Swarthmore vs Vanderbilt for an Engineering Major?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I have been admitted to both these colleges, and cannot decide where to go. I'm an international and despite the fact that these two colleges are perhaps at the opposite ends of the spectrum, I think both these places would be socially and academically challenging.</p>

<p>I'm a prospective engineer, and although I have thought of becoming a mechanical engineer for some time, I am not sure which engineering path I will take. I'm torn between EEE, MechE and CS.</p>

<p>Also, I want to go to graduate school soon after undergrad. I am not sure if that is possible for international students, or if that is a common path taken by int. students(?)</p>

<p>I'm also confused about which college has greater prestige. And which one has greater reputation in the engineering dept.s .</p>

<p>Swarthmore offers a general engineering degree while I would be able to get a MechE or EE degree from Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>I don't want to go to Vandy and regret missing out on one of the best LACs in the country. I don't want to go to Swarthmore and regret missing out on the greater engineering resources of Vandy...and the camaraderie of the engineering kids, due to greater number.</p>

<p>For a prospective engineer, who might want to minor in economics as well, which one would be a better choice?</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>Bump 10char</p>

3

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<p>For international students in the US, the more common international student path is to attend university in the home country for a bachelor’s degree, then attend a US university for PhD study. This is likely because it is much more affordable to study in a funded PhD program than it is to study in a bachelor’s degree program where one is paying list price.</p>

4

<p>Vanderbilt is a better choice for engineering, Swarthmore is slightly better for everything else. I’m not a big fan of generic engineering degrees and the Swarthmore engineering department is so SMALL and we were very underwhelmed by the engineering facilities. If my son were interested in anything OTHER than engineering, it would have been at the top of his list. Engineering seems like an afterthought there.
So you need to decide what is most important to you.</p>

5

<p>Have you visted?</p>

<p>Swarthmore’s engineering department is only about 20 people per class. The engineering professors there are great, but it’s a a really small department. They are renovating their main engineering building but the facilities are still limited. Don’t know Vanderbilt first hand but it has a sizable engineering department and is a good school in general.</p>