<p>Take every ranking with a grain of salt. Look closely at the criteria used in the ranking. Many ranking systems use quantitative measures. The number of faculty, the number of academic papers published, etc. Large engineering schools have an obvious advantage in rankings based on quantity. Princeton engineering departments in chemical & biological, civil & environmental, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical & aerospace, OR & financial engineering are all highly ranked. Because Princeton does not have departments in industrial engineering, geological engineering, nuclear engineering, material science, engineering management, or systems engineering some ranking systems will rank the Princeton engineering school lower than universities that offer more courses and have more faculty members.</p>
<p>In ranking systems based on quality indicators Princeton engineering is highly ranked. The Times Higher Education ranked Princeton third in the world ahead of Georgia Tech and UIUC. See [Top</a> Universities for Engineering & Technology 2011-2012](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/engineering-and-it.html]Top”>Subject Ranking 2011-12: Engineering & Technology | Times Higher Education (THE)) Princeton engineering departments rank very high when the criteria is quality; for example when the number of academic citations is considered. </p>
<p>The National Research Council recently conducted the most comprehensive analysis of university academic departments. Follow this link to learn how Princeton academic departments were rated: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=National+Research+Council[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=National+Research+Council</a> </p>
<p>The president of Princeton, Shirley Tilghman, briefly discusses ranking systems in this article. [Princeton</a> Alumni Weekly: President’s Page](<a href=“Issues | Princeton Alumni Weekly”>Issues | Princeton Alumni Weekly) </p>
<p>At some universities students apply to the separate schools within the university; for example a student will apply to the business school, the engineering school, or the college of arts & sciences. If the student in the business school desires to study engineering the student has to apply again to the engineering school for admission. At Princeton all students apply to the university and can easily transfer to any department.</p>
<p>The Business Journal reported that Cal Tech is the most selective university on the West Coast and Princeton the most selective university on the East Coast. The Princeton middle 50% math SAT scores are 710 to 800. Engineering students tend to have scored well on the math SATs.</p>