All the hypes about Purdue, UMD, etc. ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People tend to focus on the engineering and computer science programs at these schools, but the truth is the majority of students at these schools are not enrolled in these majors.

I don’t know much about Purdue, but the last time I looked outcomes for UMD humanities majors weren’t impressive.

Humanities majors don't do well as well, period.

And yet, we will still need people to do the humanities-related jobs; but somehow they’re valued SO low. It would be a boring world if everyone were engineers and computer programmers.

Not disputing that. Just saying, humanities majors generally don't pay as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People tend to focus on the engineering and computer science programs at these schools, but the truth is the majority of students at these schools are not enrolled in these majors.

I don’t know much about Purdue, but the last time I looked outcomes for UMD humanities majors weren’t impressive.

Humanities majors don't do well as well, period.

Pp you were replying to. My DC is a humanities major. When DC was deciding which college to attend, we looked at outcomes for that major (political science) at all the schools DC was accepted to. UMD had the worst outcomes by far, which was surprising given its proximity to the federal government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for these schools. Purdue is a highly ranked engineering program. UMD too. Oh well.

You … feel sorry for them? I feel fairly certain that most great engineering schools would rather have high-scoring students and a lower yield rate. They probably feel bad for their colleagues at the small prestige schools that admit a bunch of test optional kids in ED and then don’t have room for high-scoring kids.

Incredible schools. But no, if you take a look at Purdue’s incoming students profile (matriculates), their test scores are very low.

1360 median SAT and 32 ACT is hardly “very low” when you’re test required.

The middle 50% SAT for Purdue College of Engineering (West Lafayette) is roughly 1380–1510, ACT 32–35, and weighted GPA typically 3.9–4.0. Purdue enrolls 2,800–3,100 first-year engineering students per year at the main campus.

That means roughly 700–800 incoming engineering students each year have a 1510+ SAT. No Ivy comes close to matching that raw number of high-stats engineering admits in a single class.

What separates Purdue is the rigor: tough grading curves, limited grade inflation, and success earned through actual college performance rather than high-school GPA momentum. Some schools are elite because of the strength of the students they admit; Purdue is elite because of both the strength of their students class and the strength of the curriculum that a curriculum filters them regardless of incoming stats.

Rigor across high schools is so subjective. You see kids getting into Ivies who might actually have lower 'academic' floors than a kid at Purdue with a 32 ACT. Case in point: a 2027 athletic recruit with any Ivy offer just hit my radar with a 4.58 GPA but an 1120 SAT. Even with athletic context, that’s a massive gap. It makes you wonder how many kids are currently at elite TO (test-optional) schools who wouldn't even get a look at Purdue because their test scores wouldn't make the cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for these schools. Purdue is a highly ranked engineering program. UMD too. Oh well.

You … feel sorry for them? I feel fairly certain that most great engineering schools would rather have high-scoring students and a lower yield rate. They probably feel bad for their colleagues at the small prestige schools that admit a bunch of test optional kids in ED and then don’t have room for high-scoring kids.

Incredible schools. But no, if you take a look at Purdue’s incoming students profile (matriculates), their test scores are very low.

1360 median SAT and 32 ACT is hardly “very low” when you’re test required.

The middle 50% SAT for Purdue College of Engineering (West Lafayette) is roughly 1380–1510, ACT 32–35, and weighted GPA typically 3.9–4.0. Purdue enrolls 2,800–3,100 first-year engineering students per year at the main campus.

That means roughly 700–800 incoming engineering students each year have a 1510+ SAT. No Ivy comes close to matching that raw number of high-stats engineering admits in a single class.

What separates Purdue is the rigor: tough grading curves, limited grade inflation, and success earned through actual college performance rather than high-school GPA momentum. Some schools are elite because of the strength of the students they admit; Purdue is elite because of both the strength of their students class and the strength of the curriculum that a curriculum filters them regardless of incoming stats.

