As I noted earlier, VT does not admit directly to Industrial Engineering. Your daughter could actually change her mind once she gets to school and explores other majors within engineering. VT has great recruiting , not sure about FSU but you could explore that. VT has an Engineering Expo which is one of the biggest engineering career fairs. Nobody here can answer for you whether VT would be worth $40,000 more. Since you went down a road searching for merit aid at OOS universities, I assume money is a big factor for you (which it is for most people). Only you know your budget and what you have communicated to your daughter in terms of what you are willing to pay, how much you expect her to contribute, whether or not you expect her to take out minimal loans to help out, etc… Once she sees whether or not she is accepted to VT’s engineering school. it may become clearer. If she hasn’t done so already, it would be a good idea to tour the campus and the facilities. VT has a brand new Engineering building and most classrooms in general for engineers are fairly central to the campus. Once the decisions are in, visits are done, financial packages are in, this may become clearer in terms of fit, cost , and opportunities. Good luck.