<p>Hello all! I'm currently a sophomore in GA and I'm considering going to GA tech! I'm in the magnet program at my school and I would say approx. 70% of people end up going to tech. This past February, I attended an all-day tour of tech for girls and I just didn't feel the right vibe. Some other schools I'm considering (for cs/engineering) are the following: CMU, UMich, Tufts, Swarthmore, Columbia, Stanford, and Berkeley. Would you suggest attending tech because of the low tuition and close proximity to home (~30 min) or going OOS? Thanks!</p>
<p>Would Swat give you a good fin. aid package/scholarship? They have really good teaching and LACs certainly excel at teaching in the sciences. Berkeley is questionable in affordability. Stanford=also questionable (did they pony up anything). See what some of those schools are offering in terms of fin. aid. If the others are affordable and you didn’t like the feel of Tech, by all means pursue those options. They’re all great options. No one should tell you to go to Tech simply for those two reasons (though I know many would just throw out Tech’s rankings, and say, “you should simply like it for that reason and that it’s cheap”), especially if you didn’t like it. Imagine the how’d you do if you didn’t like the school (you could do well, but that lessens the chances, and engineering is hard all by itself w/o having to worry about that).</p>
<p>On paper, Tech seems to be the obvious choice. It will probably be free and it’s ranked higher than every school on your list for engineering other than Berkeley/Stanford (and those are ranked about the same as GT). But if it’s not right for you, it’s not right.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, you have a few years to worry about it. You should apply to GT regardless. Once you see what schools accept/reject/wait list you, then you can worry about where to attend. If you get rejected from Tech or only get into Tech, then the decision is made for you.</p>
<p>You should definitely apply to GT. I went to a magnet school in GA, and I was one of about half of my class who went to GT. If you’re sure that you like cs/engineering, then Tech is definitely a good choice, since its one of the best engineering schools in the nation, and it has a great CS department. In terms of cost, Tech will probably be the cheapest if you keep your grades up and get HOPE, unless the other schools offer you scholarships. However, if the only pros for Tech are the fact that it costs less and is close, then it may not be the best choice. You should go visit all of your other choices and see if there are any that you particularly like.</p>
<p>I think Banjo hit the nail on the head! </p>
<p>I have a sophomore son and he seems to be changing his opinion on schools almost ‘regularly’ … </p>
<p>My advice to you, heytherejanae, is to ‘stay open’. Even if you didn’t get a good, ‘warm & fuzzy feeling’ on you tech-visit you should keep GT on your list and visit once more in your Senior-year. You are a young person “in development”, and you need to take an important decision about your education/future - not an easy task at all! I’ve ‘lived through this’ with my first son (currently a freshman at GT, and he LOVES it) and I see it currently with my 2nd son. </p>
<p>As you know, GT is a top-school for Engineering (by the way, you choice of major might change, too, in the next 2 years), and I can only recommend it! In particular if you’re in-state and if you’d like to go into science/engineering you should take a good, hard look at GT - that deal is hard to beat! </p>
<p>So - yes, look around at other schools, try to figure out what makes you like/dislike a school - but when the time comes (and you’re still interested in a career in science/engineering), you need to go visit GT once more! </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Berkeley, Stanford, and Ann Arbor are also really solid. Their engineering programs are certainly nothing to scoff at. If they are affordable look into it. Also, they’ll have more in the way of other interesting non-science/technology oriented courses for folks to take either for interest or artificial grade inflation (however, I know that engineering/science classes at Berkeley and Ann Arbor themselves are pretty brutal to GPA just as at Tech, so those classes may not help much in that arena). Basically, if you want, you can get a more “well-rounded” curriculum/exposure from those schools. Just something to think about. However, if only interested in science and you hate anything social science/humanities oriented, Tech or any of the ones known for top engineering programs are on nearly equal footing and it should probably come down to price. However, one must wonder why you bothered to even consider Liberal Arts Colleges like Swat. You need to ask yourself what drew you to it. Is their something you like about the others that you feel you would get less of at a pre-dominantly engineering/science school. Tech is awesome, but ponder what interested you in the others. Don’t simply say, “Tech has very high ranks in engineering” and just go. What about everything else. Make sure you don’t want much beyond Engineering/Cs before going. The others may have a different approach to education that work better for you. You might like the small environment at say Swat.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great responses! I’ll definitely apply to Ga tech. It seems like their students and alumni always praise it.</p>
<p>The reason I’m thinking about Swat is because of the small student body and the fact that its geared toward undergrads. Also, I like the idea that it is somewhat of a feeder school to reasearch universities for grad school. It’s in a suburban setting, but its close to a large city (somewhat like tufts). I’ll visit tech again in my senior year and see if I like it. Thanks again!</p>
<p>I actually thought Swat was weird when I visited. I guess it was similar to Emory in location (vs. city center), but it felt much farther away from Philly. The campus was awesome looking, but I don’t know if I cared for it as much. The education I could tell was par excellence though. I sat in the classes and almost all were structured like my favorite courses here (such courses are somewhat of a minority whereas that is the norm there).</p>