<p>My son is pretty actively narrowing down his list. He's pretty sure he wants to study ME, but likes chemistry quite a bit too, so wants to keep an open mind about ChemE. He's visited the east coast and came back with a short list of schools out there that he likes, WPI, Lehigh and Olin. He'll still visit some schools out west and may visit Case.</p>
<p>The question, for those of you in the workforce, particularly those of you that hire is this, if he chooses any of those three or Case, how difficult will it be for him to get a job in the mountain west or on the west coast? There's a chance he'll go to grad school and would likely do that out west, but since that's an unknown, how detrimental, if at all would it be to get a degree in the east or mid-west and get hired in the west?</p>
<p>National reputation certainly plays a part in getting hired outside any colleges “local” reputation area. I worked my entire career in SoCal but grew up in New England. To me, Case and WPI are somewhat known nationally. I worked with a couple of engineers from each. Lehigh I am familiar with because of where I grew up. I am not familiar with Olin.</p>
<p>Having said all that; it would be up to your son to seek out and find employment where he chooses to work. Any employer can research the school he goes to and get a feel as how to evaluate his education. A college education in engineering provides one with the basics of the field. You learn so much on the job that where you went to school becomes moot after a few years on the job.</p>
<p>FYI: My daughter is a junior at WPI and loves it there. She was talking to us recently about her plans after graduation. She thinks she might want to stay and work in the northeast. Her reason is that most of her friends from school are from the northeast and they plan to stay somewhat close to home. She wants to stay in contact with her college friends. She is in contact with a few of her high school friends but most have kind of drifted away (as one would expect), so moving back to SoCal is not a priority for her. Your son may find himself in the same position with the same feelings. Who knows. I couldn’t wait to go work in the space industry after graduation. Most of that was centered in SoCal, so off I went. There were some tough times because I was so far from family. </p>
<p>Lots to consider; but now is a little early to be thinking too much about that. Your son should go to the school that he feels will give him the best education would be my recommendation. The better his education, the more choices and the more opportunities he will have.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to hijack the thread but the thought of my mother posting on CC asking questions about my future just seems so bizarre. Maybe I am just an old man but I am seeing more and more of this trend lately </p>
<p>Back when I was a young man, young man posted their own questions, since it is their lives- Are parents going to job interviews with their sons and daughters nowadays? Sorry, just an observation, please carry on.</p>
<p>Maybe the parent isn’t asking for the child… but just for their own knowledge… which I would probably do as well if I had a kid- since I would surely be interested in their well being and future.</p>
<p>If you want to complain about adults asking questions on behalf of their students or adults like me who try to answer questions, please start your own thread. This is an open forum where people exchange information and expertise. :)</p>
<p>Back to the original question, I think the only one on that list that might not be well known out west would be Olin because it is so **new **and so small.
My son is at WPI and I noticed there a fair number of large national corporations that recruit there so that would also help if he wanted to go back home.
I would focus on fit since engineering schools can be so different from each other. My son also applied to Case and Olin as well, but he didn’t like Lehigh when we visited.</p>
<p>bschoolwiz, as hard as it might be to believe, from a parent (Father) posting on cc, I don’t hover him much at all. Certainly more than I was (not at all), but by modern standards, I’m pretty much in the background. How else can a kid become independent and resilient? </p>
<p>I post questions here occasionally, more to satiate my obsessive side. It helps me develop an understanding of what’s in front of him, as I’m not an engineer, while staying out of his hair as he does the tasks of his search with his counselor. That way, IF AND WHEN he asks my advice, I have a better foundation. Plus, I find it fun. :)</p>
<p>Sorry, I did not mean to be rude, inconsiderate or a jackass at all. </p>
<p>You sound like a good parent but what I have been hearing from a lot of recruiters is that a lot of these “helicopter parents” are doing a major disservice to their kids- many new engineers are coming out of college totally unable to deal with real life and that is very BAD!</p>
<p>I am older student pursuing a degree in Engineering at a state school and what shocks me is how wimpy some of these young kids are. </p>
<p>I have seen a lot of very capable kids drop out of Engineering or change majors simply because they were expecting all their classes to be “interesting” or “entertaining”. They really thought they were going to be able to get through Engineering with little effort while having an amazing social life full of excitement.</p>
<p>Many young kids today seem to believe that somehow they are going to find a shortcut to a high paying job with little or no effort- that really irritates me!</p>
<p>Regarding your question. I think HPuck did a great job answering it. I concur with the idea that he should go to the best school possible and not worry so much about location.</p>
<p>bschoolwiz; Times have changed. Back in my day (which is a long time ago) you looked at colleges that were near your home town. You were familiar with them and travel was long and expensive. Now, traveling across country to go to college is a true viable option. What is does is make the choice of colleges a whole lot tougher for a high school student. I believe it is part of my job as a parent to provide information to my kids to be able to make decisions, advise them as to what the consequences of their choices are, then let them decide. </p>
<p>BTW, when I say provide information, I don’t mean everything. In the case of college selection, I know about many more schools than my daughter did (I worked with graduates of many different schools). Telling her about some of them that I thought might interest her and then letting her get the details is what am I talking about.</p>
<p>My son is at Olin. He loves it, and there are incredible opportunities for him at Olin. But it’s a niche-fit, and I don’t know if it has much fpr ChemE interests. </p>
<p>We liked what we saw at Case. We did not visit WPI, but I like what I’ve read.</p>
<p>Other schools to consider for engineering: Stevens, RPI, Carnegie-Mellon(more challenging to get in), Bucknell and Lafayette (LAC with good engineering)</p>
<p>What are his stats as that will help focus the list?</p>
<p>LakeClouds, thanks, but he’s got a list. In fact he visited and eliminated most on your list. His only east coast survivors are WPI, Lehigh and Olin.</p>
<p>I’m just trying to learn whether or not a school far removed from where he might ultimately live might be a disadvantage.</p>
<p>I don’t think any of those schools would be a disadvantage when it came time to apply to grad schools or to get a job. The grad schools know the quality of those schools and employers do too (though some may not be familiar with Olin yet).
And it might be a good experience to attend school in another part of the country so he has a better idea of where he might want to live or go to grad school.</p>
<p>I would ask their placement office for where students went to work. Olin has a strong reputation nationally even though it’s newer - but not sure about Chem E in particular - they have Mech E and ECE and then other “concentrations”.</p>
<p>WPI has been around along time and is known as one of the top engineering schools. I always though of Lehigh as more regional. Again, check with the placement office and look at the list. Also see where the students come from as many will naturally graviatate back to their home regions.</p>