<p>After visiting a number of these schools (all except CMU), I'm having trouble determining which one is "right" for me. I'm interested in studying Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>An attractive scholarship and the emphasis on hands-on curriculum from WPI have kept my interest at least partially involved in looking at the school (it seems to be the odd-one out in the list). I know that the others have more prestige, but I start to worry about size. I feel encouraged to seek the best education possible, yet at the same point, I worry that I might get too involved in just trying to get through Cornell and thus lack a more complete college experience that I might find at, say, Northwestern. I would like to feel that I can do at least reasonably well academically and still find time to do a little research or outside team projects. I don't really worry about social life, to be honest; all of them have a fair share of student organizations and project teams that would keep me happy enough. At the same time, I can't see myself being happy at a school where a large population of the student body is miserable (which I'm unsure is the case at any of those schools). </p>
<p>So, what's your advice? What have you noticed about these schools?</p>
<p>Upon further research, I am a little surprised to see that Northwestern is ranked higher than Cornell on various “best colleges/universities” lists. Are the academics comparable between the two?</p>
<p>Perhaps you will also be surprised by how well Northwestern students have done in winning the most prestigious scholarships this year:</p>
<p>2 Rhodes (no school got more than 2)
1 Marshall
1 Mitchell
4 Gates Cambridge (the most in the nation)
2 Churchill (the most in the nation)
3 Goldwater
24 Fulbright (4th in the nation)</p>
<p>By the way, Cornell and Northwestern are ranked exactly the same in chemical engineering, according to USN graduate ranking.</p>
<p>There’s no difference academically between Northwestern and Cornell, the rankings are arbitrary and the difference between the two are usually 1 or 2 spots</p>
<p>I would choose between Cornell and Northwestern based on location. Cornell is closer to home but Northwestern is near a big city. Northwestern has DI sports. Not sure if that matters to you.</p>
<p>The ChemEs at Cornell seem to have more fun than the other engineering majors. They seem to be more social. Not sure about Northwestern.</p>
<p>Engineering is going to be hard work no matter where you go.</p>
<p>CMU is also a really good engineering school.</p>
<p>IMO, the safest assumption, if you are planning to study chemical engineering, is that you will be equally miserable academically, at CMU, Northwestern and Cornell.</p>
<p>WPI is one of the most underrated universitites in the country. Their engineering programs are on par with MIT and most top tier institutions. They are highly regarded in the Northeast. I would take them into consideration.</p>
<p>“Their engineering programs are on par with MIT and most top tier institutions.”</p>
<p>I’ve never ever heard that assertion made before.</p>
<p>Someone please post US News Peer Review scores for WPI and MIT, then we can see how educators in the field respectively view the programs of these two universities.</p>
<p>Programs aside, the students bodies are clearly not the same, where one school may have mid-SAT ranges 200 points below others. This would necessarily feed into the level / difficulty of the classes.</p>
<p>Maybe that’s good, if OPs prime concern is too much academic competition at the other universities.</p>
<p>Do you have any idea how the peer assessment works? who does them? how they do their due diligence when researching institutions? Third party research should not be the way you judge institutions. Im sorry but if intangible statistics is what you go by you have very shallow regiments when evaluating colleges. I did my undergrad at MIT and MA/PHD at WPI. You also go by student body SAT statistics. I can assure the students at WPI have top quantitative capabilities comparable to the top tier institutions. You also state academic competition how are you to gauge this?</p>
<p>Peer assessment is survey of academics in the field, you can look it up if want more info. I think that would speak to whether someplace is “highly regarded” , at least by some group of individuals in the field, to a greater extent than your personal opinion, or naked assertion, does. At least it surveys multiple people to determine “highly regarded”, not just you.</p>
<p>If you have some other documentary basis to support your assertion that WPI is as highly regarded as MIT, by any group of individuals whatsoever, post it. </p>
<p>The data reported on WPI website shows 50%iles of 1190-1380 for M& V;
1750-2040 for the three. Their upper 25% range is below MIT’s lower 25% range.</p>
<p>I think that speaks for itself, as for the relative capabilities of these two student bodies overall. But readers may feel free to be persuaded by your comments/personal experience if they so choose.</p>
<p>“Im sorry but if intangible statistics is what you go by you have very shallow regiments when evaluating colleges”</p>
<p>you’re right, what I should do, and everyone should do, is actually attend every college they are considering, thereby avoiding reliance on third parties. And then presume that my particular individual experience at each institution represented them comprehensively.</p>
<p>Im sorry but I look at academia in a completely different light than you and i’m not about to go on a tangent and post documents that proves WPI’s worth. Thats a bit childish on your part. This is another example of how US News rankings skews perception of some of the finest institutions in a negative light. Honestly who are you to judge each institutions student body and innate talent? I’m simply recommending the original poster to keep WPI in consideration and yes my experiences were just as challenging and comparable to MIT.</p>
<p>I’ve never seen any US News ranking of WPI. I really don’t know what the peer review says. It’s just that I’ve never heard WPI spoken about that highly. I know the midwest engineering firm I worked at did some national, out-of-region recruting, but did not choose to recruit at WPI.</p>
<p>Maybe the people surveyed share your perspective, and WPI is in fact “highly regarded”, in their assessment. Or some other group of people think it’s “highly regarded”. I just thought of it as just another middle of the road regional engineering college, and did not think of it as particularly “highly regarded”, or poorly regarded either. But I don’t know everything.</p>
<p>The SAT ranges are also not from US News, they are from WPI’s website. People are free to believe that SATs bear no relation to actual academic capability, if they choose; in which case they can readily accept the notion that WPI undergraduate students are just as capable, overall, as MITs undergraduate students.</p>
<p>Based on friends who have attended Northwestern and my own experience at Cornell, there is no discernible difference in the “complete college experience” offered by the two.</p>
<p>First of all thank you everyone for giving me a little insight into what you’ve experienced.
I like WPI’s focus on hands-on learning but when I visited campus, I was admittedly a bit underwhelmed. I met with a professor who was absolutely amazing but I didn’t see a reflection of his enthusiasm in the students. Most seemed a bit lackluster.
When I visited Northwestern, I liked the people, who seemed very sincere and fun. Unfortunately, the academic presentation seemed very basic and failed to assure me of the possibilities open to students seeking internships and/or co-ops. In comparison, the Cornell students didn’t seem as openly jovial and/or friendly but I was much more impressed with their academic presentation. And then of course I haven’t visited CMU, so I don’t even really have a beat on what life is like there.
I’ve heard that WPI is a good school although often overlooked or just unknown to many; it seems to have a high success rate in securing jobs for graduates but I wonder if the seemingly small portion of people who go on to graduate school is a reflection of the school’s student body or more just a mirror of a typical engineering school’s patterns - it seems to me like fewer people go to graduate school after getting an engineering degree than, say, a degree in the humanities area (of course, this is probably in part due to the idea that engineers can more easily find jobs straight out of undergrad!). </p>
<p>“…you will be equally miserable academically…” –> hah, point well taken.</p>
<p>As an engineer myself that wasn’t lucky enough to take this tract (they started it right after I finished my freshmen), I can tell you the Engineering Analysis sequence is pedagogically much more superior than 5 separate courses in engineering mechanics, phyiscs, linear algebra, differential eqn, computer programming. I am sure many practicing engineers can recall how incredibly boring the linear algebra and differential equations classes from the math departments were. But when you get to apply them for engineering problems and case studies while learning the concepts, it’s a totally different story.</p>
<p>The Design and Communication adds another awesome dimension to the curriculum.</p>