Decision Time - Virginia Tech vs. Case Western

Colleges and Universities A-Z Case Western Reserve University
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Hello! I had a great time at Case Western’s Admitted Student program this past Thursday and Friday. Now, I must decide between Case and Virginia Tech.

This is how I have compared the two schools so far:

Base Cost - for me, Case is $5k a year cheaper than VT.

Travel - Case is 7 hours from home, VT is 45 minutes. Thus, travel costs to Case will eat into the $5k savings…

Home Visits - With Case, I will get to come home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break. With VT, I could come home 1-2 weekends per month and on breaks.

Campus - Case is a smaller, urban campus. Case has tons of things to do around it. VT is a massive campus in a college town. VT has tons of outdoor opportunities.

Safety - I addressed this in another post. I think the safety part would be fine. Unless you are dumb enough to go jogging alone at 3 a.m. to the wrong parts of town, you should be fine. Crime can happen anywhere…my family was sufficiently satisfied with the safety level while we visited.

Student Body - Case students have higher SAT & GPA numbers and 5,121 undergrads. VT is pushing 30,000 students. At Case, I would not know a soul. At VT, I would know 20-30 people from my high school and neighboring high schools.

Rankings - for academics, Case is either slightly stronger or much stronger. For social stuff, VT is higher ranked for food, campus, and student happiness.

Culture - VT is a sports crazy, public school and Case felt more nerdy, eclectic and not sports crazy to me (and it is private!).

Education - Case has smaller classes, is close to 5 hospitals (great for nursing, pre-med), Case seems to have a better pre-med focus. One huge advantage is that Case does not have restricted majors. At VT, I would have to take freshman engineering courses and apply to the engineering program with no guarantee of getting my first choice.

Post Graduation - I believe that Case has more pull into the upper tier schools for graduate programs. The Case name on a diploma is more elite. The one advantage VT would have is if I returned home to Virginia or neighboring states for employment. The VT alumni network is huge here.

Am I missing anything? I would be happy at either school. In fact, my father and I are discussing a plan to study undergrad at Case and VT for grad school…Thoughts?

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Hi, @Pancho98 , Case parent here. My DS is also 7 hours drive from home … fortunately, there are numerous direct flights from CLE … but no doubt about it, I wish he were closer. (Does he wish he were closer? Hmmmm … maybe sometimes.) He has a really solid friend group at Case and is really busy with his sport, his social life, and his studies. He keeps in touch but isn’t eager to be home all the time. He knew 3 people there when he started, seems to know dozens now. Met his roommate on the accepted students facebook page … his whole freshman suite really bonded and decided to live together again sophomore year.

From what you wrote above, I think you have a clear-eyed view of Case’s pros and cons. I don’t know much about VT so can’t compare directly. I think this is one very significant line that you wrote:

“One huge advantage is that Case does not have restricted majors. At VT, I would have to take freshman engineering courses and apply to the engineering program with no guarantee of getting my first choice.”

I’ll note that Case also makes it easy to explore courses outside your major, to switch majors, to major/minor, or even (not easy but possible) double major. This flexibility has been appreciated by my engineering/foreign language loving son.

I’ll also point out this old/closed thread where the “fit” of Case was discussed extensively:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/case-western-reserve-university/1816795-case-western-reserve-university-ea-2020-fit-p1.html

Whatever you decide, best wishes to you!

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Both are great! I would look into how many students think they will major in Engineering at VT vs. how many are accepted into the Engineering school. Case’s One Door Admission’s policy means that you can major (or switch majors) in anything you want. And if you decided Engineering wasn’t for you, then you can switch to Business without having to “get into” the business school at Case.

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I appreciate all of the help. Case is more of a fit for me than VT. I admit that I am a bit nervous about being that far from home and not being able to visit as much…

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I appreciate all of the tips. College Confidential has been fantastic.

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Keep in mind that if you aren’t in the Engineering School at VT, you may end up taking your first year calculus classes pretty much on line, i.e., professors don’t teach the non-engineering calc classes, you sit in a computer room and TAs are available to “help”. I know a freshman non-engineering science major who is going through this and they hate it.

