<p>Hello,
Can anyone suggest reliable sources or rankings for specific departments in the Engineering school ?</p>
<p>There aren’t any. All of the ranking systems rely heavily on “institutional reputation” which is both subjective and self fulfilling. </p>
<p>I’m hoping someone comes up with a more fulfilling answer than that, but after two years of searching, I’ve yet to come up with anything concrete. </p>
<p>I know. Then what would you suggest doing, browsing the schools’ website one by one? ;)</p>
<p>First, decide what your geographic, school size and budget limitations are. Then run that through a screening database like collegedata with those three factors and selecting engineering (not a specific field) and you’ll get all the schools of a size you’re OK with that offer engineering, in the areas you are willing to live, and charge what you can afford. Once you narrow down your field, say EE, then run the ABET search and cross reference it with your previous search. That’s a start.</p>
<p>There is also a US News & World Report Ranking of Best Graduate Schools for Engineering. It provides info such as # of faculty who are members National Academy of Engineering, Engioneering school research expenditure, research expenditure / faculty member, average GRE scores and acceptance rates etc which I thought were all good indicators.It also provides a ranking of top 10 schools by engineering specialty. </p>
<p>The USNWR Engineering rankings are for graduate programs and they have two flaws with respect to looking for an undergraduate program. </p>
<p>1) They are based solely on “reputation” and this is almost completely determined by research and who the people surveyed are. </p>
<p>2) The quality of an undergraduate degree is more or less independent of an institution’s research reputation. A strong research reputation is one thing but a top notch undergraduate-only engineering school would be excluded.</p>
<p>What you need to do is what @eyemgh says. Determine what is important to you about a college: location size public or private, research or undergraduate and then look for ABET accredited programs which fit your requirements. For private Engineering schools, you can look at the [url=“<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org”]AITU[/url</a>] website.</p>
<p>Perhaps the initial screens should be ABET accreditation in the desired engineering majors and affordable net price (from net price calculators and merit scholarships). Then apply all other screens (location, size, ability to change major if undecided, etc.). Starting with the essentials (academics offered and affordable net price) will allow one to see whether the other screens are too picky and need to be relaxed to come up with a reasonable application list.</p>
<p>If the main focus is on academic strength, there is no better indicator than the NRC doctoral program ranking, which does not take into account teaching though. </p>
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<p>There exist both graduate and undergraduate rankings from USNWR. They have different methodologies.</p>
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<p>This is true of the undergraduate rankings. This is not true of the graduate rankings. Peer assessment is only weighted 25% on those. Ironically, I would argue that it should actually be easier to rank undergraduate engineering programs than the graduate programs, yet USNWR has their more objective (yet still not objective) methodology dedicated to graduate schools. I’ve always wondered why that is the case.</p>
<p>Illustrating the goofy nature of the undergraduate rankings, Caltech and Stanford are always ranking in the top 10 for aerospace engineering, yet neither actually offers an undergraduate program in aerospace engineering. They just have that reputation based on their graduate programs and people vote for them.</p>
<p>For reference:
[Graduate</a> methodology](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2013/03/11/methodology-best-engineering-schools-rankings]Graduate”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2013/03/11/methodology-best-engineering-schools-rankings)
[Undergraduate</a> methodology](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/09/09/best-undergraduate-engineering-programs-methodology]Undergraduate”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/09/09/best-undergraduate-engineering-programs-methodology)</p>
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<p>This is only true to a point. I think there is great value in the research program for undergraduates for those that choose to get involved with it. Undergraduate research is a very powerful educational tool, and it is more powerful at the more powerful research institutions. However, with a large research focus often comes less focus on teaching, which is obviously detrimental. There is a happy medium in there somewhere.</p>
<p>Overall, the US News rankings do a decent job of placing the programs into their relative locations on the hierarchy. There are some egregious errors and it should all be taken as being approximate rather than absolutely correct, but if you are just looking for the rough standing of a given school, USNWR is not bad at that.</p>
<p>With that in mind, you can use many of the ranking systems like USNWR or NRC or the likes to get the same rough idea of the perceived quality of a school, and you can use that to help you narrow down choices if you want. There’s nothing wrong with that. Where people go wrong is when they start making choices based on choosing between the number 7 and number 12 ranked school as if that was somehow a stark difference or when they completely leave off schools that would be an excellent fit for them just because they are slightly lower on some list.</p>
<p>A couple more ranking lists that are followed world-wide and could be of help…</p>
<p><a href=“Subject Ranking 2013-14: Engineering & Technology | Times Higher Education (THE)”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013-14/subject-ranking/subject/engineering-and-it</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldENG2013.html”>http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldENG2013.html</a></p>
