I have been to a lot of schools to assess engineering programs for my 2 college students.
A few observations:
While courses are often quite similar, student quality, rigor, and quality of facilities can vary significantly at different schools.
Graduation rates can vary significantly too. I think finding a school that does a good job of getting students through is more important for most students than grad school chances.
Another key issue is that many State schools do a great job in engineering, but also make it difficult for students to choose their major in engineering. Students may be rejected from a specific major, or not allowed to transfer to a major of interest if they change their mind. If you don't mind being shoved into a different engineering major than you planned, then this is less of a problem.
Regarding Rose-Hulman, I would not be surprised if they are very practical, and less theoretical. However, they graduate 80% of students in engineering, which is a very high percentage. So maybe a lower percent of grads attend grad school, but at least they finished their degree.
@rdtjgk , I would suggest not getting too hung up in landing a job after you study Eng., the easy part is getting one. The school you should choose should align with your pursuits/interests while studying Eng - smart fellow students, heavy and uptodate lab exposure, entrepreneurial culture, experiential learning, easy access to mentors (not only Profs or Course Instructors), etc.
Having said that, I would consider myself a big proponent of the larger schools like GTech/Cornell or specialized ones like Olin/Harvey Mudd. IOW, I am not a fan of smaller ones like Bucknell/Lafayette. My D2, who will be a 3rd generation Engineer, is a Junior at GTech studying MechE. She receives just about one offer every other week for local part time employment, some from startups, as she specializes in 3-D modeling using state-of-the art software learnt at GTech… This is just one example of how a school provides value to your interest of choice.
As for grad studies, my message is simple, do well in your undergrad years and you will have many avenues open. You will get time to find out your niche. My D2 will most probably target a M-7 B-school after a few years of work experience, so she has her work cut out for her
In terms of Virginia Tech, Career Services gives different employment numbers than data10 . In 2015, 52% reported employment for engineering (with only a 62% response rate), 2014 was a 70 % rate, 2013 was 65, 2012 was 67, etc. So, it is variable and not everyone responds to the post grad survey. Virginia Tech is recruited nationally .Many kids do end up in the Northern Virginia , MD, DC area. but their engineers are all over. There is a very large Engineering Expo every fall that attracts many recruiters . I do agree that NY specific companies would be more likely to recruit at the schools in NY and the surrounding areas. If they’ve had good success with RPI, WPI, etc., it makes sense to concentrate more of your efforts there. So, fit, location (of the school or where you might want to live after school), size, finances, can all be important in a search. Good luck.
D was accepted at Rose-Hulman and she did 3 visits, plus the Women in Engineering weekend. They flat out said that many of their graduates were lured by the high starting salaries and decided to go for those opportunities rather than pursue grad school. Both their graduation rates and their placement rates are high. Some of this may have had to do with their high price-tag and resulting student debt. Their career fairs, IMO, are very good, especially based on their small size.
A school like Rose is very different than a school like Purdue. If finances aren’t the deciding factor I’d be most concerned with where the student felt they fit and could do best.
Yes, we were on a road trip this summer and took a swing through the Rose-Hulman campus. I thought it was a pretty campus but quite small and not really in town, so fit would seem to be very important there.
I think you’ve received some questionable information. I’ll admit harboring a bias toward smaller rigorous schools, but I don’t think you can say that a graduate of Bucknell is less qualified than a graduate of Penn State. To me, it is apples and oranges.
A smaller school offers one on one opportunities to work with full professors. No grad students teaching. My S has been to professor’s houses for dinner, he meets regularly with one to study for the GRE and the head of the department gave him keys to a lab to do research on his own time. Undergrad research opportunities are abundant.
Bucknell’s 2015 engineering grads had a 96% placement rate within jobs or grad school within 9 months of graduation (and they had 100% response rate to the survey).
A school like Penn State will obviously have a much wider array of classes and equipment available. There may be some grad school courses that undergrads can take. But classes may be taught by grad students and close interaction with a prof may be more limited. Apples and oranges. You need to pick the type of school that fits your personality. A quiet introvert like my S would not get as much out of his education at a bigger school. A different student might welcome large classes or a bigger environment.
