“cannot hold a candle to most pedestrian engineering programs” is a very broad statement unless of course you have spent time at SEAS and employed underperforming Penn graduates.
So many threads talk about how it does not matter where you attend an ABET engineering program. I can tell you that CAS and SEAS courses take a deeper dive than most CC discussed engineering schools. Most Penn engineers made a conscious choice to not want to be, just engineers. That also does not mean they are all headed for Wall Street. Exposure to what such an integrated university that caters to undergrads offers is at their fingertips and we are continuously amazed at what they can accomplish in addition to their ABET degree within 4 years without diluting their core. There is no prestige swaying our observations as we are products of great traditional private engineering schools. We however have worked with and hired many engineers that do not have the soft skills to be promoted.
Every family needs to decide on a college environment themselves. You can’t take the 100k with you when you die or redo all the development and maturity that happens for your 18-22 year old.