<p>I'm currently in an engineering program at a mid-ranked public state university. However, I have taken a semester off (with a Dean's permission) to try out other areas of interest. I'm realizing that I was better off in engineering. I like Mechanical/Civil Engineering to be specific.</p>
<p>So my questions are:</p>
<p>1) When you try to get your first entry-level engineering job, are you really limited by the quality of your program? This is assuming that I'm not some crazy-outstanding student with an insane research project, but still above the average graduate.</p>
<p>2) After entry-level, what type of movement can one do with a degree from a mid-tier school?</p>
<p>3) Do rankings and tiers only have weight when it comes to research and not careers?</p>
<pre><code> Focus on doing well in school, getting work experience and nailing that interview. Those are the key factors, not what school you went to. After you gain experience, your ability to move up will be based on your work, not the name on your diploma. Is it possible that you might not get a certain job because you didn't go to MIT? Sure, it's possible, but it sure isn't likely.
</code></pre>
<p>Agree with dr_reynolds. My H had a career he loved having graduated from a school currently ranked near the bottom of the "Top 100" national U's and not even on the list of top 100 for Engineering. It is well-respected in its New England region fwiw. He had a great career by all measures (satisfaction, $$...), outside New England btw. His best friend from college (Mech E) had the same, started his own company twice, sold said cos. and went on to be recruited, in his later career, to be President of other companies.</p>
<p>dr_reynolds is always there, quick and precise. I was just freaking out a little because I didn't think that I would go back into engineering after trying something else that I thought I liked. I wanted to make sure that I was making the right choice.</p>
<p>"Focus on doing well in school, getting work experience and nailing that interview. Those are the key factors, not what school you went to. After you gain experience, your ability to move up will be based on your work, not the name on your diploma."</p>
<p>Is there any way to transfer to a good school? Students typically cant get into the best positions without a good school backing them it...it's easier to justify an upward move if the candidate is from an Ivy or equivalent college....it's much harder to justify it otherwise, at least in the computer engineering world.</p>
<p>An easy way to check this hypothesis is to apply to 20 companies (on hotjobs or dice etc.) with 2 different resumes. On one of them, write that you have a degree from MIT, and the other one write Devry Institute of Technology. Then you will see for real how many employers want "hot" DIT grads!!!</p>
<p>And, impressions last your whole career. People will always know you as a DIT or MIT grad and give you promotions accordingly. If it comes down to a pink slip between an MIT grad and a DIT grad, guess who's getting it.....</p>
<p>It may not be very important when the economy is good, but engineering has huge downswings and when companies are laying off or outsourcing, they usually don't drop the Ivy grads first.</p>
<p>Remember that if you go into engineering, you'll be an engineer at 20, at 30,40 and 50 also....after getting laid off a few times, it will get harder and harder to get a job once you get past 30 so you'll want to maximize your chance of getting a job in your later years.</p>
<p>the original poster asked about MechE/CivE.</p>
<p>your argument fails due to both counts.</p>
<p>where in the world would a decision even come close to being made between an mit and devry candidate? maybe a lab tech position, but, say, a meche/cive position? a devry person wouldn't be qualified. a lehigh (#43) grad would, and if the lehigh person was more qualified, well, s/he would get the job.</p>
<p>what's mid tier? from rankings, even an ivy such as Yale (39) could be considered one. but guess what? we've already debated endlessly that for the most part, a grad from there won't have major (or even any) problems.</p>
<p>so aehmo, let me ask you a question. nc state is ranked #34. brown is 49. thus, both could be, depending on the scale, mid tier. yet you said an ivy would be chosen over a mid tier graduate. so who gets chosen here? brown is "worse" than nc state, yet brown is an ivy!</p>
<p>if the only scenario where your argument works is in one as drastic as the one you portrayed, well, the argument then isn't valid in the general scheme of things.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses, guys. I was feeling sort of overwhelmed because of the incoming transfer students. Now there are like hundreds of students in my graduating class so I'm just wondering how all of us will get a decent, long-lasting job. But I'm not that concerned about that yet, I gotta focus on what dr_reynolds mentioned.</p>