Someone suggested I place this in this forum area. My DS was accepted at CalPoly SLO, V Tech, Purdue, SDSU, UCR and WPI. He’s still waiting to hear from the rest of the UCs but I think only Berkeley would bump what he’s got so far. He’s a mechanical engineering kid. VT and Purdue do the first year engineering thing and then apply for the major. SLO, and WPI he’s in for ME. UCR admitted him straight to the BS+MS program. We are instate CA. So the CA schools are ballpark $30,000 a year. Purdue, VT and WPI are in the mid $40,000s. WPI offered $12,000 off their $60,000. He is up for a FIRST robotics scholarship at WPI that would be a full ride, but no announcement yet. Advice? Thoughts? I’m an english lit major so I’m unsure of the school name value in engineering. Are we crazy to walk away from VT and Purdue for CalPoly SLO? I mean if WPI offers full ride then great! But we can do SLO debt free… not so much the others.
Debt free would be highly desirable in general – he would have more career and life choices without debt than with debt.
This is a perfect case of… “follow the money”.
Those are some great schools - congrats!
Thank you all! He busted his patootie to get these acceptances.
Good schools all.
I am hesitant to go with a college that makes you apply to a department after your freshman year. If everything goes as planned than no issue. BUT, if you falter then you are stuck! You may have to transfer to another college to get what you want. And then financial aid is many times hard to get at the new college as it is usually reserved for freshmen.
The two that I am familiar with, I will comment on.
Cal Poly is a great college and my son went there and was in mechanical engineering. It took him 5 years to graduate as class availability was an issue. That was some time ago and they are working on it, or so I’m told. In a meeting his freshman year, the ME department head offered that the department’s 4 year grad rate was 15%. Most, who stuck it out, graduated within 5 years. He also said that the ME department was the biggest “exporter” of students on campus (i.e., more left the ME department than any other department). Not sure how to interpret that comment exactly. I’d call the ME department and ask them what their current grad rates are. They are probably much different than the overall college rates (which are only about 60% in the latest common data set)
My daughter went to WPI, also in ME. Their 4 year grad rate is up over 80%.
Of the two, and from a parent’s perspective, I liked WPI better. Both kids like the school they went to and would go again to their respective colleges if they had to do it over again.
BTW, both Cal Poly and WPI are what I think of as “regional” schools. That is that most of the students are local (but not all) and the job placement has more of a regional content to it. We lived In CA at the time my kids were in college and both ended up getting jobs in the regions they went to college in. It means we are “bi-coastal” family.
You can see the complete WPI employment listings for all majors at the site below. The Robotics major listings show a lot of companies I think of as west coast based operations, but they may well be for east east coasts offices. My CA sister is always telling me (Maine resident) about that great San Diego weather and reminding me how many people live there.
CA actually ranks number five in their state representation on the WPI campus with 167 undergraduates enrolled. CA and Washington State have recently made serious contributions to our rowing teams. Now New England is going to have to pay attention. People from Maine have always suspected that they were arriving by flying saucers, but now we know they can row.
For employment listings see https://www.wpi.edu/student-experience/career-development/outcomes
WPI '67
I’m sure the number of students at WPI from any given state vary from year to year. In my daughter’s freshman class there were only 3 from California. Two from the LA area and one from the bay area.
Cal Poly and WPI were my son’s two final choices. It was our feeling that WPI would be more nurturing (they flagged him as a Fulbright candidate before he’d even agreed to attend) and he would have to find his own way more at CP. I’m sure it is that way still to this day. He agonized over it until two days before the SIR deadline, and chose Cal Poly. In the end, he liked the bigger school, the idyllic location and wanted to stay on the west coast. For him, it was close to a coin toss. Each had things he really liked and they were different. Most importantly, students looked happy at both.
There are some things that make our situations different though. We were OOS for CP and he got more money at WPI. Thus, the difference, although substantial, was less than half of the difference your son will be looking at. My back of the napkin math says you’ll be looking at an after merit difference of $120,000. Off campus housing is cheaper in Worcester, so you could claw a little bit of that back after 1st year. You have to figure in travel coast to coast for holidays, so it’s probably a wash.
Things have thankfully changed since @HPuck35’s son went to CP. It’s easier to get classes now. It also used to be that missing a single prerequisite to start senior project in the Fall would automatically result in a full year delay. It’s now possible to start your senior project at the beginning of any term. My son hasn’t had any problems and will have both his BS and thesis based MS in 5 years. That said, none of his roommates finished their BS in 4. Most took an extra quarter, but a couple took a full extra year. Changing majors or having to repeat classes really throw a wrench in the system.
I think, as it stands right now, Cal Poly is the best option even with the shortcomings of attending a more bureaucratic institution and risking a delay in graduation. It has a lot to offer. That’s not saying WPI isn’t also a fine option, but it would be hard to say it was $120,000 better (if you decide it’s better at all).
What I would do though is to wait. There’s no down side to seeing if he gets the FIRST scholarship and visiting if he does. That’s what we did after our son received a big award from Case. He didn’t choose Case, but at least he knew what all the cards looked like.
Visit Cal Poly in the meantime and go to Bonderson and see the Robotics Club. Visit the mechatronics labs and the other engineering facilities.
It’s great to have options. There’s no reason to jump now if there’s the possibility that the equation might change.
Enjoy the process!
Now it’s getting interesting… He was accepted to Purdue, WPI, CalPoly Slo, Virginia Tech, UCI, UCR, UCSB, and UCSD. Hmmm. Just waiting on UCB.
Great choices! Unless others have stronger opinions I would go to most affordable option. Seems like you will have several in the same ballpark money wise. No reason to go into serious debt for a college education. $10,000 more /=$40, 000/4 years. I would rather put that into an Ira or investment market account and give it to your kid when he graduates. Nice motivation to go to a less expensive school…
Or of course use it to fund his education now.
After all of the FA and scholarships have been delivered, are the net prices significantly different between them, and (if so) do the differences affect whether they are affordable?
That’s exciting - congrats! Good luck sorting through the decisions.
You can’t say he doesn’t have enough great choices! Congratulations to him!