IVY League Engineering Schools

College Search & Selection
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Harvard's engineering program, on the other hand, is terrible. The closest thing they offer to engineering is a major called "engineering science."At least Yale offers legitimate engineering majors.

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Sure, it has engineering science, but it's not..what you would consider an engineering major

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<p>Why? So what? What does that have to do with anything? Who cares what Harvard calls it? It's just a name.</p>

<p>Let me put it to you this way. Harvey-Mudd doesn't offer separate engineering majors either. It just offers a single major in "General Engineering". So does that mean that Harvey Mudd is "terrible"? Or that they don't offer a real "engineering major"?</p>

42

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I didn't make that statement based on the school's engineering program rank. Not at all. It just does not seem to me that Harvard or Yale, in this example, are what you would consider "engineering schools", for the fact alone that they are much, much more as primarily liberal arts institutions. This is just my opinion, but a student who truly wants to go to Harvard for engineering has a completely different mindset and focus than a similar student who wants to go to Carnegie Mellon, or one of the various Institutes of Technology. I'm not trying to rule out a school based on its ranking, but consider as a whole the aim of the students at that school.

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<p>Is that right? Are you sure? Believe me, there are plenty of engineering students at even MIT who don't really want to be engineers and will jump at their first opportunity to enter other careers (i.e. consulting or banking). </p>

<p>Consider what former MIT chemical engineering student Nicholas Pearce said:</p>

<p>Even at M.I.T., the U.S.'s premier engineering school, the traditional career path has lost its appeal for some students. Says junior Nicholas Pearce, a chemical-engineering major from Chicago: "It's marketed as--I don't want to say dead end but sort of 'O.K., here's your role, here's your lab, here's what you're going to be working on.' Even if it's a really cool product, you're locked into it." Like Gao, Pearce is leaning toward consulting. "If you're an M.I.T. grad and you're going to get paid $50,000 to work in a cubicle all day--as opposed to $60,000 in a team setting, plus a bonus, plus this, plus that--it seems like a no-brainer.</p>

<p>Are</a> We Losing Our Edge? -- Printout -- TIME</p>

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I have only been considering Harvard, which I am obviously biased against as it is not an engineering school, regardless of any other factors. Hence, would you want to hire a student who goes to Harvard specifically for engineering, which is essentially nonexistent there?

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<p>Again, why? Who says that it's nonexistent? Seems that it is just as "existent" as engineering is at plenty of other schools. </p>

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That being said... I fully agree that Harvard's engineering program (or should I say, engineering science major?) is garbage. I don't even know how it is ranked that high (30?)

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<p>Yeah, so then the question is, why isn't Brown ranked higher in engineering? In fact, Brown is ranked lower. So if Harvard engineering is garbage, what does that make Brown engineering? </p>

<p>Look, I'm not saying that Brown engineering is garbage. I am simply following your logic to its conclusion. If Harvard engineering is garbage, then so are plenty of other engineering programs.</p>

43

<p>Shirker, you seem like you are more concerned with the name of the school than the program. Limiting yourself to IVY League because of their name hinders you from all the great engineering programs out there. For example, NU, Caltech, Stanford (as many have said), Illinois, and UChicago.</p>

<p>Have you considered UChicago? I know they don't have an "engineering program," but you could always major in something related and then go to grad school and get an engineering degree.</p>

44

<p>Sakky:</p>

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Yeah, so then the question is, why isn't Brown ranked higher in engineering? In fact, Brown is ranked lower. So if Harvard engineering is garbage, what does that make Brown engineering?</p>

<p>Look, I'm not saying that Brown engineering is garbage. I am simply following your logic to its conclusion. If Harvard engineering is garbage, then so are plenty of other engineering programs.

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<p>No. Harvard engineering is terrible because it offers no legitimate engineering majors, just engineering science. Based on the fact that I said:</p>

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any university that offers real engineering majors is better than Harvard for engineering.

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<p>it should follow that Brown is better than Harvard for engineering, because Brown actually offers real engineering majors, not just engineering science. I even questioned the validity of rankings by saying </p>

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I don't even know how it is ranked that high (30?) because any university that offers real engineering majors is better than Harvard for engineering.

