So… Our DS got accepted for engineering at both Purdue and Maryland. We’ve got a big decision to make and looking for help from this forum…
His profile:
IB student. HL(AP) physics/econ/English, SL(Honors) Chem/Math/French.
SAT 1410 (700 for math), 3.7 UW GPA.
Outgoing, lots of friends, always on the move doing things.
Versatile student, not “pure techie”.
Playing sax for last 7 years.
Academic interests: Mechanical engineering, astronomy. But also economics.
EC interests: Band, Theater.
He’s thinking to start working after undergrad, though that of course might change…
Are both engineering programs equally solid? How about the school spirit?
Isn’t Purdue lacking a bit due to its location while Maryland is right next to DC? Is it easier in Maryland to venture out to non-engineering classes?
How about both schools’ research, internships and career services? Alumni network?
Thanks for any insights you might have! Everything is welcome!
The schools are so similar that it doesn’t make sense to agonize over academics here. Pick the one that has the best combination of price and fit.
Thanks @ucbalumnus. Good information about the competition to enter popular majors at Purdue… I suspect that aerospace should be one of the more competitive ones.
DS was also accepted at Binghamton but I understand that their engineering program cannot compare to Maryland or Purdue? It is of course a lot cheaper being in-state but if Maryland or Purdue are worth it we would bite the bullet and send him there.
Aerospace engineering is targeted to particular industries and employers – but those with degrees in other types of engineering (commonly mechanical) can aim for the same jobs. So he may want to consider whether mechanical engineering with aerospace electives may allow for a greater range of job opportunities including both aerospace and non-aerospace jobs.
Years ago, my nephew was accepted into U of Maryland for engineering, he spent a semester there, hated it for social reasons and enrolled at Binghamton, graduated and found a job at ITT. My other nephew went to Bing, got MS in Comp Sci and works at Google now. Bing has an excellent reputation for engineering and unless you have no issue affording Perdue or U of Maryland, I would say Bing is a solid choice.
One difference, geographic diversity, Maryland is mostly Maryland, NJ, and NY students, so northeast –
https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-maryland-college-park/student-life/diversity/chart-geographic-diversity.html
Purdue student body is midwestern plus about 3% California students and some NJ, NY etc.
https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/purdue-university-main-campus/student-life/diversity/chart-geographic-diversity.html
Maryland seems to have higher average test scores than Purdue.
Maryland has really strong math, applied math and physics, as well as stats. I do feel that for long term career options, either Maryland or Purdue may look better on the resume, than the SUNY option, and have name recognition. Both campuses are active and spirited, maybe Purdue is more friendly midwestern student body, Big Ten Football spirit.
Maryland is truly A plus if he may change to a physics major or econometrics/stats. My son spent a summer at Maryland in computational physics program, called TREND, and we are really impressed with the faculty there. Its a 30 minute ride on the subway into DC, but very accessible. Purdue has plenty to do though, even with its location, its a big active campus.
quote=Coloradomama]Maryland seems to have higher average test scores than Purdue.
[/quote]
Irrelevant.
Some students want to be part of a really top student body where students are well prepared. U of Maryland is that, given its very high selectivity, and student body largely from New Jersey and Maryland. NJ and MD public K-12 are very very strong compared to some of the public schools in the midwest. I think test scores of classmates and preparation, matter to some students, depends on the student. I know students who turn down Purdue for this reason, every day. They want a more selective school. Maryland would be that, I believe. With that, Purdue has a rank and reputation that cannot be beat and a weed out system for majors, described above, so its all going to be the same by the 4th year. Purdue can and will weed out the weak ones, but they give them a shot !
Look at freshman profiles at Maryland, versus Purdue, its a harder school to get admitted to compared to Purdue by far. For some people that matters, there will be more drop outs at Purdue, you can look that up. OP has very high stats.
https://www.admissions.umd.edu/explore/about-maryland
https://www.admissions.purdue.edu/academics/freshmanprofile.php
Purdue has made very impressive gains in 4 year graduation rates, but still somewhat behind Maryland,
probably due to incoming preparation, as measured by test scores, GPA etc that are higher at Maryland.
Purdue gives more students a shot at it, and does extremely well. They are comparable schools, with a bit
different geographic mix, and location is a bit different. For an OOS student like OP , four year graduation rate
may matter some for costs.
https://www.admissions.purdue.edu/academics/freshmanprofile.php
Ah yes. Now I see that all those students from MD and NJ are better people with whom to live, work, study, and play than those lowly Midwesterners. It really sucks for those of us born in the Midwest who just never had the opportunity to get an East Coast high school education and therefore were more poorly prepared to be good colleagues in college. I don’t blame folks for not wanting to go to a school filled with us. I get it now.
Let’s check off some reasons why admissions profiles are a terrible set of criteria to use to evaluate a program.
