Engineering Colleges

[Brownwood]

My son will soon begin the process of selecting a college where he will major in engineering, but he hasn't settled on a specific discipline from Chemical, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil. His grades, tests and activities are excellent and he should be competitive at "national" schools. From my perspective, I see colleges in various categories:

National Private - Cal Tech, MIT, Vanderbilt, Stanford, etc. These schools appear to offer a broad education at highly respected institutions with large tuition sticker prices. Scholarships appear to be very generous and would likely have an actual out of pocket cost similar to a non-scholarship in state college.

National Private Technical - Olin, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union, Etc. These colleges appear to offer a more focused education in engineering with less non-technical emphasis. again cost are high, but scholarships are generous.

National Public Schools - Texas, Purdue, Michigan, Georgia Tech, etc. These schools are very large and have excellent reputations as rock solid schools with various specialties ranked highly nationally. Net cost may equal or exceed private due to more limited scholarships.

In-State Schools - Oklahoma & Oklahoma State. Solid school with good reputations at large campuses offering a well rounded education. Costs appear to be lowest due to in-state tuition (despite smallish scholarships).

Are there any comments, suggestions or thoughts regarding my rather simplistic list? Also, could you share your opinions on the cost vs. benefit of private, national or state schools.

[shawnw]

You'd think petroleum engineering at OU would be a lock career wise if he's open about the discipline. He'd have no shortage of job opportunities.

[bradh]

You left out Texas A&M. You shouldn't.

[bradh]

Also don't forget Colorado School of Mines

[HangryHippo]

You've obviously tiered the schools based on your perception, but it really depends on what discipline, because several of the schools listed would fluctuate in rank depending on what discipline is chosen.

[musg8411]

I have a degree in Chemical Engineering and here are my 2 cents. Obviously if your son is smart enough to get into Stanford, Cal Tech, MIT etc. and can pull the grades there then go for it. Just remember that schools tend to focus on areas that the students can be employed. For instance, as a chemical engineer, MIT might be better if your son wanted to go into Robotics or Medicine. But Univ of Texas and OU might be good bets as a Chemical engineer going into Oil and Gas. Now that doesn't mean you can't go work for whomever you want after you grad. Just stating that the research programs, etc. can be steered into certain fields.

I will say that I went OU and everyone who wanted a job (those not going to grad, etc) had a job months before graduation. So I would ask your son, if he has any interests that might steer him to a college not a necessarily a degree program.

[rlewis]

I attended Georgia Tech and I was a chemical engineering major. The school is great, but it is not cheap even though it is a public school (especially for out-of-staters). The school has a great job placement office, and it is really easy to get a job anywhere in the country if you have a degree from there. One downside is that the social scene there is not very good (it was about 70% male when I went there). However, Atlanta is a fun city to go to college in.

I would not recommend the private technical schools. They are extremely expensive, and their job placement offices are extremely lacking. I have friends that went to schools in that category, and they had a tough time finding a good job after graduation.

If your son can get into MIT or Cal Tech, I would jump at it if you can afford it. Those schools are good at all disciplines of engineering, and your son will likely have no problem landing a good-paying job after graduation.

Vanderbilt is a very good school, but their engineering program is not one of their strong points. Stanford, Texas, Illinois, and Michigan are really strong in electrical engineering, but their other engineering programs are hit and miss. Purdue is really good in chemical and mechanical engineering, but weaker in other fields.

All in all I would get the latest US News & World Report College Ratings booklet (it's in the magazine section of bookstores) that comes out every year, and take a close look at the engineering section. It shows the schools that are best in the different types of engineering.

[gjl]

You'd think petroleum engineering at OU would be a lock career wise if he's open about the discipline. He'd have no shortage of job opportunities.

I have a niece who went to OU right out of high school and hot a worthless degree in something like History. She went back to OU in her late 20s and got a Petroleum Engineering Degree and within 2 years of getting it was making 200K+/year with Shell. The only part she didn't like was having to work in New Orleans for a few years but now she is working in Houston.

[ou48A]

If he knows where he would like to live having good contacts near where he goes to school can sometimes make a difference.

I have known and worked with a lot of engineers, including some who attended Ivy league schools and Stanford... Unless he wants to get into high end research I don't see any great advantage in attending the Stanford type of university's,,, Besides graduating debt free or with less debt has great advantages.
Of the engineers who I know or have worked with those who grew up in small towns or as military brats and attended Big 12 type of university’s... they generally seemed to have just as much engineering ability as any other and they very often had better relationship skills... As a result of having good personal relationship skills many have gone onto potions of high authority.

[jerrywall]

MIT's competitive aerospace engineering team is named "Beat OSU". Just sayin. Like others said, it really depends a lot on what type of specialty you're looking at, but don't let familiarity or locality breed contempt.

