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Could anyone list schools (private/public) that are great for an engineering major? Specifically undergrad and in the us...
Thanks

By Freak4korn72 (Freak4korn72) on Sunday, December 14, 2003 - 11:46 pm: Edit

MIT, Cornell, Purdue.

I've applied to 2 out of the 3, guess which one I didnt ;)

By Drusba (Drusba) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 10:47 am: Edit

There are many very good engineering schools in the US. MIT and CalTech are considered the two premier and the two hardest to get into (most refer to it "as next to impossible" to get into). Cornell is quite difficult to gain entry, Purdue fairly easy. If you want to be an officer in the US military, all the military academies have first rate engineering schools. Some you may want to start researching in addition to above mentioned (and this is truly just a partial list and my order implies nothing):

Illinois, Michigan, Rose-Hulman, UC Berkeley, Harvey Mudd, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Texas, Texas Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Maryland, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Iowa State, Case Western, Colorado, Olin, Cooper Union, Northwestern, Smith (if you are female, it now has its own engineering school), UCLA, Arizona, Florida, Florida Tech, Bucknell, Renssalear, Johns Hopkins.

One thing to be aware of. Most engineering schools have accreditation from the Accreditation Board of Engineering & Technology. The ABET actually sets out virtually all the course requirements for undergraduate education from freshman to senior year. The net effect is that virtually all the undergraduate engineering programs teach the same courses. You will find rankings of engineering programs, such as by US News, that you need to view with a jaundice eye as most of those rankings are based on the school's prestige in the graduate reasearch area and not its ability to teach undergrads. For example, even some of your most well-known engineering schools that appear at the top of many lists can have downsides at the undergrad level. For example, you can get large classes taught by teaching assistants (grad students) who struggle (and that can be an understatement) with the English language. In other words, when looking at any school make sure you research it thoroughly to determine if it is really what you want.

By Nitroxideracer (Nitroxideracer) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 03:57 pm: Edit

The above list of schools is helpful, but there are several there that deserve special attention:

- Carnegie Mellon: I have a very close friend who attends CMU and she claims that CMU is basically MIT with soME art and drama programs available. It is the most wired campus in the country, everyone there runs around with a laptop, and they are all the most brilliant engineering students in the nation. She also mentioned that nearly everyone there either applied to MIT and got rejected (yes, it IS impossible to get into), or they got in and couldn't afford it. This is undoubtedly one of the top engineering schools in the nation.

- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology: I know we all hate those rankings, but this is one that really stands out: Rose-Hulman was ranked the top undergrad engineering program in the country where the highest degree is masters or bachelors. They achieved this ranking FIVE YEARS IN A ROW! They were rated on par with MIT and CalTech, and they are considered one of the best-kept secrets in the Midwest.

Case-Western Reserve University: They have one of the world's best biomedical engineering majors for undergrads and produce some of the best pre-meds in the nation, as good as if not better than Johns Hopkins, UPenn & Duke. They give out TONS of merit scholarships, and they have invested countless millions toward their facilities. They also have some of the most respected faculty in the nation. Certainly a school to investigate.

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 05:29 pm: Edit

does anybody know hows u virginias engineering program?

By Crazyandy (Crazyandy) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 08:46 pm: Edit

Case Western is excellent. I live in Northeast Ohio, and though I swore a year ago I'd never ever apply to Case, partly because its so close to my home, here I am tellin' you about it. I go to University Hospitals to see an oncologist. He teaches at the Univ and he told me some excellent things about the university. Most people think that the school is allllll med kids. But its quite the contrary. While the school is an excellent link to the medical profession, its also a great school for engineering and business. Also, practically EVERYONE i heard plays intramurials! I applied Biomed EA (I'll give you the results next month!!)

In regards to UVA, I've heard mixed feelings about the university. They recently established a Biomedical Engr program this year which will be up for grabs next year for seniors 2004. I chose not to apply due to cost and the newness of the program. UVA is highly regarded as an excellent liberal arts school. If you believe liberal arts should go hand-in-hand with engineering, UVA may be the place for you (if u can get in hehe). But i noticed that for my interests in engineering, they just didn't have what I personally was looking for in an engineering institution.

