Transfer school options

Hello everyone, this is my first post. I'm currently attending community college in Kansas, and it's coming time to start preparing for transferring to a four year college to work towards my BS in Mechanical Engineering. So, my question to you all is this: How important is the college which you recieved your BS from to future employers? It would be easy to go to Kansas State, but I was looking around at schools "rated" higer for thier Engineering programs, and considering if it would be worth it to go somewhere else? Of course, I'd love to go to MIT, but I don't think that's possible, however there are many other great schools that I could get into. So, knowing what you do now, what would you do if you were in my position?
Thank you all so much, Stirling Anderson.

Dear Stirling Anderson:
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Where do you wish to live? What industries that require mechanical engineers thrive there? Find those companies, contact their human resource people, and ask them.
I interviewed for a support position for the nuclear Navy in Idaho (don't ask), and they slotted me to long term planning, because my engineering discipline did not include duct sizing, hood selection, etc. The concept of thermally trapping contaminants to minimize the amount of air to be processed didn't impress them.
You need to arrive with the skill set they expect.
David A. Smith

Hi Stirling:
K-State and KU both have good engineering programs. I doubt if you would b truned away from a job with a degree from one of them. The University of Missouri at Rolla is a more prestigious school, but if you're going to pay out-of-state fees anyway I guess you could really go anywhere. Being able to drive to school rather than fly is an advantage though.
Don
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(remove NS to use the address) 614.937.0463 voice 208.975.1011 fax
http://worthingtonengineering.com

I agree that attending an extremely prestigious and costly university doesn't necessarily make you a good engineer. But going to a podunk, unaccredited college almost certainly won't. In other words, if you get a mediocre education, it may be difficult to make up for it with experience.
Engineering is about half education (which you can't really get through experience alone) and half real-world experience (which you can't really get in school). Perhaps that's why the PE requires four years of experience and four years of school (and sixteen goddamned hours of tests!).
You should go to a good university and learn all you can get your hands on. After that you can apply that knowledge. There shouldn't be any reason to spend your dad's last dime to go to the best university in the country.
I think of a degree from MIT much as I think of a $1000 bottle of wine. Sure it's great, and it's probably better than a $50 bottle...but is it really twenty times better? As Donald said, the prestige fades after your first, entry-level job--then it's your record that counts.
Don
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Thank you all for the replies. You have backed up the theory I was working under that it doesn't matter after a few years what school you went to as long as you excel at the jobs you have worked at. I plan now to still go to the best college I can afford, which my wife and I will be paying for, without accruing too much student loan debts. I haven't decided which area to specialize in yet. I hope to find what classes interest me the most and move towards that area. We shall see. Thank you all again, Stirling

As an added note...
You don't even really have to decide on what engineering discipline you want to specialize in for the first two years. All engineers take basically the same classes (math, physics, mechanics, chemistry, drawing, etc.) in the first two years. Specialization occurs in the last two (or three) years.
Don
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