<p>Hello everyone, I am having a hard time choosing my final college, please give me some advice.
Background:international student(China), TOEFL 102,SAT 2030
Major:chemical engineering
UVa: I'm kind of surprised when UVa accept me because its reputation is great. I heard others said that engineering is not strong in UVa. And I don't like having class with hundreds of people since UVa is a public school. But UVa 's name is really big. Is it easy for a UVa graduated student get a job?</p>
<p>Drexel: it offers me 10,000per year for scholarship and automatically got me into their honor program. I applied for 5 years(3 years co-op) and accelerated program which means I can get a master degree in five years. It is in Philly and I love school in big city. But can anyone give some negative sides about Drexel? I mean since UVa accepted me, I don't wanna regret when I go to Drexel. And how about the reputation of Drexel?</p>
<p>RPI: the ranking is good and their engineering is amazing too. But the tuition is really expensive and they don't give any kind of scholarship to international student. And I think maybe there are some nerds and the atmosphere is not so good.</p>
<p>I really need your advice, so please help!:)</p>
<p>If costs weren’t a concern I would pick UVA without even a second’s worth of thought. If you are solely focused on engineering though I suppose you should choose RPI.</p>
<p>Yes, I can afford to go to UVa, but what do you think of Drexel? I think engineering is great in Drexel and I really like the co-op program. It can get me a job when I graduated.</p>
<p>UVa is almost off the national radar for engineering. VTech overshadows it for engineering within the state of Virginia. But it sounds like you are quite heavily concerned with prestige and overall ranking, and not so much with “fit”. In that case, UVa is a safe enough choice for engineering.</p>
<p>Those who are mainly interested in engineering would choose RPI or Drexel.</p>
<p>People in the field (Chemical, Mechanical, Materials) will tell you that RPI and even Drexel Engineering carry more weight reputation-wise, than UVirginia. UVA is an excellent university, but engineering is not its strongest feature when compared to other schools. You’ll get a decent engineering education at UVA nevertheless.</p>
<p>Drexel has a bit of a strange schedule with the co-op program. I don’t know exactly how it works, but the people I know who have been to Drexel say that once you finish one set of exams, you have one right after another. But, if you plan on staying in the US, the co-op could be a great experience for you in terms of future career options and it’s a selling point of people I know who go there. Also, Drexel has a great location in terms of being next to UPenn and there being very many students there. That’s not an academic thing, but that’s one of the things I really like about the University City area in Philly. </p>
<p>That being said, I also know someone who attended RPI for pre-med, and for the sciences, RPI is a great school. They loved it there. Bottom line is, if Drexel is giving you money, I’d say go there. Both RPI and Drexel trump UVa in their engineering programs, and engineering is a very popular program at Drexel.</p>
<p>Thanks for reply. I think though UVa has a good reputation, its engineering program is not strong enough. But I don’t like to go to RPi becasuse their tuition is really high and I don’t think the life there will be very happy. So I think Drexel is my choice</p>
<p>Sorry, I’m an international student and I don’t live in Philly. But if I want to go to graduated school after four years. And GPA is very important. Which school do you recommend, UVa or Drexel? Thanks</p>
<p>Sorry I think I read someone else’s post.
The most important question is which is the cheapest of the three ? You probably already know that University of Virginia is leaps and bounds of the Drexel in terms of reputation. RPI is pretty close. UVA highly recommended if cost is no concern.</p>
<p>It really seems like Drexel is offering you the most. For engineering, I would pick Drexel over UVA. Drexel seems to have almost everything you want, plus they are giving you a scholarship.</p>
<p>UPenn and Drexel are right next to each other, so the security of both schools along with the Philadelphia police keep the campus pretty safe at night. I wouldn’t worry too much about that.</p>