Help Me Decide Which College

[CovertCow]

I am currently a high school senior interested in Electrical Engineering. After applying to college, I have a number of options. The main ones that appeal to me are Columbia's Fu Foundation (School of Applied Sciences), University of Pennsylvania Engineering, and University of Washington Engineering (Through the honors program).

I am having a terrible time deciding between these different institutions. Here are things to keep in mind:
-I want to have a life during the 4 years that I'm at college
-I want to have many great options for job/grad school
-Penn/Columbia cost about $155000US for 4 years, while UW is about $55000 (My parents gave me $120000 towards whatever education I get. Anything extra I pay for. Anything left over I keep.)
- At UW I am in the honors program and admitted directly into the Electrical Engineering department

I was wondering if you guys/girls could give me some advice on where to spend my next 4 years and any general college advice you have.

Thanks for your time!
Jeff

 

[azazyel]

UW is ok, try WSU! It will make a man out of you.

 

[Borracho]

U of Iowa is the best!!! Go Hawkeyes!!!

 

[cchen]

Any financial aid?

 

[Hector13]

are you sure you want to get a degree in EE? Obviously columbia and penn are very good schools, but they are not known for their engineering programs.

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: Hector13
are you sure you want to get a degree in EE? Obviously columbia and penn are very good schools, but they are not known for their engineering programs.

Not being "known" for their engineering programs does not mean that they don't have good programs. And frankly, the engineering departments at Penn and Columbia are very small, which reflects on how well-known they are.

 

[bmacd]

In Michigan, Jackson State has a great 25 to Life program. I know a few guys that can get you in

-=bmacd=-

 

[Hector13]

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Hector13
are you sure you want to get a degree in EE? Obviously columbia and penn are very good schools, but they are not known for their engineering programs.

Not being "known" for their engineering programs does not mean that they don't have good programs. And frankly, the engineering departments at Penn and Columbia are very small, which reflects on how well-known they are.

how well a school is known will often translate directly into how easy it is for you to get a job. Especially for something as technical as engineering. If you don't know for sure that you want to be an engineer, I would definitely recommend you going to columbia or penn (probably columbia, unless you think you may go into finance in which case penn is better).

But again, if you really want to go into electrical engineering, none of those 3 schools are highly regarded for their EE programs.

 

[Shelly21]

Take the money and run. Go to the cheapest place you can for the degree. Usually, it doesn't really matter what college you graduated from when you're getting a job unless it's one of the top tier schools.

 

[Ilmater]

University of Missouri - Rolla

It's an incredible school for engineering, and I enjoyed it there. If you want a social life, I'd recommend a fraternity, but DO NOT expect a typical fraternity. The fraternities are filled with guys like you that are intelligent but want to have social lives. In my fraternity, nobody was forced to drink (though CLEARLY it was encouraged, a few did not throughout their time there), and scholastics were stressed far above all other duties. No fraternal duties took precidence over scholastic duties.

Just a thought, but you can guarantee a good job after time spent there.

 

[Schadenfroh]

whichever has the best girl to guy ratio

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Hector13
are you sure you want to get a degree in EE? Obviously columbia and penn are very good schools, but they are not known for their engineering programs.

Not being "known" for their engineering programs does not mean that they don't have good programs. And frankly, the engineering departments at Penn and Columbia are very small, which reflects on how well-known they are.

a unknown EE program usually translates to very little R&D, which would definitely suck if he's trying to do undergraduate research. Also, not having specialized professors, and the lack of competitionreally doesn't bode well for the quality of its education. I vote you look into schools more along the lines of UofI: Urbana Champaign, UCSD, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, UT Austin, CalTech, etc.

 

[dr150]

Go with UW for sure!

The engineering degree is MUCH more valuable as a highly employable commodity than receiving a POS liberal arts degree--even at an Ivy.

I'd take that $120k, pay my UW degree, then use the rest of the proceeds for a grad school diploma. You'll need a grad school diploma to really distinguish yourself anyways.

Btw, a Columbia/Penn degree is relevant if you want to work in those regions. The cost of living index in NYC is extremely expensive, so that easily takes Columbia off the list.....I know what I speak of as one of my grad school degrees cost me $95k at Columbia after only 2 years.

