Do you think I can study civil engineering?

I want to study either chemical engineering or computer science Which of the following colleges do you think I should attend and why Carnegie Mellon Columbia Cornell or Rensselaer?

• Answer:

  All those schools have good chemical engineering programs and good computer science programs. Cornell ranks highest overall for engineering. Carnegie Mellon is next. Both are probably in the top 10 for engineering overall. Neither school is in the top 10 specifically for chemical engineering however. Columbia and Rensselear are both top 50 schools in engineering. Carnegie Mellon, has an outstanding computer security program, so if you have an interest in studying computer science and specializing in computer security, you would probably want to target Carnegie Mellon. Cornell ranks just slightly below Carnegie Mellon for computer science overall (but doesn't have the world renowned computer security specialization that Carnegie Mellon has), but is generally considered to also be in the top 10 schools in the US. Columbia ranks next - but not in the top 10. Renssalear also ranks in the top 50 but not quite as high as Columbia. Overall, unless you want to specialize in computer security, Carnegie Mellon and Cornell are neck and neck for best choices, but the other two are also good choices. An important factor you should consider though, is the overall cost of each school including tuition, books, housing, food, and overall cost of living where the school is located. If you check on those factors you will find a significant difference in the costs of the 4 schools. Scholarships can make a big difference, but unless you have a full ride that includes housing, cost of living can still make the difference. Frankly, if you can get accepted to any one of the four you will be in good shape. All four of them recruited me coming out of high school - although I wound up choosing a different school for my undergraduate work in Chemical Engineering. I have since also picked up graduate degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Computer Science, so I hope my experience gives my advice here some additional reliability.