<p>Over the last few years I have grown increasingly more interested in the field of Electrical and Computer Engineering. I have discussed this degree with many who have went through the process and it seems to be extremely diverse, which is something I highly value in any degree. I want a degree which will be dynamic enough to where I won’t be stuck in on position for the rest of my life. With that being said, there are a few caveats with my choice of school. For one, there are many, many schools with outstanding programs. The question I pose is which one is right for me? </p>
<p>I’m 17 years old and will be a Senior in high school. I attend what I consider to be an average Midwestern public high school which only offers a total of 2 AP classes: AP Calculus and AP College Composition. I am taking both next year. My school does, however, offer courses which they call CITS or College In The Schools where we receive college credit at a local state college. The following are some of the courses I have taken:</p>
<p>CITS Honors Physics
CITS Business Seminar
CITS Honors Chemistry
CITS Honors American History
CITS Honors World History
CITS CISCO Networking
CITS Pre-Calculus</p>
<p>My unweighted GPA as of now is 3.7 which can easily be raised next year if it is not high enough. I have not (unfortunately) taken my ACTs yet though I am scheduled to. For reference (and this is completely estimating) my friend who we both consider to be less intelligent than I had an overall composite score of 32 so I would imagine I’ll be around there if not slightly higher. On the practice tests I’ve been taking, I have been getting anywhere from 33-36. The EC activities I am involved in include the following (it certainly is not as diverse as some but I only do what I am passionate about… not what the admissions personnel would like to see):</p>
<p>President of Business Professionals of America chapter in which I also competed nationally 2 consecutive years
Paid internship at a large regional medical center in Information Services during the summer of 2006 and 2007 at 40 hours a week
Student Council
Key Club
Varsity Soccer
Junior Rotarians</p>
<p>I have considered the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Michigan Tech and others but I am wondering what your opinions are. Money is not an option (at least to a degree) and there is only a slight preference regarding location which would be the east coast. I am an individual thinker but excel in group environments. I like urban areas but northern Minnesota is extremely serene so a rural area is not out of the question. While I understand that ACT and SAT scores need to be known for an accurate estimate, is Stanford completely out of the question or an attainable goal with a considerable amount of work? Any suggestions on my path during the next 6 months would also be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I think Stanford would be a reasonable reach for you.
U Minnesota is highly regarded, too.</p>
<p>An ACT of 33 translates into an SAT of about 1470 which is pretty high. Keep in mind that the engineering students generally have the highest SATs at a school.</p>
<p>Undergraduate engineering specialties:
Electrical / Electronic / Communications
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
Methodology<br>
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br>
Stanford University (CA)
University of California–Berkeley *
U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
Georgia Institute of Technology *
California Institute of Technology<br>
Carnegie Mellon University ¶
Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
Cornell University (NY)
University of Texas–Austin *
Princeton University (NJ)
Univ. of California–Los Angeles *
Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
Northwestern University (IL)
Rice University (TX)
Univ. of California–San Diego *
Johns Hopkins University (MD)
Univ. of Southern California<br>
Virginia Tech *
Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
University of Virginia *
Duke University (NC)
Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH)
Texas A&M Univ.–College Station *
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY)
University of Washington *
Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities *</p>
Within engineering it is quite difficult to move and keep doing engineering. You will not find computer engineers moving into analog design, high-voltage engineers moving into microelectronics, etc. The job mobility is into management or engineering-related areas such as product marketing or apps engineering.</p>
This is precisely what I was implying though I did a bad job at it. I work with an ECE major and he does nothing related to engineering though he still loves his job. My friend’s father is also an ECE by trade but he’s now a programmer and makes a great living but is also very flexible as he works for himself. I’m not saying these two paths are what I’d like but if engineering does, for some reason, get winded I’ll always have a strong degree to fall back on. Thanks for the input thus far and I anticipate further input on the topic.</p>
<p>When you said “money is not an option”, did you mean money is not a factor in your decision?</p>
<p>I think U of Minn is a safety for you.</p>
<p>Minnesota and Wisconsin are both great. Other midwestern schools for engineering are Michigan, Illinois, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Purdue. In the east, check out Maryland, UVA, Duke, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, JHU, Penn State,RPI, Lehigh.</p>
<p>I don’t think Stanford is out of the question for you at all. U of Minn can definitely be considered a saftey.</p>
<p>collegehelp, where did you get that data for the top schools for engineering? I’m looking for a similar list for biology but haven’t been able to find one.</p>
<p>Biology rankings from Gourman Report
Caltech
MIT
Yale
Harvard
Wisconsin
UC San Diego
UC Berkeley
U Colorado
Columbia
Stanford
U Washington
U Chicago
Duke
Wash U St Louis
UCLA
U Michigan
Cornell
U Penn
Purdue
Indiana U
UNC Chapel Hill
U Utah
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
Princeton
UC Irvine
Notre Dame
UC Santa Barbara
UVA
Brown
U Illinois Urbana Champaign
U Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt
U Oregon
SUNY Stony Brook
U Rochester
Tufts
U Minnesota
SUNY Buffalo
U Texas Austin
Florida State
Michigan State
USC
U Connecticut
UC Riverside
Rice
Iowa State
SUNY Albany
Case Western
Boston U
Ohio State
NYU
U Iowa
Penn State
Emory
Brandeis
U Kansas
Rutgers New Brunswick
Tulane
US Air Force Academy
U Missouri Columbia</p>