<p>I got into Villanova, RPI, Lehigh, Stevens, SUNY Binghamton, and Penn State U Park.
I want to study Engineering in college. Villanova and RPI gave me the most money, respectively. I have basically narrowed it down to these two.</p>
<p>I hear that RPI is boring and there is nothing to do on campus, or in the surrounding area. I liked the Villanova campus better. How is Villanova's reputation for engineering. I know they are 9th on the US news list for undergrad engineering, but does that mean much?
Out of these schools and with these factors what would you reccomend?</p>
<p>R.P.I. hands down for the quality of the engineering program. You may want to drop a thread in their forum if you have concerns about being bored. Some current students may be able to give you perspective on the day to day life.</p>
<p>RPI for the quality of the engineering program? Do your research people; RPI has absolutely PLUMMETED in engineering rankings over the past 5 years. For example, they used to be a computer science powerhouse, but now, they aren;t even in the top 40. Last I checked, they ranked behind Penn State in engineering. I’m usually not one to obsess over rankings, but a such a steep drop over such a short amount of time is quite scary and indicative of a decline in research opportunities and perhaps a failure to update facilities. Personally, I would go to Penn State over RPI, even if they did cost the same. For Engineering, it’s all about the research and interactions you have with your professors. I strongly disagree with you eliminating Penn State from consideration. They have spend loads on their engineering department, rank higher than ALL the schools you listed above (17th nationwide, and Villanova is certainly not number 9 nationwide, they are in the upwards of the mid 30’s)
[Penn</a> State Engineering Rankings](<a href=“http://www.engr.psu.edu/AboutCOE/rankings.aspx]Penn”>http://www.engr.psu.edu/AboutCOE/rankings.aspx)
As for the other schools, Stevens is not all that impressive (although geographically, they do enjoy the best location) and SUNY Binghampton isn’t even the best SUNY for engineering. (Stonybrook is the one). I would say to choose between PSU, Nova, and Lehigh. Do your research on RPI; who knows, maybe I’m overreacting, but the fact is, their engineering department has fallen quite a bit in the last 6 years.</p>
<p>That being said, it is more about what you make of your college education, not necessarily where you choose to go. Even an MIT graduate is highly undesirable if he or she has not done any meaningful research with professors and has done little if anything outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>Thank you very much everyone for helping me with my decision.</p>
<p>I think that Penn State is too big for me, and its also far from home. </p>
<p>I feel like these schools are close enough in the rankings to go by feel on the campus. I am going visiting days at some of the schools, so hopefully I will get a better idea then.</p>
<p>“As for the other schools, Stevens is not all that impressive (although geographically, they do enjoy the best location) and SUNY Binghampton isn’t even the best SUNY for engineering. (Stonybrook is the one). I would say to choose between PSU, Nova, and Lehigh. Do your research on RPI; who knows, maybe I’m overreacting, but the fact is, their engineering department has fallen quite a bit in the last 6 years.”</p>
<p>R.P.I. is better than ever. They just finished a $1.4 billion capital campaign. A lot of that money was used to constuct new, world class facilities like the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations and the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center. </p>
<p>Also, the SAT scores are at an all time high as are the number of applications. </p>
<p>U.S. News department rankings are deeply flawed as they are only a peer assessment and do not factor in student quality and other metrics used in the overall rankings.</p>
<p>Rico2, help me out here. RPI years ago had a policy of grading on a 2.7 normal curve; if you are an average RPI student (710 Math SAT for reference), your GPA will end up around a 2.7. This is not high enough to even qualify to apply to most graduate schools or to transfer to another engineering school. The term used most often was “failing in.” As of 6 years ago, that term was still common around the school. </p>
<p>I know a few Lehigh grads and they reported their grading policy was similar. Contrarily, the median Stanford GPA is 3.6. They assume that someone smart enough to attend Stanford should have choices for graduate school.</p>
<p>Magnetron, when I was at RPI I was not aware of the profs specifically curving to 2.7. I did hear the term failing in as I knew many students who came to RPI with high SAT’s that ended up with GPA’s in the 2.3 range or less. So what you are describing did happen to some degree. Getting high grades at RPI is not easy and it shouldn’t be.</p>
<p>I had no research with a professor coming out of engineering school. Don’t understand why this is necessary for a job in engineering. For a Phd program, yes, but not for a job.</p>
<p>I believe years ago this was the same for other engineering departments of top schools. For instance, Princeton’s ChE department had an average GPA of 2.7. However, in those days, a 3.0 GPA was sufficient to get admitted into MIT graduate school in in ChE.</p>