For the engineering majors that UChicago offers, no ABET is a non-issue. There isn’t an employer out there that would disqualify you because your UChicago degree isn’t ABET accredited.
That being said if you strongly want a traditional engineering degree, I’d look at other options. UChicago is a great school that will teach you how to think, not what to think. But, you won’t get the experience “engineering” things like: building a race car in your club, or building a solar powered car for a competition, or a satelite to launch in a space-X rocket as an extra curricular activity.
But, if you really want to be a physicist and you could get a free education, you hit the lottery in my opinion. With that being said, there is not a school on your list that you can’t be extremely proud about.
@blevine I was only responding to the previous poster’s comment because he/she implied that students often pick Cornell over the other schools on that list because it is an Ivy. That is not the case.
UChicago for physics AND for less money? That’s a gold ticket. My question is: are you thinking about switching to engineering because you really want to be an engineer, or because you are afraid that you NEED to be an engineer to have a successful career? Because you don’t need to do that. UChicago opens tons of doors for its grads in innumerable fields.
If you don’t like the cold, rule out Ithaca, Chicago, and Northwestern. Disagree with prior poster who said JHU is safe where you will be. JHU and surrounding area is replete with crime. U Chicago is where fun goes to die. You’ll definitely have more fun at Vanderbilt, but hard to choose Vandy over Penn and Duke. Duke seems to offer all but the financial piece. Might be worth going back to them with an appeal for more aid.
@ThankYouforHelp Chicago may open doors but its worth mentioning that the median income of its graduates (at age 34) is the lowest of any Ivy Plus university (Ivies + Stanford, Duke, MIT, Chicago). Penn is at $91,800, Duke is at $87,500 and Chicago is at $61,700. That is a significant difference. You can attribute it to the fact that Chicago’s student body tends to be less pre-professional but it is difficult to gloss over such a large disparity.
Unfortunately, Chicago is also dead last in terms of the “share of children who were from the bottom fifth of incomes as students and moved to the top fifth as adults”.
So it may be more of a bronze ticket if we’re being completely realistic (I’m just having a bit of a lark).
It’s obviously a great school but kids need to know what they’re getting into before they commit. If you want to win a Nobel in Econ, it’s definitely not a bad place to start. If you’re looking to become an engineer, you should be looking elsewhere (for obvious reasons).
^ This post is relevant because financial stability is one of the OP’s main priorities.
You seem like you feel somewhat obliged to take the great offer from UChicago, but you’re not really feelin’ it. It doesn’t sound like your tribe, and you don’t sound like the intensity level there would suit you. You’re looking for someplace more lighthearted, and the “quirk” is not doing the trick to lighten your heart. Vanderbilt sounds like a better fit for you. Or maybe Northwestern. Possibly Penn, depending on how expensive, but don’t do it because of your girlfriend. The rest sound like not the right fit, or too much additional money for no additional value.