Hope this helps!

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 11:24 pm: Edit

From your talks Crazyhandu, i see that u have done some good research on engineering schools.......so what do you think ""they just didn't have what I personally was looking for in an engineering institution""

Basically i am inclined towards like picking Virginia over a university like purdue since virginia is called the "top public u in the country"............i think it would just give me a better overall college experience...........BUT PLS CORRECT ME IF I M WRONG ON THIS

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 08:51 am: Edit

Crazyandy: From our area, more kids go to CWRU for engineering/math/physics than for pre-med. . . maybe the really determined pre-meds are on to NEOUCOM. Our school's val. from a couple of years ago is at CWRU, mech. eng.

Have you seen that new business building when you've been at Univ. Circle? Pretty strange looking!

By Strick (Strick) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 01:08 pm: Edit

Does anyone have an opinion on the Florida Institue of Technology? My son's school seems to be pushing them because of a special scholarship they're offering, but they didn't seem that impressive in my research.

While MIT or Carnegie Mellon are my son's first two choices, he's getting more and more intrigued by Rose-Hulman and Harvey Mudd.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 01:49 pm: Edit

I don't have any direct knowledge of FIT, but I think that a few years ago they received a very large (several million) dollar grant from the FW Olin foundation to upgrade/expand.

What does he find interesting about RH and Harvey Mudd? They are similar in size and focus to each other, climates very different though!

Has he applied to RH? I understand they respond to applicants in several weeks.

By Clickspring (Clickspring) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 02:25 pm: Edit

UIUC www.uiuc.edu

By Strick (Strick) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 03:07 pm: Edit

He's still a junior who's just started looking at schools. Part of it is that he's turned off by how much admissions to the MIT and some other schools seems to be something of a crap shot even with the best of stats. The other thing is his experience at his current school has made him realize he's more interested in what a school teaches and how they work with their students than it's reputation.

RH and Harvey Mudd seem to stand out when he looks at all the information he can find on them and their programs, especially some feedback he's seen from current and past students.

I know what you mean about the locations. I've been trying hard not to say too much about Terre Haute. On the other hand, he's not that fond of southern California, so who knows.

By Drusba (Drusba) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 04:24 pm: Edit

For those asking above about Rose-Hulman and Florida Tech: my D has already been admitted to both Rose-Hulman (an easy match) and Florida Tech (a safety). We have been to both. Florida Tech was actually quite impressive despite not having high rankings. They have received a significant amount of money in last few years from Olin (and others) and the result is a new engineering building, new athletic center and they are building new apartment style dorms (for upper classmen) to open by next fall. They have an impressive list of recruiters that come to the school and appear to have very good coop programs, and they also do a lot relating to NASA. It is in Melbourne which is like being in a large suburb with no real city attached. The beach is a couple miles away from campus, the Cape about 10, Orlando about 50. It does give out merit award money ($4,000 to 10,000 a year based mainly on GPA and test score; and there are some higher special scholarships). D is seriously considering this one particularly since she already has the high merit award and she is being recruited for a golf scholarship (its Division II).

Rose-Hulman was also very impressive and they emphasize small class size and professors being readily available (even on weekends). All facilities were in first rate condition and the campus has a lake, lots of trees and actually a very large and wide hill that divides the campus in two -- you need to be from the midwest to understand the rarity of that. Terre Haute, with which I was already familiar is just a small, unimpressive city. Moreover, surrounding the city is nothing but farmland and forest for 40 miles in any direction. Indiana State is also there. They give academic scholarships ranging from $3,000 to $15,000 a year (decisions in February on those). D can play for its golf team but there are no scholarships for athletics (Division III).

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 04:27 pm: Edit

It sounds like your son has a good perspective. My daughter went through all this last year, looking at engineering programs. She did CMU's summer Pre-college, and learned a lot while she was there; both about engineering, and CMU. Another student she knows did a summer program at HM: good way to check somewhere out. I think RH has something called Operation Catapult during the summer, for h.s. kids.

