<p>Has anyone gone to a school that made the U.S News & World Report top engineering schools list, but the ranking was down in the 3rd or 4th tier (like a 2.7 rate)?
We are trying to understand how strong the name or ranking of the school one graduates from really matters in getting that first job compared to the degree itself. For instance, both NCSU and UNC Charlotte have made the U.S.News list, but UNC Charlotte rates significantly further down the list with a 2.7 rating.</p>
<p>Another factor is how the Student Review website rates a school. UNC Charlotte rates an abismal D+ by the students, but surprisingly, NCSU who is considered a highly rated engineering school does not do much better. It only gets a C+ by students. Should this kind of assessment have a whole lot of bearing on determining a college choice? (A lot of times, people only report their feelings about something if they personally had a bad experience. The ones who had a good experience and are busy with their job and life don’t often take the time to visit such sites and fill out surveys).</p>
<p>We, obviously, want our son to be educated in his field – not just get a “purchased degree”. So, getting a good education is certainly top priority, but isn’t this goal pretty much covered if a school meets these two criteria: 1) being ABET acredited and 2) having made the U.S. News list? Should student reviews take higher presidence over college evaluating services like U.S. News and Princeton Review? … Your thoughts please?</p>
<p>I go to a school that is ranked 10 in the Midwest but I can still give you and your son some advice.</p>
<p>First of all, visit the campuses. Talk to students while you are there. Get a feel for the environment. While a school may be ABET accredited, that just means it offers the right courses. It doesn’t mean its professors are any good at teaching nor does it mean that the school has good labs and so forth. I usually don’t care much about the popularity of a school etc but if it is constantly getting low reviews (perhaps like those schools you listed) I would probably search around for other options. </p>
<p>But like I said, your best bet is simply visiting the schools and research further. My school does this thing where high school seniors can actually spend a day with a student from here so they can see first hand what the classes are like. Try and see if that’s a possibility too.</p>
<p>If you are from NC, Try Chapel Hill.
The best way to judge a school is to get how big its engineering building are…IF they are massive and require a 2nd campus practically, that is a good think.</p>
<p>I visited my state university and their egineering building is a shack…It got crossed off my list.</p>
<p>Chapel Hill doesn’t have a engineering school. NCSU is the best school for engineering in NC along with Duke. I predict the engineering school will rise in rank. They are actually in the process of building 6 new buildings for engineering and have a new dean concerned about rankings. I also read that they are shifting their funding focus back towards engineering. More and more nearby companies are contributing money to the university. Research triangle park is one of the fastest growing tech clusters in the US. The area recruits engineers heavily from Ncsu and Duke. </p>
<p>Also studentreviews is completely random since its not based off everyone’s opinion. Most people on studentreviews vent their bad experiences out rather then the good ones.</p>
<p>Really, you just need to look at the school. For one, just because the school as a whole is tier 4 or 3, doesn’t mean that the engineering programs won’t be better. Also, the rankings really don’t seem to mean much once you graduate. Engineering is a hard science; it comes down to what you know, not who taught you.</p>
<p>As everyone else said before, go visit the school. Rankings are not going to tell you if the school is a good fit for you (in fact, for undergraduate they really don’t matter in my opinion, but that is for another thread). Just pick the one that feels right.</p>
<p>I’d have to agree with the above poster, people can put way too much emphasis on undergraduate schools. If you’re gonna go to a high end school you might be better off waiting to do your masters there. Once you get your masters employers aren’t really going to care where you got your undergraduate degree from.</p>
<p>Don’t most of the top professors teach at top schools? That’s how students in top programs know their stuff so well. They were given the resources, facilities, and professors. That’s what I always thought.</p>
<p>Not necessarily. The top professors are not necessarily the top <em>teachers</em>. Being a professor involves bringing in funding, and if you’re a good teacher, unfortunately, nobody really gives a rat’s rear. (Of course, the students do, but students don’t net million-dollar grants from the NSF… Just a few paltry tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.)</p>
<p>So you can get some really fantastic teachers at schools that aren’t top research institutions and get a really great undergraduate experience by people who really care about teaching.</p>
<p>You can also get some really young professors who are just starting out in their careers, who will eventually be really notable professors in their fields.</p>
<p>So, it’s not a sure thing, by any means, but don’t necessarily discount the lower tier schools, and don’t necessarily exalt the higher-ranked schools.</p>
<p>yes, that is very true. I don’t how many professors I’ve met who could careless about their students. Big research university is like that unfortunately, but it does open more doors to jobs and internships…</p>
<p>These so called “top professors” from “top schools” have T.A.'s that teach many of their classes. A good professor is hard to come by in any school. Professors are often knowledgeable but poor teachers. </p>
<p>Students from “top schools” are so good at what they do because they are intelligent enough to get into these schools to begin with. In something like engineering I don’t feel a school makes a person a better engineer.</p>
<p>What all the people above me said. From what I have seen, some of the “top” undergraduate universities are plagued by professors who really could give a rats ass what the undergrads do, much less care to actually teach them. That is why whenever you visit, try and meet some professors in the program you are interested. If they don’t care about you then, chances are they won’t during the semester either.</p>
<p>Look for the professors who care more about teaching than research grants for your undergrad, THEN worry about rankings and the money being brought in for grad school. Because really, the rankings do not matter one iota for undergrad. Especially in engineering.</p>