What college should I go to?

[Trumpkin]

Phew, it has been a while since I posted on this forum. Anyways, since this website played a large part in getting me interested in robotics/electronics, I figured it is appropriate to ask your guys' opinion on what college I should go to for electrical engineering. I have applied and been accepted to three colleges:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rochester Institute of Technology
University of Minnesota
Which would be your first and second choices? Which is most likely to land me a job? Right now I'm leaning toward RPI, but trying to justify cost.

[Gertlex]

My impression is they're all at about the same level of prestige.  As a result, the issue of landing jobs comes down to you, what you do while you're there (outside of classes), and find an internship along the way.  It's quite possible you will want to go on for a Master's degree.  At that point, it's more valuable to be picky.  As an undergrad, though, it's worth saving the tens of thousands of dollars (assuming you can get in-state tuition from Minnesota).

That's just my opinion though... but I definitely know more about what is what in academics than I did in high school.

[jwatte]

For robotics, I'd look at Carnegie Mellon University. Also, at high-end tech schools like MIT or Cal Tech, and at Stanford, which won the DARPA grand challenge, and collaborates with Google on the robot cars of tomorrow. Competition to get in may be hard there, though ;-)

Regarding "prestige" schools: that may matter in certain companies -- typically larger companies, or more conservative areas like finance or law or whatever. For high-tech companies closer to the start-up zone on the west coast, who you are and what you have actually done (projects!) matters a lot, whereas which particular school you go to matters almost not at all.

[Trumpkin]

I suppose you are right. I was under the impression that RPI was quite a bit more prestigious than the U of M (and I like the campus better). However, if I do not get good financial aid, I will probably end up at the U of M.
@jwatte I decided not to apply to those schools since I was pretty sure I wouldn't get in. 

[Gertlex]

@jwatte I decided not to apply to those schools since I was pretty sure I wouldn't get in. 

That was my attitude towards MIT, as well. I would love to know if I would have gotten in... but I'm okay with the fact that I did other things than write more essays for college applications.

Definitely look into random scholarships if you have the willpower.  The amount of effort it takes to get a few thousand dollars in scholarships is rather worth it in terms of $/hour...  I ought to have done more of that sort of thing in high school

[jwatte]

I was pretty sure I wouldn't get in.

The best way of not getting in is not applying :-)

Anyway, I've been hiring software engineers for > 15 years, and what school a candidate goes to doesn't even register when I read a resume. Being smart, knowing what you talk about, and also knowing what you don't know, as well as being dedicated and driven to achieve results, is what counts.