Firecube2426

I"m hearing things like, " College A has a better architect program than B" or "College Z has a better computer science program than Y".

Specifically I never knew why people say these things and I've had a hard time researching this fact.

Is it cuz they looked at the rankings from USATODAY that makes certain colleges with certain programs better?

Is it cuz the fact College A gives more internship and co op opportunities than college B?

Is it cuz the fact that College Z's professors shove more workload into your face?

and last, for example, tell me why Carnegie Mellon would have a better computer science and dont' give me "cuz it's ranked high on the USATODAY"

mydegisunacred

facilities, quality and amount of research, prestige of professors

to name a few

ken285

In addition to what mydegisunacred mentioned...

- access to internships and job placement was a big factor for me
- courses offered, specifically electives in my area of interest
- class size

Firecube2426

Ok thanks for your reply, it's just that I wouldn't know how it would pertain to USnews rankings.

mydegisunacred

The usnews rankings simply try to quantify all the factors that make an engineering school good.

Be wary of any ranking system. The quality of your undergraduate education does not correlate to these numbers.

Mr Payne

For undergraduate schools, the strength of the program *should* be determined by how well it prepares you for the workforce.

Practical & numerous labs/homework/projects is the best way to guarantee that.

notre dame AL

Job placement of graduates--career centers should be able to discuss this with you.

Nesquik

Actually, I thought that the engineering rankings were just the results of those "peer assessment" surveys they send out to all the engineering departments. If I'm correct, I think the rankings would be more representative of the programs reputation within academia than of research opportunities or job placement

ken285

I'm sure there's a very significant correlation between a programs reputation within academia and the research opportunities it offers.