<p>I've been told my chances are very good for being accepted at ALL of these schools:</p>
<p>Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Caltech
Berkeley
MIT
Dartmouth
Columbia
UCSD
UCLA
Cal Poly SLO</p>
<p>I know the most about Caltech and Berkeley, having spent time at both last year. Unfortunately what I know is that they probably aren't my first choices.
I've listed the schools in approximate order of my preferences but I need help deciding among them.</p>
<p>If it came down to Stanford vs Yale vs Harvard, where would you go for Mech Engineering and why? Or pick any two schools on my list and compare. Yale vs MIT, MIT vs Berkeley, UCSD vs Cal Poly SLO, Dartmouth vs Berkeley. I'm a California girl. My dad is a Stanford alum so naturally he is biased towards Stanford, but since he's paying the bills, he says Berkeley is looking pretty good too! </p>
<p>My chances are probably best at Berkeley, Caltech and Stanford in that order. But I may get into all of them and then I really don't know what I'll do. Help me decide please!</p>
<p>As per your heading specifically , as one obvious datapoint I suggest looking at the number of courses actually being offered this semester in mechanical engineering, and engineering in general, at each of these schools. Then ask at the career centers of each school how many engineering employers come on-campus at their school to recruit for mechanical engineers specifically.</p>
<p>My suggestion is don't let empty opinions or rankings based on criteria of questionable relevance exert undue influence. Everything has its place, but look yourself for "the beef". Compare what's actually offered there, not just rhetoric. </p>
<p>And try to talk to some actual practicing mechanical engineers too; have them look at the programs for you. If you can. If you're interested in actually being an engineer that is. If not, then who cares.</p>
<p>Stanford would be my first choice and MIT would be second, assuming Berkeley and Caltech are out. Harvard and Yale have token engineering programs. They are not strong in engineering. Harvard offers a degree in "engineering science" not mechanical. </p>
<p>Columbia is pretty good.</p>
<p>I wouldn't give Harvard and Yale serious consideration. The number of engineering graduates at each is less than 75 per year.</p>
<p>My dad says that if I change my mind about Mech Eng (and I might) then I'd have better options to go in a different direction at Harvard or Yale (or Stanford) than I would at MIT or Caltech. He says the contacts I might make at Harvard or Yale and the name recognition of those schools are worth the price of admission.</p>
<p>I can see why you corssed out Caltech. They are very one-dimentional. But MIT is very strong (top 10 nationally...in some cases #1) in Economics, Political Science, undergraduate Business, Psychology, Philosophy, Linguistics and all the sciences. Unless you intend changing from Engineering to a Humanity, MIT will be fine. </p>
<p>As for Harvard and Yale, they really are average in Engineering. I would recommend you replace Yale with Princeton. Harvard is ok in Engineering I suppose, but if your dad is hung on on Ivies and you want Engineering, suggest Cornell be your second Ivy rather than Harvard. Cornell has the best Engineering program in the Ivy League.</p>
<p>I'd go with stanford. They are great in engineering and have very good all-around programs if your choose a different direction. The campus and weather are tough to beat, as well.</p>