Expert: Susie Watts - 9/3/2006

Question
I've heard that its more important to select a college based on an applicant's intended major than it is based on a particular college's overall reputation.  For example, ABC university may be ranked as a mid range academeic instituition but have a renouned engineering program ranked one of the better in the nation. And where CDE univeristy may be ranked much higher and is more selective, their engineering program may mediocre.  Therefore apply to the less selctive ABC school with the great engineering program is the applicant wants to be an engineer? Is this a truism or not?  And if so, where does one find the rankings of all these colleges as they pertain to individual majors and not just overall assessment?  Additionall, I know that Busines Week magazine rates busienss schools but so do other publications and their ratings can be very dissimilar.  Who do you believe?

Answer
I don't like to pay too much attention to rankings because no one knows what kind of criteria they are based upon. If you are interested in engineering and feel fairly certain that is what you want to major in, choose a good school with a good engineering program.  I don't know of many schools where the engineering major is mediocre, even if the school is not highly ranked.  The most important thing for you to consider is whether it is a school that is suited to you.  Academics are important, but if you're not happy in other areas, it's not a good fit.