<p>WHat are the differences (aside from economically) between the two for engineering?</p>
<p>Class size. There were only 18 people in my year in my major.</p>
<p>What was your major? I can find many public schools with 18 students or less in Africana Studies, for example.</p>
<p>^^
presumably he was majoring in some field of engineering, since this is the engineering thread. I would be surprised to find a major state university with <18 students in any engineering major.</p>
<p>Civil engineering</p>
<p>Public needs to fail you since there aren't enough seats in the upper-div classes. Also they'll have fobs "teaching" you as poorly as possible to ensure failure. Private FTW.</p>
<p>I was at a public and I had maybe 5-6 classes my entire college career over 35 people.</p>
<p>A teaching emphasis is something that can be found at publics - just not at UCs (just an example). I agree that the curves are far tougher at publics.</p>
<p>Public. Among other things, engineers tends to hire those who went to the same or similar schools, just like investment bankers tend to cull from certain ivys. Most engineers went to state schools because most of the engineering departments are in state schools and the largest engineering departments are in state schools and the greatest depth in the field is in state schools. Also, engineering isn't a discussion oriented course of study, so small classes don't matter as much as they do when discussing literature or debating politics or arguing philosophy.</p>
<p>private schools tend to hold your hand a little more. not that it's a bad thing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
presumably he was majoring in some field of engineering, since this is the engineering thread. I would be surprised to find a major state university with <18 students in any engineering major.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>i go to a large public university, and last year only 18 people graduated in Materials Engineering. there were 121 in EE though....</p>
<p>Although class size doesn't matter as much, I still think it's nice to have smaller classes. For one, it's great to know everybody in your major intimately. Secondly, fewer students means more time for each student for the professor outside of class. If you have problems figuring out a concept, you'll probably have an easier time getting to the professor. Also, the professors will know YOU better, which could mean job opportunities (in academia and in industry) or better LOR's for grad school, if you decide to pursue that.</p>
<p>On the other hand, going to a public school can also be great because of the huge alumni network. When I was applying to schools, one of Penn State's selling points was that 1 in 50 (?) engineers in the U.S. are penn state alum.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not counting the ones that killed themselves, of course ;)</p>
<p>Don't forget the tuition cost! lol huge difference</p>
<p>Wow not too much love for public schools...</p>
<p>Anyway, I can't speak for all public schools, but every engineering professor I've had has been amazing. While our engineering program is (obviously) larger than private schools', every class has a discussion or lab section that is roughly 20 students and is led by a (usually well spoken and personable) GSI.</p>
<p>But in general, privates tend to baby you while publics let you find your own way. Also, public engineering schools tend to be very research oriented, so if that's your thing then I'd look for a public (I have more research choices than I know what to do with).</p>
<p>While there are many more graduates in engineering from large publics, I doubt there would be a significant networking boost for attending a public. Privates tend to have stronger alumni networks, so I see the two factors canceling each other out.</p>
<p>Sakky and I got into a huge 20 page discussion about this. But I'd reckon that the boost for public engineers comes from the fact that they're schools are well known because they are larger. D1 sports, etc.</p>
<p>tuition cost is not a huge factor if you are a good student, actually most likely top notch private schools will cost less if you can get into them than many public schools. </p>
<p>This discussion of public vs. Private is not as relevant IMO as small school vs. large school or big major vs. small major. I've taken engineering classes and have many friends at the best private engineering schools, it differs a lot. (For Example, you will find that Cornell is a lot more like Michigan, than Caltech.) </p>
<p>I went to Michigan and Material Science was a small department, usually about 20 people per class year, Nuclear Engineering, Civil Engineering are all pretty small, as is Atmospheric Sciences and Engineering physics. While Mechanical Engineering usually had 200 people per class year. (I was an ME)But most of my engineering classes were around 30-50 people in each class. And there were plenty of office hours, usually for each class, TA office hours are 30 hours per week, professors are available for office hours 6-8 hours a week. And you can always schedule appointments with profs or TAs, I've done this numerous times and they always love you for it, because they love teaching students who love to learn. (this applies for even some of my 'worst professors')</p>
<p>You really have to accept that as an engineering student, you have two class formats, lectures and labs. Labs are small(~10 per class), lectures are a little bigger(30-60 people). And that's pretty much how it is everywhere, how small lectures are depends on how small the department is. </p>
<p>Engineering isn't like humanities where you sit in a circle and contribute ideas, the learning process is cruel, and usually flows like this:
First you:</p>
<p>1) Read the textbook
2) Go to Lecture to understand concepts and ask questions to clarify big picture concepts
3) Do Homework by yourself or with your peers, you'll need to go to lots of office hours, very few people JUST GET IT naturally.(A lot of times I make silly mistakes that propagates, and a good TA usually knows where people make mistakes and will look it over for you, AND THEY HAVE ANSWERS for every step!!)
4) Repeat.</p>
<p>And cramming doesn't work for engineering classes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
tuition cost is not a huge factor if you are a good student, actually most likely top notch private schools will cost less if you can get into them than many public schools.
[/quote]
SOURCE!?!?!?!?!?!?!</p>
<p>For the average ~1400/1600 (SAT) student it's FAR cheaper to go public than private.</p>
<p>Some of the classes for the first year or two at a large public will probably suck (bad lecturers, etc.)...but the D1 football and basketball games make up for it...and public usually costs less</p>