<p>My son will be studying ChemE. He is accepted to all Engineering schools he applied and is seriously considering these 3: WPI, Tufts, and a public state university in the Honors program. He'll get no money at Tufts, a low merit scholarship from WPI (we expected much more given his GPA, class rank, etc), and the state U gave him a free ride all 4 years and research internship right off the bat. From what I've read, ChemE classes are basically the same among schools if they are ABET certified. Also, I read that getting a job after graduation is more dependent upon GPA than the school name. We are thinking he should go to the StateU, graduate debt free, get a job and save money for grad school if he wants to go that route. Any ideas from engineers currently in school/already working about if it is worth $200,000 just to pay for a name? There's the whole discussion about being among kids who are like minded and goal oriented, but will he get that in the Honors College program? He likes all 3, each for different reasons.</p>
<p>I love, love, love Tufts, but go with your gut and go the StateU. No college is worth $200,000, even for an engineering degree that will most likely pay off. Plus, like you said, if he wants to go to grad school, he’ll be grateful he saved money for undergrad.</p>
<p>My S1 is a Jr. at Lafayette, environmental engineering and he has been to info sessions about engineering grad school and came away understanding that if he has good grades, dedication and some strong research under his belt that he would not be paying for his Masters. My niece went to U of Delaware for civil engineering and then went on to UVa for Masters in Engineering and did not pay for it either. Not saying that the state school option isn’t still the best route but wanted to give you some food for thought.</p>
<p>Here are the results for one student who took the big scholarship: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/905843-top-student-3rd-tier-school-four-years-later.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/905843-top-student-3rd-tier-school-four-years-later.html</a></p>
<p>If you have a spare $200,000 and this is how you’d like to spend it, go ahead and send your son to the more expensive program. It is perfectly OK for your family to make that decision. However, since you came here to ask about it, I suspect that $200,000 is a lot of money for your family. In which case, I have to agree with ellopoppet. Go with your gut and send your son to the public U honors program for free.</p>
<p>each school offers something special, which is an important factor in his choice, but yes, as happymomof1 mentioned, the financial burden is a huge part of it. ‘top student’ link was good insight, thanks for the info. at public u dean’s talk, they highted their students accepted to top tier grad schools and those grad schools picked up the entire cost. so admittance to top-tier grad school is possible if he wants that route.</p>