Rigor across high schools is so subjective. You see kids getting into Ivies who might actually have lower 'academic' floors than a kid at Purdue with a 32 ACT. Case in point: a 2027 athletic recruit with any Ivy offer just hit my radar with a 4.58 GPA but an 1120 SAT. Even with athletic context, that’s a massive gap. It makes you wonder how many kids are currently at elite TO (test-optional) schools who wouldn't even get a look at Purdue because their test scores wouldn't make the cut.

+1 GPAs are really subjective due to grade inflation, or let's say in this case, the Principal pushed the teachers to give this athlete good grades so that they could continue playing. Or, maybe the curriculum isn't as challenging as other HS.

Standardized tests like the SATs are the only real equalizer in terms of academic performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People tend to focus on the engineering and computer science programs at these schools, but the truth is the majority of students at these schools are not enrolled in these majors.

Actually, The College of Science (including Computer Science) and Engineering comprise 48% of the class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People tend to focus on the engineering and computer science programs at these schools, but the truth is the majority of students at these schools are not enrolled in these majors.

I don’t know much about Purdue, but the last time I looked outcomes for UMD humanities majors weren’t impressive.

Humanities majors don't do well as well, period.

Pp you were replying to. My DC is a humanities major. When DC was deciding which college to attend, we looked at outcomes for that major (political science) at all the schools DC was accepted to. UMD had the worst outcomes by far, which was surprising given its proximity to the federal government.

I work on advocacy - I think UMD is seen as just a slightly above mid range school in this area (excluding its CS niche which I had not even heard about before doing college research h)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for these schools. Purdue is a highly ranked engineering program. UMD too. Oh well.

You … feel sorry for them? I feel fairly certain that most great engineering schools would rather have high-scoring students and a lower yield rate. They probably feel bad for their colleagues at the small prestige schools that admit a bunch of test optional kids in ED and then don’t have room for high-scoring kids.

Incredible schools. But no, if you take a look at Purdue’s incoming students profile (matriculates), their test scores are very low.

1360 median SAT and 32 ACT is hardly “very low” when you’re test required.

The middle 50% SAT for Purdue College of Engineering (West Lafayette) is roughly 1380–1510, ACT 32–35, and weighted GPA typically 3.9–4.0. Purdue enrolls 2,800–3,100 first-year engineering students per year at the main campus.

That means roughly 700–800 incoming engineering students each year have a 1510+ SAT. No Ivy comes close to matching that raw number of high-stats engineering admits in a single class.

What separates Purdue is the rigor: tough grading curves, limited grade inflation, and success earned through actual college performance rather than high-school GPA momentum. Some schools are elite because of the strength of the students they admit; Purdue is elite because of both the strength of their students class and the strength of the curriculum that a curriculum filters them regardless of incoming stats.

Rigor across high schools is so subjective. You see kids getting into Ivies who might actually have lower 'academic' floors than a kid at Purdue with a 32 ACT. Case in point: a 2027 athletic recruit with any Ivy offer just hit my radar with a 4.58 GPA but an 1120 SAT. Even with athletic context, that’s a massive gap. It makes you wonder how many kids are currently at elite TO (test-optional) schools who wouldn't even get a look at Purdue because their test scores wouldn't make the cut.

I think the same could best said not just about Purdue, but a lot of top state schools that require scores. Hence, why TO schools that report median scores really doesn't mean anything when comparing to test required schools. Lastly, ranking publications that still use and give significant weight to median test scores as a ranking factor really need to reevaluate for creditability. I think this will eventually happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for these schools. Purdue is a highly ranked engineering program. UMD too. Oh well.

You … feel sorry for them? I feel fairly certain that most great engineering schools would rather have high-scoring students and a lower yield rate. They probably feel bad for their colleagues at the small prestige schools that admit a bunch of test optional kids in ED and then don’t have room for high-scoring kids.

Incredible schools. But no, if you take a look at Purdue’s incoming students profile (matriculates), their test scores are very low.