I think one of the regular posters here, Baltodad, has a son applying to RH this year. Maybe he'll add something here. I know they did a campus vist last fall.


What's the info about FIT scholarships?

By Strick (Strick) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 04:44 pm: Edit

Not much info. It's described as only available to students who attend my son's school on our school's scholarship webpage. Something similar maybe available to other schools, but I wouldn't know. It's a pretty targeted scholarship if it isn't.

My son hasn't shown that much interest any of the summer college programs since he's already in a dual enrollment program on a college campus. The school's encouraging the kids to look into summer research programs (REU, etc) instead. We'll see which way he wants to go in the next month or so.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 05:01 pm: Edit

REU sounds interesting. . . .the sort of thing our h.s. would not have even known existed. Maybe something my daughter will look at for this summer. . . .

At CMU's summer program, kids take regular CMU classes, which count as college credit, so that's a benefit.

I visited Terre Haute 25+ years ago, and was so negative on it that daughter didn't even look at RH. She might or might not have liked it; I should have kept my '70s opinion to myself.

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 05:20 pm: Edit

Rose Hulman was indeed impressive. Very friendly; very personal in the interaction of students, faculty, and administration. A lot of indivdual help to get students through the curriculum. Small enough so you can get to know a significant portion of the student body. Nice compact campus, with excellent facilities. Dorm rooms can be (and almost universally are) customized extensively by the students with elaborate loft contructions. (Walls can be painted whatever color the residents like, too.) Tradition calls for all dormroom doors to be kept open in the daytime and evening to encourage social interaction. As we walked through dorms, EVERY door was open, whether the room was empty or the resident was studying or just hanging out. Nothing gets stolen, aparently.

My son spent the night and then did some classes and an open-house program. He liked the vibe a lot. Drawbacks: long way from home (though they allow freshmen to have cars - a rarity); unfavorable male/female ratio; fairly dead town.

Job placement for mecanical engineering grads is basically 100% at graduation, averaging around $50,000, as I recall.

He's also quite interested in Olin (a reach), Maryland, and CWRU. Currently lower on his list are UMBC (a safety), Virginia Tech, Clemson, Tulane, Boston U, and Stevens.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 09:08 pm: Edit

Tulane, now that's a name not often mentioned here. What particulars there attract your son? Interesting options. . .Terre Haute or New Orleans.

A friend of ours just received his ED acceptance from Viginia Tech. . . he's one happy hokie!

Baltodad--there's a new issue of Frankly Speaking available, always something interesting there to read!

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 09:20 pm: Edit

Chrisd -

Believe me... I haven't encouraged him on Tulane at all! I suspect the "all fun; all the time" reputation is a subject of awed discussion among his classmates. It does apparently have a decent engineering school, though it's well down the list in US News. The University still has a very good reputation, but I suspect it attracts a fair share of "smart slackers".

Clemson appeals because of its nice weather and its new automotive engineering and design facility, being build in coordination with BMW.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 08:41 am: Edit

That's interesting to hear about Clemson. My daughter's "dream" co-op would be with . . .Porsche. Her school is organizing a study abroad semester with a university in Denmark (classes in English), so maybe she'll at least get to visit the area. Or, maybe she'll end up at . . .Legoland! She comes home today, first semester is finished. First semester is pass/no record, and last night she told me she's passed everything: knows some final class grades, not others. Terms like, "passing," and "a good solid B" would not have been welcome last year, but this year, they're music to the ear!

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 09:40 am: Edit

Ah, Legoland! My son was the classic lego-maniac for a bunch of years (and still has some free-form space ships tucked away in his room!).

He's definitely psyched for a co-op, and working for BMW in South Carolina (where they make their roadster and SUV) would be his idea of heaven.

By Strick (Strick) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 09:47 am: Edit

I haven't heard anything about Olin. Interesting school? My son's gc is also pushing Worcester Poly but my son's formed the impression they're an MIT "wannabe" and basically wrote them off the list. Any reason to contradict that?

