<p>Need to apply to 2 of the 5 ... Interested in Computer Engineering ....</p>
<p>Help me decide please ...</p>
<p>You need to give more information. Explain what you're looking for in a school. Location, size, atmosphere, etc.</p>
<p>Umm, location isn't an issue since I'm an Intl. student.</p>
<p>I just want a school with stellar quality of education, reputation, and great placement upon graduation.</p>
<p>The only thing I know is that my son looked at all these schools for engineering (except UT - is that University of Texas Austin?). </p>
<p>I really think you can't go wrong with any of them. It might depend on where you are looking for a job afterwards - engineering tends to be a little local - in other words, companies in New York state may hire an RIT grad over VT, WPI is strong in the Boston area, etc.</p>
<p>Obviously, Purdue is a very large school, as is Virginia Tech. RIT and WPI are the most focused on undergrad education (although both are research institutions).</p>
<p>My son is at WPI and so far he's happy. He is finding the faculty very accessible. He ruled out RIT as too close to home, VT because he didn't want to be in the south, and Purdue because it was more expensive because they gave him no money (he also thought it was too far and too big).</p>
<p>Hmm. How would you rate the schools based on overall reputation?</p>
<p>Well, again, that's a hard one. It sort of depends on where in the country you are. Here in Rochester everyone would rank RIT the highest, down south they'd rank VT the highest. Sorry I'm not being more help here. </p>
<p>US News rankings (not worth a whole lot - IMO mostly reflect the amount of research being done)
RIT - 70
WPI - 57
Purdue - 9
UTexas - 9
VT - 14</p>
<p>The other problem with reputation is that generally more people have heard of the larger schools.</p>
<p>Texas and Purdue are far better than the others for computer engineering.</p>
<p>Then Virginia Tech and WPI for computer engineering.</p>
<p>RIT is a distant 5th.</p>
<p>What about campus recruitment upon graduation?</p>
<p>Also, please put UC Irvine into the mix ...</p>
<p>Texas and Purdue are large and good. I am sure graduates are heavily recruited there.</p>
<p>RIT is heavily recruited. It was the only college we visited that boasted in its admission info session about their recruitment rate. It was their big selling point and they let you know it. It has mandatory co-op though so it takes 5 yrs to get a 4 yr degree.</p>
<p>Co-op? Care to elaborate please? :)</p>
<p>What about WPI?</p>
<p>Co-ops are where you go to work in the field (and make good money) for a period of time - often a semester or two or three. Almost every engineering school offers them, some have more rigid programs set up than others. </p>
<p>RIT has a highy developed co-cop program as well as Northeastern University, and some others.
<a href="http://www.rit.edu/%7E964www/Visitor/prospective/prospectivesindex.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.rit.edu/%7E964www/Visitor/prospective/prospectivesindex.html</a></p>
<p>WPI has a "project based" curriculum instead of co-ops. (Although co-ops may be available too.) Some of the projects are offered overseas.<br>
<a href="http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects/%5B/url%5D">http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects/</a>
<a href="http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/IGSD/%5B/url%5D">http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/IGSD/</a></p>
<p>Co-ops are great because it allows you to earn some money while in school, investigate your various fields of interest, get your foot in the door at some companies, and bring back real world experience to the classroom.</p>
<p>I'm sure Purdue and UT and VT offer co-ops. There may be a little more competition for them though as they have more students to recruit from.</p>
<p>It's a little hard for people to speculate on recruitment - I suspect unless one has had personal experience with the various career placement offices it's impossible to say how good they are. (Of course the colleges ALL say they are GREAT.)</p>
<p>RIT = Great recruitment, low ranking, therefore not the best reputation
VT = ?, good rank, good rep(the massacre is a bit of a deterrent though)
UT = Good recruitment, good ranking, good rep; Too huge?
WPI = ???
Purdue = Good recruitment, good ranking, great rep for engineering
UC Irvine = ?, average ranking, ?</p>
<p>20Legend: Where do you think you'll live when you get out of school?</p>
<p>
[quote]
VT = ?, good rank, good rep(the massacre is a bit of a deterrent though)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think after such horrible incident, VT would have learned and offer one of the safest campus experiences.</p>
<p>Anyways, in terms of engineering, UT >= Purude = VT >= UCI > RIT = WPI</p>
<p>Seattle? Boston? NY? Chicago?</p>
<p>Again, really don't know .. Intl. student ..</p>
<p>I agree with weenie. Consider the school where you want to settle eventually.</p>
<p>UT-Austin is good because Austin is a growing hot bed for technology (Dell is based in Austin). I would also suggest University of Washington-Seattle.</p>
<p>All the schools you are considering are comparable in terms of reputation.</p>
<p>Already applying to U Washington for sure ...</p>
<p>Basically, I want to know which of these schools would be about as good as, say, Georgia Tech?</p>
<p>And about the recruitment at WPI ...</p>