<p>*Agreed. Irregardless, I think both UCB and UCLA (flagships) will do just fine… but not so much the mid/lower-tier UCs. - says a former Californian (me)
*</p>
<p>The UCs should raise the cost of Cal, UCLA, and SD. It’s ridiculous that Cal and Merced cost about the same. </p>
<p>If the UCs dropped the price a bit on the low tiers (to $9k), slightly increased the mid-tiers (to $15k), and doubled the price for the top tiers, that might work.</p>
<p>Its either that, or we go the way of Greece. You can hardly call the people of California undertaxed. The golden goose has already been fullly plucked. And I respectfully suggest that people shouldn’t complain about this and at the same time say nothing while a good chunk of the financial aid that is still available goes to illegal aliens.</p>
<p>“Virginia Tech’s OOS costs are pretty low compared to many other publics: Cost of Attendance
Although “other” costs are not listed, they won’t bring the cost up to that of Wisconsin, UIUC, or Purdue for OOS.”</p>
<p>Indeed. But perhaps I am B1G biased, I tend to think / rank #42 Wisconsin, #45 UIUC & #62 Purdue (engineering in particular) above that of #71 Vtech in terms of academics. So, even with slightly higher COA, I would still pick them over Vtech in terms of most bang for the buck and for proximately to the 3rd city in the country - Chicago. </p>
<p>“The UCs should raise the cost of Cal, UCLA, and SD. It’s ridiculous that Cal and Merced cost about the same.”</p>
<p>Great minds think alike!! ;)</p>
<p>*Indeed. But perhaps I am B1G biased, I tend to think / rank #42 Wisconsin, #45 UIUC & #62 Purdue (engineering in particular) above that of #71 Vtech in terms of academics. *</p>
<p>I think USNews ranking only counts “academics” for about 40% of its ranking, so the basic school ranking isn’t enough to tell whether one school is better than another…at least not substantially better to justify spending a lot more money. None of those Big 10 schools (or whatever it’s called today) would result in engineering graduates starting at higher salaries that a VT grad. None. If a company hired a new EE grad from each school, they’d all start at the same salary.</p>
<p>Frankly, it’s more meaningful to go to a school for engineering that can help hook you up with meaningful internships and co-ops that will lead to immediate professional employment upon graduation…even if that means going to a 3rd tier that happens to be strong in engineering.</p>
<p>[California?s</a> public universities: Excellence for fewer | The Economist](<a href=“Excellence for fewer”>Excellence for fewer)</p>