<p>As a working EE dealing with engineers from all over, I would expect every CMU graduate to be successful. They have some of the best students, best professors, and best curricula of any school in the world. Their job and graduate school placement statistics don’t lie.</p>
<p>I find the rankings skewed toward larger schools (like Michigan and Berkeley) and schools with agressive PR. I have a 13 year-old (I know, way early) looking into Mech E and his top 2 are MIT and CMU. Anything else is a distant 3rd.</p>
<p>So your folks are looking for a sure thing? They should invest in guns, gold, and arable land, not your education (I know, still a pretty good investment bet). Employment prospects for ECE and ME should be roughly equivalent, but way better for a CMU grad than anyplace else you could end up trying to do it on your own.</p>
<p>Engineering education is already cross-discipline. Regardless of your major, you will learn about machines, computers and circuits. That broadness of knowledge makes you useful. The concentration in one area makes you valuable. Mastery of that one area, the intersection of capability and desire, makes you the most valuable. The variable is desire; given that you desire ME and not ECE, you will be more valuable pursuing your passion than pursuing your parents’ passion.</p>
<p>So BlizzBlazer, best of luck convincing your parents. Let us know how it turns out.</p>