Legoland does sound fun. :D

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 10:11 am: Edit

Olin is very new (opened Fall '02) and definitely interesting. The Olin Foundation, which has funded numerous engineering and science buildings at colleges around the country, decided to use the rest of their money to build an innovative engineering college from the ground up. Quite small (75 students per class); zero tuition for all students; a 50/50 gender balance; very hand-on from the get-go; an emphasis on entrepreneurship; located in suburban Boston; adjacent to Babson College (a good business-oriented school) with which Olin shares facilities and classes.

By Strick (Strick) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 10:41 am: Edit

Thanks

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 11:19 am: Edit

There are several Olin postings on this board, in the section organized by individual school names.

My daughter is a freshman there. I will try to answer questions, if you like.

By Strick (Strick) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 11:33 am: Edit

Thanks, it's definitely interesting. My son and I are starting trips in different directions today, so I won't get to talk to him about this until after Christmas. I'll check the Olin board (or put him on it) if he's interested.

By Brownalum (Brownalum) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 06:44 pm: Edit

Sorry, but many engineering departments have changed lately. Both Yale and Harvard have benefited from massive investments in engineering.

Engineering ranking:

http://www.sciencewatch.com/nov-dec2002/sw_nov-dec2002_page2.htm#Engineering


Ranking just Harvard, Yale and Stanford (see the link for others):


1. Yale, 241%

2. Stanford, 153%

3. Harvard, 128%


This is a quality, not quantity, based ranking. Saying Yale or Harvard engineering are bad just because they are ranked lower than, say, Purdue (because Purdue is so huge) is nonsense. Look at where the graduates of Yale's and Harvard's engineering programs actually end up when they graduate. Talk to the faculty. You just might be surprised.

By the way, this goes for every place including Brown, not just Harvard and Yale (I just found this convenient to copy from a similar thread).

-Brownalum

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 07:00 pm: Edit

what!....the list is BS, how can UCSB be second in engineering??

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 07:04 pm: Edit

I've seen this list posted here before, and it strikes as being almost totally inapplicable to an assessment of the quality of undergraduate instruction. As I understand it, the list is an analysis of the quality and quantity of research papers coming out of major grad schools.

I guess if there are lots of high-calibre researchers around, that might filter down to the undergrad level, but I wonder how many of these researchers teach any undergrad classes.

I find it interesting that this list is totally at odds with the US News ranking, which gives signigicant weight to reputation in the academic community. Obviously, US News needs to be taken with grains of salt too. But in picking a place for undergrad work, I'd go with US News rather than this list.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 07:17 pm: Edit

Sorry? No one is interested in saying the sacred Ivies are bad! Sometimes people just aren't all that interested in them.

One poster here has said:

"The other thing is his experience at his current school has made him realize he's more interested in what a school teaches and how they work with their students than it's reputation."


There is someone with a good head on his shoulders!

Let's not see this thread hijacked into another discussion of big reputations. . . it gets to be sort of like Napoleon's complex.

By Kyle (Kyle) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 07:01 am: Edit

The schools with premier engineering programs in the US are MIT, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. While other schools are good, these three are generally considered the big 3.

By Saccharine (Saccharine) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 08:44 am: Edit

I'm international and I'm gonna do my B.S.E. in Computer Science at Princeton. What do ppl in the US think about enginneering at Princeton? I know it's not Caltech or MIT, but how good it is??

Thank you for replies.

By Kissy (Kissy) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 09:57 am: Edit

Brownalum-

People can draw different conclusions from rankings and I'd have to say I disagree with yours.

The rankings you cite from Science Watch boil down to the number of written citations per research paper per 5 yr. period. Yale's 314 citations pale in comparison to those of Stanford, Caltech, etc. Since these rankings were based on percentage increases instead of outright numbers of citations, of course those with the fewest have the most to gain in percent of increase. For all we know, some of those relative impact #s could even be challenges to their findings. And, as others have posted, just because faculty, grad students, and post docs are cited for their research doesn't correlate to a better teaching and learning environment.

