Yes @ash980123. Purdue fills most of their class, across all majors, in EA.
Yes you’re right. I’m trying to provide my son perspective that the overall rating isn’t the important comparator, but rather the specific department ranking. As an example, a Georgia Tech or Michigan and even Purdue are clearly higher ranked than a Tennessee in overall university ranking. Even from an overall engineering college that is true. But dig down into the nuclear engineering dept, and the difference melts away. That is to say there is more parity at that level. Obviously Purdue remains very highly ranked at the dept level (better than Ga Tech by some sources).
Kind of getting down the rabbit hole here. I guess the point is it’s worth taking a more in-depth review of quality. I’m happy to say my son has been accepted to a number of very good NE schools of which Purdue is one. The decision will therefore come down to considerations other than quality, since they are all high quality. I couldn’t be more proud, as should all who have been accepted to Purdue.
Yes you’re right. I’m trying to provide my son perspective that the overall rating isn’t the important comparator, but rather the specific department ranking. As an example, a Georgia Tech or Michigan and even Purdue are clearly higher ranked than a Tennessee in overall university ranking. Even from an overall engineering college that is true. But dig down into the nuclear engineering dept, and the difference melts away. That is to say there is more parity at that level. Obviously Purdue remains very highly ranked at the dept level (better than Ga Tech by some sources).
Kind of getting down the rabbit hole here. I guess the point is it’s worth taking a more in-depth review of quality. I’m happy to say my son has been accepted to a number of very good NE schools of which Purdue is one. The decision will therefore come down to considerations other than quality, since they are all high quality. I couldn’t be more proud, as should all who have been accepted to Purdue.
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At this point it’s about fit. You can’t make a ‘wrong’ choice based on quality - focus on the culture of the program & the school, what they offer that makes them unique & what feels most ‘right’ for your child. He will come out at the other side an engineer regardless of the school choice.
USNWR departmental rankings are for graduate schools. Their usability as a proxy for undergraduate quality is subject to even more debate than that of rankings in general.
I personally think one of the most useful objective metrics for comparing undergraduate programs is ACT/SAT scores of their students, as that will directly impact the rigor of the classes.
Unfortunately, that statistics is not universally available at the departmental level, so I go ahead and assume that the rank order stays roughly the same as it is for overall student body.
By that measure Purdue=OSU<GT<MIT<Caltech
There are undergraduate rankings as well.
https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/FactsFigures/Rankings/2019
Purdue undergrad is tied overall for #9. The above link breaks out the rankings by majors.
Purdue engineering graduate program is #7 overall.
PS. CS is ranked #10 for undergrad programs.
Yes, but you were talking about much more specific departmental level rankings (i.e. NE). Those do not exist at the undergrad level.
By the way, Computer Engineering is not the same thing as Computer Science. It is more concerned with computer hardware than software, a different major that is much easier to get into at many schools with top CS programs (of which Purdue is no doubt one).
So yeah, there’s certainly more to it than rankings, but fighting rankings with rankings may be a little self-defeating:-)
I’m aware that CE is not the same as CS, that’s why I added the PS ; ).
Interestingly, older years rankings do include ones for undergraduate Nuclear Engineering. Not sure why it’s no longer being included.
But yes, I also agree that there is way more to finding the right school than the rankings 
There aren’t undergraduate computer science rankings at USNWR. The #10 you cite is actually for computer engineering.
And CS is what my son actually plans to study. So graduate rankings are useful to us, but only by proxy.
Amazingly, there are other sources of information besides USNWR. There are other organizations of course. But I also believe in doing your own research into individual dept, the professors, the research areas, collaborations, awards, grants, students achieving scholarly grants and awards.
I think the overall ranking of an MIT or Caltech Is probably a good indicator of an undergraduate dept. But for universities with a broad spectrum of colleges and depts, I think it is not an automatic that you can say overall ranking equates to those individual schools or depts.
My son benefits (or suffers) from my general need to research things ad nauseum.
I used USWNR10 as a completely arbitrary line in the sand. There are fantastic departments at colleges not on the list. In the end, it is about your comfort with the school and the plan. You can be a completely disengaged student at MIT versus a very involved student at a “lesser” school. I was actually very underwhelmed by the MIT interviewer I met. The person claimed to be the valedictorian of their MIT class (there is no such thing). Their graduate thesis was trivial and not even relevant to the department they graduated from. There is no way it would have been approved by the equivalent department at my alma mater “lesser” UIUC, yet there it was with a big MIT approval stamp. It was a real wake up call. College is what you make of it.
