Once you're in, how do you choose?

Alumother
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:58:13 +0000

Floating,

I work with a lot of engineers:). Spreadsheet sounds good. However, I suggest that you set it up like this.


Specific academic strength fit, i.e. what are the course offerings, undergraduate program, facilities such as labs etc., and faculty research like in the department you are aiming for. The department websites have great information.
General academic program fit, i.e. are you in a separate school for engineering, what sort of core courses or distribution requirements do they have, how strong are the courses for non-majors to meet distribution requirements, will you have large lectures, small seminars, or a mix, etc.
Social fit - culture, i.e. what is the rooming program like, how cohesive is the student body, how much large parties vs. small parties vs. no parties, how many kids in black vs. kids in pink vs. kids in school colors vs. kids who are too busy thinking about algorithms to notice what they put on:).
Social fit - location, i.e. in a city, in a suburb, in the country, architecture style, east coast west coast, proximity to home etc.


For all of the colleges you have listed, prestige and reputation and caliber of the institution is high enough to be statistically insignificant in your comparison spreadsheet.