As recently as 10 years ago, Yale was considering dropping their engineering program entirely. Although they're now allocating more energies and funds to the program, this alone hardly determines that they're the best program in the nation. If that were so, then Olin would be ranked as #1, since their endowments for engineering are far and above those of Yale's. Harvard engineering students do much of their classwork and research at MIT. To paraphrase a Harvard faculty member who is a poster on this board, "Why would one go to Harvard for engineering when there's MIT?"

I'm not knocking the Ivies at all. Yale, Harvard, and Brown deserve their level of prestige for a reason, but it's not for engineering. It's not to say that those 3 engineering programs are bad, but applying a narrow ranking to substantiate your claims of superiority are ludicrous!

By Engineeringdad (Engineeringdad) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 10:07 am: Edit

I just joined this board and am thouroughly enjoying reading everyone's comments. My S currently is very committed to chem engineering. He has applied & been accepted to Universities of Minnesota, Wisconsin, & Illinois as well as Rose Hulman. I would be interested in anyone's thoughts comparing the strengths & weaknesses of each of these schools, with particular emphasis on Rose Hulman.

I look forward to sharing on this board.

By Drusba (Drusba) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 11:03 am: Edit

As to the comparison between Minn. Wis, Ill, and Rose, the first big difference is size, Rose is small the rest huge. That means: at the state universities expect huge classes particualry first two years for most subjects; at Rose even the first year professors are going to know you by first name.

We have visited Illinois, Wisconsin and Rose. For undergrad engineering education, we were most impressed with Rose. At most colleges, a professor's tenure depends mostly on his research and publications and not his teaching ability (and there are many brilliant engineering/science/math professors at large state universities who are great researchers but can't teach worth a wit; and often do not speak English well). At Rose, research and publications are not considered for tenure, teaching ability is, and they follow mostly an open door policy for students being able to contact professors. It was also interesting to learn that despite the tenure rule, Rose's profs do have a lot of publications, and particularly in text books -- apparently many undergraduate engineering/science text books used elsewhere are written by Rose professors. Rose has a list of over 200 companies that come to campus to recruit -- and they only graduate about 350 a year. In discussions, we learned that many grads from last few years who went to grad school went to such places as Stanford, MIT, Cornell, Ill, and other highly ranked engineering graduate schools. It is on GM's 20 favored schools for recruiting and has essentially 100% employment within six months after graduation for those actually seeking employment. Its campus is very pretty and its facilities are in first rate condition. Its disadvantages or, depending on point of view, other advantages are: it is really in the heart of the lack of any major activity -- Terre Haute is a small, unimpressive city surrounded mainly by farmland and forest 40 miles in any direction; not many minoroties and mostly conservative midwesterners; if you change your mind about science, math or engineering, you will need to transfer to another college; the male/female ratio is about 4/1. Also, it does not guarantee to meet 100% of financial need and in fact is often on the lower end of doing so; nevertheless, it does give out merit aid from $3,000 to $15,000 to about 60% of those attending depending mainly on GPA, class rank, and test scores.


Between Ill and Wis, we found the Wis campus the prettier and Madison the somewhat more impressive city, although it seemed actually smaller than the combined Urbana/Champaign area. Ill has the more prestiguous engineering school and is highly ranked but any such rankings are highly driven by its graduate and research programs. Both appeared to have excellent engineering programs. As large universities, they have the more active social life and a student's ability to change his mind on a major and switch to another school. Ultimately, of the two we prefer Ill, but mainly because we are in-state.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 11:41 am: Edit

It's interesting to read folk's comments here about Rose H and Terre Haute. My daughter and I also visited RPI, situated in Troy NY. RPI has a lot to offer, but Troy is such a depressed town that I imagine many students are turned off to RPI because of the town. Terre Haute is not a "happening" town, but I don't think it's as much of a drawback as I perceive Troy to be.

