well, just got turned down by MIT

This leaves my options as Purdue for honors engineering (electrical of course), or Rose Hulman for the same

I was wondering what yalls thoughts are regarding this decision?

 

You're like a super genius. What were they thinking?

What about CMU or SMU? Both good tech colleges. No honors engineering?


CMU would be nice and close for you.

 

Sorry to hear that, Magnet. Don't take it too hard--only about 20% of students who apply to MIT are actually accepted. Don't let it get you down.

MIT was my first choice for college for a long time, but when I got to the point where I was applying, I realized that their requirements were extraordinary, and in my opinion, absolutely ridiculous. You can get the same education from hundreds of other schools around the country. The only difference between them and MIT is that MIT has the benefit of prestige. I ended up going to Wentworth Institute of Technology, which is in Boston. I liked the environment--it was in the middle of a city, but it still had quite a relaxed feel. There's great history there, and overall it's just a great place to go. Sure, if I had the chance I would have gone to MIT, but I was very content with WIT. As for prestige, somewhere I heard that WIT was/is the second best engineering school in the country, only exceeded by MIT. RIT is another that you might try, but that's more in the middle of a big city. I'd take Boston to New York any day!

You asked for opinions, and you got mine. I wish you the best of luck in your college search, and I hope you find the right one for you

Regards,
Der strom

 

well, just got turned down by MIT

This leaves my options as Purdue for honors engineering (electrical of course), or Rose Hulman for the same

I was wondering what yalls thoughts are regarding this decision?

I don't think you can go wrong with either of those schools. Both have an excellent reputation.

 

turd burglars!
For what it's worth, I'm familiar with Purdue but not Rose Hullman. Maybe ignorance on my part, but if I'm ignorant, so is someone else, who might be interviewing you. If notariety is what it comes down to, I would go with purdue.

 

Thankyou all
I'm probably leaning towards purdue because it's better known and much cheaper
However, FWIW, Rose Hulman is #1 in the US for undergraduate engineering, and if I went there I could probably go to MIT for grad school (I'm planning on grad school)

Purdue pros-
cheaper
more well known
more things to do on large campus
cons-
large school, no attention from prof's


RHIT pros-
probably a better education
attention from profs, small classes
cons-
nothing to do nearby
$$$$

 

before you go trillions into debt, consider the following:

I, myself, went to WIT in Boston--while having a good reputation among Bay State employers, it is not nearly in the same class as MIT--that is where the MIT dropouts went--funny thing, they did not make it there either.

My niece is really crying the blues since her college loan interest has doubled--now drowning in debt...

 

My niece is really crying the blues since her college loan interest has doubled--now drowning in debt...

That's a good point. Times have changed. There are many places to get a very good engineering training at relatively low cost. If your family can afford the big name schools, or if you can get a scholarship there, that's great. Go, ... enjoy ... and take the benefits that the prestige of a big name will give you. If you have to pay the full tuition yourself, you will never recover the money difference, comparitively speaking.

A smart guy like magnet18 could certainly get a full scholarship at many good engineering schools. If he applied himself, his education and capabilities would be about the same as an MIT education. At some point down the road, (about 5-10 years) the school he went to will count very little and his professional accomplishments will carry most of the weight on how he is judged (and payed).

Not that money is everything, and certainly one needs to find a place that suits their tastes. However, there is no law that says the big name school is necessarily the best match.

A good example to look at is what some engineering professors do at state schools. I know several examples of their children going to the state school for free, (because their parent is professor there). For obvious reasons, these kids are smart, educated and fully capable of getting into the bigger name schools. However, they study engineering in the state school, they get to the very top of their class as big fish in a small pond, and then they go to grad school at MIT or other big school. You do the math on how much money that professor saved, and the professor full well knows that no compromise has been made in the quality of education.

 

You can always go somewhere else for 2 years then re-apply. That will make it easier to get it because your not competing with freshmen from different HS's where some are incredibly hard and college level and some are like jr high and people coming out with 4.0GPA's are morons. So going into college, race, geographic location, and other factors play into you getting accepted vs not accepted. If you apply once you've been at another college making good grades a couple years. All that other stuff won't matter. I was actually reading a big article on getting into ivy league schools. The problem was they compared whites vs whites, Asians vs Asians, and Blacks vs blacks. So your not being compared to the rest of the country like a generic item, your compared against other people of your race in your location. The article showed all these validictorian asian kids with insane grades and SAT scores that got told they didn't get in, then showed some whites, blacks and spanish people with much lower grades and sat scores that got in on scholorships and everything else.

 

I 'll resurrect and repost this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A75KERKwEQM

It's worth another view. I know it's not the definition of objectivity, but it's food for thought.

I have to admit that knowledge I have acquired through my years in the uni, would be impossible to pick up on my own. On the other hand, education in Greece is free.

Take your pick.

 

..they compared whites vs whites, Asians vs Asians, and Blacks vs blacks. So your not being compared to the rest of the country like a generic item, your compared against other people of your race in your location. The article showed all these validictorian asian kids with insane grades and SAT scores that got told they didn't get in, then showed some whites, blacks and spanish people with much lower grades and sat scores that got in on scholorships and everything else.

I have nothing nice to say, so I won't say anything. I only replied so that my intense anger could be noted.

