Going to an engineering school for EE?

<p>I want to go study Electrical Engineering in college, and these are my four possibilities:</p>

<p>Cornell (Haven't Receieved Decision)
University of Florida (Accepted)
Georgia Tech (Accepted)
Purdue (accepted)</p>

<p>Pros
Cornell - Ivy League. 50/50 Girl/Guy Ratio
UF - Full Tuition Scholarship. Not too far from home.
GTech - Great EE Program.
Purdue - Half Tuition Scholarship. Best Friend is going here.</p>

<p>Cons
Cornell - Most expensive. No merit awards. Far from home.
UF - Weakest program.
GTech - Full Tuition + Room/Board. "Nerd School" 3:1 guy/girl ratio.
Purdue - Middle of Nowhere</p>

<p>So I tried to some up my biggest fears/worries for college. My biggest concerns are money, level of education, and I want to have fun. I know engineering is a real workload, but I don't want to reach the weekend, and have my classmates tell me they are hanging in for a LAN party. I would go to GTech hands down without any hesitations if it weren't for the nerdy reputation and the reputation for being hard as hell. UF doesn't have a top 10 program, but I go there free because I'm in state Bright Futures. Purdue I will recieve a good portion of the tuition on scholarship plus my best friend is going there so I won't be alone, but it's in the middle of nowhere. Cornell seems like the most balanced, but it's the most expensive and I haven't been accepted yet. Any advice?</p>

<p>Cornell/Ithaca is pretty much in the middle of nowhere too so that's a wash. How is PU ranked for EE?</p>

<p>EE:
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Berkeley
4. UIUC
5. Michigan
6. Georgia Tech
7. Caltech
8. Purdue
9. Cornell
10. Carnegie Mellon
11. Texas
12. Princeton
13. UCLA
14. Northwestern
15. Rice, USC
17. RPI, Texas A&M
19. NC State, UCSD, Wisconsin
CompE:
1. MIT
2. Berkeley
3. Stanford
4. UIUC
5. Carnegie Melon
6. Michigan
7. Georgia Tech
8. Texas
9. Cornell
10. Purdue
11. Caltech
12. Washington
13. Princeton
14. UCLA
15. Wisconsin
16. UCSD
17. USC
18. Northwestern
19. Johns Hopkins
20. RPI, Rice, Texas A&M</p>

<p>Purdue has offered you NO money?</p>

<p>A pro for Purdue is that your best friend is going there?? I would think that would be a con. When you go to college you want to meet new people and not be held back by your best friend. Anyway, I'd advise that you wait and see what need-based scholarships you get and then decide. If Cornell is affordable and you're accepted, I'd narrow the choice to GTech and Cornell.</p>

<p>Are you able to visit Purdue and Georgia Tech? From where you live, I would say you should definitely overnight at Ga. Tech - stereotypes are often so off the mark. See how you like it. See for yourself - forget what other people say. A visit could be a deciding factor and could change your life. Since your concerns are the nerd factor and the difficulty, overnight on a Thursday and a Friday - see what the study atmosphere is like on a weeknight and what the social atmospher is like on a weekend. </p>

<p>And, most important, congrats on the nice roster of acceptances so far.</p>

<p>Nickv360,</p>

<pre><code>I'd recommend you consider UF. I went to Purdue for my Master's and PhD and I doubt you will get a better education there than what you will get at UF. As far as the other two schools, sure they are great, but would you have to go into a lot of debt? Is it really worth it? Only you can decide, but if it were me I'd say NO.
</code></pre>

<p>I am going to Cornell, but I wanted to go up north/out west (snowboarding :)) so never even applied to GT or Purdue, but if I were you I'd definitely be looking at those two most seriously. Both have great engineering programs, and it would be a huge plus if your best friend is going to Purdue already.</p>

<p>That said, I loved Cornell so much when I visited that I applied ED (but then again I love cold weather and wanted to be near, or at least reasonably near, mountains).</p>

<p>(Side comment: Cornell's a totally different type of middle-of-nowhere in comparison to a Purdue or UIUC midwestern middle-of-nowhere!)</p>

<p>;)</p>