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 12:15 pm: Edit

Chrisd -

Having visited both Troy and Terre Haute, I agree that Terre Haute is by far the better environment to attend college. Troy struck me as dangerous and depressing, and the "bad" surrounds the RPI campus. A shame, because the grungy looks of the place zapped this excellent school off my son's application list.

Terre Haute seems to be a perfectly pleasant town... just a bit sleepy. The RH campus struck me as incredibly safe. And I'm guessing that the presence of Indiana State in the same town helps out the environment.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 01:41 pm: Edit

It's hard to understand how Troy became so bad. . .I know their industrial economy probably died, but there are RPI and Russell Sage which should provide some beneficial aspect for the town. . .but you'd never mistake it for a college town, sad to say.

I think RPI should take the $300 million grant they received recently and. . . re-build Troy.

By Brownalum (Brownalum) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 05:35 pm: Edit

Kissy: You have absolutely NO CLUE what you are talking about. The rankings are not based on "percent increase" at all - they are based on ***WHICH SCHOOLS PRODUCE THE BEST RESEARCH***.

Read the rankings again, and don't post about things that you so obviously do not know anything about.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 05:48 pm: Edit

Hello Brownalum - you seem to be new to this board. I just became aware of your posts recently on a Yale thread. Welcome!

You may not have had an opportunity yet to get a feel for the atmosphere here. But I think that once you do, you will discover that some of the things that makes this forum unique compared to other boards is the very high degree or courtesy, civility, and respect which generally reign here. Posts are generally supportive and positive. I hope that those are characteristics which you value and can help contribute to.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 09:31 pm: Edit

Thanks, Texas, for the reminder about what makes this board informative and useful, to a broad spectrum of folks!


And Kissy--Hey, that #1 ranking idea.....I'll pass it on to my daughter!

By Kissy (Kissy) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 10:17 am: Edit

Brownalum-

mea culpa. I was incorrect in my statement re: percentage of increase. I plead temporary insanity as I was thrown by a statement that Yale's Dean of Engineering made re: the % of increase from the previous 5 year rate. I do, however, stand by my beliefs that rankings for "the best" engineering program, however one were to define it, can't be predicated on *one* narrowly defined parameter.

Now back to those Ivy rankings....are there any available for the study of anger management?

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 11:28 am: Edit

Kissy and Baltodad: What's happening with your daughter/son's applications these days? Still writing those essays I'd imagine. . . . Any word from schools w/ rolling admissions, or EA applications?

By Brownalum (Brownalum) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 12:48 pm: Edit

Hahahaa... sorry if I seemed angry.

But it's also not nice to post with blatantly incorrect information (it's like saying USNews rankings are based on who makes the best apple pie or something).

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 04:15 pm: Edit

Chrisd -

Interesting you should ask! He just got his acceptance letter from Rose Hulman TODAY (ta-da!) It's his first acceptance, out of 4 applications so far. Six or so more apps to go, and I'm expecting them to be done before Christmas.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 04:51 pm: Edit

I've just had a chance to look at the Brownalum's link more closely. It isn't far from ranking schools based on who makes the best apple pie. This has nothing at all to do with the "quality" of the engineering programs at the various institutions. From the link:

""All the rankings are based on 'relative citation impact'—that is, each university’s average-citations-per-paper score""

So this is a ranking based on how often papers produced by its faculty get cited. Kissy is right, it does not distinguish btwn positive and negative references to the papers. And what does paper citations have to do with the quality of a program anyway? There might be a few prolific publishers in a department who spend all their time writing papers and never have student contact. It would be a huge leap to assume that this ranking corresponds at all to "best engineering schools".

By Kissy (Kissy) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 05:20 pm: Edit

Thanks, Texas137- It's nice to know I'm not the only one drawing those conclusions. But,if you check Brownalum's other posts, it becomes apparent that there's some fuzzy math and logic going on, not to mention the old "chip on one's shoulder" syndrome :>)

Chrisd- thanks for asking. So far, D is 2/2- in at Purdue and UIUC. She still needs to crank out several more essays to get the rest of her apps out on time. I'm looking forward to things returning to normal.
I imagine your D must be home now. I hope she's having a great experience at school. With some major luck, maybe my D will eventually get to meet her!

