What is DE credit? I remember someone else was complaining GT didn’t let her DS skip some math classes in the first year, but it sounds like you are happy in the way GT gave credits to your DS.
What kind of EE classes your DS was able to take in the first year? My DS was also accepted to EE, that’s why I’m asking. He also got accepted to UMD ECE with full scholarship for tuition and housing. Fortunately, we saved up for college, so we can pay OOS for GT, but still I’m not sure if it is worth going to GT in our situation.
Thanks.
If I understand correctly, DE refers to Dual Enrollment credit (classes taken through your local CC while in high school).
And regarding the person who said her DS couldn’t skip some math classes, I think she meant that her son had achieved a high level of math proficiency (presumably by doing math competitions) but was not allowed to take a placement exam to skip certain high level math classes.
Wow, full pay at GT vs full ride at UMD is a really really hard decision!! Made even harder by the fact that you can afford GT. We were in the same situation, but our instate option wasn’t as compelling as UMD. Have you visited both schools? Does your son have a strong preference either way? We literally offered DS tens of thousands of dollars to take his full-ride instate option instead of GT, but his heart was so set on going to GT, he didn’t even consider it for a moment.
Answers to your questions:
DE credits are credit that highschool students get for taking college classes concurrently with their highschool classes. Some states actually send the kids(virtually or other) to the college to take the classes, and other states(like NJ) have arrangements with some community colleges(CC’s) so that some highschool classes taken at highschool actually count double as community college classes. We pay a registration fee at the CC for the classes, and then upon highschool graduation, the student gets a transcript from the CC showing that the student completed the CC classes. Some colleges (like GT) accepts these credits as transfer credits. Other colleges don’t. GT has a transfer database that shows exactly what credit the student will get based on what class they took at a specific CC. To find out what credit your student will get for AP classes, there is a separate ‘AP Credit’ table you can look at.
2). My DS took ECE 2020 - Fundamentals of Digital Systems Design fall semester. There is one CS prereq for this class that he satisfied with AP Computer Science. Then, this spring he’s taking ECE 2026 Intro to Signal Processing. It has the same CS prereq and also some math prereqs that he satisfied with AP Calc BC. If you look up the ‘Program of Studies’ for each college for EE, you should be able to get an idea of the classes he’ll be taking. Best thing is to find a flowchart showing the classes by semester, and the prereqs. I have one for GT I’ll try to send you in a PM. I can’t find it online anymore, I think because it’s slightly outdated since they implemented ‘threads’ last year, but it’ll give you an idea. If you haven’t looked at the ‘threads’ yet, it’s worth taking a look. Basically the students pick a thread which is aligned with their interests within EE, and that guides them to the correct set of EE electives to take.
Georgia Tech is a great engineering school, but so is Maryland. My Georgia Tech son has had two internships and both had engineering students from Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, KSU, etc. Point being, Georgia Tech and Maryland would both get your kid to the same end result. I would find it really hard to down a full ride at Maryland unless I was convinced GT would be a better culture fit - academically they are similar enough that that would not sway me - or if you have to compete academically for your major at Maryland. Two great choices!
I’m assuming he’s accepted into the Honors College at UMD - does that come with priority registration for classes? GT doesn’t give priority registration to any group, even the Honors LLC. Course selection is stressful at GT, and, after fall semester freshman year, it’s prioritized by the number of credits you have, so if you’re coming in without a lot of transfer/AP credits, you’re at even more of a disadvantage(there are a lot of kids that come in with a ton of credits). It can be very hard to get the classes you want. They say ‘it all works out in the end’, but not without major stress sometimes. If UMD is offering priority registration, that is a big CHECK in the PRO UMD column!!
Thank you so much for great advice. We haven’t visited the schools yet. Without knowing much, my son had an initial inclination towards GT, but later the full scholarship may have changed his mind. After visiting both schools, we’ll leave it to him to decide.
The classes that your DS took as a freshman sound impressive. My DS also have AP CS and Calc BC. So it sounds encouraging on that front. The flowchart you mention would be so helpful if you could send it. I did not know about ‘threads’. I will search them up.
He got into Honors College at UMD, but I don’t know if it comes with priority registration. That’s another great suggestion, I should learn more on that.
I, personnally agree with your assessment (He admitted directly to his major at both schools.) Someone here wrote “Love the school that loves you.” Without seeing any school yet, deep down I hope he chooses UMD, but we will leave it 100% up to him to decide.
We are in a bit of a similar situation with our DD. She plans to study chem e and has a full ride at Alabama (NMF package) as well as being accepted into the Randall Research Scholars Program giving her guaranteed research opportunities as an undergrad. Admitted to GaTech and UVA among others with no aid. We plan to have her visit both over the coming weeks. We can afford the oos tuition, but it is hard for me to think about turning down the full ride and RRSP opportunities at Alabama. This discussion is giving me some helpful insight.