<p>Best schools for engineering is Berkeley, MIT, Cal Tech, Stanfurd. Engineering degrees from UIUC, UCLA, UCSD, Cornell, University of Michigan will get you respect in the engineering world as well. A degree in engineering from Yale or Princeton, is kinda... unusual to say best.</p>
<p>mlf,</p>
<p>You're wrong, Princeton is nothing compared to Caltech in terms of engineering. Caltech along with Stanford and Berkeley are the runners up after MIT.</p>
<p>I do know what I am talking about, since I have attended both schools. Both schools are very theoretical and heavily into research. Both schools are stronger in physics than in engineering. I have taken upper level classes at both schools and they are comperable in difficulty. I do think the average student at Caltech is more heavily motivated than the average student at Princeton. Caltech does have a more hard core environment. I believe the level of the teaching is comperable at the two schools. If you want to go to grad school, an average graduate at either school will get into a top ranked program, and a below average student at either school will get into a respectable program. Some engineering disciplines at Caltech are very small. I believe there are only two chemical engineering seniors this year, and they have had to have combined classes with graduate students. The mechanical engineering department has started offering an undergrad degree only in the past two or three years. The computer science department is tiny. Such small departments will not offer a very wide variety of electives or research areas. Electrical engineering is strong at Caltech. If you are talking about for grad school in engineering I would say that Caltech is stronger.</p>
<p>steve-does berkeley seem that big? When do most people visit? Do they seem to focus on their undergrad as much as grad?</p>
<p>mlf-So you enjoyed Princeton engineering? Were you there for undergrad? Did you do ORFE? It sounds interresting...I will have to look into it. I heard somewhere that Princeton is trying to enlarge their engineering program...is this true? Thanks! Also...did you just love Princeton, the people that were there, and the town that it was in? I just hope that this new dean doesn't change what I love about princeton (they are already planning to increase their class size...) As I said before...Princeton is my top choice! :D</p>
<p>I guess you could say that berkeley is big because of the number of students, but no matter where you go you are going to find a group of people who you hang out with. Originally i was turned off because i thought that berkeley was way too huge, but after a semester, it acually seems medium sized. The campus isn't too spread around, you can get between all the classes within 5 minutes...well except for the ones in wheeler and dwinelle but thats different. Also, the engineering buildings are all grouped together on the northeastern side of campus, so that also makes it seem like the campus is smaller.</p>
<p>When do most people visit? I honestly don't know. Tours run all through the year, i know that during the fall, some of the tour groups actually spent a few minutes in the back of the Chem 1a lecture, so i'd say the best time is when the school is in session, as is the case with anywhere.</p>
<p>They seem to focus quite a bit on the undergrad as well as grad, but i honestly couldn't tell you on that either. I'd guess it all depends on what classes you take in the different departments.</p>
<p>I was at Princeton for undergrad. I majored in electrical engineering. I majored in it when it was a very hot field, and there was an extremely large EE class of ~50 students, about double the normal class size. I believe that Princeton is trying to enlarge the engineering school to try to improve its reputation. The decision to increase the total size of Princeton should make the largest difference in the most popular majors. I imagine it will increase class size some. Princeton will still be very small for a University.</p>
<p>I enjoyed my time at Princeton. The town itself is small, boring, and expensive. I found that very few people went in to NY on a regular basis, although it is only a little over an hour away. I found that I spent most of my time on campus. The campus life is dominated by the eating clubs, which was fun at first, but got tiresome after a while. I was not pleased by the emphasis on drinking, and the lack of social alternatives, although the Trustee's Alcohol Initiative might be helping this. Many students did not drink in high school and tend to go a bit crazy with it, especially freshmen. It seems like most people enjoy this kind of social life, though. I think the students are generally intelligent and well rounded. Students seemed to get their share of intellectualism from classes, and did not have as many deep/intellectual conversations as I would have liked. Princeton has a bit of a jock feel to it, as a very large fraction of the student body participates in varsity sports. They are generally good at sports except for soccer, they have more Ivy League titles than any other Ivy League school, and have a fair number of national titles every year, although never in big name sports. The basketball team is fairly good, they have had a number of high points in the last decade, especially beating UCLA in the first round of the ncaa tournament, the first time the reigning national champion has lost in the first round.</p>