A good amount of tech is located on the West Coast, and UW holds a lot of cache in California. As long as you get the engineering degree, you'll be in a great boat. BTW, FWIW, in a recent study that I read a year ago showed the difference in salaries between an engineering degree at say Princeton/Rice to a good engineering state school was INSIGNIFICANT. The type of engineering degree had greater salary variations than where you went to school.

SAVE THE MONEY. PERIOD. Just make sure you don't go Liberal Arts!

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: ed21x

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Hector13
are you sure you want to get a degree in EE? Obviously columbia and penn are very good schools, but they are not known for their engineering programs.

Not being "known" for their engineering programs does not mean that they don't have good programs. And frankly, the engineering departments at Penn and Columbia are very small, which reflects on how well-known they are.

a unknown EE program usually translates to very little R&D, which would definitely suck if he's trying to do undergraduate research. Also, not having specialized professors, and the lack of competitionreally doesn't bode well for the quality of its education. I vote you look into schools more along the lines of UofI: Urbana Champaign, UCSD, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, UT Austin, CalTech, etc.

I did not mean that the programs are unknown, but are much smaller than engineering departments at other schools..... as a side note, Columbia makes the most money off of patents out of every university in the US....

and look at his post... whats the point of suggesting other schools, when he already has said that he's been accepted to columbia, penn, and u of w?

 

[Pokey007]

I have a lot of friends from HS who went to the UW and studied computer science, engineering, or computer engineering. We're all graduating this spring and every one of them has a job. I think its a great education, they all know their stuff, and for the price break?!? You should definitely strongly consider the UW.

 

[MrBond]

If any of the colleges you're looking at has a mandatory co-op program, that is a HUGE plus.

You may go a little longer (4.5-5yrs vs 4), but it's worth it.

We start in our sophmore year (either in the spring semester or the summer after) and alternate semesters of school and work year-round. If you have good grades, you can get some awesome jobs. I make $16.25/hr, my apartment is paid for, my mileage to move out here is paid for, they pay for me to store my furniture while I'm in school and any associated moving expenses (U-haul, etc).

It's VERY nice to only have to deal with school for a single semester in a row and then be able to work for a semester making money. Just about the time the courseload makes me feel like I'm going to snap, it's time to go back to work again and the stress level plummets. Plus, I get to use equiptment FAR superior to what we have in the student labs at school, or equiptment that we don't even have access to there. I'm learning WAY more working here than I do in school.

The main advantage is some companies hire their co-ops right out of college. Make a good impression and you may be offered a job before you even graduate. One of my best friends got offered a job last fall, a full YEAR away from graduation.

Co-op is where it's at.

 

[Gibson486]

Picking or rejecting a school just because of the name is such a dumb idea. You go where you feel comfy, not where all the good ratings are. You wanna go to a good EE program, go to BU, RIT, NU, WPI...the list goes on. However, just because they are good schools for EE does not mean they are good schools for you.

 

[CovertCow]

Thank you all for spending the time to respond to this thread.

Here are my replies to your input:
-cchen: getting no financial aid from Penn/Columbia, UW is giving me 2400 / year for the first 2 years (merit)
-bmacd: thank you for the offer and idea, but I have already submitted my applications and can choose between University of Washington, University of Illinois Urbana Champaing, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Penn, Columbia, or Rose Hulman

 

[DaiShan]

University of Florida, say no more.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: Hector13

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: Hector13
are you sure you want to get a degree in EE? Obviously columbia and penn are very good schools, but they are not known for their engineering programs.

Not being "known" for their engineering programs does not mean that they don't have good programs. And frankly, the engineering departments at Penn and Columbia are very small, which reflects on how well-known they are.

how well a school is known will often translate directly into how easy it is for you to get a job. Especially for something as technical as engineering. If you don't know for sure that you want to be an engineer, I would definitely recommend you going to columbia or penn (probably columbia, unless you think you may go into finance in which case penn is better).

But again, if you really want to go into electrical engineering, none of those 3 schools are highly regarded for their EE programs.

Columbia is well known for engineering. It's a top 30 engineering school. I'm pretty sure UW is a top 20 EE school. I would say more people know that Columbia is an excellent school then know that University of Minnesota is good in engineering (I believe UM is ranked higher than Columbia).

