Is McCormick a good school for EE? [undergrad]

top955
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 01:38:14 +0000

As someone who loves learning about and working with circuits—but knows little about what being an EE actually entailsI was wondering if you could help inform my decision in choosing between Northwestern and some of the more well-known state schools like UIUC or UMichigan.

I think Northwestern would be the best fit for me socially, but in terms of the strength of the EE department I have a hard time ignoring the #4/#5 ranking of UIUC/UMich compared with NU which is not ranked among the top undergrad EE programs at all. I always read about the fact that companies go out of their way to recruit at UIUC, yet I struggle to find evidence of the same at NU. Overall, I just get the sense that, among EEs, UIUC is the more well-known school than NU.

Obviously as a high school student I have no way of knowing how much of the above actually matters… Thus, I would really appreciate any perspective/opinion you might have about the advantages of attending McCormick over a large state school like UIUC.

I also get the impression that a graduate of McCormick might be more likely to get a job on the business/management side of engineering, whereas a UIUC grad would be more prepared for more of a technical design job involving more work with the circuits and schematics themselves (which—at this point—I think I would enjoy more). Do you think this is an accurate stereotype?

Thank you for you time!! I really appreciate it.