<p>How good is it? Is it considered very strong, as in top 5 in the US? Do Princeton engineering students easily get into top graduate schools?</p>
<p>Yes, it is definitely a top program, ranking 7th in the U.S. in this "quality-based" ranking, just after places like Caltech, Yale, Stanford and Cornell: <a href="http://www.sciencewatch.com/nov-dec2002/sw_nov-dec2002_page2.htm#Engineering%5B/url%5D">http://www.sciencewatch.com/nov-dec2002/sw_nov-dec2002_page2.htm#Engineering</a> (do not trust the USNWR rankings, since they are heavily biased in favor of departmental size, and are unadjusted for per-capita quality).</p>
<p>As a result of the quality of these departments, Princeton engineering students easily get into all the very top engineering graduate schools.</p>
<p>I can't really say I trust that ranking too much either. The "impact" ratings are so arbitrary. I mean, come on, Yale as the number one engineering school and MIT not even in the top ten?! No way.</p>
<p>Brian Leiter offers a compelling assessment of the value of impact ratings [url=<a href="http://www.leiterrankings.com/faculty/2005faculty_impact_cites.shtml%5Dhere%5B/url">http://www.leiterrankings.com/faculty/2005faculty_impact_cites.shtml]here[/url</a>], though in this case the rankings seem especially dubious.</p>
<p>COHE's Faculty Scholarly rankings for 2005 are somewhat similar to Sciencewatch's, but a couple years more up to date and use different methodology.</p>
<p>Electrical Engineering
1. Cornell
2. Princeton
3. Rice
4. MIT/Yale (tie)</p>
<p>Mechanical Engineering
1. Berkeley
2. Caltech
3. Yale
4. Columbia
5. Georgia Tech
6. UPenn
7. Johns Hopkins
8. Princeton</p>
<p>Anything else you see is probably either way outdated, or totally based on surveys that are immensely biased towards the largest schools like Berkeley, Purdue, MIT, etc. Also, there are a lot of people biased by what the rankings "used" to be. The engineering pecking order changes as schools hire new faculty, build new buildings, etc.</p>
<p>Of course, none of this negates the point that Princeton, along with Caltech, Yale, MIT, etc., is one of the top handful of schools in the country to study engineering as an undergraduate.</p>
<p>Princeton has a good undergrad engineering program. I am a junior engineer currently. They have a new program called EMP (Engineering Math & Physics) which combines your intro math and physics freshman year, teaches it in a more exciting/multidisciplinary way, and adds some extra fun engineering projects to introduce you to each of the engineering disciplines--get a taste of each before the end of freshman year, when you have to decide what department you'll enter. The typical freshman year consists of physics, gen chem, and multivar calc and linear algebra--physics and gen chem might have 100 people in them, but your math classes will be maybe 10-15 people. Starting sophomore year, you'll take your department's introductory classes--in my experience, with chemical engineering, these are typically only 30-35 students, and they're a great bonding experience to let you get to know all your fellow peers in the department, since you'll be taking all your classes together for the next 2 years. </p>
<p>All classes are taught by professors, and professors always have office hours, and are incredibly willing, and excited, to meet with undergrads (unlike many programs you'll see, where grad school dominates, namely Harvard, MIT, Caltech, etc.). They're not totally caught up in their research--when they accepted their faculty position at Princeton, the administration made it clear to them that the focus is on the undergrad, and that teaching them is of equal, or greater, importance than research--I really don't think you'll find that anywhere else (part of why Princeton is ranked #1 overall). They just built a new Friend Center for Engineering, which has great lecture halls and smaller classrooms, as well as a high-tech, bright, friendly library, with lots of great study nooks and even places to sleep if you pulled an all-night for a problem set or something.</p>
