Melanie, Eudora Kansas asked Stacy Clark, AI Engineers AddedWednesday, July 20, 2016 at 1:17 PM Studying environmental engineering in Kansas Hi Stacy, I am a senior in high school and I am very set on becoming an environmental engineer. I have loved the environment and have been wanting to help it since a young age. I want to be able to get the most out of my education the future. I participate in high school Science Olympiad and I found to love learning about groundwater contamination and remediation. I don't know yet if that is what I want to pursue but living in the state of Kansas, I don't know if attending college in Kansas will limit job opportunities in the future or if I should consider attending a college towards a bigger city or areas where there is common fracking to hopefully be able to have a job right out of college and to learn from while still in college. Thanks, Melanie. Related to Environmental, Internships & Jobs, Preparation for College Reset Sort By Default Stacy Clark , AI Engineers Answered Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 10:20 AM Hi Melanie, I am SO sorry for the delayed response, and I bet this isn't going to be much help to you at this point, but hopefully it will be helpful to other folks reading this in the future. While I think people who attend college at a school well-known for its engineering program(s), I don't think it's necessary. After all, not everybody can afford to go to MIT or Cornell. In my experience, hiring managers get that, and they're looking for more than just where you attended school - like clubs, honor societies, GPA, internships, etc. I think there are also certain geographical biases, where engineering firms close to a school tend to hire people who went to that school, although it could just be that more applications are received from folks who went to that school since it's so close-by. In summary: While I do think attending certain colleges gives you an upper hand during the job application process, it isn't entirely necessary. I think you should go to a school you can afford so you can focus on doing well in your courses, extracurriculars, and internships. When I'm looking over resumes, those things are more important to me than where you went to school.