<p>I’m agreeing with -</p>
<p>W&M
Michigan</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Michigan
W&M</p>
<p>the rest</p>
<p>thumper1,</p>
<p>W&M is definitely a good school, but I think it is in the right place on the lists from your kids there. W&M has no engineering program (though it does offer 3+2 programs, but I don’t really think those are good programs), and the music program is extremely tiny, and does not have the classes necessary for a music education or performance degree.</p>
<p>As owlice pointed out, it’s almost all in the geography, or “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Living in a midwestern state where the majority of residents think very highly of our flagship, the recent USNWR ratings were a reminder that the rest of the country doesn’t exactly share the opinion. That said, in our state and and even in a number of neighboring states with strong alumni networks from our flagship, an application from our D, who attends it, would probably get a better reception than one from our S, who graduated from a private university in another region that is USNWR top 20.</p>
<p>Absolutely agree with you. It’s all regional.</p>
<p>It is really difficult to rank schools without looking at specific majors and personal preferences as can be seen from the replies so far. Certain schools are strong in certain areas and may be weak in others. Although I do not totally agree with US News rankings, they can give a ‘feel’ for specific universities. Using the 2008 data for UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING PROGRAMS, for instance, the schools the OP mentioned ranked as follows:</p>
<p>Overall
University of Michigan #7
Penn State University #17
University of Maryland #25
University of Massachusetts #52
University of Delaware #52
University of Pittsburgh #52
University of Connecticut #76
Indiana University - no program in Bloomington
College of William and Mary - no undergraduate program per se, 3/2 & 4/2 programs</p>
<p>For Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronomical
University of Michigan #3
University of Maryland #10
Penn State University #13</p>
<p>For Agricultural
Penn State University #10</p>
<p>For Biomedical
University of Michigan #9</p>
<p>For Chemical
University of Delaware #10
University of Michigan #11
Penn State University #16</p>
<p>For Computer
University of Michigan #7
University of Maryland #20</p>
<p>For Electrical
University of Michigan #5
Penn State University #20</p>
<p>For Engineering Science/Engineering Physics
Penn State University #5</p>
<p>For Environmental
University of Michigan #3
Penn State University #14</p>
<p>For Industrial/Manufacturing
University of Michigan #2
Penn State University #4
University of Pittsburgh #16</p>
<p>For Materials
University of Michigan #3
Penn State University #8</p>
<p>For Mechanical
University of Michigan #4
Penn State University #12</p>
<p>Looking at the results, The University of Michigan and Penn State University both have 10 rankings. However, Michigan’s rankings are better. University of Maryland has two programs ranked, University of Delaware has one, University of Pittsburgh has one, University of Massachusetts has zero, and University of Connecticut has zero. Indiana University has no engineering on its main (Bloomington) campus and William and Mary has only 3/2 & 4/2 programs with Columbia University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Using this criteria, for UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING PROGRAMS, I rank the schools as follow::</p>
<p>University of Michigan (# 3, , # 9, #11, # 7, # 7, # 5, , # 3, # 2, # 3, # 4 )
Penn State University (#13, #10, , #16, #19, , #20, # 5, #14, # 4, # 8, #12)
University of Maryland (#10, , , , , #20 , , , , , , )
University of Delaware ( , , , #10, , , , , , , , )
University of Pittsburgh ( , , , , , , , , , #16, , )
University of Massachusetts ( no top 20 rankings )
University of Connecticut ( no top 20 rankings )</p>
<p>U of Michigan is #1 on my D’s list of Graduate Schools. However, it does not work for people who like urban surroundings. D is complete opposite, she likes them in a middle of nowhere, which U of M is not really, Ann Arbor is relatively good size small town, but it is not urban by any measure. She is not considering any other schools on the list and her list is very short anyway.</p>
<p>William and Mary is just minutes away from me. Absolutely love the college. Beautiful campus, wonderful professors, great students from a diverse background, small time feel and the students love their college. I can’t say for any of the others. However, unless you have a 4.0 or better, W&M is not attainable. Very hard to get into.</p>
<p>So is U of Mich.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is a key point. People think more favorably of, say, Indiana U around here than they would on the east coast. </p>
<p>But trying to predict the reaction of “future employers” seems like an exercise in futility. Who knows what the location will be? Who knows what the occupation / field will be? Who knows what the hiring process will be? Who knows whether those particular hiring managers look foremost at school name, at GPA, or at leadership experience in the college setting? </p>
<p>It seems like you’re trying to get a feel for “which of these would be most impressive to hiring managers X years from now” when the group of hiring managers X years from now itself can’t be predicted. What your particular set of coworkers say around the water cooler may have absolutely nothing to do with who may be hiring your son X years from now.</p>