Chemical Eng: Purdue vs U Delaware vs U Penn vs UC Boulder

[Chlorine]

I've gotten into the schools for chemical engineering PhD (learning Catalysis) and would appreciate any input regarding all of your opinions on the PhD school selection standard.

My goal is to work in academia eventually, but I am also open to work in industry. I know the ranking changes every year but I think Delaware is 6, Purdue 15, U Penn 15, and Boulder around 18 (US News 2018) in chemical engineering. Since these are all top 20, is there a large significance between Delaware (top 10) and Purdue (top 20), for example? Or should I take care more about general engineering ranking (Purdue), or more general ranking (U Penn)? Or should I only consider the faculty and research area, regardless of the aforementioned ranking things?

I appreciate your opinion in advance!

Edited March 25, 2021 by Chlorine

[heistotron]

3 hours ago, Chlorine said:

I've gotten into the schools for chemical engineering PhD (learning Catalysis) and would appreciate any input regarding all of your opinions on the PhD school selection standard.

My goal is to work in academia eventually, but I am also open to work in industry. I know the ranking changes every year but I think Delaware is 6, Purdue 15, U Penn 15, and Boulder around 18 (US News 2018) in chemical engineering. Since these are all top 20, is there a large significance between Delaware (top 10) and Purdue (top 20), for example? Or should I take care more about general engineering ranking (Purdue), or more general ranking (U Penn)? Or should I only consider the faculty and research area, regardless of the aforementioned ranking things?

I appreciate your opinion in advance!

For PhD programs, departmental reputation > general university reputation in terms of research/industry/academia prospects and student body quality.

US News Rankings are generally more reflective of academic perceptions of departmental quality than most other rankings, but they still fluctuate from year to year so I wouldn't worry too much about the actual ranking. In terms of research quality & industrial prospects, there is likely minimal difference between Delaware v.s. Purdue, but if you're planning on academia the program at Delaware is definitely more prestigious and the faculty even more well-connected.

Going by departmental reputation, your programs would roughly go: Delaware > Penn > Boulder > Purdue (with Delaware being a cut above all the others and Boulder being closer to Penn than Purdue as Boulder's been closer to top 10 than top 20 and steadily climbing upwards still these days).

I don't think Boulder is too hot on catalysis (could be wrong) but it's definitely one of Delaware's strong points and UPenn has some good faculty there as well. At this point if it's all the same to you Delaware would be the best choice overall as it will best set you up for academia (while having unparalleled industrial connections with DuPont, Dow etc.) and Penn as a second choice as it's departmental reputation is comparable to the other choices and its brand name is an extra icing on the cake for general networking purposes(ChemE academia will still respect Delaware > Penn though).