Help me decide on a college

College Search & Selection
1

So I have about a month left to decide on a college, and I can barely narrow down my options.
I am positive I want to major in Engineering (likely Mechanical), but I’m having trouble picking a school.

I am originally from Chicago, so I prefer big cities and large schools, but I live in Indiana now. I am also a successful student and huge fan of playing/watching sports.
I have ruled out Alabama, Illinois, and Rose-Hulman for various reasons, but am still deciding between:

Purdue University (have visited) - PROS: In-state tuition but still $25k. Great Engineering school and ranking. Big Ten conference. Great campus, easy to get around via bike/rollerblade. I know several people going there. Masters program and co-ops are available but are not a part of the program. CONS: Dorms are relatively poor. Engineering college came off as very arrogant during my visit. Engineering classes are huge, I may just be a number. Cost is a bit high. Some professors speak poor English.

Louisville (have visited)- PROS: Close to home. Engineering program has an accredited 5-year Masters/Co-op program for all students. Professors speak well and classes are smaller. Dorms are nice. Decent campus. Fun city. Good sports. Best price available- $18k. CONS: Not highly ranked, campus is near a bad part of town (doesn’t phase me too much), almost all students seem to be from Kentucky and go home on weekends. I hardly know anybody there.

Clemson (have not visited)- I don’t know too much about Clemson, but… PROS: Beautiful campus/climate/surrounding area, great sports teams and clubs, decently ranked engineering program, Masters/Co-op add-on kind of like Purdue (from what I’ve researched), #3 happiest students. CONS: 9hr away from home, Slightly expensive at $26k. I don’t know anyone there, and I assume there would be some culture shock being out of the Midwest.

VANDERBILT or NORTHWESTERN- still waiting to be accepted. But Northwestern is in Chicago which I love, and Vanderbilt is in Nashville which is also a great city. Both are highly ranked and respected but both will probably be quite expensive- $30K

2

Wait until you hear back from your other schools. But I don’t know how you can say Clemson is slightly expensive at only $1K more than Purdue. Did you get some kind of scholarship there to give you in-state rates? The OOS cost is $46K.

3

@“Erin’s Dad”
Yes. I received merit scholarship offers to both Clemson and Louisville.
I consider Purdue and Clemson “high cost” compared to the $18-19k net price offered by Louisville.

This being said, my Indiana High School also offers several small scholarships to exclusively Purdue ($500-$2500 per year), and I feel I have a decent shot at receiving 1+ of those, so it may change my predicted costs slightly as well.

4

Repost when you have all of your acceptances and costs in hand.

5

When you have all the aid numbers, run therm here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml