My son accepted in Purdue, PUS, Pitt, and NCSU and the final selection has been narrowed down to Purdue and PSU.
He wants to major Mechanical Engineering and his first choice is Purdue since it is ranked higher than PSU.
As you see below, there is not much difference in tuition so the most important fact in decision will be how well he will be prepared in applying for his master degree. I have heard that Purdue has very notorious curriculum and its dropout rate is very high.
Here are cons for each school
Purdue
Better ranking in engineering
Nice Co-op and internship program
PSU
Rather easy in studying
Close to home
Little cheap
I am a little confused by the “rather easy in studying” as a pro for Penn State? There are quite a few freshmen who start out in engineering and change majors due to the weed out courses. It may not be the slam dunk “easy college” he thinks it is.
What is his preference? Would he rather end up in the midwest or East Coast? (since recruiting can be regional at times).
Be careful. Some of the schools require a high GPA or competitive admission to get into the major after enrolling. The “engineering weed out” reputation may be based on schools like these.
Since Pittsburgh is the lowest cost, lowest risk of being weeded out, and most flexible if he wants to change to a different engineering major, it deserves strong consideration.
I did not mean that PSU is an easy school. It is little easier than Purdue especially during the first year. I heard that the drop-out rate of Purdue in the first year of engineering program is very high, and I do not want him to spend time to study only without thinking about his future and other possibilities. Even though he wants to become an engineer now, he is still a kid and might find another interests if he has time to look around.
I do not know how strong your student is academically and emotionally. But assuming he has a strong disposition I’d choose Purdue.
If y’all are worried about meeting the standard academically for continuing into the engineering major or you think there is at least a 50% chance he will change majors to something non engineering, be sure the school he is considering has a range of majors that are strong or good in the fields he may likely be attracted too (I am sure all of the schools would likely have thus covered, but it doesnt hurt to do some more research!).
As @ucbalumnus pointed out, I might reconsider Pitt…but I can see that Purdue and Penn State are more similar in other ways than what you have with Pitt and why Pitt may have fallen in the choice.
I think he will find the freshman “weed out” classes pretty similar across the board. No school on your list is really going to be any “easier” than another. Freshman year engineering (really any year engineering) is going to be tough.
The difference in the “weed out” environment is that a perfectly respectable 3.0 GPA in frosh year means that the student will be weeded out of mechanical engineering at Penn State (3.2 GPA required) and may or may not get weeded out at Purdue and NCSU (ask mechanical engineering departments to find out more about the actual thresholds, since it is not explicitly stated on the web sites), but will be allowed to major in mechanical engineering at Pittsburgh.
Frosh year is usually the riskiest year GPA wise, since the student needs to adjust to college work compared to high school work. Students commonly improve their GPAs in later years.
Wherever he studies, the weed-out classes will be brutal. Pitt offers him a much better chance of continuing his major if he has trouble the first year.
Don’t get too excited by the differences in the rankings. Because ABET controls the content of engineering coursework, he will graduate with almost exactly the same engineering training no matter where he studies. Graduate admission is not dependent on where he goes to college. It is dependent on his grades in college, his GRE exam scores, his letters of recommendation, and any related work or research experience. The professors at Pitt have pals at good grad programs all around the country, and will be able to advise him on grad admission just as well as the profs at the other places.
The engineering departments of large public universities are going to offer highly similar educational experiences. He should choose the in-state campus he likes best unless you are so wealthy that the extra out of state charges mean nothing to you.
There is a co-op program and all engineering students take the same first year engineering classes, and are exposed to different engineering specialties during that year to help them decide what they want to major in.
It is a very rigorous curriculum.
@amandakayak and @carachel2 could you give some more information about Pitt engineering?
Wow… Thanks for everyone… This is very nice conversation. He is my first one and I assumed that he would go to the highest ranked school before starting college application process… but now… there are many factors he should consider… Honestly, I likes Pitt too. They seems to offer a lot and take care of their students very well.
@dbj378@mommdc asked me to comment because I have had 3 Pitt engineering students - two have graduated (one ChemE and one BioE) and one is a current jr (BioE). We chose Pitt because all my kids received merit awards making it affordable whereas other options (UM, Cornell, CWRU, PSU) were not. I am glad they went to Pitt because it definately gave them a great education, great student support and a great very collaborative environment. I do believe ABET levels the playing field of all programs. I don’t believe rankings for undergrad necessarily translate to student experiences. Couple of things I like about Pitt -
Pitt doesn't control enrollment in a major or require a certain gpa to declare an engineering discipline. As @mommdc mentioned, freshman year everyone takes a seminar class which introduces each discipline through lectures from the various depts and professors. They are also asked to delve into one discipline and one research topic and team up to prepare a paper, poster and present to alumni or industry judges at a mock-scientific conference at the end of freshman year. That project is a great opportunity to really go below the surface and look at research being currently conducted in that field. That seminar fulfills not only a gen-ed for writing but teaches them scientific writing skills which my kids have relied on when presenting later at scientific conferences.
Pitt research is huge. There are many opportunities for undergrads as early as freshman year to find positions in labs around campus. Pitt funding by NIH for example is the 5th largest in $$ and projects in the nation. My kids had no problem securing research by simply emailing professors whose research they were interested in. My dd had 2 publications by the time she graduated from Pitt and since she left last spring, she had an additional 3 get published. If you go to the engineering website, there are yearly statistical books describing all the research http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/statistics/
Co-op program - great option but is not required, completely up to the student and whether they want to go into industry or grad school etc. My jr will be doing a co-op in a biotech start up (launched from CMU) in a month. The co-op office was very helpful in resume prep, interview prep and finding that opportunity for her. I don't have to pay Pitt while she is cooping except for a small co-op fee of something like $375.
Pittsburgh is a fun, relatively affordable city to explore - my kids are very different, one enjoyed concerts coming to town and is really active in community service and an engineering frat. She also studied abroad (paid in full by Pitt engineering btw). My other was in the marching band and symphonic band, dj'd at the radio station. My other daughter was the serious researcher - but also was a leader in BMES and presenting at conferences (paid for by Pitt engineering). Pitt engineering also granted her fellowship $ every summer to continue her research.
There’s alot to like! Let me know if you have any other questions.
First Year Engineering is brutal anywhere for most students I think. There are a few who seem to float through with not much of an eyebrow raise but I get the feeling (and my Pitt engineering student’s discussions with other students supports this) that these are students who took an exceptionally rigorous high school program with extraordinarily driven teachers who made sure their classes were rigorous enough for 5s in AP Physics, Calc BC (and honestly—a few courses beyond that even) and Chem.
I can’t speak for PSU because it was never on my daughter’s list. She knew from the start she wanted an urban location.
Her main choices (all with similar costs within 5K of each other after merit) were Purdue, Clemson, University of Texas and TAMU and Pitt.
We toured all but Clemson. It quickly became to clear to us that a faculty committed to exposing the students to ALL of the different types of engineering over the course of a year is invaluable. And THEN when you add in that Pitt students can choose their major it became a clear leader.
Pitt engineering students are required to attend a weekly seminar with guest speakers from all the different disciplines; a weekend professional conference in the fall and then a weekly small seminar led by an upperclassman engineering student who really functions as a mentor and support leader. Engineering Analysis is also a FYE class and is a combination of a coding class and an intensive professional writing curriculum.
Towards the end of fall semester they start to hone on in on what they are interested in, select a research topic that is relevant to their prospective major and in January they start their paper. The paper is completed over the course of the semester. Each group is mentored by an upperclassman (who won “best paper” when they were a freshman) and an engineer who lives and works in the community. This culminates in a day long conference where they present their professional paper. Having been guided through the process, they are then ready for original research, professional papers, preparing a poster and presenting over the next few years. We were impressed with the faculty dedication and attention to detail for this. They really put time and care into these students and it shows.
Mine started out thinking she wanted Biomedical Engineering (honestly she just liked biology she though and thought she might enjoy BME but had no clue what it really entailed) but has now happily and passionately decided on Civil Engineering.
My student came from a moderately competitive high school. In the top 10 (out of almost 700) of her class and ACT 34, full IB diploma. She quickly found herself surrounded by kids who had even more competitive stats and came from much more rigorous high schools. I wouldn’t for a minute discount the rigor and quality of students you would find there.
I wish you well making a decision. You have all solid schools on the list!
Thank you so much for sharing your opinion and experience.I feel that I owe you many cups of coffee now to you. I shared this post with my son and he told me that he would rethink about his all possibilities. Thanks again.
@djb378 - I know I am late to this conversation but since it didn’t get said, I will say it. Where your son goes to school for engineering will matter to future employers. Make sure your son looks at who recruits where and which schools get students the jobs they want. I know the prevailing opinion above it they are all good schools but - some engineering programs get more respect than others from employers. My D attends one of your top choices and we are very pleased that she made the tougher choice because the outcome has been a plethora of job opportunity. If that’s not needed to meet his career plans, fine but I think it’s misleading to say that just because all engineering programs are ABET certified that they are “all the same” degree, especially for ME. If he can hack the work, he likes the school and you can afford the tuition, I’d say he should choose a highest ranked program he gets into as it will make a difference on his resume.