[ol]
[li]The admissions profiles you provide are university-wide, not limited to the engineering programs, which would be much more representative of the students with whom a prospective student will interact on a daily basis. Of course, it is easy and common to interact with and befriend non-engineers outside of class, but that’s not relevant to what you are talking about here.[/li]
[li]Admitted student profile is not a good way to discern the quality of a program at a school. Public universities often have their admissions at least somewhat dictated by their associated governments and therefore have a lot less control over selectivity than, say, the MITs of the world. That doesn’t mean the quality of education is any lower. You might even argue that it forces them to try to provide a better education on account of having to deal with a wider range of preparation levels (albeit with decidedly mixed results).[/li]
[li]Admissions profiles can absolutely be affected by the average quality of regional school districts feeding said university, which notably says nothing about the actual intelligence level of a student. All it says is that they came from a place with school districts. Maybe they were from a poor area. Maybe they were the son or daughter of a farmer out in the sticks. This says nothing about their intelligence or potential as a student and collaborator.[/li][/ol]
There are some wonderful reasons to choose Maryland over Purdue. There are also some great ones to choose Purdue over Maryland. The average test scores of admitted freshman shouldn’t be one of those reasons.
Each family can and will make their own chart for what criteria matter to THEM including average test scores
if they wish . I never said anything at all about the quality of the education at Maryland versus Purdue, and agree its about the same for mechanical engineering.
I personally like the midwest much better than the northeast, and thats valid for me
and my kids. I sent one to the deep south and one to the midwest on purpose, I like those regions better
after living in New Jersey for 21 years. I don’t know OP , but he can make his own criteria, and many people use selectivity, and pick say Stanford, or in this case Maryland, over Purdue, for that reason alone. Since the programs are pretty similar, according to you, I see no problem with my analysis, other than a bonehead wanting to pick on it.
Oh well, bone heads maybe are bone headed, is that correct Mr Bonehead?
Oh, I never said families can’t choose their own criteria. I simply made the case that the shouldn’t use test scores (or really selectivity in general) as one of the criteria, not that they can’t use it.
By all means, though, keep poking fun at my username (which I chose to name myself, so clearly it doesn’t bother me). I’ll take that as a sign that you don’t have a rebuttal to the rest of my argument.
As a two time PU grad with a son who is a current UMD Sophmore I have some thoughts that might be valid as I went to Purdue 30 years ago.
Purdue limits the number of students in each college of engineering and many of the posters here mention that like it is a bad thing. There are many slots in schools, like ME and EE, and those rarely say no to qualified students. Aero is a little more selective, and so on. However, my son’s biggest complaint, and a complaint that many of his co-students at UMD have is that there is no limit on undergrads in majors. Because of that, the faculty in the CS department is greatly overworked and many classes are hard to get into. So if your child is an above average student who applies themself, which sounds like the case, a set class size could be a very good thing. To look at it another, my son is excited at UMD to just be offered a position as a TA in CS for a 200 level class. Great for him, but he is a TA for the same level class he currently is classified as. I’m not sure if that is not a indication of more students then the department is set up to handle.
We also moved from Indiana to the East Coast 4 years ago so my son has many friends at Purdue and he has visited a couple times and is considering transferring there because he feels the campus life at UMD is either a party or nothing. While inside the beltway, the area immediately around campus isn’t that nice and there is very little in the area as far as good restaurants and shopping. I suspect much of this has to do with him liking or being more familiar with Indiana then DC. He has traveled inside of DC a few times, but it does require effort to get there.
I do believe in much of what the Purdue administration is doing. They have not raised the cost of tuition in something like five years and Id be surprised if they do soon.
If you child is set on Engineering or other STEM university you can’t go wrong at Purdue. When I was there they had a quote (I never verified it) that 1 out of every 4 engineers in the US are Purdue grads.
To be fair, UMD is strong in everything they do and there are a ton of internships, etc. However, I have noticed a large number of public sector type roles because of location. If working for the Government does not excite your child, it might be better at Purdue.
I don’t know about internships, but UMD is very well represented in full time positions in the private sector and in research as well as in the public sector. I could say the same about Purdue.
@boneh3ad I jsut saw a ton more public sector firms at my son’s career fair then I remember when I went to Purdue both as a student and as a recruiter. There were plenty of private companies at the UMD career fair, but it appeared to be a much higher percentage of public organizations.
Thanks all for your spirited input! Definitely appreciate all the information. It is going to be a difficult decision. DS was very happy with his first impressions after the Maryland campus visit a while ago. Purdue we didn’t visit yet though I like what I have learned about PU so far with an engineering program that is internationally renowned. DS is a bit apprehensive to go to college ‘far away’ though I explained to him that he won’t necessarily come home more often when in DC vs Indiana. To me distance is not the overriding factor. I understand that Maryland has DC but also that West Lafayette has a good reputation as college town. I personally would appreciate DS being exposed to an environment different than the NE he has known all his life.
He will participate in both schools’ admitted student days so I hope that will allow us to seal the deal…
boneh3ad said:
Never thought about this affecting statistics, but this is a really good point. As an example, the UNC system (which is all the public schools in NC) is limited to 18% out of state students. Generally, only Chapel Hill is affected by this, so stats for the entering freshman are the freshman are skewed simply due to turning down OOS applicants simply based on volume.