Big Engineering Schools Get Poor Marks

Engineering colleges fared poorly again in an annual survey released this week in The Princeton Review’s annual edition of “The Best 368 Colleges.”

Top technical schools ranging from Cal Tech to Georgia Tech to Illinois Institute of Technology popped up on lists involving least happy students and worst professors. While the big-name schools dominated those areas, however, the news was good for two small engineering colleges that appeared on lists of happy students and best professors.

            Most notable were the lists titled “Least Happy Students” and “Professors Get the Worst Marks.” The rankings, which are based on interviews with 120,000 students at 368 schools, placed five engineering schools on the least happy list. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy was the worst, with the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) all landing in the worst ten. Under “Professors Get the Worst Marks,” engineering schools owned the four worst spots: Stevens Institute of Technology fared worst, followed, in order, by the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Cal Tech, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. IIT, Georgia Tech, and Rensselaer Polytechnic also landed in the bottom ten.

            On the flip side, Franklin Olin College of Engineering and Harvey Mudd landed in the top ten in the category called “Professors Get High Marks.” Franklin Olin also finished fifth in the happiest students category.

            Engineering experts have argued in the past that engineering colleges will always do poorly on such lists because of the intensity and number of study hours required by engineering curriculums. This year’s list supported that argument: In a category titled “Students Study the Most,” engineering schools grabbed four of the top five spots (MIT, Franklin Olin, Cal Tech, Harvey Mudd).

No engineering schools appeared on a list titled, “Students Study the Least.”