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As much as you may want to visit home you can always Skype/call/text which will ease your discomfort. This is an opportunity to broaden your experiences by going to a new place. Also it may be possible for you to receive future alumni scholarships and you can always work a few hours a week on campus to pay for incidentals if needed.

Only you can determine your level of comfort but the college years are a wonderful time to have new experiences within a supportive network. The option to transfer can always be there but my advice would be to be embrace the change and take advantage of all CWRU would offer. Good luck!

1 Like
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I dearly appreciate your information. I researched it and VT does a lot of their math instruction at what they call the Math Emporium. VT claims that students do fine in the future with this type of base, but it definitely smacks of giant, state school “pre-fabbed” education.

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I have committed to CWRU. For me, CWRU seems to be much more of a fit than VT. Enough of a difference to negate the distance from home.

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Congratulations! @Pancho98

Our daughter is finishing up her freshmen year at CWRU and has had simply an incredible year.

We were able to visit her a few times and she came home a few times, like you mentioned you would likely do and it has worked great. She actually told us that a lot of students even choose to stay for the summer because of all the opportunities, but we are glad she’ll be back home with us for a few months this summer.

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Normally I would lean VT but it sounds like you made the best decision for you - great job!

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Well done!

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@Pancho98 Congrats on CWRU!! You will enjoy a well balanced liberal education, as an engineer, or any major, learn to read and write well and get individual attention in your freshman math classes, meet and make friends with friendly midwestern students, have wonderful dedicated professors who care about you, and enjoy the big city life. If music and art is of interest to you, look at these two websites, very inexpensive Cleveland Orchestra tickets and the free Art Museum, all walking distance from your new college home:

http://www.clevelandart.org/

https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/

University Circle is now your playground! Italian bakeries, good pizza, and lots of city options for going out. My son just took a trip to the zoo with his friends, taken trips to the big amusement park on Lake Erie, gone apple picking, has an occasional breakfast in Coventry, and he has discounted season tickets to Cleveland Orchestra.

Your SAGES classes will ask you to do service work, its a really unique feature of CWRU that every freshman does service work in the city or elsewhere. Some students travel to Africa for their SAGES projects.

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For what reasons would you lean VT?

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Sounds awesome to me! Does he have need of a car often? I would prefer to not have the added expense of a car in Cleveland.

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@Pancho98 - my son is also a senior at CWRU. A car really isn’t necessary. He has a car there but it can stay in the driveway for days before it’s moved. Little Italy is an easy walk as are any of the restaurants at University Circle. He & his friends will use the RTA (all CWRU students get RTA passes) to head downtown rather than driving & parking. They often use UBER to get back to campus.

He’s had an awsome 4 years! Good luck to you.

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@Pancho98 You will not need a car in Cleveland. The train goes to the International Airport right from University Cicle and it goes downtown to the Lake Erie lakefront and the theater district, and to the Westside Market, an indoor fresh market. The Healthline Bus goes downtown along Euclid and also stops at Cleveland Clinic. All CWRU students get free public transportation, but you are paying for that in school fees. Students can rent cars at a special discount rate to drive in the area. Also many Ohio kids you are likely to become friends with bring cars, so you can drive places with them should you need to. My son is a senior and did not bring a car for four years.

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My daughter and her friends have ventured all sorts of places using public transportation. A regional pass is given to students as part of their fees. It gets them to the airport, downtown, a huge shopping mall, several large movie theatres, rock and roll hall of fame, sports stadiums. Really anywhere she’d want to go, the pass has worked. There are busses to some areas and a metro-subway like train (RTA?) to others (including the airport). She definitely did not need a car, in my opinion, at least for year 1. There are a lot of places to explore in Cleveland. Tons of things to do.

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Also, CWRU, like other colleges, has the Enterprise Car Share Program that students (even freshman) can use to rent a car by the hour.

https://www.enterprisecarshare.com/us/en/programs/university/case-western.html

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I appreciate all of the help and tips. Does anyone know anything about fall break in October? Are the dorms and cafeterias open? It seems to me a longer Thanksgiving break would be better than two short breaks in the fall…