<p>For you engineering professionals, recruiters, etc… Is there any inherent value in a BSE from a Polytechnic school over any other top name research schools? Does the “POLY” difference overcome regional name recognition? Forget about the Ivies, MITs, etc. </p>
<p>Hope my question is clear. After a few discussions with engineering coworkers, it seems as though the POLY adds some weight at least in employability right after graduation.</p>
<p>Please share your thoughts…</p>
<p>Really? I don’t see how that adds or detracts value from a degree at all.</p>
<p>Not sure what you mean by a POLY school. It is just a name difference from an Institute of Technology. RPI, RIT, WPI, MIT, they are all [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://theaitu.org) schools. These universities generally have a focus on engineering and that is what they are known for. There are plenty of excellent engineering programs at other schools too, the difference is that these schools are generally Liberal Arts College-sized schools with mostly STEM students. It is a personal decision as to the kind of student body you wish to be a part of.</p>
<p>“Polytechnic” in the name often indicates a historic (and possibly current) focus on engineering more than anything else.</p>
<p>If you are referring specifically to the Cal Polys, they are generally well regarded, at least regionally.</p>
<p>Virginia Tech is a “polytechnic” school. The full name is Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. For years it was referred to as VPI, but starting in the late 70s the school began to be called Virginia Tech, and ultimately the school recognized VPI&SU and VT as equivalent names. So the POLY in this case was dropped altogether for common usage. It did not hurt anything.</p>
<p>Yes, commonly Virginia Tech is referred to as that. My son graduated in May. The diploma and envelope for the diploma still has the full name, with no mention of the common Virginia Tech (although the cover of the graduation program has both usages). I do wonder if and when Virginia Tech would ever move to dropping the really long name altogether. Probably not.</p>
<p>LOL is this a competition between the “Polytechs” (CalPoly, WPI, VTech) and the “institutes of technology” (MIT, CalTech, GaTech, IIT, RIT)’, etc. </p>
<p>Let the games begin!</p>
<p>And CMU used to be Carnegie Institute of Technology. That is what it was when my FIL graduated from there in the early 40’s but had become Carnegie Mellon University by the time my husband graduated in the 70’s.</p>
<p>LOL @ClassicRockerDad</p>
<p>I was only asking because I think the engineers at my job are a bit biased because our employer heavily recruits at the local Polytech. Wanted an “outside” opinion.</p>
<p>Polytechnic is just a word tacked into some schools’ names that tend to focus on technical areas of study. It does not inherently mean anything about the quality of education or your employability.</p>
<p>POLY want a cracker? Sorry, could not resist. </p>
<p>Really, I don’t think there is any hard and fast rule. If an employer has has good luck from a certain school, you can’t blame it from hiring more. But that success may not be easily extrapolated to other similarly names schools.</p>
<p>I did a little research, not much, into the differences for a history course. I don’t think there is much difference now, as both schools generally have engineering components, and one document I read (dated 1899 and delivered to ASME) found that unemployment in Western Europe of polytechnics was low due to not having a balance of practice and science. Now, the names may have differences, but I’d say Polytechnic, Institute, etc,. are now all the same.</p>
<p>See here for more information;</p>
<p>[Institute</a> of Technology (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Technology_(United_States)]Institute”>Institute of technology (United States) - Wikipedia)</p>