I’ve gotten in to all of these schools, but I just wanted to know what anyone thought of the different programs. The costs are almost identical across the board for me. Thanks
Congratulations on some wonderful acceptances!
First question - do you want to major in chem E or EE? Are you locked in to one major or another at any of the schools?
My D was a Purdue chem e so if you have any specific questions about their program, I’ll try to answer. My D had a great experience at Purdue and loved her time there.
Since Purdue is FYE, you have the flexibility (at the cost of secondary admission) to study chem or electrical. At the UCs it might be possible to change majors, SLO is harder.
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I am leaning more towards Chem E. Could you tell me about what type of Chem E they have at purdue? Like the types of specializations or what they are more known for? Also I don’t know much about the campus, so I am wondering how she liked it? Thanks
CPSLO does not have chemical engineering as a major.
Yeah I saw that so I applied for EE. But now I’m worrying if EE was actually what I wanted. Do you have any idea what its like? Or what CalPoly-SLO is like? Thanks
There are numerous concentration options available for chem es at Purdue - Biological Engineering; Energy and Environment; Materials and Polymers (which was my D’s concentration); Pharmaceutical Engineering; Data Science (which is new!); Distinguished Research.
Purdue has a wide number of industry partners on and off campus to support those concentrations. They also allow upperclassmen in good standing to take graduate level classes for their concentrations which increases the depth and breadth of the offerings.
I’d encourage you to look through this tool to see average salaries, companies, and location for first jobs: Purdue CCO
You can narrow it down by college and major. My daughter’s chem E friends are strewn all over the country and all kinds of companies, big and small. And a few who went on straight for their PhDs.
Of the schools on your list, Purdue and Cal Poly probably have the most similar approach to education - very hands on, career readiness focused. The career center at Purdue is fantastic. They bring in hundreds of companies to campus for recruiting multiple time/year and their co-op program is very well supported.
Purdue’s campus is very large and spread out. The center of campus is the Engineering Mall which my D loved! There is a small college town adjacent to campus with lots of little restaurants, bars and such. Lafayette, about a mile further from campus has more of a historic small town feel with higher end restaurants and shops (for when parents come ; )). My D specifically didn’t want to be in a city and Purdue definitely checks that box. It’s cornfields for miles and miles but there is a lot going on in W. Lafayette/Lafayette. She loved her time there and we loved visiting!
EE is a broad subject. The best known parts of it are in integrated circuit design and processes that merge into computer hardware engineering. Other areas include communication systems (think wireless phone networks, wifi, etc.), optics, control systems, and electrical power systems. You can see the CPSLO course list for EE at Electrical Engineering (EE) | Cal Poly Academic Catalog .
It does have a materials engineering major, which would have been a closer fit to OPs 1st choice. My daughter applied materials for CPSLO for that reason.
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