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Gregorio
Student
Ingleside, Illinois
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Whats the best engineer school to attend#School
Im planning to attend an engineer school but my question is whats the best?#mechanical-engineering
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Calvin Weyers
Retired Mechanical Engineer
24
Answers
Cobleskill, New York
Updated
Calvin’s Answer
I have known knuckleheads that graduated from engineering schools with great reputations. I have also known great engineers that graduated from schools with not so great reputations. My opinion is that the students have a lot to do with the school's reputation. As an engineering manager, I evaluated potential hires not on grades nor on school attended, but rather the whole bundle. I was more impressed with a student who worked and earned his or her way through school while maintaining a respectable grade point average than a student who got great grades, but did nothing other than study.
Spruce Cox
Retired Aerospace Engineer and Rocket Scientist
76
Answers
Updated
Spruce’s Answer
I'm glad to hear it! Here’s the usual list of suspects.
Cost/grades no issue
MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, UC Berkeley, Imperial College London, U of Michigan, Harvard, NU of Singapore, Oxford, Georgia Tech
Cost/grades is issue
Best bang for your buck is usually the best school in the state where you currently reside (usually takes one year to establish residency). The main reason for this is that out-of-state tuition is much higher than in-state. For your state of Illinois, best for engineering are Illinois Institute of Technology and University of Illinois, Chicago for undergrad and grad. If you really want to go to an out-of-state school, recommend that you move there (or get help from a current family/friend resident) and start school one year later at in-state rates.
I worked at a large aerospace company most of my career and it is my opinion that for graduates from any normal state school, after five years working your job performance will be more important than which school you went to for determining salary increases. If you go to MIT or Stanford or Harvard, you might get a little more credit, but expectations (and undoubtedly your performance) will also be higher. If you go to night school or online, I daresay expectations will be lower, but if you’re good you will make up for it soon enough.
Going into debt with school loans is obviously not preferred so I recommend that you look for grants or scholarships for your whole 4 years. Sports scholarships are great, but with engineering most people can’t do both. Academic scholarships are highly competitive but you keep trying. Lions Club or other fraternal organizations often give small scholarships.
You can always work but you need to find a balance that works for you. Some larger companies offer summer internships starting the summer of your junior year. Ideally, they would like to have you work two summers in a row and then hire you. If you find a company that you’re really interested in, that’s a terrific way to go. If at some point you decide not to work there, it’s not the end of the world but be honest with yourself and with them. I started out at school full-time but after a year or two I got kicked out for low grades. I worked for a year so and then restarted school halftime and worked half-time. I finished my last 2 years with good grades. The answer is whatever works for you. Good luck.
Cost/grades no issue
MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, UC Berkeley, Imperial College London, U of Michigan, Harvard, NU of Singapore, Oxford, Georgia Tech
Cost/grades is issue
Best bang for your buck is usually the best school in the state where you currently reside (usually takes one year to establish residency). The main reason for this is that out-of-state tuition is much higher than in-state. For your state of Illinois, best for engineering are Illinois Institute of Technology and University of Illinois, Chicago for undergrad and grad. If you really want to go to an out-of-state school, recommend that you move there (or get help from a current family/friend resident) and start school one year later at in-state rates.
I worked at a large aerospace company most of my career and it is my opinion that for graduates from any normal state school, after five years working your job performance will be more important than which school you went to for determining salary increases. If you go to MIT or Stanford or Harvard, you might get a little more credit, but expectations (and undoubtedly your performance) will also be higher. If you go to night school or online, I daresay expectations will be lower, but if you’re good you will make up for it soon enough.
Going into debt with school loans is obviously not preferred so I recommend that you look for grants or scholarships for your whole 4 years. Sports scholarships are great, but with engineering most people can’t do both. Academic scholarships are highly competitive but you keep trying. Lions Club or other fraternal organizations often give small scholarships.
You can always work but you need to find a balance that works for you. Some larger companies offer summer internships starting the summer of your junior year. Ideally, they would like to have you work two summers in a row and then hire you. If you find a company that you’re really interested in, that’s a terrific way to go. If at some point you decide not to work there, it’s not the end of the world but be honest with yourself and with them. I started out at school full-time but after a year or two I got kicked out for low grades. I worked for a year so and then restarted school halftime and worked half-time. I finished my last 2 years with good grades. The answer is whatever works for you. Good luck.