University of Rochester Undergraduate Engineering - Why is it ranked so low?

College Search & Selection
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<p>US News has ranked the undergraduate engineering program at U Rochester at 76th, just above Clarkson, but the graduate engineering program is ranked much higher - about 40th. Their graduate physics program is ranked 35th.</p>

<p>This seems unusual. What is wrong with undergrad engineering at U of Rochester?</p>

<p>I have always thought that U of R needed to upgrade their engineering facilities and buildings. They have a new biomed bldg. That's a start.</p>

<p>U of R engineering used to have a much better rep, I think. It was also known for strength in the sciences.</p>

<p>U Rochester should wake up and invest some $$$$ in their undergrad engineering. I think the biology and medical programs are sucking the blood out of the undergrad engineering and physical sciences.</p>

<p>Anybody have some first hand knowledge about this?</p>

<p>By the way, U of Rochester is different from Rochester Institute of Tech.</p>

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<p>UR does not have a very large endowment and I think they have to do more than average tuition discounting to keep a good class quality. Engineering is very expensive to run. Wash U has similar problems with engineering and has a very similar profile to UR with lots spent on bio and medical areas. There's only so much $$$ and why would students pay lots of $$ to study engineering at a second tier eng school when many state schools are better in that area? Unless you have unilimted cash you can't do it all in a somewhat dreary city in upstate NY.</p>

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<p>A #40 graduate engineering program is not that good. Once you get pass the top 10 or 20 programs, the rest are just number games. There is really not that much difference between #76 and #40 in engineering.</p>

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<p>barrons</p>

<p>UR is one of only 50-60 schools with a $1 billion-plus endowment. With a total student population of only about 6000 (4000 undergrads +2000 grad) money shouldn't be the issue.</p>

<p>If you're talking optics, UR is among the best in the world.</p>

<p>I think I read somewhere that UR wasn't providing all of the information that the various "rankers of schools" asked for, and this may be the result.</p>

5

<p>A billiion is not that much anymore. Now 5-10 Billion gets you somewhere. UR's endowment per student is not that great. Also I'd bet most of it is really owned by the Medical School.</p>

<p><a href="http://data360.org/pdf/20070322014801.Student%20Endowment.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://data360.org/pdf/20070322014801.Student%20Endowment.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I think Eastman also has a good chunk of that endowment as well.</p>

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<p>This is why I don't necessarily like rankings.</p>

<p>Rochester is a really good school. One could get a high quality engineering education there. Money isn't everything.</p>

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<p>The engineering school at 76th is well below U of R's overall rank of 35th. Engineering has dropped from a rank of 62nd in 2000. What's more, the engineering rank is based on peer assessment which is known to resist change.</p>

<p>I think U Rochester has poor leadership.</p>