<p>This thread is so old but I would like to indicate my own conviction. First of all, Purdue is in United States! I saw a comment saying “It is not well known in Indonesia”, then go to a top-tier school in Indonesia. In U.S. Purdue is a well-known prestigious university. Currently they are ranked #1 in engineering. My elder brother went to Purdue in BS and then went to MIT for MS and PhD. He loved Purdue so much that he returned to Purdue and became a professor there. I even once attended his measurement systems class. Even if it sounded as hard as Chinese to me, he was very well explaining things. That said their education is also perfect. Another point, I saw comments comparing Purdue to MIT. That is ridiculous! If you are admitted to MIT, just go! MIT is the best technical university in the world. Don’t be funny.</p>
<p>how is purdue for graduate program in Civil engg.?</p>
<p>I feel so sorry for you. You dumped Cornell for Purdue? Seriously, I am pretty sure you must not really understand the importance of quality education yet to make that decision. Sure, Purdue has a top quality engineering program. But compared to a well-known Ivy-League school who has long established its fame around the globe and the quality of the students she brings out every year, Purdue has no way to be compared. Personally I am from Purdue as well, but I am very disappointed with the lackluster attitude of students here, and the happy-go-lucky mindset they have with their studies. The large influx of international students especially from China, Japan and South Korea have brought down the standard here too. For example, my roommate who is from China, can’t even speak a proper English sentence. Why Purdue accepted someone who did not even take TOEFL at all?Seriously! As for you, just keep this in mind: You can live your life forever and be happy of what you have achieved which you thought have done good for yourself. If that is the case, live that way and never search for anything that is truthfully good to you,for you will be blaming yourself for letting the good things go, and the guilt shall torment you forever.</p>
<p>I have no idea how to start a new thread so I’m sorry for posting a sort of related question here itself.
I got accepted at NYU for computer science and Purdue for electrical engineering. Which one should I go for?
Also any help with the posting of a new thread problem would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you :)</p>
<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>Reading the comments on this thread was very helpful and interesting. I’m a senior in High School who will be matriculating the coming fall. </p>
<p>I plan to study engineering because I have a passion for building & creating things, but I’m also interested in a few other majors (like architecture, which may not be very practical, microbiology, and genetics). I have been accepted at Purdue (with the presidential scholarship), Cornell, Rose-Hulman (also with a merit scholarship, comparable to Purdue’s), Johns Hopkins, & Notre Dame. </p>
<p>As of now, I’m mostly between Purdue and Cornell, which option do you think is best? I need to decide by this weekend!! Any input is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Thanks good to know. My son was accepted into Purdue honors engineering. He wanted to go to MIT or UC-Berkely, but was denied by the very elite schools. We toured the Purde campus and were very impressed. He chose Purdue as the classes were small in size (even for Freshmen); they put the kids into groups of (4) and all (4) kids go to every class together and work on projects as a group. The center of the campus is Engineering; the main “mall” is surrounded by science and engineering buildings and the doors for the engineering students are right behind the engineering buildings. If felt like the MIT campus (engineering only; all buildings for science and math; surrounded by dorms). I hope he will be happy there. My husband and I both are Electrical Engineers. Key to getting our degree and sticking with it, was due to a smaller engineering / science focused school. Too big of a school can be impersonal and make you feel lost. Going to huge lecture halls for first year classes is very impersonal, boring and you tend to loose focus.</p>
<p>If money is not an issue and you are looking at campus life, keep in mind U Mich is spread out all over the place. The North Campus is the engineering campus however, freshmen stay in doorms at the main campus with everyone (not specific to engineering) and then run all over a huge area for the basic few years i.e. Calc, Chem, Physics, etc. You are all over a huge setting instead of in a small tight group of engineering majors until Junior year, and you may not see the same kid from class to class, in the dorms, etc. I went to a small engineering school and really liked the tight focus for all engineering and science students. Many of my friends said they were very lonely at U Mich, as it is a huge campus, you are not in small classes with the engineering students nor in the same dorm. Finding study buddies is more difficult. U of M has a fantastic international reputation as a fantastic school, and is very selective. At the end of the day, you need to feel comfortable and have some buddies around as you have the workload on difficult courses. And with respect to Harvard and other elite schools, you may get in the door following graduation perhaps get a better pay check. In 3-5 years, Harvard is not going to help you get ahead. I have met people with little to no education that do extreemely well, and many Harvard grads sitting in a low grade position. >>> Your initial degree helps you get hired, but your ability makes you move forward.</p>
<p>Thank EEdegree for your comments. My junior son is interested in aero engineering and as a Michigan grad I have a bias toward U of M, but when we recently visited Purdue he preferred it and the first thing he mentioned was he liked how the engineering buildings were at the heart of the campus and not pushed to the edges. I also liked how they group the students right away. After having experienced Ann Arbor, the thought of West Lafayette just about kills me, but a vibrant college town is not as important to my S and I have to keep reminding myself it will be his choice not mine!</p>
<p>I am stuck between Penn state and Purdue.
