Georgia Tech vs. Penn State

College Search & Selection
1

Hey everyone. I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice on which college I should attend. I narrowed my choices down to Georgia Tech and Penn State. As of now, I want to major in aerospace or mechanical engineering. I’ve visited both schools and I really liked both of them. Penn State will cost about 30k per year (in state + 5,000/yr engineering scholarship) and GT will cost 38k per year (9,000/yr scholarship). My parents will be able to pay 20k per year.

I’m only going to list pros

Penn State:

  • Cheaper (they will also “stack” any scholarships they give me plus any outside scholarships)
  • More rural campus (I’m not a huge fan of cities)
  • Weather (most people will disagree with me on this)
  • Friends/closer to home/some sense of familiarity
  • Less stressful or so I hear

Georgia Tech:

  • Second best in country for both aerospace and mechanical engineering
  • Fantastic Co-op opportunities
  • I guess an overall smarter student body
  • Possibly more challenging (this is good but only to an extent)
  • Prestige but that’s not too important

I am thinking that I might want to go to graduate school for a masters or doctorate in engineering so I want to have a decent gpa throughout college plus some research experience. However, this may change, so I would want work experience too before graduating from college. Right now I’m leaning towards Penn State, but I’m really not sure yet. Would GT be worth the extra 8,500 per year? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

2

Can you cover the remaining 10k for PSU? If not, doesn’t sound like either is affordable… 5.5k from loans leaves 4.5k, a bit much to be met by a summer job or something.

3

@bodangles My whole financial situation is kind of weird and hard to explain and there are many other factors I didn’t mention, but I’m aware that I would come out with debt from either college. I’ve talked to my parents about it and it looks like I would have about 30k in debt from PSU and about 60k from GT.

4

Oh jeez, that could be more than you’ll make as a starting salary. Doesn’t sound like a good idea.

5

I’d probably pick penn state in your case but it’s you call.

6

So will penn state give me the same opportunities as GT? And does prestige play a big role in graduate school admissions? I just want to make sure I’m not giving up anything by going to penn state and I don’t want to regret my decision later in life.

7

Penn State is affordable.
GTech isn’t.
Penn State is excellent for your chosen major, is in a preferred location, and sounds like a better fit.
Easy call. :slight_smile: