Tough choice, which is best for engineering? UVA most expensive for us, followed by Northeastern where he got merit aid followed by Penn State as we are PA residents.
Run the numbers here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletter.phtml and consider where the difference could come from.
Verify that the engineering field(s) of interest (or related fields such as Mech E if Aerospace E isn’t offered) are accredited by ABET here: http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx
It’s my understanding something like 1 in 50 engineers graduated from Penn State. The alumni network alone is a super valuable asset for PSU grads. Now the downside of PSU’s engineering program. While I can’t compare it to other programs, I will tell you that at new student orientation, they tell the engineering students to “look to the right…now look to the left…only one of the three of you will graduate with a PSU engineering degree.” The program has some painful weed out courses and many kids end up dropping out of engineering, especially when they realize they can’t make the entrance-to-major GPA requirements. Keep in mind that many students were had 4.0 gpas in high school, so these are very bright kids. However, companies heavily recruit at PSU as they know the grads are exceptional and prepared for the job. Penn State is an excellent choice, but you will have to work extremely hard to stay in the program.
@sophley - wow. As a mom to a smart HS Jr. who is trying to narrow down the college list, now I’m wondering if he even WANTS to be accepted to PSU. Then I’m wondering how many threads like this could exist for the rest of the schools on his list. He wants to work hard in college, but he also wants to enjoy the undergraduate experience. I wish there were a reliable “Naviance” tool that would guide current juniors regarding their place in the fit/target/reach engineering-school-specific pool.
While the USNews rankings are looked down by many here on CC they have an advantage. If the weed out courses cause a lot of students to drop out or transfer out the school’s retention rate and graduation rate is lowered thus lowering their ranking. Northeastern wants to rise in the rankings so they only admit students who have a high probability of succeeding. If a freshman engineering student is faltering there will be support available there.
@LuvsLabs
(Super cute profile pic, by the way!)
Personally, as a senior in engineering at PSU, it has been difficult and a lot of work, but not quite as bad as it sounds in the post above.
You can see the current entrance to major requirements here: https://advising.psu.edu/entrance-major-requirements-college-engineering-2018 They may change a little bit from year to year, but the new ones aren’t up yet.
@TomSrOfBoston thanks for that insight - I’ll definitely take a look at that stat. (And, you’re right about the USNews rankings - I feel like that ranking is responsible for so many kids turning their noses up at many potentially great-fit schools. So many of the “top rated” schools have become expert at the “drop your application fee into the bucket and make our admit rate even more competitive as we quickly deny you” game.)
All ABET accredited engineering schools will be fine…what is the net cost of each?
Are they direct entry to Engineering or do you have to apply junior year?