I know that Austin ranks higher than Ohio State in Engineering. I am just wondering how this difference in ranking matters to students at undergraduate level.
My son has admissions in both the universities and we are out of state for both of them. For Ohio, he has enough scholarships so that he will be paying in-state fees. While scholarships of Austin is not announced, we are not hopeful as there are not much scholarships in Austin. Even admission was difficult. However we are planning to move to Texas so the high OOS fees hopefully will be a for an year.
I am just trying to find the benefits of spending those extra dollars in terms of what an undergraduate student would get more from UT-Austin as compared to Ohio State University. He has Honors admission too in Ohio State.
For those questions, where else I can go? Appreciate all of your inputs.
Both are accredited programs, so the undergrad programs will both be good.
It is true that you will likely not get much $ from UT. Idk what the rules are for being instate; pursue that angle if you will move to Texas. I imagine the rules are applied pretty strictly.
I think the biggest difference will be finding a job after graduation. Both are good programs, but Texas is (at least now) a more economically dynamic state. Where does your son want to live? The Midwest? Texas?
@Lizardly,
Thanks for taking time to reply. My son wants to be in warmer climate. We are currently living in NY. Even though we are here for more than 10 years, we are increasingly finding difficult with cold weather. I can only imagine how Ohio will be. My son prefers warmer climate only.
But yes, cost is the major factor.
@Lizardly
Also, speaking of warmer climate, he has admission with full tuition waiver at University of Alabama with honors. I did not bring it in discussion as rank wise there is heaven to earth difference between University of Texas, Austin and Alabama.
Rank is meaningless for an engineering student’s career prospects in the overall scheme of things. If your son has the full tuition scholarship at UA, don’t sneeze at it. Would he rather graduate with no debt vs making payments for years? An engineering degree from UT, OSU, or UA will pay pretty much the same starting salary. It’s up to the student to apply himself to see where he wants to go with his life. Marilyn Hewson (UA engineer), CEO or Lockheed Martin, and Apple CEO Tim Cook (Auburn engineering) surely have no regrets about their lower ranked engineering education.
@NoVADad99,
Thanks for your insight. However the examples you gave were great individuals. They probably did not need any institution to rise to what they have raised to. But for normal students, a push and opening may be needed to jumpstart which UA may do more than other two colleges.
Having said that, I have no disrespect to UA. It is nice upcoming institution which tries its best to bring best students to their campus by providing generous aid package. They are bound to get better as time goes. Yes, graduating without expense is personally my choice too. But my son might feel different. He might want to be surrounded by higher aspiring folks, which UT might provide in plenty.
Have you visited all the campuses to get a feel for the programs and students? If not, then I think he should do that before making the final commitment.
That’s a good point. If you can, let him visit and see which environment he prefers.
I have visited all three. They are all fine, but certainly different. You get big time sports programs at all three, and lots of school pride.
Hmm… may be that is good point. Being at east coast, we have not visited any of them yet.
Check the placement statistics for all of the schools. Ohio State publishes theirs…search for Engineering Career Services on their site and then look under statistics. My son is a senior Aerospace major there, and only after he started did I find the placement stats. Granted, Aero is one of the worst but none of the majors have very good placement rates IMO. Lots of schools have much lower ratings with much better placement rates. My son loves OSU…I just hope he gets a job after all this!
Not sure if the other schools you’re considering are better or not.
@buzzlightyear3
Surprising this is the situation in Ohio. It is reasonably reputed institution. But nevertheless that should be one of the main considerations to decide on this. Thanks for your input.
@NoVADad99
I saw that too. Quite decent stats. Just shown it to my boy. Ohio give the stats in numbers. Did not give about percentage of placement.
https://ecs.osu.edu/sites/ecs.osu.edu/files/uploads/2013-2014-salaries.pdf
Thanks for the info.
UT also gives similar statistics with range of salaries. But do not give details of how much % of their students got placed. May be that information is published elsewhere.
http://www.engr.utexas.edu/ecac/salaries
Check out the major(s) you are interested in. The ranking of the whole school is sometimes not really relevant. Also, you should visit the campuses to see which one you like most. Of course, cost would be a major consideration. It won’t be wrong by picking either school.
@billcsho
Yes. it makes sense to visit campus. Explaining this and convincing to high school kid is bit of a challenge. I am convinced on placement statistics of all universities(salary range) are identical.
If your son wants warm, Alabama might be great for him … never been there, but I hear it gets real hot down there.
@albert69
Yes. Alabama is warm. My friends son is freshman there.
I live in Columbus, Ohio and also visited Tuscaloosa two months ago. 'Bama has a much nicer campus than Ohio State. Personally, I would never choose OSU over Alabama, at the same cost. Definitely would not turn down a full tuition scholarship to 'Bama and then pay tuition to attend OSU.
U.Texas-Austin might be worth the extra money, especially if you can afford it after moving to Texas. Here on CC, I don’t think UT-A gets the respect it deserves. Lots of folks talk about Cal-Berkeley, UNC-CH, U.Michigan, U.Wisconsin, etc… Texas-Austin is nearly as good as any of those, but somehow does not get mentioned as much. Perhaps this is because they accept so few out of state students. Anyhow, it is a world class university.
@NROTCgrad
Thanks for your valuable insight. It is very difficult to get these direct inputs. People generally get carried away by numbers. My son feels pride with Austin as it was with tough competition he got in. I am trying to explain him the finances involved between these three institutions.