<p>Overall I was very happy with the academics at Princeton, and moderately happy with the social aspects, although both are a matter of taste.</p>
<p>mlf- thanks for the info! That saddens me about princeton...I am not much of a party person and prefer the interresting one on one conversations much more. A school filled with such talented and smart individuals can't be thaaaaat bad...can it? I mean princeton is my top choice(the sad thing is that I probably won't get in:() and I just hope that if I do go there that it will be evrything that I dreamed of and more. I am happy that you liked the engineering program so much. Do you know anyone that took orfe? What exactly is involved in electrical engineering? Do you know what you are going to do after you graduate from caltech? Are there any schools that although you never went there, you would recommend them to someone like me? Sorry about all the questions...hehe...I just REALY like the looks of princeton. Also, I know that the town is expensive, but I like the fact that it is near to two cities and that it is a good and supposedly beautiful town. I figure, that I will not have the chance (without living in a really expensive house and having no social life) to live in a nice town untill after I am married and have kids...so why not do that while in college. Not to mention, it is nice to have the option to shop at whole foods or treat myself to a nice dinner:) (Or realalize that I can aford noting and just look longingly at stuff...at least the parks will be clean...) </p>
<p>steve-are the people at berkely nice? what city is it by again? Do you like the campus life? (wel at least it sounds like you do...lol) What is your experience at berkeley?</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses! I really appreciate it!!</p>
<p>Well it all depends who you meet, but for the most part it seems people are at the very least pleasant. On the other hand it all depends on where you are. If you are on telegraph, you will come across a lot of street vendors and homeless who ask for money, but on northside, there is almost none of that. The thing you give up though is that their is almost no northside nightlife.</p>
<p>Berkeley is near both Oakland and San Francisco, they are just a short ride away on the subway system, called BART.</p>
<p>I really like the college lifestyle. Personally, i'm in the only substance free dorm which makes things nice as in you don't have puke all over and you don't have drunk people at odd hours of the night, on the other hand, they are pretty strict on noise rules here which is a semi-bummer...my room seems to be able to get away with it...though the RA has threatened several times. Outside of dorm life, there is everything that a college student could want within a short walk or busride (of which the semester bus pass is part of registration fees) from campus.</p>
<p>And what do you want to know about my experience here? not really sure what you want.</p>
<p>mlf,</p>
<p>Sorry I disagree with your opinion. Although I didn't attend Princeton, I did attend Caltech (and MIT) for engineering. It's pretty common among Caltech/MIT students that Princeton courses in Engineering are pretty much a creampuff subjects with less competition. The program is not rigorous and the assignments are much easier. Also the Engineering student body at Caltech and Princeton are not comparable. Only few people would think of Princeton for Engineering, on the other hand, the best minds in engineering would typically choose MIT, Caltech and Stanford as their first choices. Hence no, Princeton Engineering is considered subpar to Caltech's be it undergraduate study or graduate study.</p>
<p>Hey rtkysg,</p>
<p>I noticed (from other threads) that you attended Caltech for undergraduate education and right now you're doing your Grad studies in MIT. . </p>
<p>If you don't mind, can you talk about Engineering at Caltech vs. MIT in the following thread, since you actually know about both from two different perspectives?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>princeton's engineering is sound. i think the strongest engineering schools would be (in no order): MIT, caltech, stanford, berkeley, princeton, cornell?</p>
<p>ive heard cornell is better than pton... but i still wanna go to pton, lol</p>
<p>How does Texas A&M engineering differ from Princeton engineering? A prof. who taught at both (and is now at Princeton) said they are the same. He also taught at MIT...but he said that was different b/c it was way more math-based.</p>
<p>Yes! Cornell and Princeton are both pretty freaking elite....just because princeton is not ranked too highly by usnews, I don't think anybody would every choose purdue, gatech,ann-arbor over pton, even though both are ranked higher! That would be ridiculous.</p>
