I applied to 10 schools and I’ve been accepted to all of them. I have narrowed it down to five schools. In my mind, I’m looking for a small school so my two left schools are Valparaiso University and Michigan Technological University. Besides being around the same size, they are complete opposites. I don’t know if I would rather be in a rural or urban setting. Opinions on each? Please help!
What do you want to study?
Where do you picture yourself in ten years?
Give us something to work with.
Are the costs the same for both? Besides tuition, calculate housing and food and travel. Have you visited both?
You have nearly four months before you have to make your decision so try to arrange visits or revisits if you can. Do both schools have “accepted student” events scheduled?
Michigan Tech is a bit more expensive, but overall they’re practixally the same. I have visited both but I’m not sure that I’ve had the “feeling” everyone talks about. I’m signed up for some accepted student events. I have a while but I’m getting nervous and applying to double the amount of scholarships because of it
my apologies for not being clear. I plan on pursuing computer engineering with a minor in spanish. I hope to study abroad and travel with Engineers without borders. I picture myself hopefully in a suburban area, maybe city working. My dream has always been to live in Washington, but I’m not sure it lines up with my ideals anymore.
Washington State or Washington DC? You could go either place, I’d think. You might not be recruited off campus, but could direct job hunt in either location.
Michigan Tech is a pretty great tech school. One of the NMSF kids from my D’s class went there and loved it.
Washington state. Michigan Tech has some great internship opportunities in Seattle!
Both have ABET accredited programs in Computer Engineering and both have Engineers Without Boarders chapters.
While both are close in size, Valparaiso has 109 total engineering majors while Michigan has 527. From the perspective of established recruiting, Michigan may have an advantage, but I would ask for direct placement data from both universities for your expected major or majors. I would stick with ABET accredited programs.
Urban/suburban is strictly a personal choice. If everything of interest to you is on campus, urban may not make a difference. In the engineering fields students don’t usually have a great deal of time to go downtown for the Urban extras.
Think about activities which you would like to get involved in when you are not hitting the books. Are your activities on campus? It sounds as though you are public service directed? They are important to your emotional balance. Seek out organizations as an active part of your program… balance helps academics.
If possible, take an overnight visit.
Good luck!
thank you so much! that reminded me of why I liked Michigan Tech so much in the first place. Hiking is a great stress reliever for me.
Has anyone been to Michigan Tech or Valpo and can elaborate on there experience?
I’m not enrolled in college yet but I went to Michigan Tech over the summer as part of the SYP program. I live 8 hrs away, so this was the best chance to visit. The environment is stunning, as I’m sure you saw, but I haven’t experienced the snow there. I got to be a high school intern for a Civil Engineering professor there and he and his associate were very helpful in training me and treating me like a regular research partner. The students that were there over the summer also seemed very nice. The dorms weren’t the greatest, staying in Wads meant a lot of walking, but nice facilities. The dining options weren’t all great either but I can’t complain too much. The buildings are in very close approximation yet they own tons of land. An alumnus that I know always brags about the Winter Carnival. Seems like a pretty nice, challenging school up in the middle of nowhere.
The best scholarships come from the schools themselves. Have you run their Net Price Calculators to be sure they’re affordable?
Cost is a huge issue for students. My kids have friends deep in debt, and it is not pretty. What Michigan Tech does well is it offers programs where engineering students can take terms off to work as paid interns. You might want to check into that.
My daughter ended up not attending Michigan Tech because she was not sure we wanted to be in engineering. She is in grad school now, not in engineering, but her goal is to be a professor at Michigan Tech. The school definitely has students who just love it. One of her grade school classmates did end up going to Michigan Tech and graduated debt free because he took advantage of paid internships. He did not graduate in four years, but he did graduate debt free.
@HSSr19 I agree. It’s beautiful up there! I love the snow so that’s a plus. The facilities aren’t the nicest or most modern which is a downfall but the education is great.
@austinmshauriI I have gotten my financial aid package and received scholarships from the school but it’s still not the easiest price to pay. I’m hoping to get a few thousand off still.
@katrina1 I hope to take semesters off to intern as well to offset the out-of-state tuition. Graduating in 4 years isn’t that much of a dealbreaker for me since I plan on studying abroad and participating in co-ops. Great to hear a success story, though. Thank you!
Does Valpo offer co-op or paid internship opportunities? if you’re not sure, email the career center, engineering, and Admissions. It is my understanding that they’re very supportive and have an excellent reputation for stem.
Look at both colleges’ Spanish minor: do they offer culture/history/business advanced classes or just literature? How easy is it to add a minor to an engineering degree? Where can you study abro- can engineers study abroad in a Spanish speaking country?
@MYOS1634 I still need to look into Valpo’s co-op opportunities but I’m sure they have great options for students! I have only heard about Valpo from a few engineers so I’m a bit clueless on the school. I’ve been starting to research more lately. Have you heard good things about Valpo?
For study abroad, I’ve been told it’s easier to study at the beginning of your college year because then there are the general classes to attend at different universities. I’m hoping to go to Spain or somewhere in South America! I’m not sure what kinds of Spanish classes they offer. Is one better than the other? The Spanish minor is really important to me.
Foreign Language departments offer different types of upper level classes (for juniors and seniors). In general it’s better to have history and culture classes in addition to literature, especially if you’re going to study abroad.
Adding a minor to Engineering may not be easy so that’s why you need to see whether you’d get credits for AP/dual enrollment, if there are more or fewer electives…
Check our the recommended 4- year plan (each College has its own name for it).
@MYOS1634 I have many Spanish credits from high school so I’ll be taking higher level Spanish courses right at the beginning. I’ve talked with a few college admissions counselors and they have said It’ll be easy to obtain a Spanish minor within a year or two!