Is Brown engineering good or is it worse than other pvt schools like Columbia, NYU, and colleges in the SUNY system?
bump
US News Engineering School Ranks
Columbia - 14
NYU - 47
Brown - 49
SUNY - 59
That depends on which SUNY right and which rating. For US news: Binghamton=117, Stony Brook=66, Buffalo=59 a
Cornell, Columbia and Penn have stronger engineering programs than Brown
Brown undergrad engineering is excellent.
Here is their graduate school placements from the last few years:
Carnegie Mellon University, MS, Mechanical Engineering
Cornell University, M.Eng, Structural Engineering
Cornell University, PhD, Mechanical Engineering
Harvard University, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD, Chemical Engineering
New York University Medical School, MD
Oxford University, MS, Neuroscience
Stanford University, PhD, Electrical Engineering
UCL Bartlett School of Planning in London, MS, Transportation Planning
University of California-Berkeley, PhD, Mechanical Engineering
California Institute of Technology, PhD, Aerospace Engineering
Cornell University, MEng, Aerospace Engineering
Cornell University, MEng, Aerospace Engineering
Dartmouth College, MS, Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MEng, Civil Engineering
McGill University Schulich School of Music, MA, Music
Stanford University, Electrical Engineering
Stanford University, MS, Chemical Engineering
Stanford University, MS, Mechanical Engineering
Stanford University, PhD, Electrical Engineering
University of Califirnia-SanDiego, PhD, Electrical Engineering
University of California-Berkeley, MS, Structural Engineering
University of California-Los Angeles, MS, Civil Engineering
University of California-Santa Barbara, PhD, Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, PhD, Mechanical Engineering
University of Michigan, Phd, Computer Science and Engineering
University of Texas at Austin, MS, Chemical Engineering
University of Washington, PhD, Materials Science and Engineering
California Institute of Technology, PhD, Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper School of Business, MBA, Business
Columbia University, MS, Mechanical Engineering
Columbia University, PhD, Chemical Engineering
Georgia Technical Institute, MS, Aerospace Engineering
Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Science, PhD, Environmental Engineering
Johns Hopkins University, PhD, Electrical Engineering
Massachusetts Iinstitute of Technology, PhD/MS, Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ME, Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD, Mechanical Engineering
Princeton University, PhD, Chemical engineering
Stanford University, MS, Electrical Engineering
Stanford University, MS, Management Sciences and Engineering
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Davis, PhD, Mechanical Engineering
University of Virginia, PhD, Computer Engineering
???
Do you have their job placement?
360 Global Management Trainee, EF Education First
3D Designer Intern, Pearlfisher
Associate Consultant, Bain & Company
Associate Process Engineer, Worley Parsons
Business Analyst, McKinsey & Company
Business Technology Consultant, Delphix
Compiuter Engineering, Citrix
Corps Member, AmeriCorps - City Year Boston
Design Engineer, Navatek, LTD
Design Engineer, PES Structural Engineer
Designer/Engineer, Textron
Dragon Avionics Integration Engineer, SpaceX
Electrical Engineer, Euro-Pro
Engineer, Oasys Water
Entry Design Mechanical Engineer, Sensata
Front-Line Engineer, GAME GOLF
Hardware Engineer, NVIDIA
Investment Banking Analyst, Goldman Sachs
Mechanical Engineer Intern, Planet Labs
Mechanical Engineer, Woodward MPC
Mechanical Quality Engineer, Draper Laboratory
Process Quality Engineer, Johnson & Johnson
Product Engineer, Analog Devices
Quality Engineer, Fischer Special Manufacturing Company
Quality Engineer, Onshape, Inc.
Research Assistant, Brown University
Sales Engineer, Utilidata
Scientific Associate, DE Shaw Research
Software Engineer, x.ai
Solidworks Drafter, Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems
Systems Engineer, Honeywell Aerospace
Analyst, Advanced DR, EnerNOC
Analyst, Altman Vilandrie & Co.
Analyst, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Analyst, J.P. Morgan
Analyst, Keystone Strategy
Analyst, Locus Analytics
Asset Management Analyst, J.P. Morgan
Assistant Project Manager, Shawmut Design & Construction
Associate Consultant, Bain & Company
Associate Consultant, Microsoft Corporation
Associate Engineer, Altec
Associate, Boston Consulting Group
Bracebridge Capital
Business Analyst, Liberty Mutual Insurance
Consultant, Oliver Wyman
Data Analytics Associate, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Electrical Engineer, Amazon
Electrical Engineer, URS Corporation
Engineer, Hatch Mott MacDonald
Engineer, Self-employed
Financial Analyst, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Financial Systems Analyst, Boston Medical Center
Gas Main Engineer, National Grid
HardwareEngineer, Oracle Corporation
Mechanical Engineer, Raytheon
Mechanical Engineering Management Trainee, Norfolk Southern Corporation
On-site Coordinator, R&J Development Company LLC
Patent Engineer, ALG Intellectual Property
Patent Examiner, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Power Train Engineer, Chrysler Corporation
Project Engineer, DPR Construciton
Quality Assurance, Epic Systems
Research Engineer, Brown University
Research scientist, D. E. Shaw Research
Sales and Marketing Fellow of 2013 - Tech Startup, LineStream Technologies
Set Design, The Amish Project
Software Engineer, IXL Learning
System Integrator, Boeing Corporation
Systems Integration Analyst, Accentu
I would not fixate too much on grad school ranking. If you’re inclined to go to grad school, it’s often good to leave your alma mater to broaden your experience and gain exposure to new ideas. Also, grad ranking may cause you to overlook undergrad engineering gems like Mudd, Olin and USAFA.
