I’d like to hear how you would rate Purdue vs. Texas A&M in undergraduate engineering. What are the pros and cons?
Okay, I’m not a big believer in rankings, as long as they are reasonable, but in this area, Purdue clearly has the upper hand. What about campus life?
Absolutely Purdue! I know a lot of Texas A&M engineering students & parents who have been disappointed (including an Aggie mom with an engineering degree). Purdue has an amazing reputation with industry. I have friends whose son is a Mechanical Engineering major at Purdue. His parents and the Purdue student have been very pleased. Dad is an Aggie grad, but preferred that his son attend Purdue. Courses are very difficult at Purdue. In spite of having failed/retaken a couple of courses, the student has already had two semester-long internships (his sophomore & junior years at Purdue). That says a lot about Purdue’s reputation. Smaller class sizes, smaller campus, and a MUCH better “admissions to engineering discipline” process.
Some will read this and think “awesome…amazing strong program.”
Some will read this and think “not for my kid.”
Every parent should at least read it and decide if this is the type of program they want to pay for and if this is the type of environment where their student will thrive.
I talked to my friend (Dad of Purdue Mech Engr student). He said: “You go to Purdue to get a job.” Their students are heavily recruited because of Purdue’s reputation. During his freshman year, his son was offered 3 paid internships. His grades were ok, but not great. Semester-long internships are strongly encouraged at Purdue, and most students have multiple offers. My friend’s son is in 4th year now. He’s had 2 full-semester internships and 2 summer internships. All were paid internships and Purdue dad said “my son has over $40,000 in the bank.”
Dad also said: “classes are brutal at Purdue.” A lot of help is available for motivated students that pursue it. There’s a Living Learning Community (specific floor in dorm) for freshmen interested in mechanical engineering. The Purdue student is still in study groups with students he met freshman year at LLC.
At Texas A&M, Mosher Hall is a dorm for freshmen engineering students only. A&M doesn’t group students in the dorm by first-choice major. In the past, Mosher Hall has offered “peer tutoring” (by students who had already taken Chem, Math, Physics, & Intro to Engr courses). My son chose to attend off-campus group tutoring for Chem & Math.
The Purdue student repeated 3 courses because he had made C’s & needed higher grades to meet 3.2 GPA requirement for entry into Mechanical Engr. Purdue only used the higher of 2 grades in each course when calculating GPA. From my son’s experience at Texas A&M, both grades count in GPA when courses are taken more than once. I can’t find online info on A&M’s current “admissions to major” process & requirements. It was available when I looked on website in March 2016. When my son applied for his major (summer 2015), specific GPA requirements hadn’t been published. Apparently, it was more of a holistic review in 2015. Some student with high GPAs (3.5 and above) didn’t get into their desired major the first time they applied. Especially if it was a high-demand major like chemical or mechanical engineering. My son applied for a lower-demand major & was admitted (GPA 2.9).
If you can’t find current online info for “admissions to major” at A&M, I recommend that you call & ask what the requirements will be for Engr students who enter A&M Fall 2017. A&M didn’t publish those requirements until midway through my son’s first semester.
If you’re interested in study abroad, Purdue Engr. has an interesting (and very favorable) policy. Courses are only graded pass-fail (not for a letter grade). My friend said that’s because Purdue Engr wants as many students as possible to study abroad. I think the pass-fail grading system would also allow you to more fully experience the cultural aspects of study abroad (a major reason for SA programs).
Correction to my earlier comment: Like at Texas A&M, class sizes are very large for engineering pre-req courses like Chem, Calc, & Physics.
Perhaps someone could explain this to me - one website (http://engineering-schools.startclass.com/) puts the acceptance rate at Purdue engineering as 62% compared to 41% for A&M. This is quite a significant difference. Why is this? Is it because a lot more people apply to A&M?
If you’re a Texas resident where tuition cost is a large factor, I would go with A&M. It’s much more affordable when compared to the OOS cost of Purdue. Their engineering school rankings are not that far apart.
But if you’re willing to chip in that extra 10-20k, definitely go with Purdue. It has a very comprehensive curriculum and is more renowned in the engineering field.
@liwen6 Purdue is definitely more renowned than Texas A&M in the engineering field.
@Axonta Texas A&M is huge and very impersonal. Here’s a quote from my friend whose son graduated from A&M with a 3.4 GPA in mechanical engineering: “The professors there are more interested in research and don’t want to be bothered with teaching, especially teaching undergraduate students.”
All my engineering profs did research, but they were great profs & seemed to enjoy teaching. When we visited the campus of my alma mater in 2013 & met one-on-one with a Chem Engr prof, we got the impression that profs there still care.
At Purdue, you’ll be more likely to have access to and form relationships with profs who can write good references for you and help you find internships & jobs. The Aggie Network is good, but there aren’t enough Aggies to offer jobs to the number of engineers A&M is cranking out right now.
I prefer Purdue 
Because… I live in Indiana=-=