Agree to look at overall cost. It would have been helpful to this discussion to know earlier that VT was instate . One of my sons is an ISE graduate from VT, instate. It is very highly ranked in that field with great recruiting. GT is ranked higher than VT in ISE but there would have been no way we would have paid OOS tuition for our kids to go there, when we had VT as an option. Rankings are important, but so is cost and fit. What is the draw for you to Florida (since you seem to be looking at more than one Florida school). Is there family there, are you from there originally? Is it direct admit to ISE at FSU? At VT, every engineer starts out in general engineering before choosing (and being admitted) to a specific major. We were always willing to pay instate tuition and our kids did not pursue merit aid at other OOS public schools because they both liked their instate options. What have you told your child you would pay? If the preferred school ends up being within that figure, then it’s all good. Good luck with the decision.