<p>How important is what school you went to for undergrad if you don't plan to go to graduate school? How important is it if you do plan go to graduate school? I've people say that your undergrad doesn't matter at all when getting a job because every school, with the exception of schools like stanford and mit, teach the same thing. Is this true?</p>
<p>Not true, at least for engineering</p>
<p>For engineering the curriculum may have a lot in common but there will be certain difference that set the individual programs apart, or at least differentiate them. That’s what a lot of the questions about programs in this forum are about.</p>
<p>For example, Purdue is not a good school for any type of engineering but Industrial (kidding 
). While MIT may be a great school to go to, if you major in engineering chances are you’ll be balancing score cards.</p>
<p>Going to a powerhouse program will help your resume get past that initial look. When you apply for a job, your resume is in a stack with a gazillion others, and they will mostly separate the more promising ones by using a mix of GPA, school and experience. Once you get past that step and into an interview, your school doesn’t matter a bit, and it all comes down to your interpersonal skills.</p>
<p>I’ve seen this type of statement posted:</p>
<p>“At <<unammed larger=”" university=“”>>, Engineering has its own “school,” and students have fewer opportunities to take courses outside the “school.” At <<smaller lac=“” w=“” engineering=“”>>, even with their fairly structured curriculum, engineers are very much a part of the liberal arts climate. They can take elective courses in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences."</smaller></unammed></p>
<p>I attended Lafayette College, and my experience was that I could take any course offered in any department, as long as I had already taken the prerequisites (if any) for the course. In general, I was very pleased with the non-engineering courses that I took. Although the number of elective courses are typically limited for engineering majors, I believe that I received a well-rounded education at Lafayette.</p>
<p>I can’t speak for those who attended larger universities, but I would be interested to find out how much truth there is in the statement above.</p>
<p>Well at Penn State you can take a lot of the lower level humanities and arts. The higher level ones are often closed to those majoring and minoring in that subject, however to fill the prereqs, you often have to take enough classes in order to declare yourself a minor ;).</p>
<p>Here you would get plenty of opportunities, but I would say for anywhere if you want to differentiate yourself coming right out of undergrad…get some leadership experience in something like an organization. Leadership experience will often come up in interviews.</p>
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<p>I experienced the opposite at a large university. bascially you can take any undergraduate lower level course as long as you have the requirement and it’s not one of the limited enrollment program. Well, engineering is one of the limited enrollment program there. So, people who major in engineering can take whatever course they want for general education (as long as they have the pre-requisite). But, people from other departments can not take engineering courses (even though they have the pre-requisite like calculus / physics…) because it’s a limited enrollment program. You have to be in the school of engineering to take those courses.</p>
<p>Way to hijack the thread guys…</p>
<p>The OP asked “I’ve people say that your undergrad doesn’t matter at all when getting a job because every school, with the exception of schools like stanford and mit, teach the same thing. Is this true?”</p>
<p>How is my post not relevant?</p>
<p>It is not really relevant to whether or not the school you go to matters. It IS relevant to whether or not you think you would fit in at a school, but not how an employer or graduate program perceives that school.</p>
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<p>Why make an exception for MIT and Stanford? Don’t they teach the same things too?</p>
<p>I think the difference is really that the “better” engineering programs have more hands-on learning. This includes labs, meaningful homework, projects, and research opportunities. Employers like students from these programs because they are typically better able to handle the demands of an engineering related job.</p>
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<p>I would imagine just the sheer connections you’ll have at MIT and Stanford from their alumni network plus whatever famous guest speaker they have there would be enough to place them in their own category (aside from having tons of money to do research and the likes).</p>
<p>Hypothetical Situation:</p>
<p>CUNY: City College (Full Ride)
University of Michigan (6000 loans)
Standford University (10000 Loans)
University of Kentucky (Full Ride)
University of California–Santa Barbara (2000 loans)</p>
<p>Which would you go to? Would it matter to you?</p>
<p>I don’t think Stanford even gives out that much loans, which destroys your whole idea. </p>
<p>It also depends on what engineering you are doing. </p>
<p>Santa Barbara is front of the beach though, and for 2k loans over 4 years (so like, 8k total?) I’m down for that. </p>
<p>However, these situations won’t work. Santa Barbara won’t give out aid if you are out of state. Stanford (I think) will NOT give you that much in loans.</p>
<p>Lots of engineering grads from MIT and Stanford don’t take typical engineering jobs. Many go for jobs in cousulting, banking, venture capital, etc. where the engineering background is beneficial.</p>
<p>DRMAN, if you’re saying Stanford would cost a total of $40K for 4 years, I’d go there. You could make that back in a couple of years max given the higher paying job options. If say you took a banking job the salary difference between that and an enginnering job you would get out of USCB would make up the $40K in the first year.</p>
<p>Well that’s why I wrote “Hypothetical Situation!” Basically ignoring all technical aspects. For example, everyone knows your loans usually increase as the years go on.</p>
<p>And yes Stanford may not give you that much loans, but your parents “circumstances” may force you to take private loans.</p>
<p>Like they refuse to pay the 10000 efc, so you have to go out and get a 10000 loan. There are millions of situations like this.</p>
<p>I just wanted to see if you would take the 40,000 debt. I personally would. Especially because I will most likely not pursue a traditional engineering job.</p>