Sum Up Georgia Tech

Colleges & Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
1

<p>Can anybody "in the know" describe Georgia Tech for us? How does it compare to Rice U, Cal Tech, Olin College, MIT, Stanford, Wash U, Carnegie Mellon, and/or UT Austin -- or any other engineering school you know well?</p>

<p>Our impression of Rice so far is "work hard, party hard," with some time for "play" but possibly too much partying for my son's tastes. The students at Cal Tech strike us as kind of arrogant (sorry! don't want to offend anybody -- that's just how they come off to us so far), and the atmosphere there seems to be work, work, work, to the detriment of a balanced, normal life. Olin seems like a ton of fun and a good fit for my son, in regards to the balance between work and "play," but we haven't visited yet -- just interviewed in person (locally) and read up on the place. Wash U, CMU, and UT Austin seem like good matches in regards to the same. Stanford also seems like a great fit, in that they have the demanding curriculum of the ivies while maintaining some kind of laid back feel somehow.</p>

<p>Any comments on Georgia Tech's general campus atmosphere, the level of student competition versus cooperation, the balance of work and play? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>

</p>

<p>The first thing that sticks out is that you have to public schools on the list: UT and GT. There’s a big difference between the two experiences. At a private school, you have a situation where basically everyone knows everyone else (or someone that knows that person). It’s a tight community, whereas at a public school, you’ll see thousands (or tens of thousands) of people, the vast majority of which you’ve never met. The benefit of the larger size of public schools is that you’ll have more opportunity. At GT or UT, you’ll find all sorts of communities that have all sorts of interests. There will be hundreds of social organizations, clubs, intermural sports, and intramural sports. There’s everything from underground ska bands, to math clubs, to paranormal hunting clubs, to skydiving clubs. At private schools, your options are much less limited.</p>

<p>Among the other schools, from my experience, at Olin and Rice (two schools focused heavily on undergraduate education), students have much, much less opportunity to perform research. This severely hurts students in grad school applications. Rice, in particular, seems focused on driving students to professional schools and out of manufacturing engineering or engineering grad school.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I wouldn’t let that deter you from any school. Students like to quote things like that, but the truth is, the amount of partying depends on who you hang out with, and how hard you work depends on your abilities.</p>

<p>In terms of engineering, all of the above schools are just about the same amount of rigor. I have heard that WUSTL and Rice are a little less rigorous than the Top 10 (Stanford, MIT, GT, CMU, etc) but I’ve spent some time in classes at Rice and MIT and didn’t notice a difference.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Georgia Tech is a cooperative atmosphere. In engineering, you end up in a cohort of about 30-40 students (students in the same major and the same year). You get to know everyone in the cohort very well, and everyone has a “let’s get through this together” atmosphere. The degree of cooperation changes from major to major - in management (1000 students), people don’t get to know each other well, but in small majors (e.g. chemical engineering), people end up sleeping at each others’ houses during major design projects.</p>

3

<p>Thanks, GP. Of the schools I listed, where would GT fall, ranking-wise, in your opinion? And what exactly do you mean when you say that Rice tends to push people towards “professional schools” instead of manufacturing engineering or grad school. I guess I’m not sure what a “professional school” is. Do you mean like towards the management side of engineering? Like MBA’s, etc?
Thanks again!</p>

4

<p>I’m a senior in high school and I was accepted to Georgia Tech. I actually live in Georgia, so a few of my friends go there. From what I’ve heard, they have just as hard of a curriculum as many other top schools like Stanford and MIT, but without all the glamor associated with the name. As for the balance, that’s something I’ve found so attractive. I went to their football game against Wake Forest (which we won!!) and I was amazed at all the energy I saw among the students. They definitely know how to find that balance of work and play.</p>

5

<p>Sounds great, chrisakelly. Maybe we should pack up for a visit sometime soon! That’s what my son is looking for – a good balance between work and play. He wants a rigorous education within a more laid-back environment. Thanks for weighing in!</p>

6

<p>@GPBurdell,
In what order would you rank these schools for an engineering education (probably mechanical, possibly chemical)?
Stanford, Dartmouth, GT, Rice, UT Austin, Cal Tech, MIT, Olin, Wash U, Texas Tech, SMU, CMU, TCU</p>

<p>And would your ranking change for a son that has excellent stats (#2/803, 2380 SAT, 237 PSAT, 780-800 Subject Tests, all-state musician, long-running community service, etc) BUT is very laid back, easy-going, humble, and pleasant. He is not a Type A personality at all and prefers a Type B atmosphere with Type A standards … if that makes any sense. He likes be challenged and likes rising to the occasion, but he thinks he might not be too happy in a tightly-wound school.</p>

<p>I realize that I might be asking the wrong person, as you may value the prestige of an engineering school more than we might (other threads), and we may value the “fit” of a school more than you might, but would the fact that this son would be much happier in a more easy-going, more cooperative than cut-throat, competitive environment change your rank order at all?</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

7

<p>For Engineering Reputation:</p>

<p>Group 1: GT, Cal Tech, MIT, Stanford, UT-Austin, CMU
Group 2: Rice, WUSTL, Olin
Group 3: Texas Tech, SMU
Group 4: TCU, Dartmouth</p>

<p>For Overall Reputation:</p>

<p>Group IA: MIT, Stanford
Group IB: Rice, CMU, Cal Tech, Dartmouth
Group II: GT, UT-Austin, WUSTL
Group III: SMU, Texas Tech, TCU
Group IV: Olin (only engineers in the Northeast have ever heard of the school)</p>

<p>Engineering reputation matters in engineering positions, overall reputation matters for non-engineering positions (business consulting, ibanks, law school applications, med school, etc).</p>

<p>Professional programs are non-research based graduate programs. They differ from research doctorates (PhD, usually) in that professional degrees are awarded for mastery of material and not for a contribution to a body of literature. Traditionally, these include: medical school, medical-related schools (optometry, pharmacy, dental, veterinary medicine, etc), law school, and business school. </p>

<p>Some schools like to push a substantial number of students toward these degrees because they are usually high paying (and wealthier alumni donate more) and because they can score higher in the rankings if their students go to more prestigious graduate schools (e.g. Rice increases its score if it can send a student to Harvard Law instead of sending that student to industry).</p>

8

<p>So, GP, which of those schools emphasize engineering positions after graduation? Or, if it’s easier to list, which of them emphasize non-engineering positions after graduation? My son wants to work as an engineer.</p>

9

<p>The best way to gauge that is to ask each college for a list of companies that hired mechanical engineers (or whichever type you want to look at) over the last year or two. The career services department should be able to provide that if it’s not on the website. If they don’t have that available, ask for a list of which companies came to the school’s career fair last year Then, look at the companies. If most of the companies are Bain, McKinsey, law firms, etc. then that wouldn’t be a sign that the school isn’t marketing it’s students to manufacturing firms.</p>

<p>Contacting the career services department is actually a good exercise, regardless. Before sending one of my kids to a school, I would also want to know (1) percent of students that the career services department placed, (2) the median number of job offers per student, (3) the median salaries, and (4) the work locations of graduating students (do the graduates spread out or cluster locally).</p>

10

<p>That’s good info. We’ll definitely do that. Thanks!</p>