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<p>and now you are telling me that my own logic says Brown University is worse than Harvard for engineering because it's ranked lower? That is kind of ridiculous, I said any program with real engineering majors is better than Harvard's. Brown has real engineering majors- hence it is better than Harvard's. It is clear that you didn't read my post properly.</p>

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<p>sakky, I'm pretty sure Brown Man goes to Cornell.
butchokoy, I have legacy at MIT and can tell you that what sakky posted is very true. A lot of the engineers at MIT, ~40% are going into consulting/finance. It's a running joke at MIT that the best engineers at MIT end up working for Goldman Sachs. Frankly, since engineering jobs generally are pretty egalitarian in that they don't care too much where you went to school, there's not as much appeal for an MIT grad to go into traditional engineering. My guess as to why they majored in engineering is that 1) they like math and science, 2) bankers know that they are extremely smart if the graduated from MIT with a degree in engineering. Also, I'm not so sure this is a recent trend. My MIT interviewer last year who's around 50 years old is also working on Wall Street.</p>

46

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Yeah, so then the question is, why isn't Brown ranked higher in engineering? In fact, Brown is ranked lower. So if Harvard engineering is garbage, what does that make Brown engineering?

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<p>although i don't agree 100% with what Brownman said, he goes to cornell. cornell eng is solid top 10, currently ranked 7th. next up in ivy-league eng is princeton at 12th.</p>

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<p>Here is a link to undergraduate research opportunities in engineering at Cornell. </p>

<p>Cornell</a> Engineering : Undergraduate Research</p>

<p>Cornell will fund research proposals for undergraduates if approved.</p>

<p>Which engineering specialty interests you?</p>

<p>Cornell is generally regarded as the best in the US in engineering physics.
But, it is strong in every engineering specialty except biomedical.</p>

<p>I had two undergrad assistantships while at Cornell. One a TA for 4 years in Eng Physics. The other for 3 years as an RA in the Eng Physics Plasma Lab.</p>

48

<p>I'll say it once and I'll say it again. The Wall Street gravy train is over. You haven't even seen anything yet.</p>

49

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Shirker, you seem like you are more concerned with the name of the school than the program. Limiting yourself to IVY League because of their name hinders you from all the great engineering programs out there.

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Please take notice that what you are suggesting is something that I explicitly explained wasn't the case. The name of this thread may mislead you, but had you read my posts and various others, you would see that I'm not aiming for a name.</p>

50

<p>I am a rising senior at Penn Engineering, and the simple answer is that it's a question of how dead set you are on becoming a professional engineer. I came into Penn Engineering thinking that "I'm good at math and science so what the hell, might as well study engineering, but am still open to going for business or law," I ended up doing well enough as a chemical engineering major freshman year to be able to start a dual degree with Wharton (wasn't even a consideration when choosing Penn, kinda just stumbled on the possibility of doing so when I got here), ended up a dual degree finance and computer science student, and am now planning on going for a PhD in math to end up as a quantitative analyst for a bank or a hedge fund. Only go for the best engineering program ignoring how good the university is overall if you're absolutely dead set on engineering as a career... If you're not, (and I'd actually probably assert that it's impossible to know in high school specifically what you want to do for a career), then go with the Ivy...</p>

51

<p>I have 9 choices that I've applied to for BME undergrad. I chose them because they all seem to fit - with some more of a reach than others. Also because of the match with my sport.
Please rank them based on your experience- I need help making choices-
Columbia
UC Santa Cruz
Drexel
Case Western
WPI
RPI
Stevens Institute
Johns Hopkins
Harvey Mudd</p>

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<p>Did someone highlight Drexel as the best of my BME choices?</p>

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<p>Johns Hopkins is actually probably the best for biomedical engineering on your list.
For those of us who are majoring in engineering, but don't want to be professional engineers then the Ivies are top notch. I for instance want to go on and get a PhD in engineering and work as a research and development engineer. To do that I need to go to a school that has a plethora of undergrad research opportunities, hence why my top choice is Yale. The program is small, but the professors and their research is super, and Yale has so many opportunities to be involved in various research that it is the best school for me.
For undergrad engineering (especially if you want to get a PhD) then it doesn't matter where you go so much as the GPA and the research experiences, and I feel that Yale will give me an opportunity to do both. Oh and the Yale name isn't to bad either ;) (assuming I get in :/)</p>

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<p>$125 Million was donated to Harvard's engineering department this last semester, I think it's focus is Biomedical engineering. So Harvard may be on the rise. Not that most people here care.......</p>

<p>I have alot of friends doing engineering at Cal Poly Pomona, and they rave about how good it is.</p>