<p>And some more interesting ones with miscellaneous considerations…</p>
<p><a href=“25 Best Value Engineering Schools 2021 | Best Value Schools”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/top-25-ranked-engineering-programs-with-the-best-return-on-investment/</a></p>
<p><a href=“Redirect Notice”>Redirect Notice;
<p><a href=“School Rankings by College Major – Job Recruiter Top Picks - WSJ”>School Rankings by College Major – Job Recruiter Top Picks - WSJ;
<p><a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: Chemical Engineering”>http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124712/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools”>http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools</a></p>
<p>Hope these help !</p>
<p>There is no definitive quantitative ranking method that I know of. All rankings are subjective. So, to a point, the exact ranking of any particular college is then only relevant to PR department at that college.</p>
<p>The general ranking might be of some use when deciding where to go to college. You want to challenge yourself without overwhelming yourself. But what does the ranking really tell you? Not much. The SAT, ACT and GPA ranges are more telling.</p>
<p>Once at a college, it is how much you are willing to study and do the work that is more relevant to the quality of the education you get. So, once again, the ranking isn’t relevant to you.</p>
<p>Hard to imagine why Rensselear is not on the Best Value list, since the list includes three other pricey Ivy League schools; Cornell, Princeton and Columbia. RPI costs less (though not by much) and is certainly stronger than any Ivy League engineering school, although Cornell comes darn close.</p>
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<p>Prestige and exclusivity are what drive the rankings, not rationality and common sense. </p>
<p>As I see it, there are essentially two schools of thought here: 1) The belief that college is about personal growth, acquiring a solid education, and experiencing the college lifestyle, and 2) The belief that college is about associating ones self with a particular group of people, or socio-economic class - basically, a game of who can get into the most exclusive college, which some people believe symbolizes your rank in society.</p>
<p>Reality tends to fall more in line with #1. The CC forum tends to fall more in line with #2.</p>
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<p>Does RPI have worse financial aid (and therefore higher net price for most students)? If so, then that can hurt it in any “value for the money” rankings.</p>
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<p>Another source for strong ROI schools:</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/best-colleges-online/million-dollar-roi-private-colleges/]Private[/url”>Small Private Colleges And Universities In The U.S.]Private[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/best-colleges-online/million-dollar-roi-public-colleges/]Public[/url”>Best Return On Investment Colleges]Public[/url</a>]</p>
<p>RPI #12</p>
<p>I’ve heard both sides of the story regarding financial aid from RPI. Some parents on this board have said their particular child received a great RPI scholarship. The son of a good friend, a kid with stellar grades, got relatively little money from RPI. Incidentally, the lad made straight A’s in his freshman year at the college he eventually selected. I guess paying less money at his “back up” school helped motivate him, LOL.</p>
<p>The value rankings are completely skewed by financial need. The schools that are good values for families with low EFCs won’t be the same schools that represent value for families with high EFCs. For instance, for a family with an EFC of $60k, no Ivy league school will be a good value. None offer merit aid.</p>
<p>ROI figures are similarly distorted.</p>
<p>Eyemgh, I think the statement the “no Ivy League school will be a good value” unless you get FA paints with a broad brush. I believe the value one gets depends upon what you are trying to achieve. If one goal is post-college employment, I believe the Ivy League gives incredible value.</p>
<p>I have two kids at an Ivy League school. The oldest will be graduating this year with a degree in economics, a bit better then middle of his class with one “real” summer job, no research, but a very desirable EC. His starting salary (at his school the great majority of graduating seniors have jobs by the beginning of their last semester) is well in excess of the Cost of Attendence. His friends at other pricey (private) and state schools have had a much much more difficult road in finding decent jobs - even if their grades and class ranks are significantly better.</p>
<p>My youngest is just starting her second semester and plans be a Chem E. She relays to me that the engineering grads find similar, ample employment opportunities.</p>
<p>While I think that the Ivy League school’s education isn’t all that it is cracked up to be (large classes taught by teachers who are not trained to teach and/or struggle communicating in English), from a dollars and cents perspective post-college, there is tremendous value - even when paying full freight (as we will be doing once the oldest graduates). My kids school, is quite simply, a well oiled job machine (amongst other features).</p>
<p>OP - You should take the collection of general ranking info as a datapoint in your search. But take individual lists/rankings with a grain of salt… don’t let it drive your search. Instead look for a school that is a good fit and affordable. Most engineering programs will prepare you well. (It’s not like some liberat arts field where prospects are vastly better for grad of the top tier schools). Another thing to check is job placement stats. </p>
<p>“If one goal is post-college employment, I believe the Ivy League gives incredible value.” - Sometimes true… but more so in non-engineering fields. Hmm… I found this list, but I don’t think scope covers Ivy. <a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools”>http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools</a></p>
<p>Payscale rankings are perhaps the worst rankings that exist. Do not use them.</p>