<p>I know it's almost time to make a decision, but I am still trying to decide between BC and WPI(I don't want to go to BU or Holy Cross). I was planning to be an engineering major (not sure yet). WPI gave me $41500 with $10000 loans+payments while BC gave me $50300 with $4500 loans. In this tough economy, BC gave me the best deal. So I was leaning towards BC. Also BC is a lot more prestigious than WPI. </p>
<p>But the problem is, I thought what will happen if I really want to major in engineering?? Some of my friends told me that I could go to BC, take physics, math and chemistry classes as undergrad and do engineering in grad school. </p>
<p>Others are telling me to go to WPI. Which one should I pick? Is it a good idea to go to BC and then do engineering in grad school? Will I be able to get a good job if i do that?</p>
<p>Please someone help me out here. Your opinion can help me make a critical decision.</p>
<p>how soon do you want to or need to enter the work force. If it makes no difference, go to the school that is giving you the best deal - that is if you like it just as well.
If you want to go right to work, WPI would leave you with the degree to do that. Are you talking about per year amounts in your original post? Or are those total awards and loans over the 4 years? If your numbers are per year, you would have $40,000 in loans to pay off from WPI. That’s a lot, but WPI has an excellent reputation for employment right out of college. If that is the case for you, your loans would be paid off relatively easily. But if you prefer BC and do not feel compelled to have to go to work as an engineer for another couple of years, BC sounds like a good idea (so long as you figure out how to pay for grad school)</p>
<p>I actually am not planning to go to work-force right away. I want to get my grad degree before I get into a work force. I want to get a full time job after I get my grad degree. </p>
<p>Those awards are per ear base and yes I woul have about $45000 in loans if I decide to go to WPI.</p>
<p>The math SAT percentiles at BC are about the same at WPI, so in terms of math/science the two schools are probably comparable. I don’t how much prestigious BC is… </p>
<p>Honestly BC might be a better choice for you just because of the cost difference. </p>
<p>Also why aren’t you considering BU? That’s also a very good school. </p>
<p>Note that I am a WPI student so I might have a pro-WPI bias.</p>
<p>Hate to break your little bubble but out here in the real world no one sees any difference between BC, WPI, HC, BU. They are all about the same academically and what matters is what you personally learn at the school and the skills you gain. If you want to be an engineer, you study engineering. You don’t do liberal arts first then get a masters later unless you want to pay for 6 years of schooling rather than 4.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of many engineer majors going straight into the job market, and the job paying for Master’s program.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that if your interest in engineering is strong, why u even applied to colleges that didn’t offer this major. BU does have an engineering program, so why rule this college out? The campus is urban, compared to WPI. Where do you feel mocst comfortable?</p>
<p>I am ruling out BU, it’s just that I don’t feel very comfortable at BU and out of those colleges I feel most comfortable at BC. That’s why I wanted to go there. But i guess the choice for me would be to go to BU. Thanks for all honest opinions.</p>
<p>Go where you feel comfortable. You may end up not being an engineer, no one truly knows at this stageof the game, not until they get some classes under their belt. Juust be sure your “comfort” is not being fed too much by prestige. The practically free ride there would make <em>me</em> lean to BC if I was not sure about engineering. If I was sure about engineering, I would choose WPI - but only if you feel comfortable there as well. While college is about eventually gaining a career, it is also about learning and living and it needs to be in a place you want to be</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is that you will probably go into less debt then you think you will. At WPI you can earn about $2000 a year work as a library assistant, and about $9000 a year as an R.A. </p>
<p>Or did your $40,000 figure for WPI include a work study? In that case…</p>
<p>OP
I was just thinking of a possible engineering major. The campus at BC is great, sports there great, and alumni spirit strong. WPI is well-regarded in engineering and other sciences. I know BC and BU, but haven’t been to WPI too many years to count.</p>
<p>With limited time, would be great to re-visit WPI campus. Also, compare the diversity and strength of engineering programs at BU and BC. Is BC part of a 3/2 program? (attend first 3 years at BC, then go to partner school for engineering)</p>
<p>Post your question on the Parent’s Forum and you will get plenty of good advice.</p>
<p>Actually, my fin aid package also includes work-study so yes I will have about $40000 at the end of my undergrad year. But thanks for your opinion guys. Really really appreciate it.</p>
<p>1980collegegrad-- Actually according to all the rankings (Us news and others) BC is a lot more prestigious than WPI. I mean BC ranks 34 when WPI ranks #71. How can you say WPI is academically same as BC. In terms of academics, I would rank the schools like this<br>
