<p>Hi everyone, I got into Penn State: University Park, Virginia Tech, Purdue, Ohio State and George Mason. I'm an International student and I've applied for Engineering. I'm having a hard time deciding.</p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>FWIW USNWR ranks your schools as </p>
<p>Purdue – Overall 62 Engineering 9
Virginia Tech Overall 71 Engineering 15
Penn State – Overall 45 – Engineering 17
Ohio State – Overall 55 Engineering 27</p>
<p>I don’t view these differences in ranking as being terribly significant. Each is a good school.</p>
<p>George Mason is ranked much lower overall than any of these – I don’t know much about the school.</p>
<p>Penn State, Ohio State, and Purdue are very large universities, and may offer more academic diversity than Va Tech (i.e., more non-engineers to interface with). </p>
<p>So, fwiw – if you want a school whose focus is the sciences – think about Va Tech.</p>
<p>Otherwise – you wouldn’t go wrong with any of the other three. If it were me, I’d consider Penn State, but reasonable minds can differ.</p>
<p>Check the costs, what kinds of engineering are offered, and how difficult it is to change to a different engineering major if you are unsure of which kind of engineering you want to do.</p>
<p>Purdue is very popular with Internationals. Other than that, I would also base my decision on the student life/proximity to any family around/college town…etc. Post in those respective student boards</p>
<p>I’d say Penn State or Purdue. Personally, I’d choose PSU.</p>
<p>I have family and friends in Virginia. I went to middle school in Virginia and have kept in touch with a bunch of people and visit frequently. In terms of proximity to family, Virginia Tech and Penn State would be a 3-4 hour drive, George Mason would be a 5 minute drive. Purdue and Texas A&M are truely quite popular for students for students from my high school & I know a number of people at Purdue but most say that the International students are relatively secluded from the rest of the student body. I’ve visited George Mason and Virginia Tech and the college spirit at Tech is incredible. I’m assuming that Penn State University Park would harbor a similar school spirit.</p>