Post by thread:[OT]: Good EE colleges

Hello, PIClisters... As a high-school junior, I'm swimming in the sea of college solicitations propaganda. I received a 222 (99th percentile) on my PSAT test, so I assume I'm probably a candidate for the better colleges. I'm trying to weed out the colleges that, while they claim they're a good engineering college (as almost all of them do), are pretty worthless. At the risk of starting a flame war, which schools do y'all think are the best for electrical engineering, with a possibility for aerospace engineering (I'm interested in designing aerial robots and avionics for a living :^) )? TIA! - Robert P.S., this is a repost; I don't think it posted the first time. Sorry if you get two copies... -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics

MIT definitely. Try to find a scholarship. Meanwhile, look for internships, build stuff, and do anything you can to develop your skills outside of school. Most schools, even good ones, do not give you enough hands on experience. Several of my jobs sprang directly from hobbies. Don't race through school. Take five or six years to complete a four year degree, it is less stressful that way and your grades will be better. Take summers off, do something interesting. Take a year off, and bum around Europe or volunteer on an archeological dig or get hired as a janitor at the South Pole Station or work on a research ship or join the peace corps or do something else outrageous. This accomplishes several things: It tests your mettle, makes you a more interesting conversationalist, and makes peoples eyes bug out when reading your resume. When in school, find a really inspiring professor, and get them to hire you to do something wierd and interesting. I passed up a chance to work on electric vehicles with a great professor and have kicked myself ever since. Meanwhile, as soon as you figure out a professor is a jerk, dump his classes and take them from someone else. -- Lawrence Lile Robert Ussery <spam_OUTuavscienceTakeThisOuTFRII.COM> Sent by: pic microcontroller discussion list <.....PICLISTKILLspam@spam@MITVMA.MIT.EDU> 03/19/2003 09:29 AM Please respond to pic microcontroller discussion list To: PICLISTKILLspamMITVMA.MIT.EDU cc: Subject: [OT]: Good EE colleges Hello, PIClisters... As a high-school junior, I'm swimming in the sea of college solicitations propaganda. I received a 222 (99th percentile) on my PSAT test, so I assume I'm probably a candidate for the better colleges. I'm trying to weed out the colleges that, while they claim they're a good engineering college (as almost all of them do), are pretty worthless. At the risk of starting a flame war, which schools do y'all think are the best for electrical engineering, with a possibility for aerospace engineering (I'm interested in designing aerial robots and avionics for a living :^) )? TIA! - Robert P.S., this is a repost; I don't think it posted the first time. Sorry if you get two copies... -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics

Hi Robert, What are you looking for in an engineering program? Someone already suggested Caltech, which is a great school if you are really into the mathematics behind engineering. However, if you are like me and you really enjoy the practical side of engineering, you should consider Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Check out the website at http://www.calpoly.edu for more info. If you're into robotics, we have a Mechatronics concentration of our Mechanical Engineering program, so you might want to look into that also. Later, Eric {Quote hidden}>Hello, PIClisters... > >As a high-school junior, I'm swimming in the sea of college solicitations propaganda. I received a 222 (99th percentile) on my PSAT test, so I assume I'm probably a candidate for the better colleges. I'm trying to weed out the colleges that, while they claim they're a good engineering college (as almost all of them do), are pretty worthless. >At the risk of starting a flame war, which schools do y'all think are the best for electrical engineering, with a possibility for aerospace engineering (I'm interested in designing aerial robots and avionics for a living :^) )? >TIA! > >- Robert > > > > >P.S., this is a repost; I don't think it posted the first time. Sorry if you get two copies... > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics >(like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics > > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics

The University of Michigan is in the top five of schools you could attend for both aerospace and electrical engineering. US News and World Report has a yearly college ranking. I don't know when they publish it, but the top five in any category are listed here for engineering: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankengineering_brief.php Note that there are listings for those schools that also perform doctorate work and those that do not. If you aren't looking at anything past a BE, then you have more choices - or attend one for the BE, and by that time you'll have a better idea of what's available for your master's or further. I'm currently attending the University of Michigan (Computer Engineering), and I can certianly vouch for the program. Of course, they'd better be in the top five if they are going to charge *in-state* students 8k a year just for tuition. :-( -Adam Robert Ussery wrote: {Quote hidden}>Hello, PIClisters... > >As a high-school junior, I'm swimming in the sea of college solicitations propaganda. I received a 222 (99th percentile) on my PSAT test, so I assume I'm probably a candidate for the better colleges. I'm trying to weed out the colleges that, while they claim they're a good engineering college (as almost all of them do), are pretty worthless. >At the risk of starting a flame war, which schools do y'all think are the best for electrical engineering, with a possibility for aerospace engineering (I'm interested in designing aerial robots and avionics for a living :^) )? >TIA! > >- Robert > > > > >P.S., this is a repost; I don't think it posted the first time. Sorry if you get two copies... > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics >(like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics > > > > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics

>As a high-school junior, I'm swimming in the sea of college solicitations propaganda. I received a 222 (99th percentile) on my PSAT test, so I assume I'm probably a candidate for the better colleges. I'm trying to weed out the colleges that, while they claim they're a good engineering college (as almost all of them do), are pretty worthless. There's a very wide range of "not worthless" when it comes to EE. "Good" undergrad EE programs tend to be very theoretical, and not much in the way of "how to build useful devices with a PIC microcontroller." Theory is good, but you can miss out on practice as well. In my (Ivy league) EE program, we learned how the internals of a 555 timer worked. The class that learned how to make neat circuits with a 555 was a CHEMISTRY class about lab instrumentation (they got to use Lancaster's "cookbooks" for texts!) At the risk of starting a flame war, which schools do y'all think are the best for electrical engineering, with a possibility for aerospace engineering (I'm interested in designing aerial robots and avionics for a living :^) )? A lot of EE is "support engineering" - you do an awful lot of "engineering" based on not very much in the way of education. A "good EE" program is more likely to prepare you for EE-specific things like chip design, a masters degree in EE, or teaching EE. If you're really interested in aerial robots and avionics, I would start looking for the best schools in aerospace engineering, which are highly likely to have "good enough" EE programs alongside. I'll second the idea that getting involved in projects outside the classrooms is particularly important. Either at school, or for your summer jobs (look for summer jobs that are in your career path, not the ones that are most convenient or pay best...) BillW "All that calculus, wasted on a software engineer." -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.