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 05:30 pm: Edit

Congrats to both your kids, Kissy and Baltodad! A first acceptance is such a relief, at a hectic time.

Daughter is home, hooray, all seems to be going well at school. She's planning on participating in Candidates Weekend, maybe all will meet up then!

By Barrons (Barrons) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 05:42 pm: Edit

I think attending an engineering only school is narrow and risky. What sort of campus life is there? Social life? Sports? What do alums do when they get together--watch Battlebots??

Give me a UIUC or UW. The classes are not that large and the facilities awesome.

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 07:24 pm: Edit

Umm....kissy, can i have your Ds stats??
I have a 3.8 unw/1330-570v 760m and i m kindaa worried about my chances at uiuc engineering?

By Sammywu (Sammywu) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 - 11:19 pm: Edit

I am a senior now who
is very likely to go to RPI.
I know it is a great engineering
school. But does anyone know exactly how
bad (or terrible) the town Troy is? I am
so worried.

Thanks

By Jbro (Jbro) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 06:26 am: Edit

A friend of mine has a good friend at RPI and said he is extremely happy there. Yes, Troy is a pit. But the RPI community is tight and friendly and there is never a shortage of things to do. Students go to Albany, too, which is a quick trip. Lots of area colleges come to parties (including the all women's Russell Sage)and vice versa.

By Kissy (Kissy) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 07:42 am: Edit

Baltodad- Congrats to Baltoson! After sharing your campus visit highlights with D, she also decided to apply. If the scheduling gods let us have our way, we'll be doing a campus visit in January.

Becks777- I don't feel comfortable posting D's specific stats but I'd say that your SATm looks good for UIUC or any other engineering school. Have you taken any IIs or the ACTs? Strong scores in some of those may help boost your verbal score in the minds of the adcoms. I never did look at the UIUC app, so I don't know how much other factors are weighed, but I wouldn't fret too much. Most schools we've visited mention that they're more forgiving on the verbal. BTW, congrats on the NYU
admit!

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 11:13 am: Edit

ummm i have a 760 2c, 710 chem, 680 writing...should i send these to uiuc? and michigan?

By Sammywu (Sammywu) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 05:59 pm: Edit

Thank you, Jbro!!!

By Sammywu (Sammywu) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 06:01 pm: Edit

To Becks777

Just let you know that UIUC
does not look at your SAT2 score
even if you get all 800's.

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 06:14 pm: Edit

lol....i just sent my sat ii scores like 2 hrs back!!!...do michigan look at them??

By Sammywu (Sammywu) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 06:18 pm: Edit

Well, I had made an inquiry through email to UIUC
and they said that SAT2 will not
be considered during admission process.
I don't know about michigan. But I am sure
you can call or email an inquiry to the admission
office.

By Drusba (Drusba) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 11:07 pm: Edit

Neither UIUC nor Michigan uses SAT II's for admission. They will be ignored at both places.

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 - 11:08 pm: Edit

where were u guys before...i just wasted 13 dollars!

By Strick (Strick) on Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 10:26 am: Edit

ChrisD? My son and I are back from our respective trips and the "quiet period" where we don't pester him on things like this over Chrismas is over.

Had a chance to read more about Olin and am deeply impressed. I read a hint of pride in your daughter in your posts. You earned it.

Olin may not be quite what my son is looking for, at least at this point. He's in a dual enrollment magnet school where he's taking university courses his junior and senior year of high school. That gives him the unusual problem of applying to schools as a freshman having already earned 84 hours of college. I'm not sure how Olin would deal with that, but many top schools simply don't give credit for courses taken as a high school student. Others give only a little. Do you know how Olin treats transfer hours? He's in this program because he was bored. He's scared to death some school's going to make him take courses over.