[CaptDave]

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in NY is an excellent school. But as jerrywall said, OSU is very good and a bargain especially if you will be paying the tuition. Additionally, if your son qualifies for admission to engineering schools, he will probably be eligible for an OSHRE scholarship that will cover most of the cost of attending OSU.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) :: Architecture, Business, Engineering, Humanities, IT, Science

[Celebrator]

I have a niece who went to OU right out of high school and hot a worthless degree in something like History. She went back to OU in her late 20s and got a Petroleum Engineering Degree and within 2 years of getting it was making 200K+/year with Shell. The only part she didn't like was having to work in New Orleans for a few years but now she is working in Houston.

I have not found my history degree to be worthless at all. And that value goes beyond the paycheck. No regrets here. It all depends how you apply your skills after you get that diploma. And history majors have to work a bit harder to apply their skills to make a living, that's all.

[gjl]

Sorry. Maybe worthless was a poor choice of words. But for my niece it was all about the paycheck. I think initially her goal was to go to law school but when that didn't pan out she saw Petroleum Engineering as a path to a pretty good paycheck. And for her, it was accomplished in a pretty short time after earning her PE degree. Compared with what EEs I worked with for 26 years in the telecom industry were making, I was pretty amazed what she was able to make in such a short time after earning her PE degree.

[soonerguru]

OU or OSU would be the way to go in my opinion, although if scholarships make the costs similar, it would be worth it to apply to one or two of the ivies you mentioned.

My wife has completed her bachelors in civil engineering and will complete her masters in engineering at OU. She has gotten a top- notch education and practically has to fend off job suitors.

[zookeeper]

MIT's competitive aerospace engineering team is named "Beat OSU". Just sayin. Like others said, it really depends a lot on what type of specialty you're looking at, but don't let familiarity or locality breed contempt.

Surely you mean OHIO State University. In Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical I see Ohio State on both undergraduate and graduate school lists. No OSU from Stillwater anywhere on the list.

Undergraduate
Aerospace / Aeronautical / Astronautical | Rankings | US News

Graduate
Best Aerospace Engineering Programs | Top Aerospace Engineering Schools | US News


Overall Engineering College Rankings

Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs | Rankings | US News

[jerrywall]

Surely you mean OHIO State University.

Nope. Oklahoma State. Their competitive aerospace engineering team is so good it's not funny. And yes, MIT has been naming their team "Beat OSU (Oklahoma State)".

OSU has an amazing aerospace engineering program. The best in Oklahoma, and one of the best regionally.

[HangryHippo]

Nope. Oklahoma State. Their competitive aerospace engineering team is so good it's not funny. And yes, MIT has been naming their team "Beat OSU (Oklahoma State)".

OSU has an amazing aerospace engineering program. The best in Oklahoma, and one of the best regionally.

zookeeper, this is absolutely true. You seem to doubt it, but don't.

[Bunty]

Nope. Oklahoma State. Their competitive aerospace engineering team is so good it's not funny. And yes, MIT has been naming their team "Beat OSU (Oklahoma State)".

OSU has an amazing aerospace engineering program. The best in Oklahoma, and one of the best regionally.

Maybe that helps explain why Asco Aerospace decided to open a manufacturing plant in Stillwater.

[zookeeper]

zookeeper, this is absolutely true. You seem to doubt it, but don't.

I guess the competitive team part didn't translate well to the methodology used in the school rankings. I believe you!

[jerrywall]

I guess the competitive team part didn't translate well to the methodology used in the school rankings. I believe you!

Who knows what that one site's method was? Dunno... also dunno what your point was. Anti OSU, anti Oklahoma, or just anti in general?

Ranks tend to be complicated, and rarely have to do with the quality of the program itself.

[zookeeper]

Who knows what that one site's method was? Dunno... also dunno what your point was. Anti OSU, anti Oklahoma, or just anti in general?

Ranks tend to be complicated, and rarely have to do with the quality of the program itself.

None of the above. The U.S. News & World Report rankings have become the gold standard for family research.
Their methodology: Best Colleges - About the Rankings/Methodology - US News and World Report

[jerrywall]

So what was your point then?

[zookeeper]

So what was your point then?

Nothing malicious. My point was that the OSU aerospace engineering programs aren't anywhere in the USN&WR rankings. You said OSU and Ohio St. IS in the rankings. That's all.

[jerrywall]

They rank 17 schools. I don't consider it a complete list.

And MIT does consider OKSTATE (not Ohio State) a competitor (actually, THE competitor). And I'm an engineer by profession, and we consider OSU (OK State) a very high ranking quality program to recruit from as well. Texas A&M also. They're also not on the list.

So again, my original point/post still stands.

[Just the facts]

Whatever college gets picked - remember to have a little fun.