Is Engineering Worth It?

Hello,
As an incoming senior, I have been looking seriously at Rochester: hopes of merit aid and the great campus and community are all reasons to apply for me. However, on my campus tour and from what I see on the internet, it seems as if UR doesn’t care too much about engineering (and Hajim is fairly low-ranked as well, which doesn’t help) and focuses more on the rest of the school. This makes me question if it is actually worth the price tag, or if I should focus on other, more technical universities. Is this true? I would really appreciate any insights about whether it is worth applying.

I think URoch is putting a lot money and emphasis into engineering, which bodes well for them. They just named a new dean and, with the construction of Wegmans Hall and the revamp of the engineering quad, they are putting engineering and applied sciences at the forefront of their development efforts.

Also, the cluster system gives engineering majors there a little more leeway than they might have at some other institutions with a heavy core requirement. Not only is it possible to graduate in four years with an engineering degree, but there’s the possibility of study abroad or double-majoring that might be a lot harder to do at other schools.

As the parent of a current UR student (not studying engineering) and an engineering professional of 30 years myself, I offer the following advice… if you plan to get an undergrad engineering degree then enter the workforce, don’t spend a lot of money on an engineering degree. In my experience, most employers don’t care much where you got your engineering degree from as long as you have one. Save money and go to a state flagship school with a decent program. UR is a great school with a beautiful campus, but unless they are giving you serious aid, it’s a lot to spend for an engineering degree.

Just my opinion.

Also to piggy-back on ekdad212 comments, be sure the engineering program is ABET accredited.

@EllieMom @ekdad212 @MADad thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it. I’ll think I’ll probably apply, but I honestly don’t see myself going unless I get a lot of merit aid, which seems unlikely…

My son graduated from UR with his degree in ME. He did get some merit aid which helped. The amount of aid he got was about the same at every school he applied to and got in including Syracuse, RPI, Stevens and Drexel. All these schools had about the same cost of tuition.

For him the UR program was a good fit because while he desired to be an engineer, he wanted a rounded program at a school that met his other interests and meet people who were smart and equally as well rounded. Typically engineering programs have students that do not have strong interests in other areas UR is not like that. So you have engineers who are interested and strong in music or art or language as well as engineering. My son took his cluster in Film/photograph which is his other interest area.

UR is also very very big on engineers doing a study abroad and will bend over backwards to make that happen for you. In addition, at least in ME, the head of the program Prof Lambropolus is very available to students. I have a friend whose son went to Cornell and she felt the students did not get personal attention like at UR.

The engineering program that is the strongest at UR is optical engineering. It is actually famous for that while the other areas do not get as much attention and not as unique. UR just opened Rettner hall which has 3D printing and a newer shop. The hands on at UR is not a strong at RIT but RIT is a coop/tech school. Like apples and oranges to compare.

So money wise, it may be cheaper to go somewhere else but as far as a good college experience, UR did provide that for my son and he continues to be very close to students he met freshman year, most of whom are not engineers.