@viphan: I have read many of your CC posts and I am impressed with your insight and maturity (especially, given your age). Therefore, my ideas in this post will be more applicable on an almost-thirty year old viphan, rather than an almost-twenty year old.
To begin – and this is critical – the three universities/engineering schools you cite are unquestionably outstanding; you cannot go wrong – and you should ecstatically proud – to attend Michigan, CMU, or Duke!
I have considerable Duke insight, but far less with the U of M or Carnegie Mellon; therefore, what I will soon relate concerning Duke may – or may not – be applicable to the others. I simply cannot authoritative confirm that it applies to Michigan or Carnegie Mellon.
You have read innumerable posts on CC that focus on post-Bachelor’s INITIAL career placement and the perceived benefits of university quality/stature. This really is inapplicable to someone like you, who will attend Duke, Michigan, or CMU. Yes, you’ll obviously have to find an entry-level position (presumably in a highly sought-after enterprise). However, with an undergraduate engineering degree from any of these three institutions (and presuming decent academic performance) I can assure you that will not be a problem.
Because you will be a graduate from one of these highly reputed universities, you can afford to look forward a decade of more – your major challenges will not be at the entry-level, but rather at the entry/mid SUPERVISORY/LEADERSHIP level. Let me explain why:
- Most major/large engineering and program management organizations (I based this on 40+ years experince in this business, 20+ with Lockheed Martin) soon (in about 5 years, +/- a couple) informally “earmark” fast-track employees.
- They are quickly identified and placed in the most critical projects, offered subsidized to pursue advanced education (frequently MBAs), and sent to corporate/enterprise internal “charm schools.”
- While alumni from any reputable school are identified and selected, a hugely disproportionate share come from the first-tier educational institutions (especially considering how small the aggregate numbers of graduates from these “elite” schools actually are).
- A degree from Duke (CMU and Michigan, perhaps . . . I just don’t know with certainty) is a very significant plus in quickly clearing this crucial initial hurdle, one that essentially guarantees you’ll move quickly upward (critically, no firm will pay MANY thousands of dollars to “groom” a youngster – postgraduate school, internal training, special job assignments – and then deny their own, costly selection by failing to promote that individual).
Once an individual is established in mid/upper-manaagement, the university’s OVERALL reputation is FAR more critical than the stature of the engineering, or business, or public policy, etc. school, per se. Many most-senior public and private officials/leaders – even in engineering and programmatic enterprises – do NOT have technical backgrounds (many are MBAs or JDs), and they could not tell you if, for example, Ohio State’s engineering school (or any subdivisions therein) is good, average or poor. HOWEVER, they certainly will know – and signifiantly appreciate – Duke is a superior university (again, I do not doubt they would feel that U of M and CMU are, too, I simply cannot substantiate this).
Allied with the foregoing, it’s noteworthy that MANY young Pratt graduates opt for major – and quite lucrative – non-engineering opportunities in iBanking, consulting, business, and so forth. I believe this is noteworthy because the job marketplace views Pratt alumni so highly that they are not initially limited to “pure engineering” positions. That’s a substantial advantage . . . and it is also very instructive. How true this is with just-graduated CMU and U of M BSEs, I do not know; but I suspect that “telling” data would be readily available from the schools’ placement offices.
I’ll close with one caveat: my post is focused on large public and private enterprises, not on smaller ones. Obviously, due to the stupendous capital (and other) resource requirements necessary to complete large engineering programs with success, many young BSEs will enter such organizations (however, some will also go to small, often entrepreneurial enterprises).