I am in quite a dilemma right now. I have gotten into both VT and GT but I have no idea which one to pick. In terms of ranking GT outranks VT, however, the main thing causing me confusion is that VT is in-state while GT is out of state tuition. In terms of financial aid, I obtained $12000/$27000 from VT and $14000/$49000. In terms of income, my family makes about 65k per year. Therefore, my main question is is Georgia Tech worth it both financially and career wise in the future, or will Virginia tech be a safer route. Also, can someone pinpoint what are the major differences between the engineering program between these two schools and the opportunities presented by each school?
P.S. I got into the Electrical and Computer engineering program for GT and the General Engineering Program for VT. Therefore, I am sure that I want to major either in Electrical or Computer engineering.
You have an excellent instate option at a great price. If you wanted to go OOS and GT were at a comparable price, that would be viable. But, there is a major financial gap with GT and you are limited with the amount of loans you can take out for an undergraduate degree. How would you pay for Georgia Tech? If you have toured VT, I 'm guessing you already know they have a new state of the art engineering building and their engineering graduates are well recruited. Is the “dilemma” because you just really want to go OOS or are you concerned with prestige? Most people will not recommend you incur major debt in this kind of situation. Lots of kids go to their state schools for engineering. Good luck with the decision.
The main thing that was worrying me was the prestige and the opportunities. However, I guess for sure VT is the best choice financially. Also in terms of engineering, what is the major difference between VT and UVA engineering. I got into UVA and they offered 24K in grants, which is quite tempting. However, I know their engineering program is not as great VT.
Both UVa engineering and VT engineering would provide you with good opportunities. One of my sons went to UVa, the other to VT, in engineering. Both schools have good recruiting and are attractive to employers If you have toured both schools, you may find that you felt a better fit at one or the other.
Just verifying the numbers:
net cost for VT over 4 years is approx $60K
net cost of GT over 4 years is approx $140K
Your family income is $65K?
Ummmm… this seems like a no-brainer… you simply cannot afford GT under any reasonable scenario.