<p>Is it hard to find engineering jobs if I go to Columbia? Since it is located in NYC, I would expect more business related opportunities there... I am just worried that I might not be able to get a job afterwards... can anyone help me out?</p>
<p>You're going to have to define more specifically what "engineering jobs" means to you. Some would argue that tweaking with corporate cash flow as an banker would fulfill an engineering job, others not so much. From my friends considering the major right now, it seems that EE, computer engineering, and compsci are pretty closely linked at seas, and are all pretty strong. One of them is doing an internship this summer at microsoft. Other opportunities in the new york area would include the technologies divisions of major banks, if thats what you would consider an "engineering job". I reccommend you do more research to narrow down exactly what youre looking for. Heres the columbia EE website for starters 2007</a> - 2008 SEAS Bulletin: Undergraduate Programs</p>
<p>r3volut1on: yes, I consider "engineering jobs" any jobs that I am able to apply what I've learned in school. However, those technologies divisions of major banks are more software based aren't they? And you probably need some business background too right?</p>
<p>stankuo802: With a Columbia degree, you can most certainly find yourself a good engineering job. Just be aware that a lot of students do not choose this route(and instead go into fields which pay Columbia graduates what they're worth such as finance). If you're interested in engineering though, by all means, you will surely find a good job after graduation.</p>
<p>In all the talk about how good SEAS is for getting non-engineering jobs, there develops a perception that nobody from SEAS actually wants to become an engineer. While it's not some place like CMU where 100% of the people go become engineers (making that up), there are still a plenty of people who go become engineers and they get very good jobs.</p>
<p>but do they need to go out of their way to secure a job, or does Columbia have good connections with companies and industries like those engineering heavy schools?</p>
<p>it is easier to get a job with boeing or mcdonnell-douglas or ford or raytheon in an engineering position if you go to drexel than if you go to columbia. but for positions that lead to upper management, columbia is probably better background. and columbia's connections in the world of business are its big recruiting differentiator.</p>
<p>so if i have no desire to do management or business and purely want to work as an engineer for technical companies, I shouldn't go to Columbia and go to a different engineering school?</p>
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so if i have no desire to do management or business and purely want to work as an engineer for technical companies, I shouldn't go to Columbia and go to a different engineering school?
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<p>No, not at all. Where else are you looking?</p>
<p>Do you want a solid a liberal arts education (i.e., Columbia's Core), or do you want to take bare minimum humanities requirements and study nothing but math/sci/eng (this is how it is at some engineering schools)?</p>
<p>Are you really sure what your desires are going to be in 3-4 years when you go for your first job? In 5-10 years after you might decide you're tired of being an engineer in a dead-end job making $80K working for a business guy?</p>
<p>Do you think you'd enjoy 4 years at Columbia? 4 years in NYC?</p>
<p>I know nothing about you, but there are things to think about.</p>
<p>I'm mainly looking at Cornell, but I have some other options, just trying to narrow it down. </p>
<p>I love Columbia's core, no doubt about it, but I'm fairly sure I want to be a computer engineer, working for Intel or Sun or any other company. I want my first job to be in engineering and to have the most oppertunities as possible in the field. </p>
<p>I love Columbia and the city, I just don't want to have a gimped engineering experience compared to Cornell or Georgia Tech or Cooper Union. I'm not saying Columbia is gimped, I'm asking if the differences in the overall experience and effect of an engineering education there will be different than in one of the other schools.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I'm sure that if I do well with engineering at Columbia I'd stand out as an engineer with a great liberal arts backing. But I just want to have the NYC experience AND the humanities AND great engineering opportunities, with an emphasis on the last one.</p>
<p>well, take it up with the half-dozen friends of mine who went from SEAS to Google and are, quite frankly, living one hell of a life. Others at Microsoft or VMWare or Sun or the like are quite happy. And that's just what I know from being a CS minor. My friend who was in Civil E loves her structural engineering job. My two friends who were ChemE's, well, one is a consultant for IBM, the other is teaching chemistry at Phillips Andover as a one-year break before a PhD program or a job in industry. The handful who were BME are either in med school, finance, or pharma. And that leaves out the hordes who were IEOR and went into finance or consulting, or teaching jobs. Those are just my friends, but i've never heard of anyone having a problem finding a job in industry.</p>
<p>elec486: Columbia offers all of those things. The overriding idea behind SEAS is an engineering education with some liberal arts, all in the city of New York. The reason many think that SEAS isn't a good engineering school is because most graduates don't go onto engineering - however, it is a great engineering school. </p>
<p>The reason most people don't go into engineering is plain and simple: money. While, for example, a CS grad could make around $85k a year working at Google or the like out of undergrad, the same person could go into i-banking(or become a quant after grad school) and roll in $60k + 50-100% bonus - so $90k-$120k right out of school. This number exponentially increases so you could be earning millions of dollars a year, 5 or 10 years into the person's career. This is simply not possible in engineering. The best you could hope for (assuming you stay in engineering) is maybe $200k or so after 10-20 years of experience. </p>
