Deciding between GT, CWRU, and U of WA

Hi All,
I am currently between three schools and because I can’t visit, I was hoping some people could give me some insight. I am currently undecided on what I would like to pursue. My plan is to go in as a materials science/engineering major while also fulfilling the pre-physical therapy requirements. The three schools are Georgia Tech, Case Western, and U of Washington.

Georgia Tech:
51k/year
Best engineering program
Nice weather

Case Western:
50k/year
Would be a varsity athlete
Bad(?) weather
Smaller class size + lots of shadowing opportunity

University of Washington:
27k/year
Tolerable weather
Most affordable—if going PT
Don’t want to stay in Washington—not desirable college experience

Given this information, does anyone have advice on which to pick? Thank you!!

How important to you is it to keep playing your sport? Would you have to opportunity to play intramural at the D1 schools. Will going to GT or Case require you financial hardship (more loans)?

Also, if you have any specific questions about Material Science engineering at GT that is my sons major and I try and answer or get you in touch with him.

On its face, this one seems like kind of a no-brainer: go with the best, which is Georgia Tech by a considerable margin. Many would subscribe to the belief that if you are lucky enough to get into such a place (especially for engineering!!), you should not throw away the opportunity. But you clearly have other considerations. The next best choice (UW) doesn’t seem to appeal to you at all, but offers the most attractive price (by a LOT). If money is a very serious concern, this would be hard to pass up, especially since U Dub is a very good school. From what you said, it seems this choice would also push you into the PT route. Your screen name seems to suggest you attach a lot of importance to sports, which you could play on a varsity level at Case, but this is also the weakest of the three choices academically, although on a larger scale it is also a very good institution. The obvious (to me) would be to go with the best, but it’s not clear how much financial constraints or other serious concerns are driving your decision.

racereer–thank you for your comment. I would be able to join club swim at GT, not at UW. I think that I do want to keep playing my sport, because throughout hs, its been wonderful being a part of a team. While GT and CWRU are definitely more expensive, I think I am lucky enough to where my parents are willing to pay. I just need to convince myself its worth it. Regarding your son, is he planning on going to grad school, or is he hoping to work after undergrad. How have the opportunities been at GT? I would love to hear more about his experience!

WhirlingColleges–Thank you for your comment. All these schools, my parents are willing to pay for. The biggest consideration is if I am willing to pay more for GT and CWRU. Like I said above, UW just isnt where I want to go.
While CWRU is the lowest ranked for engineering, I think because it is a private school, it could offer lots of opporutnities that the others couldnt. What do you think?

I understand that the GT swim club is pretty competitive, as they won the national championship last year. If cost is truly not an issue, then of course I am going to recommend GT as we are paying OOS for him to attend. My son is just finishing his first year at GT, but since he transferred in many credits he was able to get into some of his major classes. He is doing research for credit for one of the MSE professors this semester. He was originally planning to go study at GT Lorraine this summer, but now that has been canceled he has applied and is waiting to hear about a summer internship at Sandia National Labs. There were many other opportunities that he passed up because he was planning to be in France this summer. He is currently thinking about doing the BS/MS program that will get him a Master in 4 years (in his case) or maybe go further. You seem to be of the opinion the since Case is smaller that it will offer more opportunities, but I don’t think that is necessarily true. Internships/CoOps, research, study aboard, and innovation start-ups all easily attainable at GT.

Sportz, I understand that you think Case, as a private institution, could offer more opportunities than a public state school could. What kinds of opportunities are you thinking about? When it comes to most state schools, I would agree with you. However, Georgia Tech is among the small group of very elite public schools (I would put places like Michigan and UVA in this category) that offer far more than the bulk of private schools can hope to. There are so many opportunities for research, study abroad, internships, networking, and coops that they are difficult to quantify. My student was also looking forward to the summer in France at Georgia Tech’s Lorraine campus, but there would have been internship opportunities to consider were this not the plan. Upperclassmen in the friend group all had internships secured with major companies; this was not at all a problem for them. If the price of tuition is not a concern, go with the best, I say.