<p>My son has got accepted by UCLA\WPI and some other universities as an international student.</p>
<p>UCLA : mechanical engineering. $5.3k every year.
WPI: mechanical engineering. $5.2k every year with scholarship $2.85k. So cost is $2.35/yr.</p>
<p>Whould you please give me some opinions on chosing ,please.</p>
<p>Not sure what all your numbers mean. Do you mean $53,000 for UCLA, and $23,500 for WPI after scholarship? </p>
<p>Overall, I would say UCLA would be better and whether the extra money is worth it to you would depend on whether you can afford it without too much hardship.</p>
<p>I’ll second ihs76. If money is not a problem then UCLA otherwise WPI.</p>
<p>UCLA experience will be much better for the student.</p>
<p>Thank ihs76.Yes,I mean $53,000 for UCLA, and $23,500 for WPI after scholarship.</p>
<p>Only you can tell us how much a factor the finances will be. UCLA would be a supurb experience for an International kid, but twice the cost? For M.E. does it matter so much?</p>
<p>I don’t know too much detail about WPI, but it enjoys a good reputation in adacemic and scientific circles, is well ranked in U.S. News, especially in Engineering. It sounds like a really special place and has some unusual characteristics in the program of study that strike me as very positive and it is worth investigating in detail.</p>
<p>If there are discussion boards in the individual schools section for each of these schools (UCLA does, not sure WPI), have your son get on them and see if he can read and ask questions of current and prospective students.</p>
<p>Thank Brownparent’s advice. I can pay $5.3k every year for my son’s education with a little hardship. WPI is not famous in my country.I would look through WPI.</p>
<p>wuxihitech,</p>
<p>For future reference, 5.3k = 5300, not 53,000.</p>
<p>For an international, Los Angeles the city, would be a <em>much</em> better life experience than Worcester socially.</p>
<p>There are plenty of internationals at WPI. And WPI has international contacts and options, which many undergraduates take advantage of. I don’t know why people with little or no knowledge of WPI make clearly causal (i.e. no details) statements like ‘overall I would say UCLA is better.’</p>
<p>My post #7 is about the cities involved, not the schools, as I tried to make clear. As a naturalized citizen myself who has been to both LA and Worcester (where I received a racial slur from a random driver as I was walking on the sidewalk), I don’t think there is much comparison between the two cities, especially for a presumably cosmopolitan international (a reasonable assumption since parent can afford 53K).</p>
<p>Regarding the schools, I did specifically say ‘overall’ because I don’t think most people would disagree with that. If one wants to look at specifics of departments etc, that may well be a different issue, but then we are not talking about ‘overall,’ are we?</p>
<p>Thank all of your opnions.
I never went to USA, so I had no conception of any American cities. I think the most important factor is that the university provides a learning environment to enhance my son’s academic success, furthermore he wants to learn more about American culture.</p>
<p>I was once an int’l student in UK, Canada, and US, so I know quite a bit about many different colleges in these countries. My son, born and raised in CA, is attending UCLA. He also got into several other great schools, including Berkeley. But the day he found out he was granted admission to UCLA, he instantly made up his mind to accept the offer. He is now taking many rigorous but interesting classes, joining a top-tier faternity, acting as VP for a student club, and actively looking for internship or major-related part-time job. After just several months, UCLA has helped him grow from a teenager to a mature young man. I trust that UCLA is a great college for your son as well. UCLA is famous, both for its academic excellence and NCAA sports. Its campus is one of the most beautiful in the world. I don’t even know which college is WPI???</p>
<p>[Worcester</a> Polytechnic Institute (WPI)](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/]Worcester”>http://www.wpi.edu/)</p>
<p>Worcester Polytechnic Institute located in Worcester, MA</p>
<p>I’m not an engineer, but one of the brightest guys I’ve personally known (my late uncle, an aeronautical engineer) was a WPI grad.</p>
<p>WPI is centered mainly on the engineering and technical sciences. If that’s your interest and you have no interest/don’t care too much about fields outside the above-mentioned area, WPI is a great choice. However, some engineering majors may not want to necessarily attend a school so focused on engineering and technical sciences for academic and/or social reasons. </p>
<p>Another issue which was a common complaint among some friends who attended WPI…and which prompted some to transfer out was the crime problem around nearby/adjacent apartments to the WPI campus. One of those friends transferred out after he was fed up with his apartment being broken into 3 times despite multiple locks and taking standard precautions.</p>
<p>Prestige is BIG in the international arena: UCLA if you can swing it financially.</p>