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california_love8 · 07-14-2007, 12:18 AM

Hey,

sorry to post another topic (I've been posting a lot lately), but I was wondering how great of an advantage would be given if someone went to a school ranked 20th in a department compared to a school ranked 11th or so. The reason I ask is because, reasonably, I'm considering 4 schools for engineering:

1. University of Washington
2. U-Mich
3. USC
4. UT-Austin

I have a pretty good shot at all (2,3 might be hard because they can be random sometimes, but I'm pretty much good to go at the others according to what I hear), but would it be a huge mistake to turn down UT for UW or even UM for UW? The reason I ask is because I might be overall happier at UW since I have a ton of friends going there, and its definately not bad given that its T20 and beat schools like Hopkins, but UMich or UT is higher ranked, so would they get better jobs? I was especially wondering because I'm planning on getting a degree in EE, getting an MBA, and doing management, and also, I've heard undergrad means little. In addition, UT and UM might be a bit more expensive. I'm not instate for UW, but I think its quite a bit cheaper than the other 2. So yeah, what would you guys do in my situation? The reason that friends going there is so important to me is because, although I do socialize, I'm not overly social either, and I'm afraid going into a totally different environment, in a totally different local, with not even other friends that can help me meet new people will be kinda hard on me (on top of that, Ann Arbor and UT are pretty competitive). So yeah...

thanks!

Undergraduate engineering specialties:
Electrical / Electronic / Communications
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)

1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
2. Stanford University (CA)
3. University of California–Berkeley *
4. U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
5. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
6. Georgia Institute of Technology *
7. California Institute of Technology
8. Cornell University (NY)
9. Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
10. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
11. University of Texas–Austin *
12. Princeton University (NJ)
13. Univ. of California–Los Angeles *
14. Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
15. Rice University (TX)
16. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY)
Univ. of Southern California
18. Northwestern University (IL)
19. Duke University (NC)
Texas A&M Univ.–College Station *
Univ. of California–San Diego *
University of Washington *
Virginia Tech *
24. Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
Univ. of Maryland–College Park *
Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities *
27. Johns Hopkins University (MD)

07-14-2007, 12:18 AM	#1
california_love8 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Threads: 537 Posts: 1,070	Is there much difference within T20? Hey, sorry to post another topic (I've been posting a lot lately), but I was wondering how great of an advantage would be given if someone went to a school ranked 20th in a department compared to a school ranked 11th or so. The reason I ask is because, reasonably, I'm considering 4 schools for engineering: 1. University of Washington 2. U-Mich 3. USC 4. UT-Austin I have a pretty good shot at all (2,3 might be hard because they can be random sometimes, but I'm pretty much good to go at the others according to what I hear), but would it be a huge mistake to turn down UT for UW or even UM for UW? The reason I ask is because I might be overall happier at UW since I have a ton of friends going there, and its definately not bad given that its T20 and beat schools like Hopkins, but UMich or UT is higher ranked, so would they get better jobs? I was especially wondering because I'm planning on getting a degree in EE, getting an MBA, and doing management, and also, I've heard undergrad means little. In addition, UT and UM might be a bit more expensive. I'm not instate for UW, but I think its quite a bit cheaper than the other 2. So yeah, what would you guys do in my situation? The reason that friends going there is so important to me is because, although I do socialize, I'm not overly social either, and I'm afraid going into a totally different environment, in a totally different local, with not even other friends that can help me meet new people will be kinda hard on me (on top of that, Ann Arbor and UT are pretty competitive). So yeah... thanks! Undergraduate engineering specialties: Electrical / Electronic / Communications (At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate) 1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 2. Stanford University (CA) 3. University of California–Berkeley * 4. U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign * 5. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor * 6. Georgia Institute of Technology * 7. California Institute of Technology 8. Cornell University (NY) 9. Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)* 10. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 11. University of Texas–Austin * 12. Princeton University (NJ) 13. Univ. of California–Los Angeles * 14. Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison * 15. Rice University (TX) 16. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY) Univ. of Southern California 18. Northwestern University (IL) 19. Duke University (NC) Texas A&M Univ.–College Station * Univ. of California–San Diego * University of Washington * Virginia Tech * 24. Pennsylvania State U.–University Park * Univ. of Maryland–College Park * Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities * 27. Johns Hopkins University (MD)