<p>Narrowing down options. D is leaning toward WPI. Is their program well thought of? Approaches are vastly different so it's hard to compare. Opinions?</p>
<p>why on earth would she want to go to WPI over those schools?</p>
<p>^ That’s what I’m trying to figure out!
The biggest non-academic differences outside of campus size - humor. Cornell seems so serious. Even MIT is known for it’s geeky humor (but alas, that’s not an option).</p>
<p>Maybe she feels a bit intimidated by CMU and Cornell since they are such top schools.</p>
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<p>That would be a terrific reason to attend the kinder, gentler, WPI. Many people who leave engineering probably wouldn’t have had they taken the WPI approach. </p>
<p>If it’s just the humor, I can assure you that CMU and Cornell engineers are funny too.</p>
<p>Lakemom - Good point, though her stats put her right in line with all the more selective schools. Rejection from MIT was tough, especially after spending the summer there for their Women’s Technology program. Applied to all of these, but wants to accept at WPI now and not even wait for CMU and Cornell decisions (rec’d “Likely letter” from Cornell).</p>
<p>ClassicRockerDad - That kind of input is great. I don’t want her to pass up a topnotch education for intangibles, or better marketing.</p>
<p>If she’s liked the intensity of MIT-WTP, then by all means pick CMU or Cornell. </p>
<p>This isn’t even close.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>Not even close. This is a Cornell or Carnegie Mellon decision, particularly if she favored MIT</p>
<p>Is money a problem? Did you get a lot of money from wpi and are expecting little from cmu and cornell?</p>
<p>^Presidential Scholarship from WPI, haven’t heard from Cornell or CMU yet. (decisions next week)
Asked why her strong preference so far and she replied that the others seem to take themselves too seriously ie: not one quirky/nerdy t-shirt for sale in the bookstore. Go figure! I’m afraid she’s settling and I’m not sold on WPI’s 7-week terms. I was just wondering how these schools were seen by the cc community.</p>
<p>Engineering (Undergraduate)
8. CMU
9. Cornell
57. WPI</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering (Undergraduate)
14. Cornell
18. CMU
NR. WPI</p>
<p>@JamieBrown
I wouldn’t read too much into rankings that are based heavily off of aggregate research dollars when comparing larger schools to a small school (WPI). I’m from Massachusetts and have a few friends attending WPI for Chemical Engineering and they both love it there. </p>
<p>They cite the unique quarter based system and individual attention received from the small class sizes as some of the best qualities of the program. One of my friends is also in the Fire Protection Engineering program, which is a subdivision of ChemE that WPI is VERY good at (if you’re interested).</p>
<p>The schools are very different environments, so ultimately the choice depends on what you’re looking for, but please don’t read into rankings too much.</p>
<p>If money is a constraint, then I think it would be a mistake to accept WPI’s offer before even hearing from the other schools. In this case, it’s reasonable to ask that she at least wait to weigh each school’s financial offer; after all, you presumably are the one who’s going to be paying for her education. </p>
<p>Depending on your income level, Cornell can be very generous with financial aid (not sure about CMU, but I’d expect their package to be similar). From the FA website:</p>
<p>“Families with a total family income of less than $60,000, and total assets of less than $100,000 (including primary home equity), will have no parent contribution.”</p>
<p>No parent contribution means that, at most, you’ll pay like a few thousand per year… maybe not even. I graduated right after this policy was implemented, and I saved money living off-campus my senior year, so we ended up paying literally nothing that year. Even during previous years our expenses never exceeded 5K/year. </p>
<p>Just another thing to consider.</p>
<p>^ Also, if she’s set on Carnegie Mellon, they’re willing to negotiate your aid package to match or come close to the financial aid of a peer university such as Cornell.</p>
<p>Don’t have a source, but they have a list of peer colleges on their website somewhere.</p>
