it seems to me the choice between the two is a simple math problem. I get the impression there is no strong preference to one or the other so i’m making a lot of assumptions that all is equal in the eyes of your child.
based on the salary figures that were posted earlier in the thread–it would take roughly 34 years to break even on the $170,000 difference, if in fact the salary differential was $5000/year.
of course, an oversimplified viewpoint since there are perhaps intrinsic factors that cant be accounted for.
every families experience and pocketbook are different, but if it were me, it would be a no brainer. YMMV.
If money is not an issue, she should go in the environment she likes. I have been to Cleveland with my D1 in 2012 to visit Case Western but was totally unimpressed with the city. Then went to Atlanta and he loved the city and GT. We are from bay area (san jose). Needless to say, he preferred to stay a few thousand miles and 3 hours time difference away!
Edit: I am not saying Columbus will be same as Cleveland, but it was just for comparison between the two cities my D1 visited.
Regarding free tuition vs full pay (semi) elite tech colleges, my D2 (interested in EE) is a NMF and has been bombarded with full ride offers from several Tier2/3 colleges. But just to save money, I can’t fathom to put his career on the line. In this world, we save money for only 2 purposes, our kids and our retirement. So, unless, money is REALLY REALLY an issue, the education is more important IMHO. I know parents who have taken mortgages on their home so that kid can goto a better college than they themselves went. My D2 has been fortunate enough to be accepted in a few good colleges (his best choices are UCSD/UCD/Calpoly in state and UT Austin OOS) and waiting for some more.
I find the idea that kids are “putting their careers on the line” with a tier 2 or 3 college ludicrous.
I’m a fine artist, and my H is in the computer science world (masters degree in comp sci), and the “elites” of both of these very disparate worlds tend to rise to the top regardless of whether they were at an ivy or a “tier two” school.
I hope you don’t discount the full ride offers before taking an in-depth look at what those EE departments can offer your kid.
Mother - it depends on your work environment. When you get to work in a cut throat software engineering company in bay area, you will realize how important is networking and alumni. Everything else you say is just theoretical.
@PurpleTitan - I did clarified that (Columbus vs Cleveland), even before your posted. So, I dont understand what was your point ? My point was to compare the environment before you sign up for a college.
I have worked in tech for 30 years, and while there are some companies that might give weight to let’s say MIT than another school (Google was famous for that, until they realized they were cutting their own throat), I can tell you as a hiring manager that whether you went to OSU or Georgia Tech isn’t going to matter all that much to most managers out there, and after you are working, it will mean very little. Yes, alumni networks can help get jobs, but to be honest between OSU and Georgia Tech there isn’t a lot of difference between them, Georgia Tech is not MIT and the quality of the education at both places is probably going to be the same. Yes, you can get people out there who will look at college rankings and such, but unless you are going for a specific area where a school is known (for example, if you were looking to work in AI, then a place like MIT or Stanford would be top choices to study, because of the work being done there), but for general engineering or tech degrees like CS, for typical jobs, it likely won’t matter. Obviously, if the kid doesn’t like the OSU campus, finds GT more endearing, then the decision may not be easier, but if she likes both schools, I would go for the free tuition and avoid loans and such you might need at GT.
As far as startups in Silicon Valley go (or anywhere), it isn’t necessarily that cutthroat. The only place I have heard of questions about where you went to school in silicon valley tend to be startups founded by people from either India and Southern Asia or from Asian countries like China, Japan and Korea, because in the countries they came from huge weight is placed on where you went (I once interviewed for a job when I had over 10 years experience in IT in the financial industry with heavy hitter places, and I had an interviewing manager, an Indian guy, ask me what my GPA was in college…I told him it was irrelevant after working for 10 years, I walked out of the interview, because someone asking that kind of question after someone has been working is quite frankly an idiot). With some exceptions, if her goal is to get an engineering degree or a tech degree, unless Georgia Tech has a program OSU doesn’t have, I would go with the free tuition.
He’s a senior director of software development for a fortune 50 company (with offices in San Fran-lovely city). Networking and alumni only get you so far-not far at all for him, really. He looks for people who produce success and results and have the technical competency he requires. He likes the GA Tech kids-he says it’s hard to get them because everybody wants them.