 

[CovertCow]

Thank you all for spending the time to respond to this thread.

Here are my replies to your input:
-cchen: getting no financial aid from Penn/Columbia, UW is giving me 2400 / year for the first 2 years (merit)
-bmacd, ilmater: thank you for the offer and idea, but I have already submitted my applications and can choose between University of Washington, University of Illinois Urbana Champaing, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Penn, Columbia, or Rose Hulman
-the idea of a non-drinking, scholastically oriented frat is an interesting one that I intend to look into (thanks for the idea)
-dr150:

"BTW, FWIW, in a recent study that I read a year ago showed the difference in salaries between an engineering degree at say Princeton/Rice to a good engineering state school was INSIGNIFICANT. The type of engineering degree had greater salary variations than where you went to school."

this information is very fascinating. If this holds generally true, I can entirely focus on what school is the best fit for me and not worry about "employability"

-pokey: its reassurinng that all your friends are finding jobs. congratulations to them and a testament to the reputation of a UW engineering education
-bond: the idea of a coop program is very fascinating and appealing, I will definitely look into that
-gibson: i think you bring up a good point of not emphasizing a school's name, but more how well it fits an individual

 

[Dowfen]

UW - Beautiful Campus, Affordable. That's my biased opinion. I'm not in the EE department, but I suspect it's pretty good as has been mentioned.

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: CovertCow
Thank you all for spending the time to respond to this thread.

Here are my replies to your input:
-cchen: getting no financial aid from Penn/Columbia, UW is giving me 2400 / year for the first 2 years (merit)
-bmacd, ilmater: thank you for the offer and idea, but I have already submitted my applications and can choose between University of Washington, University of Illinois Urbana Champaing, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Penn, Columbia, or Rose Hulman
-the idea of a non-drinking, scholastically oriented frat is an interesting one that I intend to look into (thanks for the idea)
-dr150:

"BTW, FWIW, in a recent study that I read a year ago showed the difference in salaries between an engineering degree at say Princeton/Rice to a good engineering state school was INSIGNIFICANT. The type of engineering degree had greater salary variations than where you went to school."

this information is very fascinating. If this holds generally true, I can entirely focus on what school is the best fit for me and not worry about "employability"

-pokey: its reassurinng that all your friends are finding jobs. congratulations to them and a testament to the reputation of a UW engineering education
-bond: the idea of a coop program is very fascinating and appealing, I will definitely look into that
-gibson: i think you bring up a good point of not emphasizing a school's name, but more how well it fits an individual

Well, if you're not getting any financial aid, then its absolutely not worth it at all to go to Penn or Columbia.

 

[Hector13]

Originally posted by: cchen

Originally posted by: CovertCow
Thank you all for spending the time to respond to this thread.

Here are my replies to your input:
-cchen: getting no financial aid from Penn/Columbia, UW is giving me 2400 / year for the first 2 years (merit)
-bmacd, ilmater: thank you for the offer and idea, but I have already submitted my applications and can choose between University of Washington, University of Illinois Urbana Champaing, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Penn, Columbia, or Rose Hulman
-the idea of a non-drinking, scholastically oriented frat is an interesting one that I intend to look into (thanks for the idea)
-dr150:

"BTW, FWIW, in a recent study that I read a year ago showed the difference in salaries between an engineering degree at say Princeton/Rice to a good engineering state school was INSIGNIFICANT. The type of engineering degree had greater salary variations than where you went to school."

this information is very fascinating. If this holds generally true, I can entirely focus on what school is the best fit for me and not worry about "employability"

-pokey: its reassurinng that all your friends are finding jobs. congratulations to them and a testament to the reputation of a UW engineering education
-bond: the idea of a coop program is very fascinating and appealing, I will definitely look into that
-gibson: i think you bring up a good point of not emphasizing a school's name, but more how well it fits an individual

Well, if you're not getting any financial aid, then its absolutely not worth it at all to go to Penn or Columbia.

i don't know.. a lot of places filter applicants solely based on school/degree/gpa. I'm not saying it's right (or wrong), but a lot of places won't even recruit at non-tier 1 schools.

In that regard, you'll get a lot better recruiting opportunities at penn and columbia than you will at u.w.

 

[Yossarian]

a "name" school helps you get your first job. that's about it.