Which will be better between Purdue and Penn State for CS?
Does it make any difference that Purdue’s CS program is in college of science?
It will be great if a CS student can answer these questions.</p>
<p>Went to General Motors Institue (now Kettering) back in the days it was a free school (GM paid the entire $$). They only took the best. They may have admitted minorities or lesser qualified applicants (I really don’t know the stats). The first day, our entire Freshman class of 400 sat down “bla blah” you know the story. One thing they said that was so true, “look to your left, look to your right, one of you will not be here at graduation”. We were assigned numbers to put on tests so the Prof had no idea who’s test it was thus no one could call discrimination. The faculty was the United Nations even back then. Many kids who graduated top of their class, started flunking out Sophomore year. They hit the brick wall. Others that were not up to par, my hubby included, graduated at the top of the class and obtained a GM sponsored full ride to Michigan for his MSEE. That goes to show you, it is not where you start, it is where you end. Lovely essays, perfect grades only take you so far. Some uber brilliant kids just do not seem to be “college ready” at age 17 or 18 but then when they get going they can reach the moon. Other kids that seem very “college ready” with high GPA and lovely essays, just hit their wall, or drop out as they are not interested in engineering. I had no idea what an engineer was when I went into engineering (full ride, couldn’t pass that up). As I progressed and also through my co-op engineering experience, I learned. I also learned of the 1000 paths an engineer can take after getting their degree. I was a plant / power engineer, a program manager for plant and equipment, and then received an MBA and went into Prof. Purchasing. Now am doing music, my passion. Many engineers go into medicine, law, teaching and so many other fields. My point to this long story is this: Let more kids into the program so Junior / Senior Year you will have enough kids filling up the seats. We need more engineers. If you start with a larger class, they will weed themselves out. MIT - well now MIT has an almost perfect retention rate. Why? Is it that they are so selective for technical programs? NO. It is because they will allow you to change to any major if technical is not your thing including many non science based areas. Goes to show you how schools can really change the stats. If Purdue counted the kids that entered the Engineering Program and then transfered within Purdue, well that would really change the numbers, right?</p>
<p>I am stuck between Penn state and Purdue.
Which will be better between Purdue and Penn State for CS?
Does it make any difference that Purdue’s CS program is in college of science?