Absolutely!
My son’s Common App essay is driving that point very heavily and personally (I can’t give more details as they would be de-anonymizing).
Yet, we all ultimately draw our lines in the sand somewhere.
does anyone know when the acceptance packets will come through the mail?
@poopy7654321 Someone needs to go on the admitted family facebook page and ask. The employees on there have been super responsive.
I am going off topic from the rankings discussion here and I have a stupid question. Most of mine are haha
Once my S was admitted to CS we were so happy that we rushed to accept the offer, paid the $400 and also signed the housing contract. I have the great habit to rush and not read contracts and such. Long story short, it doesn’t matter when you sign up, your kid will not get to choose the dorm at all! So we just cancelled the contract (after getting super embarassing and asking how can I get out of this omg, they’ll charge us and give him a bad dorm etc.).
I looked online and an off campus apartment is cheaper and nicer than these dorms. What’s the deal with living in the dorms? People pay a lot of money to share a room with multiple people and have communal showers just for socialization? I’m a foreigner, so I have a hard time understanding this. Shoud we just risk getting some crappy dorm ? Is there a great super awesome benerfit to this for which he must suffer? He doesn’t want to live with communal bathrooms, we spoiled him with his own room and bathroom at home lol
@BluEyeL - Purdue allows you to pick your choice of dorm type but not the actual building. They guarantee that if you pay the housing deposit by 5/1 that you will get housing but that’s the only “guarantee”. And yes, singles with private baths are very hard to come by and are taken by upperclassmen.
That all said, the vast majority of freshmen live on campus. Each floor and building have their own social activities that really help new students meet friends and form relationships. Most buildings also have onsite tutoring. Much easier to access help when you can walk downstairs than across campus.
If your child lives off campus, he will be with all upperclassmen who already have their on friend groups. I would think it could be very isolating. The other thing to know is that students living off campus are not eligible for the school meal plan.
And FWIW, I have an only child. She never shared a bedroom or bathroom until college. She LOVED having having roommates and thinks the dorms are a wonderful experience.
PS. Don’t forget that you will responsible for utilities and insurance living off campus. Also, leases are 12 months, not the 10 months students are on campus. Subletting is extremely difficult.
Thanks! It makes sense. I told him what you said, since he is the one that says he doesn’t want roommates.
@BlueEyeL
My FYE really enjoys living on campus. He lives in Shreve (one of the 4 legacy Lane dorms). The dorm is not fancy, but does have air conditioning and is close enough to classes. My son usually studies in the Shreve lobby and finds dorm living to be quite social.
Your child may also want to consider joining a learning community (LC). Most have a residential component which guarantees a spot in decent dorm. My son is in the Engineers in Band and Orchestra LC.
Thanks! Food for thought . What do you think/know about apartments like “The Hub”? More opportunities for interaction at a steep price ?
My son is a Freshman in the HHS and not in the honors program. He has friends in The Hub and in the dorms and in other off campus apts. The dorms vary—my kid lives in what’s affectionately known as a “cary closet” b/c it’s literally the smallest dorm room you’ve ever seen. The plus is that it’s steps away from Ross Ade and Mackey. Thankfully, he lives with a friend from home so it’s tolerable. He has not made a significant number of friends living in the dorm so I will take the alternate side and say that at Purdue as a freshman, you can still make friends and be involved if you are living in an apt. it will just take a bit more effort. You will have to reach out to others in your classes, join a club or group, play intramural, get a job, etc but as long as you are in one of the permitter apt’s you’ll still be ok. I wouldn’t live several miles away where the graduate students live. And as @momofsenior1 said, no meal plan in the apts. You can load up on the auxiliary dollars on his card (can’t remember what it’s called) but you don’t get the discounted meal prices you do on a plan.
And—the off campus housing is pretty expensive. My kid is in HiVine next year and will be paying almost $800 a month w/o a meal plan.
@BluEyeL The Hub is one of the newest apartment complexes. It’s very convenient to campus. Definitely pricey. They had security concerns at the beginning of the year but I believe that has been addressed. They are in the heart of Chauncey which is basically Purdue’s college town and there was a violent incident involving non residents coming up to the roof deck.