I’m thinking about enrolling Purdue for engineering, tonight… But before I do, I wanted to ask, do you guys think that purdue is good at engineering, better than Rutgers engineering?
You get out of it what you put into it.
Like any school.
What type of engineering? From my experience Rutgers has a much more diverse program in a variety of fields (especially those related to the Medical Field). But hey, you might be bored of the New Brunswick/Piscataway area and Purdue is great for Mechanical oriented programs.
Cough UDayton has some great Chemical Engineering Cough.
Like Ether wrote: You can get a better education at Wilkes University than at Purdue - IF you put in the effort. Now, I’m not advocating Wilkes over Rutgers or Purdue - far from it - my point is that even at some little po-dunk school in the middle of somewhere you’ll get an education, and work at it and you’ll get a good one, too.
Have you visited Purdue? Great school, but YOU have to like it, not me. I’m sure you’ve been to Rutgers.
I think you will find that either will teach you what you need to know. So then it becomes a question of Can you live there for 4 years happily? Can you afford it? If yes and yes, then go.
But what about reputation? Do you guys figure Purdue will open more doors than Rutgers for me, in the future? and I’m undecided at the moment for engineering, maybe computer engineering.
and I haven’t visited Purdue. It just recently became a possibility for me.
One thing to consider, how well does the school/major support co-ops in particular and internships to a lesser extent? This is if you are planning to go into non-research industry (thus a bachelors) vs teaching/research (thus a PhD).
Why is this important? Work experience can give you a leg up on your competition for the first job out of college. The more work experience, the better (within reason). If you university supports the the co-oping, it is a big help.
My story: I went to University of Minnesota - Twin Cities for undergrad in chemical engineering. I did a summer program/part-time in the school year with 3M company after my first year and a co-op with Dow Chemical (three terms). Needless to say, the resume looked really good with that amount of work experience. However, the U of M did not have the best support for co-ops in terms of timing of classes. It worked, but it left me with a final semester of two credits. Not the worst thing in the world, but not the most ideal either.
I have no clue on Rutgers. From what I know of Purdue, it is very good, but I don’t know if that is every engineering major or even still true.
If the engineering school hasn’t been accredited, you don’t want to go there. But if ABET has accredited the school, you’ll get a similar quality of education as at any other ABET accredited school. At that point, reputation becomes a matter of “how well known is this school”, which doesn’t really work out to “X is better than Y because they’re better known”.
Will reputation help? Possibly. But Purdue vs Rutgers in engineering reputation? Har. That’s close enough that it doesn’t really matter. (Either of those vs Wilkes, though, no question on who’s better known nationally.)
Both schools are probably comparable, if you really want to get nit picky look at the US News College Report rankings. But to put it bluntly, they ain’t no Ivy, MIT, Stanford, or a Full-Ride School (Olin & Cooper Union). ABET accreditation is important, and it keeps the curriculum reputable, and busy.
The reputation is likely to depend on what you do with extra-curriculars, GPA, and any coop/internship/research/TA experience you can get in your spare time.
Where do you want to end up when you graduate? Its a lot easier to end up on the East coast with Rutgers and their alumni network, Purdue is likely to keep you in the Midwest/Chicago area. But then again, it is what you make it.
Go where you will succeed the most and have the most opportunities and be happy, I’m looking at job offers the same way.
In case your wondering, the mid-west is very different than central jersey. (Both have ups and downs).
For the record, coming out of the University of Minnesota with a degree in chemical engineering, I had job offers in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Charleston, WV, Kingsport, TN, Freeport, TX, and Midland, MI if I recall correctly. Granted, I was looking more in the petrochemical industry so there isn’t a plethora of jobs in the Midwest.
Of course you should go to Purdue.
Except for this year and a few of the past years, if you come to U of I, we kick Purdue’s butt in Football 
But no really, Rutgers vs. Purdue wise, they’re both awesome schools. The main thing why I chose out of state, which was a big decision for me, aside money and rankings, was the fact that going out of state, meant a whole new experience for me. New people, new things, new environment. Which I think is really awesome, I got to expand my network immensely.
One thing I tell people (I’m a tour guide) is that no matter where they go, carefully examine potential career paths besides those that you chose. I was always interested in Computer Engineering/Aerospace Engineering vs. Computer Science, so coming to U of I, I was comforted knowing that I could switch in and go on a different path if I chose to.
Also grad school is a biggy, CS - AI at U of I is pretty good.
A lot of that research you’ll have to find out on your own, but you’re asking good questions already, target them at admissions offices.
You’re considering balking at an opportunity to get out of New Jersey? :ahh:
