Looking at Engineering and Economics

<p>I'm a junior in HS and I'm not sure what I want to major in, but I'm pretty sure its going to be either some type of engineering or economics. Besides the Ivies and MIT/Stanford, what are the best schools out there that have respectable programs in these two fields?</p>

<p>MIT, Stanford, Cornell</p>

<p>Where are you from cmh_580 and where would you like to be? Are you looking for public or private schools? Is money a major issue? There are many, many schools who have respectable programs in these two areas.</p>

<p>I’m looking for private schools, and I’m from New Jersey, so something in the northeast/midwest is preferable, but not necessary. Money is a major issue, so it would have to be a college that offers a good amount of aid.</p>

<p>oh wow im so sorry cmh_580, I totally didn’t see “besides ivies + MIT/Stanford”, I thought it said “among ivies + MIT/Stanford” lol (fail by me)</p>

<p>anyways I would recommend (in the northeast/midwest)</p>

<p>Northwestern University
University Of Minnesota - Twin Cities
University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor
University Of Wisconsin - Madison</p>

<p>pierre0913. You also missed the part where he said he wants to attend private schools. ;-)</p>

<p>haha thanks, I’m not sure what just happened to me. Anyways, your best pick would be:</p>

<p>NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY</p>

<p>Consider Case Western which offers pretty good merit aid.</p>

<p>Does anyone know anything about Carnegie Mellon? Because I think they’re up there in both areas.</p>

<p>I hear CMU isn’t so good with aid.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon is superb in both engineering and economics, but it’s expensive. I believe they would give you the necessary aid if it really is an issue of need, but they have an overall reputation for stinginess.</p>

<p>EDIT: Have you looked at The College of New Jersey?</p>

<p>I wouldn’t recommend TCNJ for engineering…half of the programs aren’t even ABET accredited</p>

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<p>No disagreement there; I was thinking of economics.</p>

<p>Since I’m not sure if I’m going for Engineering or Economics I’d like to choose a place that has both options open. So yes, I have looked at TCNJ, but I’m not really considering it that much.</p>

<p>Even though this program is EXTREMELY difficult to get into, but look at Penn’s M&T Program (management & Technology). The accept about 50 kids and they get 2 degrees: one from Wharton (business, not econ) and engineering.</p>

<p>You can also do your own dual degrees if you don’t get into the program.</p>

<p>Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, Caltech, Cooper Union</p>

<p>Schools like Haverford, Amherst, Colgate and Williams have a “2 for 5” program where you can take a BA liberal arts degree (in economics for example) in 3 years and then spend 2 years at a good good engineering school for a BS in engineering – two excellent bachelor’s degrees in 5 years. Haverford’s collaboration for engineering is with Caltech, Amherst’s is with Dartmouth, Williams’ is with Columbia, and Colgate is with Columbia or Washington University in St. Louis. There are good reasons to take an undergraduate degree in an top liberal arts college like the ones above (I speak from experience – my undergrad work was at a large research-oriented Ivy League university, where students in their first two years suffer the same bureaucratic indifference that they usually experience in their first two years at a large research-oriented state university). The Caltech collaboration is not restricted to Haverford; a number of other schools (including I believe Haverford’s longtime sister school Bryn Mawr) have the same program. You’d want to emphasize science in the BA program, of course, but you can also take economics; in fact a liberal arts college encourages it. I say this not to toot Haverford’s horn – I am not and never have been associated with the school – but Haverford is excellent in science as well as the humanities.
On the other hand, you can take a wonderful engineering and economics degree at Swarthmore. Swarthmore has a superb (and highly regarded by grad schools) engineering program that is part of the larger liberal arts college instead of being separated off like the engineering colleges at Penn, Cornell, Columbia, etc. Swarthmore’s arrangement allows you to work in economics and engineering throughout, and have the larger exposure to a fine liberal arts education. And if you decide partway through that engineering is not for you, and that you’d prefer just economics (or English literature), it’s much easier to move in Swarthmore than in a large university with a separate engineering college – in many of those, you’d have to apply to transfer to the same university’s Arts College.</p>

<p>Schools like Haverford, Amherst, Colgate and Williams have a “2 for 5” program where you can take a BA liberal arts degree (in economics for example) in 3 years and then spend 2 years at a good good engineering school for a BS in engineering – two excellent bachelor’s degrees in 5 years. Haverford’s collaboration for engineering is with Caltech, Amherst’s is with Dartmouth, Williams’ is with Columbia, and Colgate is with Columbia or Washington University in St. Louis. There are good reasons to take an undergraduate degree in a top liberal arts college like the ones above (I speak from experience – my undergrad work was at a large research-oriented Ivy League university, where students in their first two years suffer the same bureaucratic indifference that they usually experience in their first two years at a large research-oriented state university). The Caltech collaboration is not restricted to Haverford; a number of other schools (including I believe Haverford’s longtime sister school Bryn Mawr) have the same program. You’d want to emphasize science in the BA program, of course, but you can also take economics; in fact a liberal arts college encourages it. I say this not to toot Haverford’s horn – I am not and never have been associated with the school – but Haverford is excellent in science as well as the humanities.
On the other hand, you can take a wonderful engineering and economics degree at Swarthmore. Swarthmore has a superb (and highly regarded by grad schools) engineering program that is part of the larger liberal arts college instead of being separated off like the engineering colleges at Penn, Cornell, Columbia, etc. Swarthmore’s arrangement allows you to work in economics and engineering throughout, and have the larger exposure to a fine liberal arts education. And if you decide partway through that engineering is not for you, and that you’d prefer just economics (or English literature), it’s much easier to move in Swarthmore than in a large university with a separate engineering college – in many of those, you’d have to apply to transfer to the same university’s Arts College.</p>

<p>Personally I thought about doing the 3-2 program since I really wanted to go to Whitman College but I decided that it would not be “worth” it since I would end up switching schools anyways and would have to adjust to a new environment, also I knew I was doing engineering so I wanted to start taking engineering courses as early as possible</p>

<p>The 3-2 programs are like Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster. The stuff of legend, but nobody’s actually seen the beast.</p>

<p>If you want engineering plus economics in a small college setting, consider Swarthmore. Arguably the top Economics program in the country (a higher percentage of Swarthmore grads get Economics PhDs than any other college or university in the country) and a strong BS in Engineering major.</p>