Which exchange uni to the US?

[cksa]

At the moment trying to decide between three US universities which I could go to as part of my university exchange (from UNSW, Australia). I am studying electrical engineering here in australia, but i'm interested in electronics, embedded design, dsp, microelectronics..etc

The three choices I've narrowed down are:

• University of Illinois - best range of courses of my interest
• Georgia Tech - moderate range of courses of my interest
• Texas University - small range of courses of my interest - but they have a program for international exchange students where they help you find relevant internships during your exchange, and if you do get a relevant internship, they allow you to stay for 4 months extra --> close to Texas Instruments/Freescale/AMD..etc

I'm seriously considering relocating to the US after I graduate, and if there is a chance for Aussie students, ideally i would be able to get an relevant internship over at the US before I graduate. Which university should I choose? 

[TopherTheME]

Hmmmm tough choices. They are all good schools, although I'm not that crazy about Texas. I would choose UofI just because I'm a midwest kind of guy and really into physics.

[rossmoffett]

Austin, Texas is a really fun town and it's kind of a little silicon valley.  I recommend that town just because of that, I met many very cool engineering/science types there and UT is a world class school.  It is not like the rest of Texas.

Check out arcattack in the link below.. they're some buddies from Austin.

[ngkee22]

What's wrong with Texas?  Seems like we are the only state that didn't feel the recession too much.  It's the best state.

As for the universities here, Texas A&M and University of Texas are the best in Texas.  I went to Texas A&M, the students seemed to be more friendly at A&M.  Both have great engineering programs.  I doubt you would have any problem finding a good job after graduating from either.  Texas A&M was ranked second the other day in a major magazine for having graduates that were hired more over other US universities.  Also, Texas A&M has a very tight network of graduates after college.  If you need something or information about a company, all you have to do is locate someone from Texas A&M at the company, and there is a good chance they will help you.

Either one you can go to is a excellent choice.

[JohnS_AZ]

Did you consider Arizona State? Good engineering school, Motorola, ON, Honeywell, and the headquarters for Microchip are all here.

[Time]

What's wrong with Texas?  Seems like we are the only state that didn't feel the recession too much.  It's the best state.

As for the universities here, Texas A&M and University of Texas are the best in Texas.  I went to Texas A&M, the students seemed to be more friendly at A&M.  Both have great engineering programs.

Don't forget Texas Tech!  We were 18 on that list while University of Texas never even made it onto the list (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435563989873060.html).

Lubbock, where Texas Tech is located, is not very pretty but the whole city (~250k people) is pretty much absorbed into the college atmosphere.  Its very very cheap to live comfortably there (as a graduate student I was getting paid 25k salary and I lived in a 2 bedroom house alone with huge yards and a dog).  Tech is mostly an engineering school.  While they have other programs, only the engineering program produces successful alumni.  I was an EE there for 6.5 years (got my masters, just graduated actually) and I worked in a very reputable university based research lab, www.p3e.ttu.edu.  The program had tons of money so it allowed me to get invaluable design experience.  My advisor let me design and build devices that cost as much as $3k US dollars to prototype.  This kind of experience is rare in the university environment, it seems.  The only downfall is that most of it was defense related contracting so its required you are a natural born US citizen to work on them.  Some are not though, I know this because I shared a cubicle with a german exchange student for awhile.  Anyways, it resulted in me being able to get a job doing core design work in the aerospace industry where the budget is now practically limitless.

Austin is an amazing place.  I loved visiting Austin for all the culture and music festivals when I lived in Texas.  They have a very good engineering program as well.  Its a technologically booming city like previously mentioned.  A lot of young companies are setting up HQ there.  I know National Instruments is based out of Austin.

All rivalries aside , Texas A&M is top quality in engineering as well.  I grew up in NW Houston and the majority of my friends from highschool all went to A&M and got engineering degrees, all of them having secure well paying jobs now.  A&M is responsible for producing a lot of reputable careers that are a big part of the technology industry in the US.

I live in Los Angeles right now and I really enjoy it over here but I would have no problems moving back to Texas.

[Zero999]

Choosing a college with a good Microcontrollers course, is probably a good option too.

My college wasn't very good and their MCUs course was especially shite: an hour a week and we all did the same course work which was to make a stepper motor driver. I can't even remember what processor we used, I think it could've been the 8051 but it could've even been a generic microprocessor such as the 8086 or Z80, either way it was completely obsolete when we did it, which was only back in 2005.

I've had to pick up MCUs much later and it's my previous experience with programming PCs in x86 assembly which has helped, not college.

[Time]

We had "microcontrollers" but that course was nothing you could not figure out on your own.  We used a variation of the MSP430 on a dev board.  The really indepth MCU courses were embedded systems and those courses were based around PICs.

[ngkee22]

I wasn't thinking last night, Texas Tech is a good school.  I almost went there.  They had a dual program between computer science and electrical engineering that I was really interested in.  From what I remember, and it was some time ago, Lubbock was a nice town, but wasn't a lot there.

I also saw someone suggested Arizona State.  I work with a guy that use to hire students from there.  He said they prepared engineering students well.  I would say that it is a good option too.

I also looked into the University of Colorado at Boulder.  From what I remember, it has a nice program.  I remember several classes on embedded systems there.  Also, the scenery is great with the mountains in the background and there is a lot of outdoor activities there.  Boulder is a lot like Austin, a very lively town.

There are a lot of good choices here in the US.  Just make certain that the program is ABET accredited.

[TopherTheME]

What is it exactly are you planning on specializing in? Are you more of a hands on experimental guy or a like to sit behind the computer theoretical guy.

We had "microcontrollers" but that course was nothing you could not figure out on your own.  We used a variation of the MSP430 on a dev board.  The really indepth MCU courses were embedded systems and those courses were based around PICs.

Wow, that is crap. I'm an ME and we were required to take a microcontroller class where we programmed in Abel using only boolean algebra. I would have murdered someone to use a PIC or MSP430 for what they made us do. Ever tried programming a chip to read a thermal couple and calculate temperature using just boolean algebra? They were lucking none of the students didn't go postal on the TAs.

[rossmoffett]

What's wrong with Texas?  Seems like we are the only state that didn't feel the recession too much.  It's the best state.

That's what's wrong with Texas.   

You were not the only state that didn't feel the recession too much, neither did other states that depend heavily on oil and natural gas production, such as the state that I live in.  I had no troubles finding a job whatsoever.

Texas would be great if it weren't for all of the Texans!  I kid, but I think Austin is the best city because it tends to be more open-minded than the rest of the place.  It has a lot more cultural opportunities too, music and art are everywhere, and so are the scientists and engineers.  It's a really unique place in America.