<p>I'm enrolled in Watson for the fall, and I noticed that the school is ranked 116 on USNWR for engineering undergrad. I don't think much of rankings as long as I'm receiving a good education, but frankly 116 is kinda low. Is Watson good because you can take a wider variety of liberal arts classes at Harpur? Need some opinions, thanks.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t exactly know which engineering major I’m going into, so I think I’ll fit well into the first-year eng program. Still, if I decide upon a major later on, should I transfer into a higher-ranked engineering school? Or is it not worth it?</p>
<p>Hmm, I wouldn’t say it’s good. Lot’s of awful teachers who can’t speak english very well, make you fend for yourself; not a lot of opportunities to obtain internship or do special projects. These are probably a few of the reasons why I switched out of engineering.</p>
<p>If you are stuck in Watson, I’d advise you to transfer into a higher-ranked engineering school (Cornell, U of Rochester, or RPI), but keep in mind that some of your credits won’t transfer, thus making you stay for an extra semester or two.</p>
<p>Also if you are going to switch schools, I’d highly recommend getting good grades for 3 semesters and then transfer for the Fall of your junior year. If you attempt to transfer for the Fall of your sophomore year, they only look at your grades for the first semester (because you’ll be in the process of applying during your Spring semester of freshmen year). Thus, your high school record and SAT scores will have a much heavier weight. And honestly, if you didn’t get in the first time, chances are you wont get in the second time if you apply to transfer as a sophomore.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply man, I looked through your posts and I see you were in the same situation as I am in. I understand that Bing is sort of a fend-for-yourself school, but are the opportunities there really that bleak? I suppose I’ll have to see for myself. Also, did you end up transferring to Cornell?</p>
<p>Lol, no problem. It’s hard for me to talk about opportunities since I was only in the engineering program for two years. But like most people, I tried looking for an internship during my sophomore year, and I thought I could get one(I had a 3.6 GPA at the time), but I couldn’t find any. I had one interview, but ended up getting rejected. </p>
<p>As for research opportunities, I’m sure they exist, but I never stayed long enough to find out. If you really want them, you’ll have to talk to the professors since you’ll be doing the research under them.</p>
<p>All the people that I’ve known and who’ve stayed in engineering don’t have jobs right now. I’m sure some graduates have jobs, but they probably graduated summa cum laude.</p>
<p>As for Cornell, nope, I ended up getting rejected. I applied as a sophomore transfer (with a 3.6 GPA for my first semester), which turned out to be insufficient. Since I only had 1 semesters of coursework, they weighted my high school transcript and SAT scores more heavily. Thus, if you do plan on transferring, do so as a junior transfer (just make sure you get good grades!).</p>
<p>I don’t really want to transfer to Cornell, as I’ve read somewhere that some Cornell engineering undergrads actually transferred into Watson because the pressure was too intense. Either way, it sounds like Bing isn’t that bad.</p>
<p>What did you end up doing? Are you still in school or did you graduate already?</p>
<p>I ended up switching to Mathematics with a track in actuarial science. Lo and behold, I don’t think I was any better off. Still no luck landing a job. I did get a handful of interviews, but the competition was too fierce.</p>
<p>I graduated this past May.</p>
<p>Overall, engineering in Bing isn’t that bad; just don’t expect it to be renowned. Still, if you’re working that hard in engineering, you should at least do it in a better school. That was my philosophy I had in mind when I considered transferring. If you can get an internship/research opportunity and/or pull off a 3.5+ GPA, I think you’ll be fine. </p>
<p>If you want renowned, SOM is you best bet if you are into business. This school is best known for SOM, and it is SOM that gives Bing its reputation. If I could go back and change things, I would’ve transferred over to SOM instead of to Harpur.</p>