The big question is…besides not feeling like he might not be the best fit for Purdue, what does he think he’ll get in return for spending more money? Better job? Higher salary? Or, is it purely fit?
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Are Purdue, CWRU, and three too-expensive schools the only choices?
Of Purdue and CWRU, which does he prefer?
He’s also in at Maryland with 8k merit, but not honors. He really wanted the honors experience with a residential component at a large school. He’s in at Binghamton with First Year Research but not Scholars which has a residential component and there’s no aero option. Also in at Penn State but no honors. We have affordable to us options. I know we are lucky. So does he.
As lovely as Case is (we’re here now), he would pick Purdue over Case. That was the objective of this trip - to figure that out. Purdue honors is very attractive.
I think it’s fit and grad school outcomes that seem to matter most to him. And as much as he is trying not to let it impact him - reputation. He also really likes to be around smart and nerdy kids. My husband went to Penn State (with honors) and it’s a great school but he didn’t really find his people. He went there purely due to cost - he had some Ivy options. So we’re really focused on fit. We tried really hard to consider it, but it just didn’t work out (ie he loved Rochester but got no merit money even though his friend did - where as he got money at Case and his friend did not).
You have given us a lot to think about. I’ll let you know on 5/1!
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Just a note that Cornell does not have a stand alone aero major. Students major in mechanical and can minor in aero.
Your son may want to compare the four year plans of study and do a deeper dive on the course differences. Here is Purdue’s 4 year plan of study for aeronautical engineering: https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAE/academics/undergraduate/pos/2020-2021%20degree%20map
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Although PhD programs worth attending are fully funded, dragging a large amount of undergraduate debt along would not be a good thing in that case.
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Aerospace is just a subset of ME. As long as his interest is more at the fluids level and not so much at the systems level, he’ll get plenty of experience to work in AE with a ME degree.
My son has a BS/MS in ME. His thesis was a boundary layer project. He now works in an area of fluids quite a bit more complex than aerodynamics, but had multiple aerospace offers.
He can also go to grad school in AE with a ME undergrad. @boneh3ad is the engineering forum champion. He did just that, and now teaches in an AE department.
If there is a school that is a great fit, but doesn’t have stand alone aero, I’d dig in a little deeper to see how they support ME students with and interest in fluids and aero.
I’d also add, he still has time to mull this over. My son made his decision on April 29th. 
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Congratulations on your son’s acceptances! This is a useful site to assess outcomes of starting salaries. https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/. Lots of other good advice already given. My son did not get in at Cornell (also drivable for us) and is likely going to Purdue Honors for CS (will likely fly). I don’t discount the Ivy prestige factor - the outcomes may be similar but I feel like Cornell would open doors. That said, the cost is not a factor for us but it would have been a poor investment had he gotten in in real dollar terms - but I may have been tempted as it’s got a storybook quality to it. Another factor, Purdue takes my sons 30 or so credits and college transfers and Cornell would mostly not- which is like a year of cost/time. All that said, I think Purdue Honors will be great for my son and since he is set on grad school, paying 300K for UG is especially unwise for us but ultimately you have great options and I think you can’t go wrong. Good luck in your decision!
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On UMD - yes same here. A really great CS program and my son got the highest OOS merit scholarship but NO Honors - just all so random. I REALLY like the idea of honors at these big schools because I actually think schools in the 10K range are ideal and he has nothing in that range to pick from.
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It’s Purdue Honors CS - he’s good!
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Indeed, honors or not. It was some time ago, but Neil Armstrong chose Purdue over MIT after being accepted to both.
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OctoberKate, Your son and mine have a good deal of overlap on schools. My son, J, has been accepted by Pitt, CWRU and Purdue for MechE. Pitt was a safety, but we were favorably impressed when we visited campus and the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He only attended admitted students events at Case and Purdue. Right now he is favoring CWRU over Purdue because of the flexibility choosing majors and minors, campus culture, campus size, and neighborhood in Cleveland. The fact that a Purdue rep admitted that some students might not get their first choice for engineering major even if they met the GPA requirement was a deal breaker.
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I’ve always felt that was an unnecessary risk given the other options out there, but it’s important to understand the relative risk.
At Purdue 91% got their first choice. Contrast that to A&M where it’s only 80%. My niece got her first choice into the most competitive major and her stats were not eye popping.
I like Case a lot too. Just remember though, there’s a serious cost to choosing a minor. Unless it’s a highly aligned degree, say major in ME with a minor in AE, a minor will dilute technical depth. Students graduating with minors in things like music, business, even CS and math, will have less depth in engineering that students they will be competing with for jobs. Contrary to popular belief, companies don’t generally pick a less qualified candidate because they are “well rounded.”
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Be careful in that these percentages are high because they include:
- Those wanting majors not at capacity.
- Those who know they will be admitted because they exceed the automatic admission GPA.
But they exclude the true first choice majors of those who did not apply to them because they knew they had no chance (e.g. 3.0 student at Texas A&M who wants CS but did not apply for it because it was obviously futile).
What would be better would be to publish admission rates by college GPA ranges for each major.
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I just wanted to come back and thank everyone for your help and insights. My son waited until the last minute, but Saturday night decided on WPI and committed. I think it’s going to be a great fit for him!
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Yay congratulations again! 