 

You might want to consider going to community college for a couple of years to get your core subjects out of the way. Not as exciting as going straight to college but far cheaper.

 

You might want to consider going to community college for a couple of years to get your core subjects out of the way. Not as exciting as going straight to college but far cheaper.

I wouldn't recommend this for the OP particularly because of his exceptional talent and dedication, and I'm guessing sufficient financial means to have other alternatives, but I agree that this is a good suggestion for many people.

I taught a senior level electronics class to senior level electrical engineering students at my local state university. I was surprised that the top 2 students in the class went to community college for the first two years of their studies.

Once I looked into this, I found that my surprise was a symptom of prejudiced biases. Many very good students are doing the community college path to save money on a longer term path, not for the old traditional reasons. Also, many communitiy colleges are offering the means to an exceptionally good education at a bargain price. The whole game has changed. It's all about getting the best education at the best value, based on your own constraints. Not everyone is rich and not everyone is a superstar getting scholarships, but there are many paths for a dedicated and talented person to follow their dreams.

I still believe that an on-campus full university/college environment, for 4 years, offers many things that will enrich a student in ways that are hard to quantify. Still, for many people this is becoming a luxury that is too expensive.

 

Thankyou all
I'm probably leaning towards purdue because it's better known and much cheaper
However, FWIW, Rose Hulman is #1 in the US for undergraduate engineering, and if I went there I could probably go to MIT for grad school (I'm planning on grad school)

...

Data from wikipedia:

Rose Hulman:
1840 undergraduate students
130 postgraduate students

Purdue:
30836 undergraduate students
7980 postgraduate students

I think if you are planning to go to grad school, you will have an advantage if you already establish some contacts with postgraduate students while you are still an undergrad. You already have practical experience with electronics, many postgrads don't, so you have something to offer to them. Maybe there will be an opportunity to participate in one of their projects informally. With nearly 8000 postgrads hanging around at Purdue some of them surely will do some research that you find interesting. At Rose Hulman with only 130 postgrads you will probably not have this opportunity.

 

Education is a business, just like everything else. It was upsetting for me to see that money always wins, but it is true. All together education is going down the drain starting with school (refer to recent post about text speak). I find it more and more difficult to determine how enriching the university experience is as it seems to have become more about sucking money out of students - those who can afford it do not care, those who cannot, deserve better.

 

You had your heart set on MIT and it fell through. Please let it not slow you down or squelch your ambition.
I dreamed of MIT, settled for MSOE and finished at Purdue.
I, for one, would like for you to seriously consider Purdue.
Why?
I have a feeling you could make one helluvan ass-kicking Rube
Goldberg Machine and slam-dunk the competition!!!
Gain acceptance to the Phi Chapter of Theta Tau and I think you will see all the pieces fall in place for your future.

 

You're like a super genius. What were they thinking?

A smart guy like magnet18 could certainly get a full scholarship at many good engineering schools.

I wouldn't recommend this for the OP particularly because of his exceptional talent and dedication.

OK, I have to ask, where are all these thoughts being generated from???
I actually am curious, what of my activity on the forum makes you guys think this?

Data from wikipedia:

Rose Hulman:
1840 undergraduate students
130 postgraduate students

Purdue:
30836 undergraduate students
7980 postgraduate students

I think if you are planning to go to grad school, you will have an advantage if you already establish some contacts with postgraduate students while you are still an undergrad. You already have practical experience with electronics, many postgrads don't, so you have something to offer to them. Maybe there will be an opportunity to participate in one of their projects informally. With nearly 8000 postgrads hanging around at Purdue some of them surely will do some research that you find interesting. At Rose Hulman with only 130 postgrads you will probably not have this opportunity.

That's actually a really good idea, more weight on the purdue side

to be completley honest, I'm probably going to go to purdue because it's bigger, more well known, and less than half the cost of RH
I can live with not having 1:1 education with my profs, and they always have office hours

I'll probably keep applying to MIT as transfer, and see what happens
and then again for grad school

and to whoever said something about letting this not reach my goals, brick walls are there to impress people when we jump over them

 

I wouldn't recommend this for the OP particularly because of his exceptional talent and dedication, and I'm guessing sufficient financial means to have other alternatives, but I agree that this is a good suggestion for many people.

I taught a senior level electronics class to senior level electrical engineering students at my local state university. I was surprised that the top 2 students in the class went to community college for the first two years of their studies.

Once I looked into this, I found that my surprise was a symptom of prejudiced biases. Many very good students are doing the community college path to save money on a longer term path, not for the old traditional reasons. Also, many communitiy colleges are offering the means to an exceptionally good education at a bargain price. The whole game has changed. It's all about getting the best education at the best value, based on your own constraints. Not everyone is rich and not everyone is a superstar getting scholarships, but there are many paths for a dedicated and talented person to follow their dreams.

I still believe that an on-campus full university/college environment, for 4 years, offers many things that will enrich a student in ways that are hard to quantify. Still, for many people this is becoming a luxury that is too expensive.

I couldn't agree with you more, Steve!

 

OK, I have to ask, where are all these thoughts being generated from???
I actually am curious, what of my activity on the forum makes you guys think this?

ex ungue leonem

 

ex ungue leonem

ex keyboard leonem??