I have to pick from Carnegie Mellon, University of Texas-Austin and The Cooper Union for engineering (Undecided major). Do you guys have any suggestions?
carnegie mellon!
Cooper Union.
Congratulations on getting into three of the best engineering schools in the world! Since they are all evenly matched in terms of academics you are probably looking at other factors
UT Austin is located in a warm, vibrant, amazing city. The tuition is also significantly cheaper than the other two, like 40k a year vs 70k a year before aid.
NYC is also amazing too obviously. Honestly can’t say the same about Pittsburgh unless you love steel factories haha. Prepare to be frozen during Spring semesters if you go to either one
Thank you for the responses. The primary factor that I am considering is the academics. Which one of the above mentioned schools holds the most prestigious engineering degree and reputation in the current job market?
Oh that one is easy. CIT, carnegie institute of technology. Comes right after MIT in my calculation. Big state research universities are good for mature people who knows what they are looking for exactly, specialty, focus, particular industry, and tailer their applications to such research universities with reputable researchers and with funded research. On the other hand undergraduate school should be smaller while making available comparable research opportunities for those who wants them even during undergrad. CIT impresses me with its humble beginnings and its trajectory to become one of the best in less than 100 years. Its future is bright. Not well known for great FA though, this may be a down side for those who needs a lot of FA:(
@sassy101kd First off - if you are an OOS student accepted to UT Austin - I’ll first say congratulations. UT Austin is not known to accept many OOS students unless they really want you. They just don’t have to because they have top notch instate students to pick from. This year getting into engineering was so crazy competitive that you had to be top in your class.
We are also deciding on CMU vs UT Austin and will likely pick UT for Chemical Engineering. UT is ranked #6.
For us the cost difference is enormous. CMU doesn’t even compare. Many of the students accepted to UT are also accepted into top schools but decide on UT due to the full university experience, “cost”, weather, the city, etc. The academics are very hard.
I encourage you to compare two curriculums from each school. See which program you like better. Next - try to see if you will potentially be able to get credit hours for classes coming in freshman year. UT has a list of what it accepts and it is way more generous than most schools. Compare and see if this matters. Really a lot depends on the engineering program you want to major in.
Think about whether you want a full university experience with division I sporting events to go watch. It’s really neat to stop at the swim center and watch the Olympians swim on a Friday or Saturday night. Or watch an entire city come down to watch a UT football game. Plus all the music festivals.
Think about whether you are into wearing flip-flops/shorts year round or you prefer to be near more skiing opportunities and enjoy colder weather.
After you graduate - do you want to work on the east coast or somewhere else? Which school you go to plays a large role here.
Good luck in your decision process!
@Aleggo and @comptechmom Thank You! Carnegie Mellon gave me extremely generous financial aid (my parents only have to pay less than $5000 a year!) So, the decision was very easy. CMU Class of 2019!
@sassy101kd Best of Luck!! Carnegie Mellon had us paying 40k and UT Austin we are at 3k. This is why you have to apply to so many different schools these days.