I attend Valdosta State University, and my major is (pre)Mechanical Engineering. I have to transfer next fall (2016) in order to finish my degree. My GPA is 3.9+,and I plan on applying to Ga Tech; however, I do not feel like Ga Tech is the best fit for me socially and regards to location. The only other two engineering schools in the state are Georgia Southern and Kennesaw State, neither of which are very prestigous schools.
Does anyone know of any options for transfering out of state and still having the cost of attendance be less that 20k a year?
open the pinned threads at the top of the forum. There is a list of inexpensive OOS colleges, but 20k it pretty difficult and I don’t think they will have better reps necessarily than the two options you mention. One that is close is South Dakota School of Mines which seems to have a very good rep with employers and isn’t too expensive, nice smaller size, but maybe not as cheap as you like. I think you will be a bit short sighted to turn down GTech, after all you aren’t a freshman any longer and should be able to be flexible and make it work. It is large enough to fin any type of social experience.
The only other thing I can think of is if you are eligible for need aid and get accepted to a school that will meet 100 pct need for transfers, that is going to be a more selective school so hard to get in.
UGA does offer Mechanical Engineering degree, but it may not be ABET certified yet. Looks like it has a strong number of students in that program, and I would assume the college is working towards getting that program certified also. (I did a quick google, did not research this in depth. You can contact UGA engineering dept directly to confirm this info.) All of their other Engineering programs are ABET certified already.
If you are a GA resident, I understand you wanting to transfer to another GA college using the HOPE scholarship. I would choose UGA first (even without current ABET accreditation), second choice would be KSU.
There is a huge difference in the atmosphere and the academic stress levels of Valdosta State and Ga Tech. Not to say that you can’t transfer from Valdosta into the Ga Tech grind and survive or even thrive. But a wise student would want to think it through, be honest with themselves about what they are capable of handling, and how important name on the diploma matters to them.
Plus, the campus settings are vastly different. Someone who has enjoyed the laid back campus in a more rural area might not be as comfortable jumping into the fast pace of an open campus in Atlanta.
UGA has a great overall academic reputation, but the Engineering Dept is still relatively new. I don’t know what the implications are of getting a Mech Eng degree from a school that hasn’t yet received ABET certification for that program. I don’t see how UGA won’t eventually get the program certified, but what happens to those first set of graduating seniors in the non-ABET certified program?
UGA does offer a Mechanical Engineering BS degree. It is just not ABET certified. There is no language on their Engineering dept page that indicates the future possibility of ABET certification for Mech Eng.
“Programs in the University of Georgia’s College of Engineering are accredited through ABET, a nonprofit, non-governmental agency that accredits college and university programs in the disciplines of applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. ABET accredits over 3,100 programs at more than 670 colleges and universities in 24 countries”
What am I missing here? It says the programs are accredited.