<p>Can’t agree with the browbeating of WPI on this thread. Visited the campus with Lake Jr. and was impressed by the caliber of the students we met. WPI engineering graduates seem to have very good reputations in the profession. Incidentally, Lake Jr. has also applied to Cornell in addition to WPI.</p>
<p>Take a look at WPIs post graduate report. I googled it and here’s the very lengthy link.</p>
<p><a href=“https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:XynaIiYKsRgJ:www.wpi.edu/Images/CMS/CDC/CareerOutcomesFINAL2-15-12.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi_lN00WsODfqwYaiCvBPw2Uib01E8QAolV-anyQ2PaNjNgAuSKZXyc9ekD1spgy9_SA6Yb3nwtx6SQB9VckdiHa0y7jHFlmL2dCo18K-ESzGSLMjgxvkbfjbZa0z-7GY0PURua&sig=AHIEtbTS-VCrDtBLDJHJwC8evwGxom90mw&pli=1[/url]”>https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:XynaIiYKsRgJ:www.wpi.edu/Images/CMS/CDC/CareerOutcomesFINAL2-15-12.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi_lN00WsODfqwYaiCvBPw2Uib01E8QAolV-anyQ2PaNjNgAuSKZXyc9ekD1spgy9_SA6Yb3nwtx6SQB9VckdiHa0y7jHFlmL2dCo18K-ESzGSLMjgxvkbfjbZa0z-7GY0PURua&sig=AHIEtbTS-VCrDtBLDJHJwC8evwGxom90mw&pli=1</a></p>
<p>It seems like a regional school but I’ve been out of the engineering industry for a long while. The data looks pretty impressive regardless of what she might want to do after undergrad.</p>
<p>The 3 schools are quite different. I think it’s great that she wants to go with her gut feeling. BUT I second that you should wait until you have ALL of the data. Can she squeeze in another campus visit before she decides?</p>
<p>As a student who went to WPI, and transferred to a school that is very similar to Cornell, here is my take: </p>
<p>-Which school you attend should really depend on what you want to do. WPI will have limited course selection opportunities, very limited research opportunities, and virtually non-existent on campus recruiting. Cornell will have excellent on campus recruiting, lots of research opportunities, and a much greater selection of higher level courses. On the other hand, if you’re willing to do a masters after graduating (note that this will likely cost money, and doing a part time masters will take longer and may reduce research opportunities), then maybe none of what I just mentioned will matter. WPI does have a unique culture and my experience is that students have a good attitude about learning and are not just trying to get good grades. Students at competitive schools tend to be much more grade conscious and I think that can hurt the learning environment. </p>
<p>-If you want to get a job after graduating or go straight to a PhD program, Cornell is the more practical choice. For getting a job, taking advanced classes is essential because it will allow you to differentiate your skillset from other candidates. </p>
<p>-I wouldn’t put too much stock in the Payscale and post-graduate outcome reports since they are not independently audited.</p>
<p>Thank you for your thoughtful replies. LakeWashington, I haven’t seen any browbeating of WPI, just helpful suggestions and opinions. We also had a favorable visit(s) to WPI, hence D’s desire to commit early.
livn487: Thank you for the link. I’ve been researching as well. We are from the NE area and know the reputation of WPI locally. I just didn’t know how it was seen outside of our region (since they also do alot of marketing/promotion here).
She’s said she’ll wait, and even if it is in vain, then she will have made a reasoned decision.</p>
<p>Interesting discussion here. My first question would be to al6200: who told you there is no on-campus recruiting at WPI?! Depends on who you talk to, I’ve heard the exact opposite! Limited research studies? Doesn’t sound right.</p>
<p>We looked at CMU and Cornell for S1, who could have gotten in to either school, but elected to go to Tufts for a host of other reasons, including wanting to be closer to home and not having to study 24/7. Cornell & CMU both have reputations for amazing amounts of homework…he wanted a “life” outside of studying.</p>
<p>We will be looking at WPI for S2, which no longer just has a regional, local reputation. The projects it assigns seem to be quite exciting and gives the kids opportunities to go abroad with their professors on assigned projects as well.</p>
<p>Ask her the pros and cons to each school! Make a decision after next week!</p>