1360 median SAT and 32 ACT is hardly “very low” when you’re test required.

The middle 50% SAT for Purdue College of Engineering (West Lafayette) is roughly 1380–1510, ACT 32–35, and weighted GPA typically 3.9–4.0. Purdue enrolls 2,800–3,100 first-year engineering students per year at the main campus.

That means roughly 700–800 incoming engineering students each year have a 1510+ SAT. No Ivy comes close to matching that raw number of high-stats engineering admits in a single class.

What separates Purdue is the rigor: tough grading curves, limited grade inflation, and success earned through actual college performance rather than high-school GPA momentum. Some schools are elite because of the strength of the students they admit; Purdue is elite because of both the strength of their students class and the strength of the curriculum that a curriculum filters them regardless of incoming stats.

Rigor across high schools is so subjective. You see kids getting into Ivies who might actually have lower 'academic' floors than a kid at Purdue with a 32 ACT. Case in point: a 2027 athletic recruit with any Ivy offer just hit my radar with a 4.58 GPA but an 1120 SAT. Even with athletic context, that’s a massive gap. It makes you wonder how many kids are currently at elite TO (test-optional) schools who wouldn't even get a look at Purdue because their test scores wouldn't make the cut.

I think the same could best said not just about Purdue, but a lot of top state schools that require scores. Hence, why TO schools that report median scores really doesn't mean anything when comparing to test required schools. Lastly, ranking publications that still use and give significant weight to median test scores as a ranking factor really need to reevaluate for creditability. I think this will eventually happen.

I wish I could agree, but I don’t see much evidence that credibility matters in the rankings game.

[Anonymous]

Purdue is an excellent school on the hard sciences - engineering and CS. And not hard on the pocketbook. My older son graduated from there last year and was immediately picked up to work for Nucor Steel. He's making probably about $100k a year and has zero debt. Nucor is very production goal focused so the good years at Nucor are very good years for any production related worker.

We paid less for Purdue (out state) all in than we pay for our second son in state at William and Mary.

No regrets whatsoever.

And it takes only a couple hours to get there. AA and United have significant service to Indianapolis.

[Anonymous]

Oh, one more thought: the Purdue alumni network is crazy strong. Very reminiscent of USC out in California. High, high degree of loyalty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Purdue is an excellent school on the hard sciences - engineering and CS. And not hard on the pocketbook. My older son graduated from there last year and was immediately picked up to work for Nucor Steel. He's making probably about $100k a year and has zero debt. Nucor is very production goal focused so the good years at Nucor are very good years for any production related worker.

We paid less for Purdue (out state) all in than we pay for our second son in state at William and Mary.

No regrets whatsoever.

And it takes only a couple hours to get there. AA and United have significant service to Indianapolis.

Not only is Purdue tuition reasonable for OOS, but housing and food costs are also very reasonable. It's about 42k all in this year for my engineering freshman and next year will only be slightly more expensive as he chose a slightly more expensive housing option. Purdue only costs a bit more and in-state VT for engineering once you add the extra cost for engineering and factor in that VT charges more for housing and food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People tend to focus on the engineering and computer science programs at these schools, but the truth is the majority of students at these schools are not enrolled in these majors.

Actually, The College of Science (including Computer Science) and Engineering comprise 48% of the class

To point out the obvious, 48% is not the majority. So the original poster’s point stands that the majority of students are not in these majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People tend to focus on the engineering and computer science programs at these schools, but the truth is the majority of students at these schools are not enrolled in these majors.

Actually, The College of Science (including Computer Science) and Engineering comprise 48% of the class

To point out the obvious, 48% is not the majority. So the original poster’s point stands that the majority of students are not in these majors.

If we are talking about Purdue you can add in Polytechnic which contains engineering science, which is ABET and qualifies as engineering. This puts Purdue comfortable over 50% by your numbers. Purdue, at least as of 2023, graduated 71% STEM majors as well.