Rutgers School of Engineering vs. Stevens Institute of Technology

Dear Parent:

Please don't fall for the "HARVARD-YALE SYNDROME", where one gauges the excellence of an education solely on the cost of tuition!

First, you must evaluate the educational excellence of a particular college based on INDEPENDANT analysis, and again, not solely on it's cost. DO YOU HAVE YUPPIE BLINDERS ON??????? GIVE ME A BREAK WILL YA????!!!!!!

As far as placement goes, look where Steven's Institute is located...NYC Metro Area! That says it all. Ditto with NYU, NYIT, and Cooper Union!!!

I'm not trying to take away anything from Steven's, but the first commentator to this posting is somewhat bias, as there are other engineering schools in the country located in NYS and the Northeast are just as good or better.....some come to mind, such as:

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY; one of the best in the WORLD...where you actually can study real God's honest "Rocket Science"!!! ***LOL***

Union College in Schenectady, NY; 6 miles away from my home town and also an Alma Mater of my brother's...MS in Mechanical Engineering. A much under-rated engineering school, but still one of the best there is!

Cornell University in Ithaca, NY;

Cooper Union in NYC

Rutgers in ???, NJ

Clarkson University in Pottsdam, NY

MIT in Boston, MA

Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY (my Alma Mater)...[another school that has a GREAT CO-OP program in nearly every engineering discipline available. If I'm not mistaken, RIT initiated the Co-Op educational program in the USA many many years ago. Also, along with Union College and Norwich University is one of the oldest Engineering schools in the USA.]

Norwich University, Norwich, VT ( a military prep school)....a fantastic Master's Eng. program ONLINE!!!

West Point (US Military Academy), West Point, NY. Do not underestimate this college as it's one of the best in the country if not the entire world, plus it's free if you serve your commitments. Good luck trying to get any kid appointed into this school!!!! VERY TOUGH & HIGHLY COMPETITIVE!!!!!!! Know a US Congressman personally or a MOH Recipient??????? ***LOL***

Worcester Poly. Inst., Worcester, MA

Amherst Univ. (UMass), Amherst, MA

Penn State

SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY

Lehigh University, Bethlehem NY (my brother's Alma Mater....he's a Chemical Engineer working for Castrol/BP in their racing oil program).

Princeton Univ.

Harvard and Yale

That should do it for now. I know that I've probably missed a few good ones for inclusion in this short list.

Good luck searching for an Eng. School for Junior.....

Engineering is not offered either at at Harvard or at Yale University.

Please read the OP post before running off.

Of course, the OP was a bit vague as to which field of engineering was of interest to him. That will make a difference in the choice.

Penn State?? ...well, encountering an alumnus can very often lead to a good laugh.

As an alumnus of Stevens, I can tell you that Stevens' engineering school is the most rigorous in New Jersey. The Stevens engineering curriculum requires significantly more credits, coursework, and includes courses that most other engineering students (including Rutgers) are not required to take. My experience in industry has been that Stevens graduates have a much greater breadth of knowledge, and are much better at solving engineering problems that are of an interdisciplinary nature (as are most) than those of other schools. Stevens is more selective than Rutgers, and more of its students are in the top 10% of their high school classes, and possess college board (SAT/ACT) scores superior to the average state university student. I encourage you to check the standard college guides (Barron's, Peterson's, etc.) for comparative statistics. When I was an undergraduate, many students who were not up to the rigor and quantity of the Stevens course load transferred out, some to Rutgers, some to NJIT, and to others. Unfortunately, Stevens does not have the PR and advertising budget of Rutgers (nor its high priced football team), so USN&WR under-rates Stevens. I strongly encourage any student interested in engineering to consider Stevens. I too, could have attended Rutgers at considerably less cost, however, I was at a strong advantage having graduated from Stevens. By the way, another commenter remarked that one cannot study engineering at Harvard or Yale. This is not so, both have well-established engineering programs.

Rutgers in New Brunswick. School of Engineering. Probably Electro or Mechanical.

