<p>Fiskelove: I answered you with a PM</p>
<p>katliamom:</p>
<p>'SC's engineering schools is #10, higher than UCLA....</p>
<p>Fiskelove</p>
<p>I can relate. Son 1 is hesitant on USC for reasons other than academic. Is it to preppy? Do the greeks dominate or are there plenty of things for GDI to do? Son is from Montana where we don't lock the doors at night and leave things out on the front steps how rough is the surrounding area?</p>
<p>He is worried about culture shock. ;)</p>
<p>You might also want to PM MomofWildChild about Penn. </p>
<p>drizzie, is he worried about culture shock or is mama worried about culture shock? If he is, then Northwestern is probably the safest bet. </p>
<p>Personally, I like to see my kids dumped into a bit of culture shock. It's good for them. Gives them perspective and tolerance. But that's me. ;)</p>
<p>drizzit:</p>
<p>Engineering kids are geeks by nature, so they all just sort fit in with their program. However, USC has an economic bimodal student body: the highest proportion of Pell grantees in the nation for a private school (kudos to them), but ~50% full pay customers (including the rich NMF's as full pay). Thus, a small 'middle' class, which can be daunting for some, particularly girls, as it takes $$ to keep up with the sorority sisters.</p>
<p>bluebayou,</p>
<p>I wouldn't use USN overall graduate ranking to judge engineering curriculum. USC gets #10 overall ranking because it scored well in research $$$/faculty and % faculty as NAE members and that's mainly due to its relatively large EE department (compared to the rest of its engineering school)--EE research tends to be most expensive than, say, environmental or industrial engg's and NAE seems to award memberships mostly to EE profs. USC isn't ranked in the top-10 in peer assessment or any of the departmental rankings.</p>
<p>True Sam and I am more interested in the undergraduate rankings at this point.</p>
<p>USC does get a 25th place on peer reviews (USN) for overall Engineering and electrical is ranked 17th by peer assessment for undergrad by US news. Still pretty good. Ranking is just one indicator though</p>
<p>drizzit,</p>
<p>I went to NU but I am not an expert on NU's EE program since I wasn't a EE. It wasn't as strong as NU's forte like material science or management science/engg when I was there. I think EE/Comp Engg was the only one engineering department that wasn't ranked in the top 20 (just outside in the 20s). NU saw that if it wanted to become a great, not just a good, engg school, the EE dept had to be imrpoved. Few years ago, there was a major restructuring with the EE, Comp Sci, and Comp Engg and the three were combined into one. Since then, there has seemed to be marked improvement. By that, I mean it's ranking has improved and more faculty/students won prestigious awards; three profs just won NSF CAREER awards (the most prestigious award out there for young faculty). In any given year, three is plenty for any engineering school, let alone all in a single department. I see that as a sign of a rising program; the extra investment seems to be paying off. </p>
<p>NU's approach is pretty preprofessional and hands on. It has one of the most established and oldest (if not the oldest) co-op programs. There are plenty of biz-oriented engineers that go on to work for biz consulting or ibanks. There are three certificates programs available for the biz oriented crowd: business enterprise, financial economics, and managerial analytics. The last two are offered under kellogg school of management and admission will be competitive.</p>
<p>The introductory curriculum (engineer first) at NU is unlike most others. NU has spent a lot of energy on developing it to give freshmen more hands on and real-world experience before they even pick their majors. The program was started in 1997 and has been fine-tuned continuously since then. You can find more info about it on their website. I took the traditional curriculum (I wasn't a freshman in 1997) that >90% of the engineering schools still follow today so I am not an expert on it; but based on what I read, its an improved curriculum.</p>
<p>Sam </p>
<p>We are aware of the Co OP there. It was what put Northwestern high on son's list. NU and Olin seem to have a lot in common with that curriculum. </p>
<p>Cal Poly does a nice job with hands-on real world experiences and Oregon State is not as highly ranked but they have a nice co op as well.</p>
<p>It was interesting seeing the different approaches that still met the base ABET guidelines.</p>
<p>sam:</p>
<p>you raise an excellent point, but I strongly believe that much of undergrad peer assessment arises from the Grad experience. With the exception of LACs, undergrad is hard to categorize. For example, Glenn Seaborg (he, of the periodic table of elements, and one of America's greatest teachers) taught frosh chem at Cal for years after he won the Nobel prize. Cal's grad Chem school is number 1, but how does Glenn teaching frosh chem in the College of Letters & Sciences make a difference in their ranking?</p>
<p>bluebayou,</p>
<p>Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. I wasn't talking about grad vs undergrad. I was talking about overall vs departmental rankings.</p>
<p>Hi, all, new to this board.</p>
<p>Have been reading and observing for a while now and thought I make a comment regarding "prestige" and USC. I am a Stanford grad and my son is at Stanford now. However, my daughter has been admitted to USC and is waiting for the results of the interviews for a merit scholarship. After a lot of research and investigation, I am not sure I would blindly go to Stanford myself now without a lot more consideration for both UCLA and USC. There's a lot more to college life than eternal studying and working. Maturing, making friends, broadening experiences, and just having a good time are very important, IMHO. As many have said on this board, the fit is THE most important factor. My S loves Stanford but my D would be miserable there.
Re: NW or Penn, good private schools but not even on the radar on my list if nothing else for the terrible weather. Prestige is in the eye of the beholder. A lot more people in my social circle know of and regard UC Berkeley/UCLA/ AND USC more than NWU or Penn. West coast bias versus East coast bias obviously.</p>
<p>For some reason, people get combative when the word "prestige" is used in reference to a university.</p>
<p>For clarity, here is a primary definition from dictionary.com :</p>
<pre><code>
[quote]
reputation or influence arising from success, achievement, rank,
or other favorable attributes.
[/quote]
</code></pre>
<p>Seems like "prestige" is an appropriate and concise word to use in these discussions and shouldn't arouse anyone's hackles.</p>
<p>Bay, yes there is reason for "prestige" to raise hackled: a mindless pursuit of the perception, a willingness to throw every other consideration over the side. The kind of thinking that leads to statements along the lines of "Well I really liked a lot about School X but School Y has so much more prestige."</p>
<p>And having followed five years of such prestige-whoring on CC, I'll raise my hackles any damned time I want.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'll raise my hackles any damned time I want.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Indeed you do, often and quite well.</p>
<p>My son will graduate USC in May. I'll leave defending USC to others.</p>