Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

If someone were to major in Engineering, is MIT obviously a better choice than Princeton?

I am planning on applying ED to Princeton, but i might major in engineering. How is the reputation for Princeton BSE? And how much will a school's reputation in my major affect my grad school career? I have often heard and read that Princeton is the best school for undergraduate education, is that still true if i were to pursue a BSE degree? can someone elaborate on that?

By Silmon77 (Silmon77) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 04:55 pm: Edit

MIT has the best engineering program in the world. No contest there. I'm applying to Princeton engineering because of other aspects, such as social life and the undergraduate focus. Princeton has good engineering (ranked 12th in nation) but is not the best. Decide what is most important to you. Good luck to you in whatever u choose.

By Mlf (Mlf) on Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 02:31 pm: Edit

I got a BSE from Princeton in electrical engineering. I decided to attend Princeton in engineering because I wanted a well rounded education. I wanted the opportunity to take amazing humanities classes with humanities students who were serious about the subject. I also knew that a lot of potential engineers end up switching out of engineering, and I wanted to have that option.

I am now a graduate student at Caltech. When I graduated in '02 the economy was especially bad, so graduate school admissions were tougher than usual. I was not an extraordanary student at Princeton, and I still got in to Caltech. I feel as though Princeton's upper level classes were about as difficult as Caltech's, and my Princeton education prepared me well for Caltech. I think average students were able to get into the top engineering schools, and less studious students still got into respectable graduate schools. Graduate school admissions in engineering is much less competative that medical or law school admissions.

For a PhD program in engineering, the most important factor is research experience, combined with a recommendation from a Professor who is prominent in the field. At Princeton it is very easy to gain research experience, many of the departments require it, and most other students participate in research. Within only the electrical engineering department there is a Nobel prize winner (in physics, Dan Tsui, for the fractional quantum hall effect) and countless members of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. I am sure MIT has more, but they also have a much bigger school.

The engineering school at Princeton has a lot fewer required classes than most schools. Some would consider this a negative aspect, but it allows students to concentrate in an area that they are interested in, with depth and breadth requirements. I know that the new Dean of the engineering school is pushing hard right now to improve the engineering school even more, and to move it up in the rankings.

By Anthem429 (Anthem429) on Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 05:25 pm: Edit

Are there any other schools with good humanities programs as well as respectable engineering programs?

By Mehere (Mehere) on Wednesday, September 08, 2004 - 08:55 pm: Edit

princeton engineering is respectable right? i mean it is very good. but mit is better. correct me if im wrong

By Mlf (Mlf) on Thursday, September 09, 2004 - 01:55 pm: Edit

MIT is better, but Princeton is very good. I have found that many people at Caltech are impressed that I went to Princeton. There are a lot of schools that are respectable. Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan and Cornell are all schools with outstanding engineering programs that also are strong in humanities. Some other fairly strong in both engineering and humanities are UIUC, UCLA, UCSD, Northwestern, University of Texas, Univerity of Minnesota, UCSB, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Some more undergraduate focused schools that also have reputable engineering departments are Rice, Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, and Brown, Harvard, and Notre Dame. A wide range of schools are not quite as strong overall in engineering but have a strong department, and almost any school in the top hundred for engineering will have a few well known professors.

Princeton's engineering is very theoretical, while MIT is more practical. If you want to go directly into industry in engineering, I would not recommend Princeton engineering. It is very heavy on math and physics, and light on practical aspects in engineering. Caltech is also very theoretical, while MIT is much more applied with more ties to industry. Typically, of the graduating class, about one third goes directly to graduate school, one third to industry in engineering, and one third to finance, although it varies strongly with the economy.