My dilemma: Is it really worth it to pay for private Stevens school. Where and when is it going to pay back price difference. I do not expect any scholarships or grants, and Stevens is double the Rutgers tuition. Rutgers is ranked higher than Stevens on US News collage ranking list. Why not Rutgers?

Thank you,

Parent

After having just sent 2 daughters through college I have some words or wisdom to bestow upon you: do your self a huge favor and send your son/daughter to the local community college and save some serious Buckos for the first 2 or 3 years! Both of my kids went to very expensive private colleges and changed their major half way through their college careers. What a total waste of money if you ask me. Hopefully when my son attends school next year he'll listen to reason from his old man instead of my idiot X-wife who thinks she divorced a loaded Donald Trump type and who loves to spend $$$ she doesn't have nor ever have!!!!!

Luckily, daughter #2 decided to attend the local community college after she changed her mind on the initial major study because she ended up changing her mind yet again! I hear this all the time from other parents....kids don't know what they want most of the time or have grand visions about their initial study choice only to discover it's not something they want to do after all!!!!

Most private 4-year colleges will accept credit hours in a transfer after the tike has earned their AAS degree from a community college. It may not be like keeping up with the "Jones" or "Smiths" next door nor is there much to brag about concerning attending a community college vs. a private school, but you (or the kid) will have a hell of a lot less to finance or have less of a student loan than the braggart neighbors and friends....think about all the tens of thousands of $$$$ you'll be saving just in the first 2 years alone (or 3 or 4 years until Junior makes up his/her mind!)!!!!

Been there and offering a huge piece of advice.....and a COMMON SENSE APPROACH!!!

Have a bright sunny day!!!

If Rutgers is half the cost of attending Stevens and is ranked higher as well, then send the kid to Rutgers if you can afford it.

If you can send the kid to Stevens and not worry about the finances, then send the kid there instead.

If you cannot afford either, then look at my previous posting!

If you're asking a question in the framework of like ...As far as a Return on Investment, Rutgers vs. Stevens? then I think you're doing the kid a great injustice.

Another thing.....my father imparted this piece of wisdom on me after I left my initial stint in the US Army at age 21: "you will learn more in your studies if you pay for it all by yourself without any help from either your mother or I". As it turns out, he was absolutely right because it taught me to true value of money and what it took to save for and pay for that college education! And my father was a well off self-made man and not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Everything he ever own he earned it the hard way by working hard and investing wisely....he came from nothing, fought in the Korean War while in the US Army, attended dental school on the GI Bill and his savings.....he died 10 years ago from a brain tumor as well respected man of his community and he left my mom a fortune. I wished that I had listened to him during my teen years instead of being a rebel....he had a lot to teach!!!!

Maybe you will need to boot Junior out of the nest and make him find his own way as well, instead of cashing in your 401K or taking out a 2nd mortgage on the house.....most kids now days do not appreciate what sacrifices their parents have given them.

Sorry about the preaching and standing on the "soap box". Just that it ticks me off to see so man parents waste their hard earned money on their brats over and over again, essentailly for naught!!!!!!!

Think twice about any engineering school. The most important thing I found out after 4 years in engineering school was that I knew not to let my daughter study engineering. She did her undergraduate in business and got a masters in business and hospital administration. She has a safe job, great benefits. Even better it is a federal hospital

I have actually done research at both Schools during different periods of my undergrad and can say this: It depends.

There are outward differences for sure. Stevens has some particular frills: NYC, business connections, and a small student body, but Rutgers has just a rigorous a program, and equally good standing in the "world's eyes".

The to programs are quite different however, in most departments. For example, Stevens has no Power classes in the Electrical Engineering department.... None.

But you will not know you'd like to go into that field until your most of the way through your undergrad.

What I would do, which I did transfering between colleges, is look at the research groups and graduate programs of each school and see what, if anything, excites or interests you. Those groups and graduate programs reflect the actual interests and expertise of the faculty that will be teaching.