It will be great if a CS student can answer these questions.</p>
<p>No, Purdue does not give $10K if you get over a 31 on the ACT. You may be “considered” for finanacial need based aid. My son had a 34 and got na da, from any university. They want the parents income for past 3 years, all assets, etc. If you have anything they want it before you will be considered for financial $$$. Now Honors Program is different. You can get into the honors engineering program with both high grades and high ACT, with a separate honors engineering dorm, Honors Eng classes taught in smaller classes by Prof., etc so keep up the grades and work hard on that ACT as it does matter</p>
<p>^I’m pretty sure my act score was the main reason Purdue gave me a “general scholarship”
Like your son, I got a 34 and am going into the honors college, but I guess they take other factors such as income into account too (parents make around 100k for those of you wondering if its worth it applying). The ironic thing is that I got accepted into UIUC UMICH and purdue but while purdue offered me over 30k in merit aid, the other schools gave me nothing. The choice was really a no brainer in my case.</p>
<p>Congrats. Purdue does have “Presidential Scholarships”. Michigan, wants your $$$$. My husband is a Michigan Grade (MSEE), and we live right around the corner of the school. Michigan has gone on record stating they want “full fair” students to boost their UofM economy. Not sure how many get financial assistance but would guess not too many. They have 1250 slots for engineering, and probably 10X that number that are over qualified that apply to the SOE. I like Purdue’s approach. You do not know how far a kids brain can reach when the kid is 17 or 18. No matter the GPA, SAT, ACT or lovely essays, you really do not know. The kid is not developed, mentally. UofMich should have a Freshman class of 2500; roughly 33% of would be engineers change career paths during school for many reasons, not just grades. The USA needs to graduate more engineers, and they only way you get more out the door is to let more in the door. My son went to the International Academy (IB Program) and had to test into the school. 85kids started; 46 are graduating. To get more output you need more input, this is very basic engineerng. Purdue is spot on. Give more financial assistance, allow more kids in the door and let them weed themselves out. Some will decide to that they really wanted to go pre med but mom and dad said go into engineering, thus moving out of the program Sophomore year. Some will decide it is not for them. Some will resent the workload. Some will not like the mid west and want to go South or West. I do not believe the stats provided by many colleges. I rather think that they graduate the same number as they enroll as they replace kids via transfer, or still count the kid (MIT) in their program when they change majors to something other than technical or engineering. If all engineering schools had this approach, the US would churn out more and more talented qualifed engineers.</p>
<p>I went to Rice University for undergrad and to Purdue for my PhD in ECE. I would say that on the undergrad level students from UIUC and UMich are probably slightly better than those from Purdue when they enroll, but after they graduate from college there is basically no difference between Purdue engineers and engineers from Umich or UIUC. On the graduate level, I would say UIUC>Purdue>Umich for engineering in general,but there is only a very small gap among the three schools. And basically all recruiter don’t differentiate the three.
In the end, I would say that the very top schools in engineering are MIT, Stanford and Berkeley, and schools like Purdue, UIUC, Umich, Gatech and CMU are tier1 schools just behind the top three. There are basically no difference among them in engineering. As for Cornell, it is overrated in engineering, and I would say Cornell is actually behind schools like Purdue at least on the graduate level.</p>
<p>I am also a partial U of M grad (dental, though, not engineering!) and we have now lived down here in Indy for 21 yrs. Our son is currently a Junior in ChemE at Purdue and very happy. He always knew he wanted engineering, took all the pre-req. classes in H.S., and we visited Purdue each year when his school would compete there for his Robotics team. Although I would have loved him to apply to U of M for nostalgia, he - and we - always knew he would likely attend Purdue. We couldn’t be more pleased with his choice. The campus has been the perfect fit for him. He is doing well academically, joined a fraternity and is enjoying campus life, received an academic scholarship as an incoming freshman (along with grants, etc.), and interviewed for and was offered a co-op position with a large international company for whom he is getting ready to start his second semester of work. It would have been foolish to have him attend U of M with it being 5 hours away from home, much more expensive OOS with likely little scholarship or grant aid, and have him likely graduate with high student debt. As it now stands he is at an equally prestigous engineering school, should graduate with NO debt, 1 1/2 yrs. work experience, a brand-new car paid off, likely a good job offer - and only 1.5 hrs. from home, which his parents have sure enjoyed. Is Purdue a good engineering school? I would sure say so! (And by the way, before he was offered his co-op position last fall he participated in Purdue’s “industrial Roundtable, or I.R.”, as a 19 yr. old soph. and interviewed with at least 6 large companies, including BASF, BP, Kimberly Clark, Proctor & Gamble, Roche, Eli Lilly, etc. - just an example of the types of companies actively recruiting at Purdue!)</p>