Avoid elite Chemical Engineering programs - advice from a grad student

College Search & Lists
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I went to Virginia Tech back in the 1980’s. While I believe they were a much more highly ranked Engineering program back then than they are now, one thing I know for sure - you worked your a** off, and kids were flunking out still in their junior year. When you got a textbook, you could count on every chapter being covered and showing up on exams. Yes, sometimes classes were too large and Grad Assistant’s were usually not very good - I mean, how many of them actually want to be doing this work? - but I think this is pretty common across academia.

My son now attends NC State, another school with middling rankings but where the kids have to work hard and from what I have seen, you cannot count on grade inflation.

So, what’s the best way to learn? To be surrounded by REALLY smart kids who are not being pushed at top ranked schools (for whatever reason), or to be surrounded by less brilliance but be in a program where you are expected to work hard, the pressure stays on for the entirety of your studies, and you are surrounded by people who are more like most of the folks you will work with during your career - average.

I don’t know the answer - curious about people’s reactions.

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The problem with the US News engineering rankings is that they are based on a survey, and the survey results seem to be based largely on research spending not on the quality of the program or on how knowledgeable students are when they graduate.

The result is that the rankings tend to over-rank large research universities with average quality applicants, that focus on just meeting ABET accreditation standards. In contrast, the rankings tend to under-rank smaller schools with high quality applicants and rigorous programs that go well beyond the minimum requirements.

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