various schools who are engineering students:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/563455-most-selective-colleges-based-sats-8.html#post1063080822[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/563455-most-selective-colleges-based-sats-8.html#post1063080822</a></p>
<p>Many schools with fine programs are not on this list though.You can do your own legwork to get the missing info for other schools with reputable programs in the field. If you care to.</p>
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Grad school is more important if you go. Many engineers don’t go to grad school, since they can make good money with just a BSc. On the other hand, some of the better jobs do require education beyond a bachelors. When it comes to getting into grad school, I’ve heard that research and recommendations are the most important things (beyond a good GPA and appropriate course load, that is).</p>
<p>Most successful engineers tell me that the networking they did (either in grad or undergrad) was vital in getting them where they are today. Coop programs and internships can be very important in helping you make these connections. You also need interpersonal skills and good communication.</p>
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Dude. I know you regret not deciding on going to Duke, but you’re an INCOMING FRESHMAN. You haven’t stepped foot into your first class, you haven’t developed any kind of a relationship with a single professor or even met one, you haven’t applied to jobs with Tufts on your resume, you haven’t done anything. You don’t know anything. It’s a little strange for you to say “we”, and it’s downright misleading to give authoritative-sounding advice on a school you’ve never attended.</p>
<p>UDel has a very strong ChemE program and is more reasonable than Tufts for OOS. Also offers merit money.</p>
<p>Believe it or not snarf I meant to say “we aren’t exactly a weak school”</p>