Hi all. I’ve been accepted into RPI for mechanical engineering and UCSC for Robotics engineering. RPI is 3000 miles away from my home but I have been given a significant scholarship that will make it somewhat less expensive than UCSC. I am wondering about the credibility of Robotics Engineering at UCSC and the overall strength of the engineering program there. Are UCSC and RPI comparable for engineering? Any input will be greatly appreciated, thank you,
I don’t know anything about the engineering program at UCSC, but their mascot is second to none.
Second on the Banana Slugs! Plus, the campus is seriously beautiful.
If you are a CA resident and RPI is netting out cheaper, RPI must have given you LOTS of money. How much of that is grant versus loan?
There are several things to know. Troy is not Santa Cruz. Troy gets VERY cold in the winter and the town doesn’t have a ton going for it. The EMPAC building is seriously cool, but otherwise the campus is fairly drab. That said, RPI ME is well respected. I’m not sure who will be familiar if you try to come back to CA though. The issue with UCSC is that EE is the only ABET accredited engineering program that they offer. The rest are not accredited.
You’ll want to know three things: 1) will you like the RPI campus and all that is Troy, the town, the weather, etc. 2) how many RPI grads get west coast jobs if that’s important to you 3) What job placement is like out of the UCSC Robotics program. Looking at the curriculum it looks to be sort of a hybrid between ME with a mechatronics concentration and computer engineering.
I don’t particularly like either campus. I find the RPI campus dreary, and the UCSC campus feels like an Ewok village rather than a college campus.
Silicon Valley companies would very happy to get resumes from UCSC alumi. I have the feeling there are so few robotics engineering programs that ABET hasn’t made much of an effort to accredit them. ABET only lists five accredited programs.
@PeaceandBravery Please look into the ARCH program before deciding on RPI. They are forcing sophomores to stay on campus for a full summer semester and then giving you one semester off your junior year to do a co-op or internship. So you basically have to live on campus for 5 straight semesters with meal plan before being able to look at off campus housing. My daughter didn’t like the program at all and many are saying it is a money making scheme for RPI who is having financial issues. We didn’t know about until after she applied. At accepted student’s day they didn’t have a lot of answers as this summer will be the first year of it. Made me nervous.
I did hear Silicone Valley hires from UCSC all of the time. My daughter’s friend is from the DC area and she is in her sophomore year there and loves it. Not for engineering though. There aren’t too many undergrad robotics engineering programs so that is a huge plus.