[Deetman]

School reputation certainly does not hurt, but it should only be one factor in your decision.

Engineering, especially for undergrad, is pretty rigidly defined. Arguably you are going to get the same fundamental knowledge in any engineering program. Where things start to vary is once you start getting into specialization (things like nanotechnology, etc). Any school with an engineering curriculum that is ABET accredited is going to get you a strong base of engineering fundamentals.

Where things start to get a little fuzzy is the soft skills. How is the school preparing you for a career in the real world? How are your people skills going to improve? Are there a lot of team based projects/assignments (most likely) or is it highly individualized? Are the classes all theory based or is there a nice mix of theory and real-world hands on project based classes?

Another consideration to make is the ease of access to companies. It already sounds like you are considering this factor. Co-op programs are great but not for everyone. Are there job fairs that bring companies to YOU wanting to hire YOU? As an example, Purdue has the Industrial Roundtable which attracts 300+ companies all looking to hire engineers and other related positions. Such a large job fair can be intimidating at first but once you realize these companies are there wanting to talk to you it gets easier. This event is how I got my current position.

Most importantly is what you get out of college. This is the "fit" that people look at when looking at colleges even if they don't realize it. Will you be happy there? If so you are more likely to apply yourself and be involved and get more out of college. Are there relevant student organizations in which you can gain experience and leadership? What you are involved in and what you do outside of class are what differentiate you from all the other students graduating with the same degree. You got a 4.0 but weren't that involved outside of class? Great, you really understand and have mastered the fundamental knowledge! You got a 3.2, were the president of Formula SAE (an example) and co-op'd with XYZ company? Awesome! You've demonstrated that you have a solid grasp of engineering fundamentals, have applied this knowledge (Formula SAE), have leadership experience, and have shown that you can work in a real world engineering environment through your co-op. You automatically have a leg up (in my opinion) on the 4.0 student that didn't have the same experience.

Money, especially today, is also an important factor but should not be the be-all, end-all decider. It is also a much more personal factor and as such I won't go any further into this.

Also - Visit the school if you seriously are considering going there! I distinctly remember one college visit I went on that while it was a great school I quickly realized I had NO interest in attending.

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions feel free to ask either in this thread or in a private message. I gave tours to potential engineering students all the time in college so I have answered a lot of these type of questions.