Pros
An engineering graduate degree at Purdue will place you at a competative advantage when compared to your peers at other institutions. The network of contacts you will make will give you a good chance at a good job even while the economy is turning south. Also, the work here is as hands on as you want to make it; you can truly be involved in the design, development, testing, and evaluation of your own project while a Master's student.
Cons
The biggest downside of working at Purdue is the bureaucracy. Whether it comes in the form of walking between three different buildings on opposite sides of campus to verify that you're registered for classes or only being allowed to visit one in-network set of doctors that are on campus to get health screenings, it sometimes seems impossible to get anything accomplished.