<p>I know the two schools are incredibly different, and I have several other factors that count in my decision. For example, I am a recruited athlete at both of them, but I would love to play crew at WPI someday..the team dynamic is amazing.
On the other hand, I am in love with the environment at smith!
I have been able to meet some fellow smithies on FB, and they were all incredibly awesome!!
But disregarding those factors, from a plainly academic point of view, which one is a better engineering school? Which one has a better/more prestigious name?</p>
<p>--> also, I am an international student, so I can visit neither. Any opinions would help me immensely!
Thanks!</p>
<p>WPI is an** engineering school**, while Smith is a LAC that has fairly recently added an engineering program. It is a generic degree that doesn’t prepare you for any specific engineering field. I have no doubt that these courses are interesting and well taught but you will need to go to grad school because you won’t have enough specific knowledge to be useful to most employers.
Here is the list of majors at WPI, including 10 engineering majors and bunch of other closely related ones such Interactive Media and Game Design, CS etc. Plus sciences and business.
[Undergraduate</a> Admissions: Areas of Study - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/academics/areas.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/academics/areas.html)
**What kind of engineering do you want to study? What do you want to do when you graduate? **You need to focus on answering those questions because the options are completely different at these schools.
Then you can deal with the other differences - all female versus 32% female, location etc.
I would choose Smith if I wanted a women’s college and wanted to study anything other than engineering. It is an excellent school.</p>
<p>Thanks for replying!
I want to study mechE with concentration on aeronautics. I want to do grad school then and maybe work in research.
I understand that in the field of engineering itself, WPI might be one step ahead of smith. But doesn’t the Liberal Arts education + course rigor at smith make up for that in a way?
I mean smith is supposed to be producing uniquely well-rounded engineers, right?</p>
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<p>Smith will prepare you very well with the foundational education you need to achieve this goal. It is a wonderful school.</p>
<p>Well, if you want a better balance between engineering courses and liberal arts, Smith is a better choice. But the reason you have time to take lots of liberal arts courses (more than you would take at WPI) is because the generic engineering degree doesn’t have as many required courses as an accredited ME degree would have. And since Smith is a LAC it has tons more options in humanities, arts, and social sciences than WPI where these departments are much smaller.
So if you know you want to go directly to grad school, then consider Smith for its other benefits.
If you think you might want to work for awhile in industry before getting an advanced degree, then choose WPI.
There are trade-offs to be considered no matter which way you decide since these schools are SO different. Good luck!</p>
<p>[Smith</a> College: Picker Engineering Program](<a href=“http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Engin/study_degree.php]Smith”>http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Engin/study_degree.php) lists Smith’s engineering degree requirements. If you look in the course catalog, there are some mechanical and aero engineering courses, but the overall engineering course selection is limited.</p>
<p>However, Smith does have a cross registration agreement with nearby University of Massachusetts - Amherst, so students can access that school’s greater selection of upper division engineering and other courses. You may want to check how much the cross registered courses can be used toward the required engineering courses for the degree.</p>
<p>Anyone notice that [Smith</a> College: Picker Engineering Program](<a href=“http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Engin/study.php]Smith”>http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Engin/study.php) has a picture of a student wearing some other school’s name on a sweatshirt?</p>