<p>What does it mean for a school to be Tier 1? Is it the USNEWS ranking of top50? Is there a big difference between tier 1 & tier 2? Also, is there a big difference in going to a public engineering school like PSU as compared to going to an ivy league engineering school like UPenn in terms of getting a job afterwards (assume same credentials for a student at either school)?</p>
<p>Upenn engineering isn't that good so in ur example there'd probably not be a big difference. MIT engineering on the other hand will be different from PSU.</p>
<p>It is simply a USNews created category which used to refer to about the top 50 (or less depending on the category) in a category. However, for national universities it no longer distinguishes between tier one and two and just lists about 120 and then goes to tier 3. USNews has various rankings -- e.g., national universities, LAS colleges, regionals -- and one of its separate rankings is for engineering schools where PSU is currently 14 and Penn 30. The USNews rankings are mainly designed for USNews to make money. One of its principal impacts has been to make large numbers of frenzied students falsely believe they will be utter failures if they do not attend a top 20 school (and many parents apparently believe the same). It is all mostly nonsense but proves an old adage that perception is everything. As to getting an engineering job out of Upenn or PSU, the likelihood is not of any real significant difference and mainly depends on market demand at the time.</p>