The other problem that's vexing him this week is whether he should spend four more years in college to get a bachelors at one of his dream schools or slip over to Texas which has to accept the transfer hours from it's sister school and get it in two with no debt. That would leave two years to a graduate degree or to start work. Tough choices for a kid his age, but ones he has to make for himself.

By J_C (J_C) on Sunday, December 28, 2003 - 03:50 pm: Edit

I am an undergraduate looking at some Aerospace or electrical engineering schools. Would someone tell me what you think about the following schools: University of Central Florida, Florida State University, and Tuskegee University.

By Sammywu (Sammywu) on Sunday, December 28, 2003 - 09:07 pm: Edit

Guys, I just got my acceptance from RPI
yesterday. majot in electrical engineering.
I am so excited.

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Sunday, December 28, 2003 - 10:11 pm: Edit

Sammy -

Congrats! An excellent school.

Good luck!

By Savedbythebell7 (Savedbythebell7) on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 05:02 am: Edit

Cal Poly SLO?

By Sammywu (Sammywu) on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 05:20 am: Edit

it ranked 5th in the highest degree is master's
according to US news

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 07:04 am: Edit

Strick: My daughter had some dual enrollment credits, AP credits, and credits from summer college programs. . . .Olin doesn't take any of those credits. It's hard to say if Olin makes a student take courses over, as the courses are structured differently. For freshmen, each semester they enroll in a cohort class: a three course block in which they study physics, calc, and have a project. Besides that, they take a couple of other courses--not sure how they choose these. My daughter took Modeling and Controls, and a humanities-social science elective with Babson. Olin is a unique place. As your son is still a junior, he's got time to look around--maybe there will be an Olin rep at a college fair near you, or some opportunity to visit the school to see if it's a good option for him to consider.

By Kissy (Kissy) on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 09:03 am: Edit

Strick - My D was told by the Olin folks that freshman math and physics are the only subjects a student can place out of (by taking 4 hour exams). I guess the exams are brutal- only a couple of students have passed. Sounds like the program would be redundant for your son, as far as his accomplishments go. He sounds like an amazing kid who'll have lots of great college options available to him!

By Strick (Strick) on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 11:09 am: Edit

Thanks, folks. Olin still sounds like a wonderful program, but I doubt I could get my son interested. Even if the courses were beyond what he's taking, he'd be extremely reluctant to repeat so many, particularly the math.

I'd be interested in hearing what your daughter's think of the program overtime, though. Olin's sure to be of interest to a lot of future engineering students here.

By Becks777 (Becks777) on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 11:38 am: Edit

Does anyone have the list of the top engineering undergrad schools in the country?

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 12:59 pm: Edit

Strick - we're in the same situation with my son having much more math than most applicants and being concerned about having to repeat things. We've specifically asked about this in all of our encounters with colleges. Our local state u. is the only one who seems really rigid on this point. The others all seem to have a genuine desire to place students where they belong, and a willingness to allow students to demonstrate what they know. I wouldn't cross Olin (or any other school) off your list without at least asking them about this. They may only volunteer that students can place out of first year math. But that doesn't rule out the possibility that an exceptional student could place out of more.

By Feenrai (Feenrai) on Monday, December 29, 2003 - 09:18 pm: Edit

Hi, I'm a junior and I've been looking into electrical engineering. Does anyone know how NCSU's engineering department measures up to other public schools?

By Gameguy56 (Gameguy56) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 10:45 pm: Edit

Strick, yes, MIT is a total crapshoot, I know a (white) girl who got accepted to MIT with a 1460, 4 APs, and oly a few ECs. (We're in the Same AP Calc class and she'e not even the best student in that class) Meanwhile, there are lots of 1500+ 10AP 4.0 and Tons of ECs kids who get rejected from MIT. Why is it This way?, I'll never know.

By Mattk09 (Mattk09) on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 12:27 am: Edit

I have applied to UI engineering in Urbana/Champaign and Rose-Hullman and have been accepted to both. I plan to major in computer science and I'm not sure which one I should attend. Can anyone offer me some advice on this?