should I switch schools

I am in first year engineering, with a 3.5 gpa, but I go to an unreputed school, would it be worth it to transfer schools, even if I have to repeat a year?

Usually not. Any ABET accredited school is usually going to work out fine. Overall college reputation is less important to engineering. Being at the top of your class with a strong gpa to put on your resume is valuable. Paying an extra year of school seems unwise. Engineers from more and less well known colleges often work alongside each other same salary. High gpa could open doors, though. As a top student at your school you may look for pros to do research or project to with. Without more details on schools or costs there is not much else to say.

From another thread you attend Wayne State which has been ABET accredited for most programs since 1944/50. That is what counts for engineering.

^ This. A 3.5 is solid. I’ll bet your instructors know you and how you perform. Get to know them – they are willing to lend a hand to top students. Better to be the well liked among a few teachers than unknown among many.

My kiddo chose a lesser “known” school’s engineering pgm and is loving it. Much more than had she chosen the other two (extremely high ranked) engineering schools.

There are no bad ABET accredited schools, only bad students.

If you are concern about ranking/prestige, you could attend one of the top ranked graduate engineering programs (e.g. University of Michigan) for 1 to 1.5 yrs. Keep your undergraduate GPA as high as possible and try to some experience your final year (or earlier).

How would you afford the second school, keeping in mind that transfers tend to get lousy aid?

Nah man just go to grad school

Why would you need to repeat a year of school? Did you not take ‘regular’ engineering courses of calc, physics, chem?

My sister keeps asserting her son’s engineering school is ‘so much harder’ than my daughter’s, but they take the same classes and often have the same books.

This is usually a better plan than trying to transfer into a top school for undergrad.

I believe name of school does matter to recruiters from larger companies (Fortune 500). Recruiter may choose a candidate from Michigan with 3.2 GPA over tier 2-3 schools with higher GPA.

My experience has been that the top engineering schools do open more doors in larger companies, esp if said companies (Big Aerospace, Big Auto, Big Chip) recruit in a relatively small circle of schools.

Having said this, Wayne State is fine. It’s accredited, it’s been around for a while, and so on.

Why exactly do you want to leave?
What’s your budget?

I went to MIT and worked for a large aerospace company. Did going to a top engineering school open doors for me? Yes, of course it did; to a point. You then had to perform. Doing your job well no matter where you went to school is the best (only!) way to get ahead in engineering. Management always wants the best people to be the ones to solve their hardest problems. They, obviously, want them solved as quickly and with the best solutions. Management will figure out real fast who they can give those hard assignments to and who they can’t.

Stay where you’re at and be the best engineer you can be. That is how you do well.

I agree with previous posters. Stay where you are; the courses will be more challenging.

Hubby is an engineer manager at a huge engineering firm; he hires engineers and gets them from everywhere. His boss is a state grad.

Most important factor: GPA
(and, once hired, a willingness to take on projects that may involve some grunt work!)