<p>A good comparison(I think) is getting a standard career(any average job) versus teaching at an inner city school. While some really have a desire to do the latter, it is not appealing to most, because it doesn't pay as well and doesn't have the potential to earn as much as a normal career. It is the love of teaching, and the desire to improve lives of underprivileged children that fuels this desire to get a job that doesn't pay nearly as well.</p>
<p>If you have the passion and drive to be an engineer, by all means pursue a career in engineering. SEAS will definitely help land you a great job at a great company. And, by all means, you should only get a job doing what you want t o do. If you dread finance, don't get a job in finance; go into engineering.</p>
<p>That makes a lot of sense, thanks. It's just that reading through both the Cornell and Columbia forums, EVERYONE seems to be agreeing that Cornell is better if you're sure you want engineering, while Columbia is better if you're not sure, which makes me feel like I'd be making a stupid choice if I pick Columbia, which in reality probably isn't the case.</p>
<p>So the overall education and opportunities at Columbia are equal (if not better) than Cornell, Cooper Union , GaTech? I guess it's really in the eye of the beholder and I can't expect to get a definitive answer in an on-line forum.</p>
<p>Ultimately all a college's name does for you is get you in the door. It's your qualities as a person and a possible worker, and your experiences, that get you the job offer. All schools you mention will get you in the door. What matters more is what kind of person you've made yourself into by the time your 4 years are up. What school will grow you more in the ways you want to grow? That's how you should be thinking about this.</p>
<p>Over in the Official Results thread, one girl who really stood out defended her choice to attend MIT over Columbia. The description she gave made too much sense for her, for me to really argue it or try to be persuasive. People will usually make the choices that are the best for themselves, and figuring out where you'll be the best fit is a very personal decision.</p>
<p>Anyway, those're my thoughts. I'm off to bed.</p>
<p>What about internships with engineering while attending Columbia? Will it be easy to get one, or will internships most likely deal with wall street / banking?</p>
<p>I doubt it'd be too difficult to get an engineering internship. I've worked with plenty of Columbia students in the internships that I had in NYC.</p>
<p>What are some of the internships you did in NYC so I can get some idea? And what undergrad (or grad) did you attend?</p>
<p>I actually majored in civil engineering, but I assume job opportunities wouldn't be too different for electrical engineers. The companies where I met Columbia students are tops in their field and are well-respected by their peers. With that being said, I do believe it'll be easier to find an engineering position if you go to a more tech-focused school, but I don't think it creates such a significant difference that it should be the deciding factor on which school to attend. Plenty of other factors to consider,</p>
<p>I did my undergrad at the Cooper Union, and am getting my master's here at Columbia.</p>
<p>how was your experience at cooper union? </p>
<p>it's one of my options for undergrad, but with Columbia financial aid it costs about the same to attend both schools, leaving just reputation/experience as a deciding factor.</p>
<p>The Cooper Union was a great experience for me, and I'm glad I decided to go there. It's such a small school as I'm sure you know, that you get to know everybody, especially those within your major. The workload is tougher than what I've experienced at Columbia, and you take more classes (135 credits for graduation, and if I'm not mistaken it's 120 for Columbia). Most people like to work together in groups though, so that helps a lot. </p>
<p>Cooper is very well-respected in the NYC area, though I'm not sure how it's viewed outside of the northeast in industry. A significant percentage of Cooper students are from the tristate area, while Columbia is much more diverse it seems and is well known nationwide (and worldwide). Cooper's alumni connections have helped me a bunch. I got two internships as a direct result of them, as well as my full-time job. Two of my connections are VP's at their respective companies so getting to upper management is not a problem coming out of Cooper. Off the top of my head, I know one more VP of a internationally known construction management firm, and one partner of a very prestigious geotechnical engineering firm. </p>
<p>Oh, and our new academic building is going up as we speak. =)</p>
<p>Ok, so there's my pro-Cooper spiel. Now on to Columbia....</p>
<p>If you're not sure you want to do engineering, then Cooper's not for you. It's for people who are passionate in engineering, and know for sure that's what they want to study for 4 years. You have no other option, because we only have art, architecture and engineering, and the other 2 majors are ridiculously tough to get admittance to. Those students have amazing talent. Columbia has such a variety of courses to offer, so that's a plus for the undecided. </p>
<p>I imagine it'll be easier to get involved in research at Columbia as an undergrad (though I honestly don't know for sure) because it's not really emphasized at Cooper. </p>
<p>I'm sure Columbia has a great alumni network in engineering, though I don't have any firsthand experience with any higher-ups. Those who did their undergrad here probably have more info than I do.</p>
<p>Also consider housing and neighborhood. You'll only be in the dorms at Cooper for one year; after that you'd have to get an apartment. As far as I know, Columbia guarantees housing for all undergrads, so if you don't want to deal with the headaches of apartment hunting, Columbia may be better. Neigborhood... I love the East Village 10x Morningside Heights, but that's just me. Some may find it too loud or too busy. Some might prefer the campus of Columbia.</p>
<p>With money being a negligible factor and being that you like the liberal arts emphasis at Columbia, you can't really go wrong with either school if you get accepted to both.</p>