<p>Hey, CCers, I would love some feedback on my acceptances. I'm a New Jersey girl looking to become an aerospace or mechanical-with aerospace leaning engineer. I'm an only child, and though I'm what would be considered "upper middle class", my parents are four years from retirement age! (They had me late.) I'm sorta familiar with my top four colleges, but I've only visited UMDCP. I also was accepted at USC, BU, and Rutgers.</p>
<p>Here are my top four (no particular priority order):
1. GaTech- $38000 EFC, with $5500 loans only - Highly ranked for my intended major. I have family in Atlanta so I won't be totally alone. I heard the course load is tough but I'm willing to tackle it if the payoff is good.
2. Purdue- $30000 EFC, with $10000 scholarship & $5500 loans - Also highly ranked for my intended major, but I'm unfamiliar with Indiana and if I could cope there...
3. Cornell- $42500 EFC, with $9100 grants & $2500 work-study & $7500 loans - Prestige is obviously the biggest hook but the cost is off-putting unless the payoff is really good.
4. UMDCP- $32000 EFC, with $5000 scholarship & $5500 loans & Gemstone program - Cheaper and closer to home. Engineering is not as highly viewed by rankings and recruiters as other schools. I know "it's the student that matters not the school" but would I be sacrificing a lot if I went here instead of the others? </p>
<p>For engineering, the name of the university matters much less than it might for other degree programs, because ABET defines the courses for most engineering majors. You won’t make more money because you graduated from one institution or another. If you are concerned about recruiting for your particular major, contact each department and ask which organizations recruit on campus each year, and where their graduates end up.</p>
<p>The costs I posted are what my family would have to pay per year. Then, I posted the Stafford loans I would have to pay after college according to the FA package they gave and any grants/scholarships. </p>
<p>Honestly, my parents don’t want to spend more than 20k per year, but they realize with my top choices that their wish would not be possible. For this reason, they pushed Rutgers for me, as it would be ~16k, but it didn’t make my list because for every engineering or recruiting website I looked at, my other acceptances were more highly regarded. Because of that, along with research of each university’s brochures and website, I thought I would have more career opportunities if I favored the others (as in co-ops, internships, research, and even study abroad). Rutgers does not have aerospace as an undergrad- only mechanical with aerospace concentration, which isn’t bad because that usually is considered “the safe route” for my goal to work in the aerospace field. </p>
<p>I wish I could’ve visited the schools, but my schedule was and still is hectic with ECs and general life.</p>
<p>At this point, my family and I have narrowed the choices down to GaTech and UMD. However, I’m still quite torn between the two! GaTech has great opportunities, especially for co-ops and internships, from what I heard from a current student there but that the workload is ridiculous. UMD also has great opportunities, especially with Goddard and federal defense institutions, but the surrounding city is dangerous for students. Every university has their pros/cons, I just need to figure out which university’s pros/cons agree with me more.</p>
<p>For engineering, workload will be high everywhere. Please don’t get scared by workload, if you got accepted you will be able to handle it. This year GTech was very selective with average SAT of 1365 and GPA of 3.7. You have a opportunity that very few people get. I would definitely recommend Georgia Tech over UMD-CP especially for aerospace.</p>
<p>Rutgers is still a respectable school, although I realize the “anywhere but Rutgers” sentiment is quite strong among New Jersey high school seniors, some of whom will pay very large amounts of money to go elsewhere, even schools which are not necessarily better.</p>
<p>If the net price of Rutgers is $16,000, while the net price of the cheapest of the others is $35,500, then the difference is $19,500 per year, or $78,000 over four years – a lot of money.</p>
<p>However, rather than assuming that any school will necessarily give you better employment opportunities later, you may want to check each school’s career center to see who comes recruiting mechanical engineering students there, and what the post-graduation placement rate into employment and graduate school is for mechanical engineering students.</p>
<p>Honestly, my parents don’t want to spend more than 20k per year</p>
<p>What are they now saying that they’ll pay? If you go to GT or another pricey school, who will pay? Are your parents willling to delay retirement or will they be able to retire on schedule if they pay the $40k per year or so?</p>
<p>Suggest you visit Purdue before ruling that out. Purdue and UMDCP have the advantages of cost and breadth (in case it turns out that you don’t like engineering).</p>