<p>Hi everybody,</p>
<p>I have been accepted to both Purdue University and GT (and guaranteed a major in Computer Science), and I'm having trouble deciding where to go. I am aware of major rankings (US News, QS, etc.), and based on that I am leaning towards GT, but Purdue gave me $5,000 a year. As a HS Senior with very little experience in these matters, I wanted to ask all of you for your opinions on where I should go.</p>
<p>Thank you! </p>
<p>Both are obviously excellent although Purdue is in a college town surrounded by cornfields while GT is about two miles from downtown ATL. The weather is much better in Atlanta. One plus for GT’s CS program is that they have a Pokémon mural which encourages students to recycle (no that shouldn’t be a factor, but still pretty neat). </p>
<p>Have you visited either school? </p>
<p>what are the costs to you, including loans?</p>
<p>Personally athletically you cant knock them, but Georgia Tech is more competitive in the ACC than Purdue is in the Big ten… if you care about that at all. I say GT has my vote though for both academics, social life, and athletics</p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses!</p>
<p>whenhen, I have not visited either school, so I was hoping for a discussion of overall atmosphere at the schools (the Pokémon mural does sound cool though).</p>
<p>jkeil911, GT’s final cost is about $38,000/year, while Purdue’s comes to $34,000.</p>
<p>Usually the parents at CC and the frequent posters this year have been recommending that students go to the less expensive alternative. This is especially true when the expected major is bio or engineering or some other major whose curriculum is basically the same anywhere in the U.S. For pre-professional majors, this is even more the case because of the desire pre-professionals should have to save their money for professional school. Each family can of course, knowing its own financial needs, choose to ignore this general advice.</p>
<p>So in your case we’d generally recommend that you go with Purdue, but if your family or you thinks that 16K of additional expense plus interest is no big deal go with GT. You’ll get an excellent education at both. The opps are even, the academics are about even, the job networking and hiring is relatively even. GT does have better weather, but it’s not like you’re going to be outside except to walk from the engineering building to your dorm (domino’s delivers, after all) and your dorm to your building. The dating scene may be better at Purdue because of GT’s gender imbalance. GT has a rep for being a grinder, but that could be said of engineering many places. If you’re borrowing to pay for Purdue already, then I’d say go to Purdue and don’t take on more debt at GT, but that’s just my rec.</p>
<p>My son has also been accepted to both those schools – we went to Purdue last week and he loved it. The kids were all very friendly (it was the first really beautiful day they’d had there this spring, so everyone on campus was in a good mood). The tour was extremely organized (we waited too long and couldn’t get into the Admitted Students Day there) but there were several kids in the same boat on our tours. There was an “Academic” tour where they showed you around the academic buildings and showed classrooms. The largest class size looks like it could be around 480 kids – they had a couple of huge lecture halls around that size. Calculus, Physics and maybe Chemistry would be taught in classes that size with smaller recitations of around 20-30 kids. (Our tour guide was an engineering major, so we heard that side of things – which was good since my son is going into engineering too.) We then had an “Admissions” talk – typical info provided by all admissions counselors. Followed by an engineering tour – very cool. Neil Armstrong is an alumni and the main engineering building is named after him. The computer science building was fairly new (I think), so you’ll probably have some great facilities in there.</p>
<p>We flew into Indianapolis from the Philly area and the drive took about an hour and 15 minutes from the airport. A very easy trip. The town of West Lafayette is pretty nice – seems very clean and safe – as does the campus. It really was a clean campus! Purdue has its own airport – a lot of aeronautical engineers make use of it. I think they said all the residence halls were air conditioned except for one (intentionally, to keep the cost down if necessary). It takes about 15-20 minutes to walk across campus so you see a lot of bikes, skateboards, longboards and even some inline skates around. Very flat, so it’s easy on the quads! Really nice athletic facility with a 100’ rock climbing wall and Olympic size pool. There was a great “ethnic” type food court in one building, so that was our exposure to the food – and it was great. All in all, we were impressed. The “general atmosphere” is that everyone works pretty hard there, but they do make time to have fun. Over 100 clubs and about 20% Greek life, there seemed to be things going on under tents all over the campus the weekend we were there. And like I said, the kids did seem very friendly and not making fun of the high school students touring around or anything. </p>
<p>I have to say that one of the highlights of the day was when we were walking with our tour guide across the campus and she noticed that the president of the university, Mitch Daniels, was walking behind us to go to his office. She jokingly said, “Okay, everyone, turn around and wave ‘Hi!’ to our president!” We turned around, waved and kept going. Suddenly we hear a shout and he was making his way over to us and spoke to each of the kids on our tour and asked them where they were from and what they were going to study. He was extremely personable (I guess that’s also a throwback from his politician days when he was the governor of Indiana!) and made the kids feel even more welcome. Of course, he told them Purdue was the best choice for them!</p>
<p>Purdue is his number one pick right now – but he’s going to Georgia Tech on Friday and Delaware on Saturday, so I’ll keep you posted if you’re still interested and haven’t made a decision yet!</p>
<p>PASeniorparent: I’ll be curious what you think of the other campuses as opposed to Purdue. Our D attends Purdue as a Freshman Engineering student and loves the university. One of the things that struck us about the campus, the tour, the students etc. was that they were friendly and gave you the impression that Purdue was a good place to attend. At at least one other campus, which I’ll not name, they gave us the impression that they really didn’t care whether someone considered them or not. Another thing we knew about Purdue is how many of the alumni we knew (and if you are going into engineering and live in the midwest there are a lot of Purdue alumni) really made it a point to tell us how much they enjoyed and appreciated their Purdue education. Many made it a point to contact her and congratulate her on choosing “their” university. They really took ownership of it. We didn’t visit either of the other schools you are considering because it was out of our D’s “donut” (not too close to home not too far away). Good luck in your decision. </p>
<p>Thanks, lvvcsf! Glad to hear your daughter likes Purdue. The schools we’ve visited do seem to emphasize the alumni connections and the job opportunities available through networking. Purdue does seem top notch, so I think he would be happy there. (And I thought it was a tough drive taking my daughter to college in Ohio from here…ugh!) We’ll know more by Saturday night!</p>
<p>@k151ramd Are you planning on pursuing a graduate degree, after you finish your CS undergrad program? If so, what grad schools do you aim to apply to? Those are factors you may wish to consider in deciding between Purdue and Georgia Tech. </p>
<p>what are your parents saying? will they pay all the costs of either school?</p>
<p>So, the trip to Georgia Tech was a good one. My son had a tough time deciding between the two schools after spending the day in Atlanta. However, he ranked Purdue above Georgia Tech only because the campus is so very urban at GT. He said it takes 20 minutes to walk across the campus, and if you go two blocks the wrong way then he wouldn’t feel as safe. The engineering program at GT is much better than Purdue, however. He did say the kids were friendly and the everything was well organized. I think personal preference is the key here – do you want a large university in the Midwest located near corn fields or a somewhat smaller university in the South that’s VERY urban… The trip to GT was followed by Decision Days at the University of Delaware – sounds like UD won over everybody, but the decision isn’t final yet…</p>
@ PA SeniorParent : Curios to know what your son decided ? What factors he considered?
Her son is at UDel.