<p>Just wondering, it can be seen that purdue is ranked very high in engineering (top 10), but why is it so easy to get in? (As in most of the students from my school that go to Purdue are not even in top 50%) Is there any reason behind it?</p>
<p>As a follow up to his question, Is purdue's science school any good?</p>
<p>Easy question, just like Virginia Tech, the professors are highly qualified and national acclaimed but both schools let in big numbers. Thus your class sizes are much larger. And there is only a limited no. of students that know for sure that they want to be an engineer and an engineer only. If you get in school and decide you don't want to be an engineer you transfer schools.</p>
<p>but I mean how can their be alot of quality of students learning, when all of the top students apply here as safety...</p>
<p>I don't think that every top student that applies to and matriculates to Purdue thinks of it as a "safety". Granted, it is very easy to be accepted, but I think you'll find many top students for whom Purdue was their first choice.
No doubt if you are accepted to Cal Tech or MIT, and feel that you would be happy at those schools, you should probably go there. But for some kids (my daughter included) the "fit" at Purdue just felt right to her. She spent a week there this past summer at STEP (Seminar for Top Engineering Prospects), and also attended a few Women in Engineering programs, so she had the benefit of really being able to get a good feel for the campus.
If you are a junior looking for next year, I would encourage you to visit any campus you are able to. My D spent time at Notre Dame, Duke and UVA, and came away with distinct impressions of each campus. No single university (no matter how highly ranked) is right for every student.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Although it is quite easy to get into Purdue, unless you are willing to put the time in, you wont be here for long. I probably saw a good share of my close friends from freshman engineering move into different majors, some early enough to avoid the 5 or 6 year plan, others far too late. Large class sizes and tough introduction courses weed out anyone is not up to par to be a Purdue Engineer.</p>
<p>Sophomore - College of Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>I echo the sentiment of clrlake, the engineering school is the toughest school on Purdue's campus (though Pharm and Mgmt are beast also) if you want to succeed you must work extremely hard.</p>