Any engineers here? How much does college engineering rank matter for career?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to to frankly and honestly answer: is your goal to be an employee, a small business owner, or an inventor?

Stupid question. Most engineers would tell you that they want to be an engineer.

Not to mention that you can absolutely be an employee and an inventor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a hiring manager, I would say the key thing is ABET accredited engineering program. ABET means that all engineering programs are rigorous. It also means that engineering curricula are mostly the same anywhere.

The main exception is size; larger engineering programs can offer a broader range of upper-level engineering electives, but students often are a number not a name in large programs. Smaller programs usually mean one is a name and not a number, but also often mean fewer upper-level engineering electives. Fewer or more might not make a difference to a student, if the student's preferred upper level engineering electives are available.

Another thing is that degrees in "general engineering" are almost meaningless for technical jobs. Get a specific degree (e.g., Aero, Civil, EE, or other).

In the last two years, try to select rigorous upper-level electives that relate to the specific area where one wants to work. Rigor matters, not just in HS, but also in college and beyond.

The best of both worlds that cover all of your points would be ivy/top privates:300-500 engineering students in each entering cohort, presence of phD programs in all departments, allowing smaller classes for undergraduates and access to grad-level classes. No one runs out of upper level options.

I will add ABET is a minimum: 30 math/basic science credit hours (8-9 semester courses) plus 45 engineering credit hours(13-14 semester courses). Every T15/ivy college private and maybe a handful of publics, go well beyond these minimum credit hours. I encourage parents and applicants to pull up each school’s curriculum and look. It is eye opening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most engineering programs grade most courses in a curve. Often, not always, the median is set at 3.0, which means half the class is getting less than a B. Engineering GPAs often are lower than humanities/arts GPAs at the same college.

Engineering course grading curves can be very tough. I remember courses where 50% correct was an A+, 35% correct was a B and 25% correct was passing (barely).

No one accidentally gets an engineering degree from any ABET engineering program. Rankings of engineering programs are largely meaningless.

jHU, ivies do not curve like this anymore. Median could be 50% correct or a wide variety, but it is usually assigned a B or B+, 35% get A- or above, 55% get B range, around 10% get C+ or lower. Median gpa is 3.5 in engineering vs 3.7 in arts and sciences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most engineering programs grade most courses in a curve. Often, not always, the median is set at 3.0, which means half the class is getting less than a B. Engineering GPAs often are lower than humanities/arts GPAs at the same college.

Engineering course grading curves can be very tough. I remember courses where 50% correct was an A+, 35% correct was a B and 25% correct was passing (barely).

No one accidentally gets an engineering degree from any ABET engineering program. Rankings of engineering programs are largely meaningless.

jHU, ivies do not curve like this anymore. Median could be 50% correct or a wide variety, but it is usually assigned a B or B+, 35% get A- or above, 55% get B range, around 10% get C+ or lower. Median gpa is 3.5 in engineering vs 3.7 in arts and sciences.

DC is at an ivy … the one that dcum don’t like … stem classes chem, bio, physics, math, cs first two year level are graded on a curve where students above 1 standard deviation from the mean gets an A. That translates to about only 16% getting As. This was the same way ucla was graded when I went there back in the 90s.

[Anonymous]

I think school ranking matters some what. Kids at top selective schools are fighting against top students but at lower tier schools competition is water down. If you d want to hire someone to just run a process then a technician can do the job. But if you want a problem solver to enhance process etc, you want an engineer at reputable university. At the minimum should be your state flagship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think school ranking matters some what. Kids at top selective schools are fighting against top students but at lower tier schools competition is water down. If you d want to hire someone to just run a process then a technician can do the job. But if you want a problem solver to enhance process etc, you want an engineer at reputable university. At the minimum should be your state flagship.

That's nonsense. There's nothing wrong with going to NC State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech or ASU, even though those aren't the state flagship. Ignore the PP. They clearly are clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think school ranking matters some what. Kids at top selective schools are fighting against top students but at lower tier schools competition is water down. If you d want to hire someone to just run a process then a technician can do the job. But if you want a problem solver to enhance process etc, you want an engineer at reputable university. At the minimum should be your state flagship.

That's nonsense. There's nothing wrong with going to NC State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech or ASU, even though those aren't the state flagship. Ignore the PP. They clearly are clueless.