I think most people have said that fit is very important. The kind of kid that might like a school like Rose-Hulman might not like a school like Purdue and vice versa. Obviously kids are getting jobs from all kinds of schools. So, if it’s accredited and has good recruiting and job placement, good graduate school placement if that’s of interest, it’s all good.
Yes,You said VT was 47% employed, where the info I saw said 52%. What you posted indicates 46% employed, 3% military (which is employment, 1 % self employed). Plus 2 % that had employment offers that had not decided yet on employment. And this percentage varies by years . The year before the employment percentages were much higher, as your link indicates. And they also place plenty of people into graduate schools. If a person has any interest in Virginia Tech, the last concern should be access to employment or recruiting. They do just fine, as do most , if not all, of the fine schools being mentioned. Focus on fit, finances, location, resources, and opportunities .
Agree with swampdraggin… Your son may end up with a clear preference in terms of type of school. My kids had no interest in smaller schools. They wanted bigger schools with plenty of big time sports. Other kids could care less about that kind of thing and will prefer a smaller school.
I’m not buying what the prof is cooking. It really depends on the student. As an undergrad, I transferred from a school of 50,000 to a school of 3000 specifically because the big school wasn’t working for me, and I’m very happy I did it.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of deciding how much you care about the ability to choose your major or change your major later.
Currently, most schools will require you to put in a year of general courses, and then apply for a specific major, but you may be rejected. Others will allow you to choose a major, but you may have to apply if you ever want to change to a different engineering major and then you may be rejected.
The engineering schools that I know allow students to choose and change majors freely are Lehigh, and Case Western Reserve. (and MIT).
There are pros/cons to different approaches. I don’t know much about Bucknell, or Lafayette but WPI and RPI have strong Engineering programs. I think employers (especially in Northeast) and grad schools would recognize the value or a WPI or RPI degree.
Ditto on the Cal Tech alumni comments. We visited it with our son, and he sort of liked it. But when he visited Harvey Mudd the next day, he decided that schools with undergrad focus were a better fit for him.
I am a senior at a top 25 engineering school. I can tell you from experience that state schools are most certainly have better programs. I know plenty of other students that have went to small schools to get an engineering degree, and after looking at their work I can tell you with confidence that their work is far less rigorous. Now, does this matter in the real world? Probably not, but if you intend getting a masters it makes all the difference.
basically top engineering state schools offer a much more rigorous intense program that smaller schools
As long as we’re piling on Caltech and MIT, two former Caltech/JPL profs told my son not to apply there. My dad wasn’t a big fan of his education at MIT, but still wears the brass rat proudly. My uncle who received his PhD from Stanford told my son his UG education would be better at Cal Poly. All raved about the graduate programs at their respective institutions.
The take home message is size and USNWR ranking aren’t great barometers for the quality of education that undergraduates will get.
I’m noticing you must be focused on the east coast, given the schools mentioned. I agree with others that the best school for you is the one that fits you best so you can thrive. So many variables. The thread title is too general- it depends on the caliber of the schools. Not all private schools are as good as public flagships (remember also that those big schools serve more than one tier of student- sometimes absolute numbers mean more than percentages).
I don’t think my daughter is being ‘snatched up’ or being discriminated against as far as jobs being offered for being female. She doesn’t have an internship yet for next summer but I think it is more due to the effort she’s putting in (or not). Being female may do more for her in diversity than her being Chinese in engineering, but even with a ‘2-fer’ in the diversity column, I don’t think it helps or hurts. It’s just her being judged for her.
Note that there are big private schools (e.g. USC, NYU, BU) and small public schools (e.g. the “Mines” schools in SD, NM, and CO).
Within the realm of smaller schools, there can be a distinction between those where engineering is a large presence or a focus (e.g. the aforementioned “Mines” schools, Caltech, Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman, Stevens Tech, etc.) and those where engineering is a relatively small presence in a more generalized school (e.g. Swarthmore, Smith, Bucknell, Dartmouth, etc.).
