A reputational survey of employers of mechanical engineering graduates regarding colleges seen favorably or unfavorably for mechanical engineering may be helpful in the context of this thread. But such a thing apparently does not exist.
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My dad was an engineering professor at UT for over 50 years. Even though his department was always one of the highest ranked in the country, he didn’t put much stock in the rankings.
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60k a year would put me about 40k in total debt. I can afford in state tuition at the public schools. Is 40k debt worth the prestige and opportunity offered by these private schools? I am applying for scholarships to help reduce the cost.
I’m not a fan of debt at all - but 40K over four years and you plan to work - yes, it’s worth it for this group of schools in my opinion - at least Cal Tech and Stanford.
But again, you have to get in!!!
Note - you can only borrow $27K - so your parents will have to borrow the rest. Will they agree?
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40k total would be doable for an engineer, yes.
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In my opinion, it’s also worth it for Harvey Mudd.
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I think that depends on whether or not you get into Cal Poly.
My bias is clear. I’m a huge Cal Poly fan. Let me explain why.
Cal Poly has a large engineering program. Mechanical Engineering for example has twice as many students as UCLA. As a result, they have extensive facilities. There are over 80 dedicated lab spaces in the college of engineering alone. Nearly every class has a lab, so courses like vibrations that are lecture only classes at most schools will have a lab project. Some of those projects are as robust as senior projects at other schools.
Usually the way to manage a big program like that is through large lectures and graduate students running discussions and labs. Cal Poly has neither. They don’t offer PhDs, so they have very few TAs. Classes are small by intent. My son started in Calc III and Physics II for example, typically large classes at most schools. They had 32 and 45 students respectively.
The clubs are phenomenal, and all undergrad run. They have the typical SAE and hyper mile stuff, but CubeSat was invented at Cal Poly and still managed there. PROVE is ultra cool. Look it up.
According to College Scorecard, average salaries for Cal Poly ME grads are the same as MIT.
In summary, it’s an undergraduate focused institution with resources like big research universities. It is fairly unique in this regard.
So, would I go into debt if I had Cal Poly in my pocket? No, not even for MIT or Stanford. Neither did our son. He chose to stay at Cal Poly for his MS rather than moving to Stanford. If you want to know how it worked out for him, send me a PM.
Good luck!
P.S. Paging @aunt_bea for the Caltech perspective.
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All you can do is wait and hope that the stars align. Whether they align is anyone’s guess right now, but based on the decline rate and cost of of these schools, I’m assuming you have some safety schools in mind, right? 
Not sure of his “back up” plans but OP did write this so whether it’s his top of current acceptances, I don’t know but it is an acceptance: I have been accepted to Cal Poly Pomona.
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MechE at Cal Poly Pomona is an impacted major. Is the OP admitted to the Mech E major? Given that they are applying to top schools as well, chances are that they are very strong candidate, and probably will be accepted into the mechanical engineering major at Cal poly Pomona, but still important to confirm.
Yeah, personally I am not comfortable opining that the most famous tech research universities are necessarily better for undergrad engineering specifically than undergrad-only programs that are really focused on doing a great job educating engineers. Nor am I saying the opposite (I have seen some working engineers say something like that, but not consistently enough to make it a universal). I just don’t think there is any sort of hard rule about those famous universities really being worth more specifically to undergraduates who want to be working engineers.
And again, as a simple numbers game, there just are not that many engineers coming out of those famous colleges anyway. So necessarily, most of the industry is dominated by people coming out of the many public engineering powerhouses.
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Well those 3 schools are reaches for anyone with low admits so good thing you have some solid, affordable programs to go to. Being worth the extra money I think is a personal choice. We paid more for oos since we saw the potential benefits and just a better fit but also has the funds to do so cleanly. No debt is the best to have. Keep in mind but never count on it, during any of these programs there should be co-op /internship opportunities. You will get paid. But don’t count on that money. My son had a fantastic one during covid and it was shut down days before. But if the current history is it’s easier now to get some summer paid one’s it might help offset what you are borrowing for college. My son also worked all 4 years. 15 hours avg or/ about per week. This helped offset some expenses.
Keep in mind also that for most companies you will be hired with students from all types of programs. Some you never heard of m, but they all got hired by the same company.
Good luck. You seem to have a bright future.
My first question to you is why Caltech? You do understand that it is a research institution?
Let me repeat that for emphasis: it’s a research institution.
You will not get the same college experience at Caltech, that you would at a UCLA, Cal Poly or Berkeley experience.
With Caltech it’s a very small school. Because of that, and its reputation, you will constantly have Google, Microsoft, Amazon recruiters on campus, every term. So the thing that I need to reiterate is you won’t have a normal college experience. You’ll go in running.
All 200, of the incoming freshmen, take the same courses together with some exceptions. The professors will lecture, and then they will return to their private offices and continue their own research.
You will be given exams and grades by newly minted graduate students. Many of them have had limited, to no experience, in teaching and some of them have poor English production skills and some have difficulty in communicating what they want to teach you. That was our son’s experience.
Our son was extremely capable in math. There was an issue with a math problem, that was developed by one of his GA’s, and it was in error. So our son was “nominated” by classmates, to see the graduate assistant and to show him the error.