<p>I think that there is a lot of drinking at any college. I do know a number of people who majored in orfe, it is a fairly popular major. It is fairly mathematical, but is considered the easiest enineering major. At Princeton within electrical engineering you need to do a concentration in one of four areas: computer engineering, signals and systems, materials & devices, and optics. Computer engineering involves studying computer hardware, and would probably include a good number of computer science classes. Signals and systems is fairly mathematical, and tends to deal with signal processing, communications and controls. Materials & devices involves studying electronic fundamental properties of materials, as well as using such materials to create electronic devices, such as solar cells, LEDs, lasers, etc. It is fairly physics intensive. Optics includes optical communications and optical devices. It is also possible to do a concentration in circuits, although this is not a very popular field at Princeton. Some schools that I can think of that are at least somewhat balanced and offer engineering, that you might not think of are Duke, Rice, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Washington University in St. Louis, Columbia, UPenn, University of Rochester, Lehigh, Bucknell, Boston University. Some strong engineering schools which are not well rounded include Harvey Mudd, RPI, WPI, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology.</p>
<p>I do not think that engineering is going to be a creampuff subject anywhere, although there is a difference in the rigor of programs. I do know that within Princeton engineering is regarded as a difficult field. I think that an engineering major at Princeton is enough to challenge anybody. I am not sure how you would know how easy the assignments at Princeton are. I do think the lower level classes at Princeton are not as rigorous as the core at Caltech, but I think that the rigor of upper level classes is similar at both schools. There is a huge variations in the difficulty of assignments at either school. I think that a student who wanted to be immersed in engineering would prefer MIT or Caltech, and a student who wanted a more balenced education would prefer Princeton. I am not sure about Stanford, but it seems that it might be a good option for either type of student. A very large portion of the engineering students at Princeton applied early decision, so they clearly had Princeton as a first choice. Princeton's engineering program does seem to be recognized by graduate schools as being rigerous, and average engineering students have gotten into Caltech, Michigan, Illinois, Cornell and Carnegie Mellon(computer engineering). Princeton has an advantage as far as undergraduate education in that there are more undergraduate students than graduate students at Princeton. I think at Caltech more students do undergraduate research during the summer, while at Princeton more students do undergraduate research during the school year.</p>
<p>" think at Caltech more students do undergraduate research during the summer, while at Princeton more students do undergraduate research during the school year."</p>
<p>Hhm, most Caltech students don't have time to do research during the school year given such a demanding workload. I was not trying to bellitle Princeton in anycase, I was just claiming that the workload and difficulty of the classes as well as the competition within Princeton Engineering dept. are not in the same level as Caltech. I think Princeton Engineering emphasizes the importance of being well-rounded, which on one hand develops the more well-rounded engineers and on the other hand reduces the core techie focus.</p>
<p>Perhaps you don't know but for CIT/MIT students, Stanford engineering curriculum seems very lax and lenient. It's also much easier to get A+ there. Hence we often tease them taking a 'creampuff' subject.</p>
<p>The reason why many Princeton engineering grads are accepted in many good graduate engineering schools is because they know that Princeton students are 'already smart' :)</p>
<p>Caltech is a great school, but not really in the same league as the big boys. The reason is that it's too small! It doesn't have enuf professors to make a dent. Caltech is absent from most major research papers, all major publications, all authors of books, all science discoveries. Basically, Caltech students are hard workers, but as a whole, the university hasn't much of difference in shaping the world.</p>
<p>golubb_u,</p>
<p>Can you tell me, given its size, how many Nobel Laureates it has produced ? Have you ever heard of Intel, Matlab, Mathematica to name a few ...
Yes, Caltech is absent from humanities paper (except Economy). However, in Science and Engineering fields, Caltech has tons of contribution. Do you know what are you talking about? You're talking about the institution which takes care of NASA JPL and graduates most NASA staff.</p>
<p>Again it depends on what league you're referring to. If you're referring to prestige and eliteness then Caltech is exactly on par with the big boys. Hey, I don't think the fact that a Yale grad with C grade and an Harvard MBA with B grade who can become a president shows the academic prestige of the school. Believe me, many Yale and Harvard students are 'dumb' compared to Caltech or MIT students.</p>
<p>But if you talk about being well-known, then yes Caltech is not as well-known as the big boys. Nevertheless, being well-known is only a good term for layman, not academia not recruiters.</p>
<p>mlf and steveruleworld thanks for all the info! It all hel in making my decisions! I will have to look into boh schools even more:-)</p>