Which College Should I Go To?

<p>So an update on my status and another request for comments/suggestions from other people. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP SO FAR!</p>

<p>I've been accepted to: </p>

<p>Clemson University
University Of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus
University Of Massachusetts - Amherst
Northeastern University</p>

<p>(Also deferred from Purdue University - West Lafayette and North Carolina State University, waiting to hear back from Virginia Tech April 1st).</p>

<p>Which college should I go to and why? I am planning on majoring in civil engineering with a minor in either chinese or history. I would like to study abroad and participate in a cooperative education program (co-op). Thanks for your suggestions!</p>

<p>The University of Pittsburgh has a good reputation. The engineering isn't quite as much of a focus as the medical stuff, but it's still supposed to be good.</p>

<p>I'm surprised to hear that Purdue deferred you.</p>

<p>University Of Massachusetts - Amherst.</p>

<p>I truly believe it is the best college, and everyone I know who went loved it. I'm also surprised all those schools deferred you since UM- Amherst did not.</p>

<p>I would choose NEU because I'm assuming it's more urban than U Mass, I don't like the city Pittsburgh, and I don't know anything about Clemson. The only worry that I would have about NEU is that your competition for internships is: Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston College, Boston University, plus a lot others.</p>

<p>I think NEU is a good school, but I think UMASS are better academics. There are plenty job opportunities for you. I don't go to the school, so I'm not biased.</p>

<p>I like Northeastern University, so that's my pick out of your list. I wish I could give some good reasons but I just like the co-op, the location and the fact that they have the major I want.</p>

<p>wow I'm surprised to hear about all the positive feedback for UMass-Amherst. I have generally heard bad reviews about the school so I'm interested in hearing why you think that is a good choice for me.</p>

<p>I'm going to visit Northeastern tomorrow, I'm pretty impressed with the job placement of the students with co-op. However I am worried that the "teaching" part of the NEU curriculum is not that strong. Also another thing I need to consider is that I live 10 minutes away from Northeastern and may want to go somewhere new for college and not necessarily "commute" to school.</p>

<p>Pitt has a good engineering program. However I got a few brochures from the school and all it talked about were its chemical and biomedical engineering fields and it seemed like they were the only important engineering fields at Pitt. (Civil didn't even get mentioned in the letter from the engineering dean, just chemical, biomedical, and petroleum)</p>

<p>Right now I am leaning towards Clemson University if I had to pick ONE college right now. Do you think that is a smart choice? I have heard that they have a good civil engineering program, it's an up-and-coming school, the professors are excellent and the students are happy.</p>

<p>I think they do have a good civil engineering program after I did some short research. I do know that they care about each individual there and plus you can take some classes at some other schools which is a short drive. They have a bus that goes there. I haven't heard good things about NE at all. I agree with you with Pitt. I do think Clemson is a good school, but I just have heard good things about UMASS- Amherst. If you love it, I would definitely go there. Good Luck!</p>

<p>Every single person I know who went to Clemson loved it.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I think NEU is a good school, but I think UMASS are better academics. There are plenty job opportunities for you. I don't go to the school, so I'm not biased.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think you're confusing UMass with Amherst College, because you seem to have some naive/jaded view of UMass...</p>

<p>Diontechchristmas: I am not confused at all, and I know there two different schools. Amherst College is better than the UMASS school. I consider U Mass- Amherst better than NEU in that subject. I am not jaded to UMass, and personally would never go there. I just do know people who went there and liked it, and have done some (not a lot) research on it. I do a lot of research on lots of schools that I would never go to. I do think they have a good program, but I'm not sure if it's better than Clemson in that area. Overall, I like UMASS- Amherst the best. Pitt may be another good idea.</p>

<p>Ok, I'll do a little bit more research on UMass-Amherst's civil engineering program then
early_college, where did you get your information on UMass-Amherst from? (just curious)</p>

<p>Clemson has great engineering and architecture programs and I haven't heard anything bad about the school from a few kids I know that went there.</p>

<p>I was talking to a former student, and they were telling me about the school. I just looked at the website, and it looked very professional and the program looked good. Please don't go what I have to say, but do your own research. This is just my opinion. I really don't know much about any civil engineering, but I know a little about the school.</p>

<p>From that list I'd go to Northeastern</p>

<p>If you can handle a Southern, more conservative vibe (and I guess you can since you also applied to NCSU), I think it's safe to say that you'd love Clemson. As said above, everyone who graduates from there adores it, and since you're such a frequent user of PrinRev, I'm sure you know that they have Clemson ranked #1 for "Happiest Students."</p>

<p>If you want to base your decision on the size of the civil engineering department, according to the national center for education statistics, in 2006-2007, Clemson graduated the most civil engineers at 86, Pitt was second at 76, NEU third at 60 and Umass Amherst last at 40.</p>

<p>So I just came back from Northeastern and it sounds like the real deal. I really liked hearing about the civil engineering department and the cooperative education program. It seems to me that Northeastern may be the most "practical" out of the other engineering colleges as they seem to place a big emphasis on real life experience from community service to co-ops.</p>

<p>good for you</p>

<p>"It seems to me that Northeastern may be the most "practical" out of the other engineering colleges as they seem to place a big emphasis on real life experience from community service to co-ops."</p>

<p>That's probably accurate. There are some quality of campus life issues in having a significant portion of your classmates on campus one term and not the next, but in this economy I'd be hard-pressed to suggest that anyone place that above practicality on their list of priorities.</p>