I am trying to decide if I should apply to Yale for a terminal master’s, but I am wary that the school might not exactly be seen as the equivalent to a degree earned on a University of California campus. Another question is if their program is suitable for direct employment for people interested in practicing engineering, not just management. I know that Yale grads get recruited primarily for finances and management positions that have nothing to do with their field of study.
AFAIK, Yale isn’t known for engineering. I’m not an expert in this field, but my understanding is that as long as the program is ABET accredited, that’s the most important factor. I think some public unis like UIUC, Purdue and Georgia are more well-known for engineering. Yale is based in liberal arts. It’s of course a great school, but it’s not great for every discipline.
Engineers won’t be as impressed by a Yale Masters in engineering as they will a UiUC, Ga Tech, UMi, etc.
That’s the difference between undergrad (where the label can carry a lot of weight across the board), and grad (where the course and the label have to match).
Has Yale dropped? Where was it ranked in previous years?
Good point, @merc81 - I don’t think it was a drop. One of our collegekids has been tracking engineering gradschools for a while, and she got a little wicked pleasure from thinking that Yale would be a ‘safety’ for her in autumn 2017.
When you think Yale you don’t think Engineering. When you think of Georgia Tech, you think of engineering.
If you want a job as an engineer, then you need to get that master degree at a place that will place you in a job as an engineer. There is no reason to pay extra just so you can have a Yale diploma instead of one from Georgia Tech or Iowa State or somewhere else that has a strong reputation for churning out working engineers.
A lot of the graduate rankings depend on the quantity of research output that an institution generates. A smaller department like Yale might be great on a per capita basis but will always be disadvantaged by virtue of its size.
Having said that, Yale should be better considering the resources at its disposal. Penn, Columbia, Harvard, Duke, etc. all have better engineering programs. There is no good reason why Yale shouldn’t be in the top 20-25.
I suspect that the leadership is afraid of investing too heavily in engineering and still being beaten out by the likes of Georgia Tech, Michigan, etc. That wouldn’t be good for the Yale brand. As things stand, they can at least feign disinterest.