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<p>Of course this all depends on how you choose to define ‘best’. If you just want to talk purely about academics and employer respect, I would say that the best engineering school is MIT.</p>
<p>However, in the context of this thread, I would say that ‘best’ is a combination of both strong academics, employer respect, along with a friendly and healthy student environment. This is why I think Stanford edges out the other schools. Simply put, I think the emphasis on harsh ‘macho’ weeding that is so prevalent in most other top engineering schools is the mark of a highly deleterious and reactionary culture. While Stanford still weeds, it does so to a significantly lesser extent than its peer schools do. I think Stanford engages in a quite enlightened form of engineering education - admit only those people who are actually going to be able to graduate, and then help those students graduate. Furthermore, as Sam Lee pointed out, you are free to switch to pick from a full portfolio of majors if engineering doesn’t pan out. </p>
<p>The point is, I see Stanford as having the best combination of the widest breadth and best flexibility of all the schools. Some public schools have arguably an even wider slate of majors to pick from, but the problem is that it’s not entirely trivial to switch from major to major.</p>