<p>So here's the thing, I'm an engineering major, and I have so far been admitted to Purdue and WUSTL. I have also applied to Rice and Duke. What I'm wondering is if it would be better to attend the school with the big name and the attached prestige (WUSTL, Rice, Duke), or the school with the better engineering program? If you're on the WashU waitlist don't tell me to go to Purdue just to make you feel better about possibly getting accepted, I'd seriously like some good advice on this.</p>
<p>Another thing besides the two sides above, there's the fact that if I attend Purdue, my class rank would be significantly better than it would be at WUSTL, Rice, or Duke, and would possibly open doors to better grad schools. Can anyone help me? Thank you very much.</p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation to you (even accepted to WashU for engineering, and I also applied to Duke and Rice). However, I thought about applying to Purdue, but I didnt because compared to their engineering program, their other programs that I was possibly interested in (business mainly), werent that great. I would choose prestige over program, unless you are absolutely sure that you will graduate with a bachelor’s in engineering. I applied to a couple state schools as well, but they also had a well respected programs outside of engineering. Purdue is probably better than all those aforementioned schools in engineering (although Rice is very good as well), but unless you are positive you want to do engineering, I would pick the more well rounded school.</p>
<p>Well, the truth is, grad schools don’t really look at class rank per se. In fact, most schools don’t even present class rank information. Instead, all they will present is your college GPA. </p>
<p>And the fact of the matter is, for the purposes of grad school, it’s better to get a high GPA even if you end up with a low class rank (i.e. by attending a highly grade-inflated school) than to get a high class rank but only a middling GPA (i.e. by attending a grade-deflated school), for like I said, grad schools won’t know what your class rank is anyway, and will often times simply assume that a low GPA probably indicates that you’re a bad student, even if it corresponds to a high class rank.</p>
<p>For undergrad, I would always urge one to choose the better university over the better program. The reputation of the program is usually only of concern at the graduate level - productivity of research, level of funding, etc. that is not so relevant to undergraduates. In terms of graduate admissions, they will take into account that you went to a more difficult university and so a lower GPA will not be penalized.</p>
<p>Keep in mind Duke, WashU, and Rice are all smaller schools, private schools, and have numerous programs outside of engineering that are more highly regarded than Purdue (remember, most people change majors at least once).</p>
<p>having read many posts about people changing their majors, including many who decide engieering is not for them, pick a school that you could be happy with no matter what</p>
<p>think location, other majors, etc…this prestige stuff means nothing if you don’t like the rest of your school</p>