Help Me Decide Which College

[Orsorum]

Congrats on the UW undergrad scholarship, I used mine up for good last year. I'm partial to the UW, of course.

If you don't mind me asking, where in WA do you live?

Cheers!
Nate

 

[CovertCow]

Originally posted by: Hector13


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.

This is interesting. Could you be more specific? Do many of the big employers (AMD/Intel/ATT/etc) do this?

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: CovertCow

Originally posted by: Hector13


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.

This is interesting. Could you be more specific? Do many of the big employers (AMD/Intel/ATT/etc) do this?

Some companies do, especially in finance-related type majors.

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: CovertCow

Originally posted by: Hector13


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.

This is interesting. Could you be more specific? Do many of the big employers (AMD/Intel/ATT/etc) do this?

Are you looking to become an actual engineer? Then Columbia and Penn are not good choices. Many of the top consulting and finance firms only recruit at Tier 1 schools. I don't think its the same for engineering firms, though.

 

[Hector13]

Originally posted by: Yossarian
a "name" school helps you get your first job. that's about it.

and your first job could help you a lot in getting your second job... or getting into graduate school. Or god forbid you stay at the same company.

 

[oboeguy]

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.

Agreed, for the most part. An Ivy League pedigree will open doors. It has for me, without question. The best advice I've seen here is what was said above: "If you don't know for sure that you want to be an engineer, I would definitely recommend you going to columbia or penn." I disagree, though, on the finance issue. My department in Columbia's Eng School has an excellent financial engineering program, and their is a lot of communication with the Business School and the Math department in this area. Need I remind you that Columbia is in NYC, the center of the world of finance?

Anyway, ff you want a life, you will enjoy the temptations of NYC, a far, far more interesting city than Philly.

 

[DaWhim]

Read this article

Picking a college is like picking a spouse. You don't pick the "top ranked" one, because that has no meaning. You pick the one with the personality and character that complements your own.

 

[RabidMongoose]

Well if you're getting nothing from Columbia/UPenn, then I'd say go to UW, especially since it won't cost as much. If you do well there, you could still go to an elite graduate school.

If money was equal or not a factor, I'd choose Columbia.