<p>
[quote]
Aside from being more prestigious, undergrad engineering at Stanford is not necessarily better than Berkeley, Michigan, Cornell or UIUC, both in terms of academics or job placement ... especially in a traditional field like Materials. So don't feel like you are stepping down if you don't get into Stanford.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In fact, Stanford isn't well-represented on the winners list on
<a href="http://www.tms.org/Students/Awards.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.tms.org/Students/Awards.html</a>. Looking at the list, I'd bet Cornell and Northwestern have better programs; schools like Missouri (Rolla) and Arizona State had also produced quite a few winners. Teams from Northwestern had won the Materials Science and Engineering Undergraduate Student Design Competition Award four times (out of 5!) between 2001 and 2005. By the way, if you study at Northwestern, you are pretty much guaranteed a spot for MSE CO-OP if you want it because there are more openings than the number of students to fill them.</p>
<p>Ah, I see...it depends if you do work or not, many of the people that hate it and get low gpa's are the geeks that play wow all day, skip class...and go to the finals...I just wish I had your major, then I'd get in-state tuition :)</p>
<p>FW Olin College in MA is a very good engineering college, but it's very small and it's certainly NOT a safety. It's only VERY slightly less selective than Stanford and MIT.</p>
<p>Surgtheiop, GT accepts a high percentage of its applicants because like many universities (most notably Chicago), it is self-selective. Students who apply there are very serious about Engineering and generally confident in their abilities.</p>
<p>Have you considered Cal Poly, SLO?? One of the best reputations in the nation for engineering, GREAT weather, a mid-size student population and small classes...a fantastic value for the quality of education. (Actually, we know some friends who got accepted by Stanford and turned down by Cal Poly...)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Actually, we know some friends who got accepted by Stanford and turned down by Cal Poly...
[/quote]
if they did that, and it wasn't because of finances, they were nuts.</p>
<p>The connections in the valley, number of firms started by Stanford grads and profs such as, oh, google (where's the list of those started by Cal Poly alums?), national and international rep, smaller classes, personal attention, prestigiousness of the faculty ... I could go on and on. Cal Poly is a good school and a fine deal for in-state residences, but it isn't even CLOSE to Cal or Stanford</p>
<p>I also don't agree with wcmom's comments. Cal Poly is actually a pretty big school with more than 17,000 undergrads. I wouldn't call it "mid-size" and I doubt their classes are small. It also doesn't really have "one of the best reputation in the nation" (I am an engineer that had lived in 3 different parts of the US). The average SAT is only 1200; that they would turn down some Stanford admits is very hard to believe, unless they have "Tufts Syndrome".</p>
<p>It is definitely a good Engineering school, but it is not close to the likes of Stanford. Stanford is one of the top 3 or 4 Engineering schools in the nation, Cal Poly isn't even one of the top 5 in the state of California. Think about it. The following schools are all better in Engineering:</p>
<p>California Institute of Technology
Harvey Mudd College
Stanford University
Universtiy of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of California-San Diego
University of California-Santa Barbara
University of Southern California</p>
<p>Its helpful if you cite where you are getting your info
USNEWs 2006- ranks Calpoly SLO at #4 for undergraduate engineering programs
along with the military academies in NY & MD. Cosprings academy is at #7.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity, the USNWR ranks Cal Poly 4th among non-doctoral Engineering programs, not 4th among undergraduate programs. But of the non-doctoral programs, only 2 (Harvey Mudd and Rose Hulman) are considered to be competitive with the top programs that offer doctoral degrees. So #4 among non-doctoral programs isn't the same as 4th among doctoral pograms. Cal Poly isn't equal to Caltech. Cornell, Northwestern and Princeton aren't even ranked among the top 10 among such programs. Do you honestly believe that Cal Poli is as good as those programs?</p>
<p>CalPoly is a decent school. Nobody here is saying it's not. It's probably one of the "best-value" ones, especially for California residents. Alexandre and I are just saying it doesn't have "one of the best reputation"; we also don't think it's "one of the best" (sorry, I don't use it so loosely), as someone here claimed.</p>
<p>Wow this turned into a California shootout : )
why you all have to hog all the good schools out there?</p>
<p>Ive been doing fair amount of reading past week about various engineering schools and it looks like my application focus is going to be on :
Stanford SCEA (my large reach)
Cornell,Northwestern (slight reach/ maybe match)
UC Berkeley(got questions see below) Georgia Tech
Clemson / NC state (safety, maybe get a huge scholarship or something)</p>
<p>Ok on UC Berkeley - I know a few decades ago the place was a liberal/hippie madhouse, has it calmed down over there or is it still a pretty radical campus? Im asking because as a conservative christian would i be completly out of place at UCB or has the campus became a little more moderate in its political views/ activism? ( i have no problems with being around liberals/having liberal professors but if the place was a complete madhouse of liberal activism i know i would have a really tough time fitting into the student body)</p>
<p>There are still quite a bit of conservatives at Cal... When I visited on Cal Day, there were many Christian clubs and societies, and their Young Republican club is said (well, by them) to be even larger than the democratic one.</p>