My son has whittled down his college acceptances to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Virginia, and Georgia Tech. UIUC is instate, so it is substantially cheaper. However, my wife and I have decided that we will send him wherever he feels best fit, as we are mostly comfortable with the cost wherever. He is having some difficulty choosing the a school, despite each one being vastly different. Georgia Tech is obviously the strongest academically. It is ranked 3rd in biomedical engineering, while Virginia is 18 and Illinois is 21.
He has a slight chance of switching to another engineering major, most likely mechanical if at all. His end goal is to work in some sort of biomechanics (prosthesis). However, he isn’t sure if the technical school environment is right for him. He values diversity, and has made it clear that he doesn’t want to be surrounded by STEM people at all times. He also values an intimate environment, which he isn’t sure if Illinois, a very large school, will provide. He also would like to get away and experience something different, another reason he prefers to not go to Illinois. Illinois’ program was very selective, and is very small (about 70 students per class), which may add to the intimacy he is looking for. When it comes to Virginia, he feels it has the environment he is most looking for (smaller, beautiful campus, quality sports, not all party). Our one issue with Virginia is that we aren’t sure if the engineering is at par with GT and UIUC. The overall engineering school is not ranked nearly as high. However, Payscale shows Virginia engineering graduates make well above Illinois and GT engineering graduates http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-majors/engineering#fullText . Can this be trusted? A collaborative environment is also important, and so is strong job placement.
Any recommendations? Is Virginia worth the out of state cost, or is it absurd to pay for it?