I’m an engineering student (probably gonna major in electrical engineering in the future) and I got into Duke today and I’m really excited right now! But I also got CMU offer and I know CMU has an excellent engineering school, like you have great internship and research opportunities and it’s the feeder school to lots of great companies. Also, I don’t plan to immediately find a job after graduation, and I’ll probably go to a graduate school and maybe do more research. So which one is better? Thanks for the advice!
Whichever one you prefer is the better one. And can afford.
Duke isn’t showing earnings but…
CMU is showing a median 129K but over half going to grad school whereas at Duke far more are working.
Good luck.
Undergraduate Student Outcomes | Duke Electrical & Computer Engineering
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thank you! this really helps
There is no “better” unless you make a detailed list to judge that by.
I can tell you this…my son is an electromechanical engineer, and is the youngest member of an elite team that doesn’t hire new grads. He is 29. The people he works with went to school all over the world, including MIT and Podunk U.
It will be much more about the effort you put into your classes and adjacent academic activities like clubs and jobs, than it will be about choosing between those two schools.
Pick the one you want to go to, and take advantage of the opportunities in front of you.
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This is easily CMU. CMU is always top 4 easily for STEM, and will provide you with a much better grasp of engineering concepts, which is needed for Masters. Duke is definitely good, but does not compare to CMU in terms of engineering
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Focus on the college environment where you’d like to spend the next four years.
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OP, please ignore this.
I’m in no way saying that Duke is better or that CMU is worse. It’s just misguided advice to make such declarative statements with such a vacuum of information. These sorts of proclamations are made based on rankings and almost never with a deeper understanding of the programs being discussed. In this case, It’s advice from a student your age. Take it with a grain of salt. CMU is not for everyone. It could be great for you or it could be a disaster.
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If BME then Duke else CMU. When you have multiple equally good schools, rankings and reputation are a far better objective criteria next to $$$. Fit is nebulous and overrated and needs to be taken into account in the initial school list. Assessing fit after the fact is often a backwards looking exercise where someone has a bias and then they cherry pick factors to justify that bias.
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