albert87

lol, dun get me started about harvey mudd lol...

rocketDA

i'd say princeton engineering is around top 10...

My Overall Undergrad Ranking for Engineering (deviance from USWNR):
#1- MIT, HMC, Olin (0,0, ?)
#4- Caltech, Stanford (+5,-1)
#6- UC Berkeley (-3)
#7- Rose Hulman, U Mich (-6,+2)
#9- CMU, USC, Purdue (-3,-2,+3)
#12- UCLA, Princeton (+4,+6)
#14- UTexAustin (-3)

BIASES (based on how I perceive them, which is important for adjusting my perspective based on compartmentalized variables!)

Regional Bias:
West Coast: +3
Mid-West: -4
South: -3
East Coast: +6

Size Bias:
Small: -1
Medium: +6
Large: -3

Adjusting...(which isn't exactly right but helps with bias trends)
#1- Rose Hulman (0)
#2- HMC (-1)
#3- MIT, Stanford (-2,-1)
#5- Caltech, UC Berkeley, Olin (+2,-2,?)
#8- UTex Austin (+3)
#9- USC (-2)
#10- UMich (-1)
#11- CMU, Purdue (-5,+1)
#13- UCLA (+3)
#14- Princeton (+4)

Which is a bit screwy... so I'll settle with my reasonable rankings being the average of my original and the adjusted...
#1- HMC (0)
#2- MIT (-1)
#3- Olin (?)
#4- Stanford (-2)
#5- Rose Hulman (-4)
#6- Caltech (+1)
#7- UC Berkeley (-4)
#8- UMich (+1)
#9- USC (-2)
#10- CMU, Purdue (-4,+2)
#12- UTex Austin (-1)
#13- UCLA (+3)
#14- Princeton (+4)

Note: I'm biased in favor of HMC since it is my school. I recognize that but I still think it should be top 4...

rocketDA

so, yeah, princeton is very good...but you're battling with beasts that focus on engineering.

atomicfusion

I really can't see Princeton being better than Cornell in undergrad engineering. I know Princeton is really good for graduate engineering (I'd say around 10-15), but I'm talking about just undergrad.

Start all you want, but this thread is about Princeton, not Mudd. No need to get defensive.

posterX

Obviously P is a very, very good choice.

f.scottie

>I really can't see Princeton being better than Cornell in undergrad engineering. I know Princeton is really good for graduate engineering (I'd say around 10-15), but I'm talking about just undergrad.

well, u.s. news has separate rankings for undergraduate and graduate engineering programs, and in the undergrad rankings, cornell is #10 and princeton is #11. yale, if memory serves, lags well behind in the 40's.

posterX

... and Swarthmore doesn't appear in them at all, even though it sends its engineering grads onto the top engineering grad schools in greater number than almost any other program out there. The undergraduate USNWR are heavily biased by program size. Incidentally that may also be why you see Cornell above Princeton in them. Princeton only #11? I would say it's definitely top five if not better. The quality-based rankings (posted above) are more accurate, I would argue.

rocketDA

I forgot to include Cornell. I think it would be around the #7 spot.

Princeton is a great school. The engineering program is very good... there is no doubt about that.

A lot of times, rankings are splitting hairs... and I don't see Princeton in a different league as the big hitters but at places like MIT and Mudd, engineering is a major focus at the school.

coolness_rookie

Thanks for all the replies! So I think most people here generally agree that Princeton is a top-10 engineering school. I have a few more questions.

1) What GPA do you need to get into top engineering grad school from Princeton? (MIT, Stanford, etc.)
2) How is taking the Integrated Science program via engineering route?

Thanks!

Kamera

Hey. I'm a rising senior in HS, and I'm interested in Computer Science/Engineering. When I visited Princeton, the program looked great - except we were toured by an ORFE student who really did know much about the other departments. -_-;

Out of curiosity, does anyone know roughly how many girls are in the Princeton undergrad engineering program? (As a female engineering student, this is actually a pretty important issue.)

ec1234

it depends on the major. There are VERY few women in CS (although there are several women faculty members). More women are in chem-e, civ-e, mae. Not very many are in ELE. I think that a decent number are in ORFE

Silly Puddy

In 2006, ~30% of BSE degrees conferred were to women
In 2005, the number was ~36%

http://registrar1.princeton.edu/data/dgconf.pdf

One little word of caution interpreting the above data, though: these are the degrees given to the classes that graduated in 2005, 2006, etc. Since then, there've been a number of changes, including a greater emphasis on engineering (especially getting women into the field) and a new dean of admissions. The numbers for '08, '09, and '10 may thus be pretty different.

Also, like ec1234 notes, more relevant might be the particular field of engineering you're looking at. While majors like ORFE might be close to 50/50, CS isn't known as a hotbed of women. This generally seems reflective of a national trend in computer science. The NYT actually had an interesting piece on this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/sc...e5e1&ei=5 070

Powis

This year SEAS is about 45% female, your comments about CS are on the money apparently.

bruno172

Forget the rankings. Princeton engineering is actually one of the best programs in the US and offers excellent preparation for graduate school as it focuses much more on engineering science/mathematics than other more application/industry-oriented school. In fact, I think the level of math/science training you will get at Princeton engineering is second only to Caltech maybe in the US.

bruno172

I don't think you can really compare LACs like HMC, Rose-Hulman and Olin with research universities. They are so different in nature that they are not directly comparable.

In any case, I don't know what makes HMC or Rose-Hulman so great for engineering. I am not aware of faculty from those colleges serving in editorial boards of major journals or technical committees of major professional societies. In fact, I hardly see a paper from HMC, Rose-Hulman or Olin in any major engineering conference. I don't know how those schools do either in terms of industry recruiting.

If you go to Princeton for example, you'll get small classes, LAC-like attention to undergrads and, at the same time, you will be taught by professors who are top researchers in their fields and will write you great letters of recommendation.

On the other hand, if you go to a industry-oriented school like CMU, you will have tons of job offers from employers like Google, Microsoft or Intel in addition to, if you work with the right prof as an undergraduate intern, also
great letters of recommendation for grad school (CMU faculty includes for example former editors-in-chief of all 3 major IEEE journals on signal processing : Tsuhan Chen, Jose Moura, and Jelena Kovacevic).