NC state is the state flagship in engineering since UNC doesn’t offer
VA tech is the state flagship over UVA in engineering
ASU is the state flagship over Arizona wildcats
MSU is just blah

You are in agreement to most. I kids should think about going to CC for 2yrs and transferring to state flagship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think school ranking matters some what. Kids at top selective schools are fighting against top students but at lower tier schools competition is water down. If you d want to hire someone to just run a process then a technician can do the job. But if you want a problem solver to enhance process etc, you want an engineer at reputable university. At the minimum should be your state flagship.

Minimum. depends on the flagship

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think school ranking matters some what. Kids at top selective schools are fighting against top students but at lower tier schools competition is water down. If you d want to hire someone to just run a process then a technician can do the job. But if you want a problem solver to enhance process etc, you want an engineer at reputable university. At the minimum should be your state flagship.

That's nonsense. There's nothing wrong with going to NC State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech or ASU, even though those aren't the state flagship. Ignore the PP. They clearly are clueless.

PP likely meant the tech flagship, if it is different from the overall flagship. UCB and Mich it is the same of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think school ranking matters some what. Kids at top selective schools are fighting against top students but at lower tier schools competition is water down. If you d want to hire someone to just run a process then a technician can do the job. But if you want a problem solver to enhance process etc, you want an engineer at reputable university. At the minimum should be your state flagship.

That's nonsense. There's nothing wrong with going to NC State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech or ASU, even though those aren't the state flagship. Ignore the PP. They clearly are clueless.

PP likely meant the tech flagship, if it is different from the overall flagship. UCB and Mich it is the same of course.

You dont have to go to UCB or UCLA for an engineering degree. Cal Poly, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and many other California state schools are also totally reasonable. There is absolutely no rule that it needs to be the state flagship to be a respected program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think school ranking matters some what. Kids at top selective schools are fighting against top students but at lower tier schools competition is water down. If you d want to hire someone to just run a process then a technician can do the job. But if you want a problem solver to enhance process etc, you want an engineer at reputable university. At the minimum should be your state flagship.

That's nonsense. There's nothing wrong with going to NC State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech or ASU, even though those aren't the state flagship. Ignore the PP. They clearly are clueless.

NC state is the state flagship in engineering since UNC doesn’t offer
VA tech is the state flagship over UVA in engineering
ASU is the state flagship over Arizona wildcats
MSU is just blah

You are in agreement to most. I kids should think about going to CC for 2yrs and transferring to state flagship.

That's nonsense. Kids are better off going to a full university for all 4 years so they can participate in engineering design teams, do undergrad research and take higher quality engineering classes than are offered at a community college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Top schools are needed to have the best opportunity for the following:
Tech startup culture, access to funding and faculty resources for getting research early on(maximizes top phD choices), high- tech consultant groups that particularly recruit at ivy/MIT/stanford and the like.
Also, of importance to many high-achieving high schoolers, is the top peer group such schools offer.

Nope
My kids have always worked at tech startups ups plenty do not hire from top schools they don’t pay

[Anonymous]

As mentioned above and also many times on this board, ABET accreditation is bare minimum. It says nothing about what goes into a class. The same class at a t20 engineering may cover a lot more material at a much higher speed with much more challenging exams than one at a t150. If you are very "practical" and only care about getting a regular engineering job after graduation, t20 or t150 doesn't matter much, if at all. However, if you care about actual learning, about academic satisfaction, about entering consulting/finance, about entering top Ph.D. engineering programs, then you would be better off going to a t20 engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Top schools are needed to have the best opportunity for the following:
Tech startup culture, access to funding and faculty resources for getting research early on(maximizes top phD choices), high- tech consultant groups that particularly recruit at ivy/MIT/stanford and the like.
Also, of importance to many high-achieving high schoolers, is the top peer group such schools offer.

Santa Clara, Cal Poly SLO, SJSU, and UC Davis are each counter-examples to the claim above. None is "top ranked". All have outstanding track records working with startups and also placing students into startups. All have great lab facilities, access to early research with faculty, and great access to startup funding from Sand Hill Rd.

[Anonymous]

Access to startups and startup funding is avout geography, not the rank of the engineering program. Most startup funding globally is on Sandhill Road. Route 128 outside Boston likely is 2nd.