Why are public ivys as good or sometimes better than the real Ivys?

<p>The question is in regards to engineering.. it looks like the strongest engineering programs are not concentrated in most Ivys, but rather in the public flagships such as UMich, UCB, UT, etc... why is that?</p>

<p>Cornell and Princeton are both excellent in engineering.</p>

<p>there is no such thing as a “public Ivy”.</p>

<p>A lot of the ivys/small private schools in general are more focused on liberal arts education or “pure” science. I figure if Harvard really wanted to in a few years they could have a couple top engineering programs due to resources, it just isn’t the focus of their university.</p>

<p>Gee I guess Berkeley and Michigan should just drop engineering then, since they’re so weak in the liberal arts and “pure” sciences. My guess is that since MIT is right around the corner, Harvard figured they better stay away from investing too much in engineering.</p>

<p>Universities tend to specialize…there are very few research universities that offer top academic programs across the entire academic spectrum.</p>

<p>Don’t misunderstand me, I’m an engineer. UMich, MIT, etc are excellent schools, full stop. He asked why certain schools don’t have great engineering programs and I think the answer is that that isn’t their focus. Being focused on research and/or engineering is no worse than being focused on liberal arts. I’d argue it’s better for a lot of reasons but there is no reason to start that argument.</p>

<p>Berkeley and Michigan are two of them UCB.</p>

<p>don’t forget “non-public” ivies that are strong in engineering like Purdue, Texas A&M, Washington, Texas and Virginia Tech, Penn State</p>

<p>^^^Huh? You mean other good public engineering schools that are not considered public ivies right?</p>

<p>

I guess Stanford is just weird.</p>

<p>So I guess my question is, why are the Ivy League schools, reputed to be the “best” in the country, not focused as much towards engineering?? If that’s the way they were founded, is there any hinting that they’re going to change that focus in the near future? why?</p>

<p>Good question student01. I am always amazed at how many so called top schools are relatively weak in engineering. I mean, how can you be considered a top school and be weak in such an important subject matter?</p>

<p>The same way MIT is a top school without a strong English department. Different schools just have different focuses.</p>

<p>Berkeley, Michigan, and Stanford have no weak departments in them. Care to explain those?</p>

<p>^ Princeton is up there too…</p>

<p>But Princeton doesn’t have the scope of the other three. They are very good however in what they do carry in courses.</p>

<p>Pierre, I think only Purdue on that list is non-public.</p>

<p>^^^Wrong. Purdue is PUBLIC.</p>

<p>" Berkeley, Michigan, and Stanford have no weak departments in them. Care to explain those? "</p>

<p>Good for them? I don’t know what we’re disagreeing on here. Some schools have no weak departments and are considered great schools. Some schools do have weak departments and are still considered great schools, because the english major doesn’t care where the engineering program is ranked, and vice versa.</p>