Good Engineering Schools in the West?

[Kimm in WA]

How do you find out what schools are good for a certain field?

My DS is starting his dual-enrollment in the fall. He's figuring he'll go to a state univ, either UofW or Washington State Univ. as a transfer student (or after he gets his AA - he hasn't decided yet).

He is starting the engineering transfer degree program at the CC and at this point plans to go into electrical engineering to later specialize in computer engineering.

The CC advisor said that actually WSU (Washington State) has a satellite school in the Tri-Cities that has a good engineering program, as it's smaller and the profs do a lot of the stuff that the TAs @ the UW would normally do. That is about an hour away from us.

Anyway, I'm not against either of these schools (though I went to the UW for a while and it was WAY too big for me as a freshman), but thought perhaps he would have other options that he's not considering, as far as scholarship money.

Thanks for any advice.
Kimm in WA

[Cedarmom]

UW has a great engineering program. Cal-tech is an excellent school. My so(who will probably major in engineering) is most liekly to go to UW, but if Cal-tech offers money he may go there.

[Jenn in CA]

Just had to chime in that we used to live in the Tri-Cities... both Richland and Kennewick. I would guess WSU has a good program because of Hanford there.

[Kareni]

How do you find out what schools are good for a certain field?

My DS is starting his dual-enrollment in the fall. ...

Since your son is going to be dual enrolled, I'd suggest that he ask any faculty in his area which schools they would consider to have good departments in his field. His instructors will almost certainly have an opinion!

Regards,
Kareni

[Laurel-in-CA]

Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo both have excellent engineering programs that tend more towards the hands-on. I hear that SLO is much more competitive for entrance - they get the cream of the crop. Of course, coming in from WA you'd be facing out of state tuition (ouch!) at these state schools.

[JenneinAZ]

Harvey Mudd is good, too. It is in Claremont near San Diego.

[Laura in CA]

have excellent EE & computer departments; companies in the area that snap up recent graduates are Apple, Google, Intel, Sun, Cisco, HP, IBM, eBay, PayPal, Facebook, Netflix, etc., & there are still quite a few startups in the Bay Area ;-) . . . or just as a summer job, lots of opportunities! Oh, and the national labs in Livermore, and SLAC (the linear accelerator), and NASA Ames . . . something for everyone!

~Laura

[Starr]

What's going on at the former Oregon Institute of Technology? Now part of the University of Oregon I believe. You might take a look. It's been many a year for me. :)

[kate in seattle]

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (?) don't know if I am remembering the name correctly.

US Air Force Academy. Everyone gets a BS, even if you are a English or History or Management major - EVERYONE takes enough engineering courses that it is considered a science degree, you can imagine how many enigneering courses you take when you actually get an engineering degree. one of the best engineering schools in country.

of course, there are some 'extras'.

[KH_]

My DS is starting his dual-enrollment in the fall. He's figuring he'll go to a state univ, either UofW or Washington State Univ. as a transfer student (or after he gets his AA - he hasn't decided yet).

He is starting the engineering transfer degree program at the CC and at this point plans to go into electrical engineering to later specialize in computer engineering.



I went to the University of Idaho for Biological Systems Engineering and it has as good engineering program (although it's been awhile :) ) However, if your ds goes to WSU, he may be able to take some classes at U of I (there's a bus that runs between the campuses and I had an engineering class at WSU). I don't exactly what the limitations are on what classes work that way, but that may expand the choices he has if he does go to WSU.

[Kimm in WA]

Thanks, Ladies!

Kimm

[Michelle in AL]

Check the engineering forum on www.collegeconfidential.com

It's under the majors section. They have a list of the top 100 engineering schools.

Here's a link to an article for the top 25 schools that companies prefer to hire from (These are the top 45 private and public companies). That article lists many engineering schools.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435563989873060.html