For a possible future engineer - Is it better to go to an overall higher ranked university or

[Anonymous]

Also depends on where he wants to live. In Georgia for example they prefer GATech grads over MIT. So says my cousin who tried to interview in ATL with an MIT degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming the engineering school is at least decent, I'd go for the higher rated school if your DC is on the fence. Engineering is tough and many drop out. Plus if your DC does takes another career path in the future the higher rated school will help.

- engineering undergrad w/MBA and now in a non-engineering career that required strong quantitative skills

What do you do?

consulting in a specialized financial area - I like numbers.

Why did you leave engineering?

[Anonymous]

Experience is more important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Experience is more important.

than. . . prestige?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Experience is more important.

+1
Internships and co-ops are so helpful for engineering students, both or the experience factor when looking for jobs but also in understanding what kind of work you want to go into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experience is more important.

+1
Internships and co-ops are so helpful for engineering students, both or the experience factor when looking for jobs but also in understanding what kind of work you want to go into.

Thanks for clarifying this helpful information!

[Anonymous]

Engineering is more on experience and ability not inside clubs of alumni

[Anonymous]

Depends on how good a student he is. There are certainly places that fulfill great engineering/name recognition and ability to switch out of engineering or have a broader education if decides doesn't want to pursue a traditional engineering degree. For instance Princeton (and even has an engineering school major ORFE that is basically engineering plus finance), Cornell, Carnegie-Mellon, Harvey Mudd, and I am sure their are others. On the other hand, going to say Brown or even Harvard or Yale may not make sense, since have such weak or nonexistent engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming the engineering school is at least decent, I'd go for the higher rated school if your DC is on the fence. Engineering is tough and many drop out. Plus if your DC does takes another career path in the future the higher rated school will help.

- engineering undergrad w/MBA and now in a non-engineering career that required strong quantitative skills

What do you do?

consulting in a specialized financial area - I like numbers.

Why did you leave engineering?

I had always planned to go back for an MBA to help advance my career. The finance/consulting path just evolved from there. I would still definitely do engineering though - great foundation.

Also I have a few friends who have gone from engineering into law. A couple into patent law obviously, but other areas as well. Many went into IT/consulting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming the engineering school is at least decent, I'd go for the higher rated school if your DC is on the fence. Engineering is tough and many drop out. Plus if your DC does takes another career path in the future the higher rated school will help.

- engineering undergrad w/MBA and now in a non-engineering career that required strong quantitative skills

What do you do?

consulting in a specialized financial area - I like numbers.

Why did you leave engineering?

I had always planned to go back for an MBA to help advance my career. The finance/consulting path just evolved from there. I would still definitely do engineering though - great foundation.

Also I have a few friends who have gone from engineering into law. A couple into patent law obviously, but other areas as well. Many went into IT/consulting.

Got it; we're taking it as a given that our kids will go to grad school regardless of college major, so this makes perfect sense to us. (And, I'll note that some of the smartest cookies in my law school class were engineers.)

So, here's my spin-off question from a while back that didn't garner any responses: What if you go to a highly-ranked non-engineering school and major in applied math or physics, then decide you want to do a master's in engineering? I understand your options will be narrowed, but is this just a pipe dream?

[Anonymous]

Go to law school after engineering and go into patent and trademark law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming the engineering school is at least decent, I'd go for the higher rated school if your DC is on the fence. Engineering is tough and many drop out. Plus if your DC does takes another career path in the future the higher rated school will help.

- engineering undergrad w/MBA and now in a non-engineering career that required strong quantitative skills

What do you do?

consulting in a specialized financial area - I like numbers.

Why did you leave engineering?

I had always planned to go back for an MBA to help advance my career. The finance/consulting path just evolved from there. I would still definitely do engineering though - great foundation.

Also I have a few friends who have gone from engineering into law. A couple into patent law obviously, but other areas as well. Many went into IT/consulting.

Got it; we're taking it as a given that our kids will go to grad school regardless of college major, so this makes perfect sense to us. (And, I'll note that some of the smartest cookies in my law school class were engineers.)

So, here's my spin-off question from a while back that didn't garner any responses: What if you go to a highly-ranked non-engineering school and major in applied math or physics, then decide you want to do a master's in engineering? I understand your options will be narrowed, but is this just a pipe dream?

Interesting question.

What's the ultimate career path? Practicing engineer? Research/academics?

It'd be tough because there is just so much material covered in undergrad and most grad programs get even more specialized. I'm sure you could take most of the foundation/intro courses (chemistry, calculus, physics, etc) as electives, but it'd be tough to get deep enough into any particular area without the upper-level courses. Although I guess it depends a lot on the specific field of interest.

I think it's worth exploring master's programs to check out options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experience is more important.

than. . . prestige?

Yes. For all the STEM degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming the engineering school is at least decent, I'd go for the higher rated school if your DC is on the fence. Engineering is tough and many drop out. Plus if your DC does takes another career path in the future the higher rated school will help.

- engineering undergrad w/MBA and now in a non-engineering career that required strong quantitative skills

What do you do?

consulting in a specialized financial area - I like numbers.

Why did you leave engineering?

I had always planned to go back for an MBA to help advance my career. The finance/consulting path just evolved from there. I would still definitely do engineering though - great foundation.

Also I have a few friends who have gone from engineering into law. A couple into patent law obviously, but other areas as well. Many went into IT/consulting.

Got it; we're taking it as a given that our kids will go to grad school regardless of college major, so this makes perfect sense to us. (And, I'll note that some of the smartest cookies in my law school class were engineers.)

So, here's my spin-off question from a while back that didn't garner any responses: What if you go to a highly-ranked non-engineering school and major in applied math or physics, then decide you want to do a master's in engineering? I understand your options will be narrowed, but is this just a pipe dream?

Isn't that what the 3-2 is all about? There are quite a few SLACs with arrangements with schools like Columbia. Dartmouth may do that too, although not sure if the 3-2 is just for their students. Of course to do a 3-2 you have to decide by sophomore year that's the path you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming the engineering school is at least decent, I'd go for the higher rated school if your DC is on the fence. Engineering is tough and many drop out. Plus if your DC does takes another career path in the future the higher rated school will help.

- engineering undergrad w/MBA and now in a non-engineering career that required strong quantitative skills

What do you do?

consulting in a specialized financial area - I like numbers.

Why did you leave engineering?

I had always planned to go back for an MBA to help advance my career. The finance/consulting path just evolved from there. I would still definitely do engineering though - great foundation.

Also I have a few friends who have gone from engineering into law. A couple into patent law obviously, but other areas as well. Many went into IT/consulting.

Got it; we're taking it as a given that our kids will go to grad school regardless of college major, so this makes perfect sense to us. (And, I'll note that some of the smartest cookies in my law school class were engineers.)

So, here's my spin-off question from a while back that didn't garner any responses: What if you go to a highly-ranked non-engineering school and major in applied math or physics, then decide you want to do a master's in engineering? I understand your options will be narrowed, but is this just a pipe dream?

Isn't that what the 3-2 is all about? There are quite a few SLACs with arrangements with schools like Columbia. Dartmouth may do that too, although not sure if the 3-2 is just for their students. Of course to do a 3-2 you have to decide by sophomore year that's the path you want.

That could be a good option.