<p>I'm currently a highschool senior who is planning on majoring in Mechanical Engineering, but it's not totally set. i'm done with the whole application process and now it's time to choose. I'm also thinking that perhaps grad school is a good idea. So, my question is if I go to my in-state school, rutgers, instead of cornell, northwestern university, wustl, or rice would it hurt me in terms of getting to grad school or a job? </p>
<p>i have some scholarship at wustl, but i believe it doesn't have a strong engineering rep; but rutgers would definitely be a financial optimal path. right now i'm leaning towards rutgers...tho i like northwestern's program soooooo much.</p>
<p>I would suggest joining rutgers' honors program for NUMEROUS OBVIOUS reasons. Some of which you have mentioned in your post.But the only and most important one i'll be mentioning is:</p>
<p>Ivy league engineering undergrad = "No Name" school engineering
Degree undergrad degree.</p>
<p>An Ivy league student ,for the most part, won't be making any more money out of undergrad than a bright student in Rutgers, let alone a student in Rutgers' honors program(which is the equivalent of obtaining an ivy league education).He ll, a student in rutgers doesn't even need to be in honors to be compared to an ivy league student-----></p>
<p>Hey-- I was actually in your exact same situation last year.</p>
<p>I was trying to decide between Rutgers (college though, not engineering-- and honors program), Hopkins, Northwestern, UVa, and McGill.</p>
<p>I decided to choose Rutgers and never regretted my decision-- not only am I saving a ridiculous amount of money, I definitely think that I'm getting at least as good of an education as I would at the other schools. Being part of the honors program makes faculty interested in you and want to know you better-- you have huge opportunities for research and other involvement at Rutgers. Also, the smaller classes of the honors program (I don't know if engineering does this) makes Rutgers's size not a problem-- I actually like going to a big school a lot more than I thought I would. There's so much to do here..</p>
<p>If you ahve any more questions, PM me (I think I can do that, I never have before haha)... post here too I guess lol.</p>
<p>an ivy league name is an ivy league name, even in engineering (and cornell is THE ivy engineering) so if you really wanted help in getting into grad school, cornell > rutgers</p>
<p>right out of school tho, i dont think it would make much difference as far as the job market goes</p>
<p>yeah i am totally in the same boat as you... I could pay UCSD for the rest of my life, or go to Rutgers for mad cheap, and i loved it when i visited the campus... IMO if u and I go to rutgers, worked our asses off, we could both be looking at bright futures either in grad school, or in a career... but that is just from thea various posts i have read around here... and everyone has told me not to spend 100,000 plus on my undergrad education... it just sucks to make this huge decision...</p>
That's total ********. Cornell Engineering is one of the top programs in the country...their graduates have around a 98% rate of getting jobs/getting into grad school (and those 2% left jobless probably weren't meant for engineering anyway). Find me a no-name school that can say the same...</p>
<p>That said, Rutgers definitely isn't a no-name school, and if you like it the best and it is by far the cheapest, go there...</p>
<p>Dude...You "WONT" be making any more money than someone from a "no name" school right out of undergrad.A cornell graduate is no smarter than a good student from Rutgers/penn state/ some other state school with a hell of an engr. program.Its the same fu cking degree.</p>
<p>he was saying that Penn/Rutgers/etc are higher than "no name" status because in Your post right above it, you are trying to say that
"cornell degree = no name degree" and then go on to say that
"no name degree = penn/rutgers"</p>