<p>Additionally, what I think sets Princeton apart is the size of its engineering departments. I'm a Chem E, and my year is maybe 30-35 students. We each have our own personal mailbox, and the department secretary gives us little goodie bags with food treats to sustain us through final exams and midterms--i mean, come on, what other school is going to have that kind of personal attention? it really brightens your day. Also, each department has their own lounge for undergrads, in the E-quad. You'll get the keycode password, and then you'll have access to the computers in there, printers, fridge, kitchen, comfy couches for sleeping, big whiteboard to collaborate on problem sets, and even a dartboard.</p>
<p>^ Agreed with most of the above. For undergraduate engineering quality, I think the top choices in the U.S. are Caltech, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Rice and Swarthmore.</p>
<p>you forgot stanford lol</p>
<p>
[quote]
^ Agreed with most of the above. For undergraduate engineering quality, I think the top choices in the U.S. are Caltech, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Rice and Swarthmore.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Take out Yale and Princeton and add Stanford and Cornell</p>
<p>Actually I'd stay away from the larger programs, MIT being the only exception (it's not actually as large as some people think, relative to the amount of research that goes on there - it's more in league with Caltech).</p>
<p>or just take out harvey mudd and leave the rest</p>
<p>"or just take out harvey mudd and leave the rest"</p>
<p>oOo. harsh. how about leave in harvey mudd and take out where ever you are from?</p>
<p>MIT is tops in engineering all the way around.</p>
<p>i'm going to Princeton, rocketDA. So naturally, being overly proud of my School, I was inclined to respond harshly to atomicfusion's comment about Princeton not being a top choice for engineering studies. :P</p>
<p>Princeton's engineering department is very well-funded. Recently, Gordon Wu, an alumnus, donated $100 million to the School of Engineering. It is exciting to see how this money will be used to enhance the education experience for Princeton engineers.</p>
<p>What exactly makes Princeton a top 10 school for undergraduate engineering? Yeah, sorry, I just don't think it's top 10. I'd say it is around 20-30 though.</p>
<p>lol, dun get me started about harvey mudd lol...</p>
<p>i'd say princeton engineering is around top 10...</p>
<p>My Overall Undergrad Ranking for Engineering (deviance from USWNR): </p>
<h1>1- MIT, HMC, Olin (0,0, ?)</h1>
<h1>4- Caltech, Stanford (+5,-1)</h1>
<h1>6- UC Berkeley (-3)</h1>
<h1>7- Rose Hulman, U Mich (-6,+2)</h1>
<h1>9- CMU, USC, Purdue (-3,-2,+3)</h1>
<h1>12- UCLA, Princeton (+4,+6)</h1>
<h1>14- UTexAustin (-3)</h1>
<p>BIASES (based on how I perceive them, which is important for adjusting my perspective based on compartmentalized variables!)</p>
<p>Regional Bias:
West Coast: +3
Mid-West: -4
South: -3
East Coast: +6</p>
<p>Size Bias:
Small: -1
Medium: +6
Large: -3</p>
<p>Adjusting...(which isn't exactly right but helps with bias trends)</p>
<h1>1- Rose Hulman (0)</h1>
<h1>2- HMC (-1)</h1>
<h1>3- MIT, Stanford (-2,-1)</h1>
<h1>5- Caltech, UC Berkeley, Olin (+2,-2,?)</h1>
<h1>8- UTex Austin (+3)</h1>
<h1>9- USC (-2)</h1>
<h1>10- UMich (-1)</h1>
<h1>11- CMU, Purdue (-5,+1)</h1>
<h1>13- UCLA (+3)</h1>
<h1>14- Princeton (+4)</h1>
<p>Which is a bit screwy... so I'll settle with my reasonable rankings being the average of my original and the adjusted...</p>
<h1>1- HMC (0)</h1>
<h1>2- MIT (-1)</h1>
<h1>3- Olin (?)</h1>
<h1>4- Stanford (-2)</h1>
<h1>5- Rose Hulman (-4)</h1>
<h1>6- Caltech (+1)</h1>
<h1>7- UC Berkeley (-4)</h1>
<h1>8- UMich (+1)</h1>
<h1>9- USC (-2)</h1>
<h1>10- CMU, Purdue (-4,+2)</h1>
<h1>12- UTex Austin (-1)</h1>
<h1>13- UCLA (+3)</h1>
<h1>14- Princeton (+4)</h1>
<p>Note: I'm biased in favor of HMC since it is my school. I recognize that but I still think it should be top 4...</p>
<p>so, yeah, princeton is very good...but you're battling with beasts that focus on engineering.</p>
<p>I really can't see Princeton being better than Cornell in undergrad engineering. I know Princeton is really good for graduate engineering (I'd say around 10-15), but I'm talking about just undergrad.</p>
<p>
[quote]
lol, dun get me started about harvey mudd lol...
[/quote]
Start all you want, but this thread is about Princeton, not Mudd. No need to get defensive.</p>
<p>Obviously P is a very, very good choice.</p>