The GA was so upset that one of his tests would be “challenged” that he failed my son’s test. It was later reversed through the Dean. I must complement the dean because the dean said “these are the kinds of students we accept at Caltech who can figure out the errors.”
Now I have to clarify, my son is a good kid he’s not obnoxious, nor snooty. Other parents always comment that he’s just such a polite kid. He was “nominated” by his classmates to go speak with the GA because our son has a very down-to-earth, laid-back manner and is very approachable. Apparently, his classmates felt that he would represent them best and a number of them didn’t have “strong” communication skills.
If you are seeking a non-traditional college experience at a research institution, and you want to go in debt for that, then that’s on you.
But there are so many options. You will find employment anywhere as a mechanical engineer in California. It’s about the right fit and the right industrial experiences while you were in undergrad.
Our son ended up transferring out of Caltech because he didn’t “fit” that research institution. He wanted a true college experience. He’s always been very employable and is making good money as an EECS grad.
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I like Caltech becuase they provide a strong education in all of the STEM areas. I enjoy all my STEM classes and am eager to be surrounded by other passionate individuals. At my current school, STEM passion is lacking and its a bit isolating. Caltech is also known for its strong community which I think would be a good environment. Caltech’s Surf program would expose me to research, inudustry vs research is something I could change my mind on later down the road.
I like Cal Poly becuase of the ample opportunities for practical application. I visited the campus and fell in love with it. I did apply to Cal Poly Slo for Manufactuing Engineering instead of mechanical. There is also more variety of clubs and organizations at Cal Poly.
I would be very happy to go to Cal Poly Slo, but I would be worried about letting go of the opportunity to study at these schools. I know decisions haven’t come out yet, but with so little time to pick a school once they do, I like to do some thinking ahead of time.
To clarify, I have been accepted to SDSU and Cal Poly Pomona for mechanical engieering.
You probably won’t have a lot of time to explore other STEM areas when you’re an engineering major. I had exactly four semesters of “electives” in engineering school. I chose tennis, racquet ball, and two semesters of astronomy. There is just so much to learn in engineering in four years! I encourage you to take as many analysis and design classes as you can - that’s what employers want to see. They won’t care if you’re well-rounded in science.
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If you want to be well-rounded, HMC sounds like a better choice than CalTech’s intensity and laser focus.
Hopefully one will match your vibe best, they’re different enough
Cal Poly is an amazing choice - CA students are so incredibly lucky to have such great public universities of applied science.
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My husband is an Engineering manager and technical advisor for a large, very well known global engineering contractor. He hires and interviews a lot of students from San Diego State, Long Beach, and the Cal Poly’s because he likes their internship experiences and work ethic. His software engineering colleague also prefers to hire from the Cal states.
If you get into Caltech and you decide that you have to go there for whatever reason, then you need to go in with eyes open.
We were fortunate that at our children’s HS school, academic strength and competitiveness were the norm. All three of my children were accepted to the top 20s.
You do know that you will feel somewhat isolated at Caltech? You will feel the need to do a lot on your own because it is “expected”. Yes you will commiserate with people in your dorm, but you’re largely on your own.
Yes you will be surrounded by some of the most brilliant young minds you’ve ever encountered, but everyone is so busy doing their own thing, that you’re not going to hold existential conversations about life. The thing is that these kids are so passionate about what they study, that such passion continues singularly. Your major conversations are going to be, during study breaks, about the latest “video” game.
Also, expect to spend a lot of money on Lake Avenue when you get your meals. In Avery, and some of the other dorms, the cafeteria staff don’t like to work weekends so- Uber eats, door dash, it is!
Plus you won’t want to be away from your studying and you will order in food, a lot! Pasadena is not cheap, as we found out when we provided our son with his budget for meals.
If you visit, you’ll see the campus and visit a few rooms. They have a phenomenal computer lab now, but most people will be in their rooms studying because they like it like that.
It just seems to be a very expensive education for some idealized image that you formulated about Caltech. It’s a very good school and has a lot of advantages and my son is grateful for the experience but it wasn’t what he expected.
We were able to pay cash upfront because we had savings. But the cost of his education was about $72,000 a year. Now $20,000 more?
Also please note that if you apply to my husband’s company for employment, they will run a credit check on you. It’s a secured employer. They’re very picky about their employees. They have trade secrets and If you have debt, depending on what program you go to, they can opt not to hire you.
With mechanical engineering it’s all about coursework and internships and what your supervisors say about you. You can go to any school and if you have good experiences, and great grades you’ll be hired in an instant. You will meet some of the greatest minds at your employer.
An engineering major must take at least 1/4 of course work in math and natural sciences and at least 3/8 in engineering science and engineering design. The remaining at most 3/8 has to include general education (humanities and social science). In practice, most engineering majors at most schools have more than 5/8 of the course work in required technical courses, so there is little space for free electives.
However, advanced placement in subjects like math may give some free elective space, and some requirements allow a limited choice (e.g. upper level technical elective from a list of course options).
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I just want to note this problem is going to be cured for you at any decent engineering college. Particularly after the initial weed out phase, the remaining engineering majors are mostly going to be quite enthusiastic about what they are doing.
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I had some advance credit and I took classes during the summer and it was still tough graduating in four years.
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