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Where is the best school located for an electrical engineering bachelors degree?
close to metro area sunnyvale , san jose, santa clara
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Daniel’s Answer
hi Luis,
Simple but not helpful answer to your questions about the "best" school for BSEE education near Silicon Valley is: it depends. It depends on your criteria (how do you define best, what do you want from a school or your education, etc.), and your constraints (distance, value for your tuition, reputation of the degree program at the school for your chosen field, etc.). So I won't try to answer the question you asked, since you're the only one who can generate an useful answer.
I will try to suggest a few things that you might want to consider as you weigh your choice of schools. In no particular order:
- how much money do you want to spend on a college education? How much (if any) student debt do you want to carry upon graduation? If you're motivated to do the work, you can get a good engineering education in many different (types of) institutions. Some will give you better value, in terms of return on your money.
- how important are the non-academic aspects of college, and what type of non-academic experiences are you looking for? For many, college is the first time that they are living independently away from Mom/Dad/home. This can make a significant impact on your life, as many make life-long friends with roommates/friends that they meet in college. Some prefer a commuter type of school. Some want fun athletic events or teams to play on. What is it that you are looking for?
- how sure are you about choosing to pursue a BSEE? Do you want a school that offers a relatively broad range of courses and degree programs, in case you find that you are interested in something other than EE? Is an accelerated masters (5 years for MSEE) important to you? How about opportunities/assistance to get some work experience in industry before you graduate in formal co-op programs? Answers to these types of questions can narrow down your choices significantly.
- How much do you think you'd rely on your fellow classmates after you graduate, as a network to help you advance in your career? Some folks are lone inventors, others maintain active relationships w/other alumni of their schools for their entire career. You know yourself best.
- Similarly, what type of learning environment works best for you? Do you enjoy healthy competition with your peers, learning as much from working/competing with them as you do from your teachers? Do you prefer to learn in a smaller, environment where you can get more time to discuss questions with your instructors? Do you tend to do better when there's someone to remind you when assignments need to be completed, help you get started on your work, etc.? Or are you looking for someplace that won't impose much of any barrier for the work that you want to do? Choose a school that matches your preferred learning style. School counselors are a helpful resource, so would many people at CareerVillage.
- Even within the field of electrical engineering there are quite a number of sub-specialties, and different schools have different emphases amongst those sub-specialties. Many schools include computer science (both software development/programming, as well as design of computing machinery, and lately AI and algorithm design) in their EE departments, whilst others separate that out in a CS department. If you are truly interested in EE (typically that means design of electronic/electrial hardware), there's digital, analog, RF, power, communications, signal processing, feedback systems, medical or bio-electrical, just to touch on the traditional sub-specialties. Most of the time, for an undergrad (BS) education, you're not going to go too deeply in a sub-specialty, but you would in graduate programs (MS, PhD). For most students entering college from high school, I would imagine a more well-rounded curriculum is a better choice. Whereas someone w/a bit of industry experience who goes back to school in order to get more expertise about a particular speciality might want to choose a curriculum with much narrower but deeper focus.
I've worked for 30+ years as an EE, in both large companies (>$10B annual sales) and start-ups. I've seen really good engineers with all kinds of backgrounds, with degrees from every type of institution. So if you're asking what is the "best school" to help prepare you for future success, I don't see a clear answer. Your future depends more on you and how motivated you are to reach your goals, and less on what school you go to.
My two cents. And best wishes as you ponder where you may want to go next in your education.
Dan
Write down what you're looking for, in terms of next step(s) in your education
Talk with your counselor, or school alumni at open houses, or friends and relatives, to see if they can help you refine your choices to fit what you're looking for.
Keep asking questions. You might be surprised where you get that helpful insight or recommendation.
Simple but not helpful answer to your questions about the "best" school for BSEE education near Silicon Valley is: it depends. It depends on your criteria (how do you define best, what do you want from a school or your education, etc.), and your constraints (distance, value for your tuition, reputation of the degree program at the school for your chosen field, etc.). So I won't try to answer the question you asked, since you're the only one who can generate an useful answer.
I will try to suggest a few things that you might want to consider as you weigh your choice of schools. In no particular order:
- how much money do you want to spend on a college education? How much (if any) student debt do you want to carry upon graduation? If you're motivated to do the work, you can get a good engineering education in many different (types of) institutions. Some will give you better value, in terms of return on your money.
- how important are the non-academic aspects of college, and what type of non-academic experiences are you looking for? For many, college is the first time that they are living independently away from Mom/Dad/home. This can make a significant impact on your life, as many make life-long friends with roommates/friends that they meet in college. Some prefer a commuter type of school. Some want fun athletic events or teams to play on. What is it that you are looking for?
- how sure are you about choosing to pursue a BSEE? Do you want a school that offers a relatively broad range of courses and degree programs, in case you find that you are interested in something other than EE? Is an accelerated masters (5 years for MSEE) important to you? How about opportunities/assistance to get some work experience in industry before you graduate in formal co-op programs? Answers to these types of questions can narrow down your choices significantly.
- How much do you think you'd rely on your fellow classmates after you graduate, as a network to help you advance in your career? Some folks are lone inventors, others maintain active relationships w/other alumni of their schools for their entire career. You know yourself best.
- Similarly, what type of learning environment works best for you? Do you enjoy healthy competition with your peers, learning as much from working/competing with them as you do from your teachers? Do you prefer to learn in a smaller, environment where you can get more time to discuss questions with your instructors? Do you tend to do better when there's someone to remind you when assignments need to be completed, help you get started on your work, etc.? Or are you looking for someplace that won't impose much of any barrier for the work that you want to do? Choose a school that matches your preferred learning style. School counselors are a helpful resource, so would many people at CareerVillage.
- Even within the field of electrical engineering there are quite a number of sub-specialties, and different schools have different emphases amongst those sub-specialties. Many schools include computer science (both software development/programming, as well as design of computing machinery, and lately AI and algorithm design) in their EE departments, whilst others separate that out in a CS department. If you are truly interested in EE (typically that means design of electronic/electrial hardware), there's digital, analog, RF, power, communications, signal processing, feedback systems, medical or bio-electrical, just to touch on the traditional sub-specialties. Most of the time, for an undergrad (BS) education, you're not going to go too deeply in a sub-specialty, but you would in graduate programs (MS, PhD). For most students entering college from high school, I would imagine a more well-rounded curriculum is a better choice. Whereas someone w/a bit of industry experience who goes back to school in order to get more expertise about a particular speciality might want to choose a curriculum with much narrower but deeper focus.
I've worked for 30+ years as an EE, in both large companies (>$10B annual sales) and start-ups. I've seen really good engineers with all kinds of backgrounds, with degrees from every type of institution. So if you're asking what is the "best school" to help prepare you for future success, I don't see a clear answer. Your future depends more on you and how motivated you are to reach your goals, and less on what school you go to.
My two cents. And best wishes as you ponder where you may want to go next in your education.
Dan
Daniel recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Joseph’s Answer
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/electrical-engineering-rankings
This will be very helpful.
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA is great
This will be very helpful.
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA is great