BC>HC>BU>WPI</p>
<p>OP- what I would suggest you-- since you got more aid from BC,feel comfortable at BC, don’t know if you really want to major in engineering, and don’t want to go to workforce right away, go to BC for a year, try to maintain a 3.80 gpa (yes it’s possible in your freshmen year) and then if you think that you want to major in engineering transfer to WPI/NEU/MIT/TUFTS/BU. If you are not sure, then hold your spot at WPI/BU. But since u already got accepted to both schools, I would say they will accept you as transfer students as long as you keep your grades up.</p>
<p>But as bookworm said–
Post your question on the Parent’s Forum and you will get plenty of good advice.</p>
<p>I have hired hundreds of people in my career and I have had horrible hires from top ranked schools and unbelievably good hires from lower ranked schools. I know that both WPI and BC are academically challenging schools. I would not give any additional weight to a BC grad over a WPI grad when I interview and determine whether to extend an offer. I know there are a wide variety of reasons for why people attend a particular college ( URM, financial, legacy, geography, etc). As long as the school is a respected academic institution is the only criterion I look at. US News Rankings are totally irrelevant. If I were hiring an engineer, WPI would be seen as stronger of course.</p>
<p>^ In terms of engineering, I would say WPI, but others BC. But he also say BU and HC which are lot better than WPI. If I were an employer, I would gladly choose a BU grad over a WPI grad. So OP- if you really want to major in engineering, I would go to BU. You would meet a smarter ppl there than say if you would go to WPI. Besides, you would get English speaking professors at BU who can understand you. I know a couple of students who transferred from WPI to NEU/BU just because of the professors. </p>
<p>But since you don’t want to go to BU, I suggest go to BC for a year an then transfer to Northeastern/TUFTS/MIT (if you get lucky). But, hold your spot at WPI for a year in case you don’t make it to those schools. You will lose $500 but it’s worth it. But I am sure that if you get good grades in ur freshmen year, any college will accept you since you are transferring from BC.</p>
<p>I agree with collegegrad; US News Rankings, while interesting and useful for placing some colleges on the radar, are not indicative of the true worth of the school. Some are over-ranked, some under-ranked, depending on a number of factors (not to mention all attributes may not be factored in)
There is no substitute for researching your colleges - by talking with students and faculty, reading their catalogues and visiting their campuses. While WPI may not, in name, have as much prestige as say MIT (in tech school circles), it ranks right up there among such specialized schools. “It is what it is” and is good at what it does. You need to decide if the type of education (and educational community) it offers is what <em>you</em> (the OP) wants. All your posts lean to BC, and so does your fin-aid. Go with your gut. You can always tranfer out to a true engineering program if it feels like that is where you ultimately belong. No one will fault you for not knowing at this point what you will finally study and for what career you will eventually strive.</p>
<p>WPI is smaller than BC and is more focused on engineering. That is probably the major reason why they are ranked lower on US News. </p>
<p>Because their SAT percentiles and incoming grades are about the same, I am inclined to say that the two schools are academically comparable. Also they have roughly the same per capita endowment. </p>
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<p>I’d rank them like: </p>
<p>BC > WPI = HC = BU</p>
<p>Seriously, they’re all virtually equal by freshman grades / SATs, endowments, whatever. WPI is the best for engineering. Holy Cross is the best for liberal arts. Boston University has one of the best debate programs in the country (I think that they are currently #2 or #4 in the nation). I honestly know nothing about Boston College. </p>
<p>Another thing I’d like to point out is that WPI students can take classes at Holy Cross and Holy Cross students can take classes at WPI without extra charge. Although it is sort of a pain, students at WPI who have a strong interest in the humanities use cross registration a lot.</p>
<p>^ Look at the SAT scores. While BU and WPI students rank almost the same in math, BU students score a lot better in Critical reading and Writing. So, I don’t understand how you say that WPI is the same BU. I would say almost the same, but not same. That SAT deference of about 30-40 points shows that students at BU are better than the students at WPI. Besides look at BU and WPI acceptance rate. BU for a large school has an acceptance rate of 57% while WPI despite being a huge school has an acceptance rate of 63%.</p>
<p>As for “have as much prestige as say MIT (in tech school circles)”, WPI ranks #51 among engineering schools. I don’t know how could you compare WPI with MIT??? Maybe it was true about 10 years ago when they had English speaking teachers and smarter people there, but now because of all the Chinese/Indian teachers who can’t speak English very well, there education standard went down. Even RPI scores better than WPI when they are almost the same school and deal with same type of education. Here is a list of top engineering schools in the country.</p>