job prospects of different colleges

<p>OK, my son (going into his senior year in HS) wants to do mechanical engineering. He's narrowed his colleges down to Duke, University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) - safety school, and Rutgers. Duke and Rutgers have great reputations, but we might not be able to afford them. Is there a way to compare the job prospects he'd have from these different schools? I'm planning on asking them what percentage of their graduating class from last year got jobs, but I doubt they keep track or will tell me. </p>

<p>Any ideas?</p>

<p>Illinois easily best of group in engineering. It has a placement report online.</p>

<p>I would bet their career office has a report. My S college has a detailed report of percent of grads who were employed or in grad school within X months of graduation etc. I think that’s a pretty standard question to ask.</p>

<p><a href=“Duke Student Affairs”>Duke Student Affairs;
<a href=“http://engineering.illinois.edu/sites/engineering.illinois.edu/files/aboutus/COE%20Salary%20Sheet.13.pdf[/url]”>http://engineering.illinois.edu/sites/engineering.illinois.edu/files/aboutus/COE%20Salary%20Sheet.13.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
[Career</a> Opportunities for Majors in Mechanical Engineering | Career Services | Rutgers](<a href=“http://careerservices.rutgers.edu/mechanical_engineering.shtml]Career”>http://careerservices.rutgers.edu/mechanical_engineering.shtml)</p>

<p>This list does not have a safety.<br>
And, UIUC arguably has the best engineering reputation out of these.
And, how can you be so sure that UIUC is affordable if Rutgers is not?</p>