I’m skeptical of rankings in general. A recent New Yorker article stated: (the) college-ranking industries (were) inaugurated as a fateful gimmick, with massive consequences, by a second-tier news magazine.
This would be Georgia Tech in Atlanta which has an excellent Aerospace program.
Here is a list their Astronauts and NASA administrators: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Georgia_Institute_of_Technology_alumni#NASA_and_aerospace
I think most people in the know would consider Columbia better, or at least more well known, but Brown is certainly better or competitive with the rest that OP mentions. Brown is also considered very strong on the bioengineering side. It is the oldest undergrad engineering school in the Ivies, and Brown is devoting a lot of money to building up engineering over the next few years, including building a new facility to house the school. My D started in engineering at Brown (and she hated Columbia Fu on her visit) but gravitated toward CS once at Brown. The top students in her department score a lot of internships in Silicon Valley, so you see a lot of grads ending up at Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Pixar, etc.
Just a note – the US News ranking link (post #2) looks like Graduate School rankings. Undergraduate, I’m certain, would be different.
My DD has applied to Brown intending to study engineering. I am trying to gather useful information about the program in case she has to make a decision in couple of months. My preliminary research suggests that about 40% of first year engineering students at Brown drop-out/change major by the time they reach junior standing. Does anyone have any first-hand information that could explain this low rate of student retention? or poke a hole in this data?
source of data: http://profiles.asee.org/
I’m assuming that they’re taking the numbers of “first-year engineering students” from the number of students who indicated on the Common App that they’re interested in an engineering major at Brown, since no student at Brown declares a major until their sophomore year at least. Honestly, many students change their minds once they arrive at college and are properly exposed to the field that they thought they’d be interested in. I arrived at Brown as a biochemistry (possible bioengineering) concentrator, and graduated with a degree in music theory.
The engineering concentration is also a tough one, and I’d guess that many students realize that it’s not quite what they were looking for, or it’s a bit more than they were planning on doing. I’d bet that a lot of these students end up going towards concentrations in Applied Math, CS, Physics, etc. These numbers aren’t something to be concerned about, they’re a testament to the importance of Brown’s open curriculum and why students shouldn’t always be declaring an area of study before they enter college.
https://www.brown.edu/academics/engineering/abet-accreditation
ABET accreditation important for certain engineering careers and Brown is suggesting that at least Civil is not going to be reaccredited after this year.
@emotive Brown’s application treats the Engineering school as a concentration or field of study rather than as a separate entity as other schools do, so I’m not surprised if it shows that students change their mind about it by the time that they get to their junior year. Harvard, Yale, Brown and Dartmouth seem to do it the same way, whereas, Penn, Cornell, Duke, Columbia keep the engineering school applicants in a separate pool. As far as I can recall with my D’s application, the engineering school required one additional essay to write, but otherwise her application was for normal Brown admission. In my D’s case, she decided to concentrate in CS rather than get an engineering degree largely because the engineering degree has a lot of core course requirements which would have made her unable to take the humanities courses she is interested in. There’s no “transfer” request or anything like that at Brown, you just choose a different advisor and off you go. In contrast, as I understand it, if you want to transfer from Fu to Columbia College, you actually have to fill out an transfer application to do so.
Another thing to realize is that that the SEAS schools (Harvard, Yale, e.g.) have CS or applied math embedded in the SEAS school and so it looks like “retention” in the ASEE stats when in actuality the student may leave without an engineering degree. My D, for example, shows in the Brown ASEE statistics as a “drop out” (as you put it) since she crossed the line into CS, but had she been at Harvard, she would show as a retention, because their CS major is in the SEAS.
@bruno14 As of now, D is committed to studying engineering. She has been involved in a multidisciplinary research project since last year and appears to be interested in continuing it in college. She became interested in Brown partly because one of the pioneers in that field of study is at Brown (not an engineer though). Although she may change her mind and decide to change course later, at this point I want to make sure her chosen school environment provides an encouraging and supportive infrastructure with regard to peers, faculty and facilities.
@texaspg Yes, I noticed that too. I am not surprised. How could any school support an accredited (civil) engineering program with only 2 or 3 (civil) faculty? Although many schools use adjuncts to teach design courses, they mostly have at least 6 or 7 permanent faculty on board.
@spayurpets Thanks for the clarification. I was under the assumption that Engineering is a fill fledged program and not just a concentration. Is that also the case for Computer Science?
@emotive, Brown’s Engineering is definitely a full-fledged defined “school,” “program,” whatever you want to call it, but I was just pointing out that, for admissions purposes, it has no barriers of entry or exit between it and the rest of the college. If you want to fulfill the requirements of engineering, you get to be an engineer at Brown. If you choose to take another concentration, you’re not going to get an engineering degree.
As for CS, they also have two degree tracks–AB and ScB. I don’t really know the difference, maybe ScB has a little more heft than a simple bachelor of arts, but whether it’s worth the extra work is a matter of debate. Getting the ScB has more core requirements, so that can limit the amount of outside courses you can take. For the typical Brown student who has a variety of academic interests and came to Brown for the open curriculum, that can feel very confining. My D says that among the best CS concentrators, some go for ScBs, some go for ABs, there’s not a discernible pattern. It doesn’t seem to make any difference at all to potential employers; they seem to be most interested in how well you program and perform in their tests and interviews. Perhaps the ScB lends more weight for getting into graduate degree programs.