<p>My son was accepted to Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Purdue and RPI, among others. He wants to study materials science/engineering. CRWU gave him the best deal. Is CMU worth an extra $17K/year? He wants to go to grad school. Does it make that much difference where he does his undergrad? I would love to know what employers think. Do they really care that much where you go to school or are they more interested in your co-op and work experience?</p>
<p>My advice to you and your S:</p>
<p>Go to the undergrad school that gives you the most FA and is the best fit. Better to save the undergrad money and use it for grad school, imo. Those 4 schools you listed are all terrific and he will get a fabulous education, regardless. Would he consider going to a school where he can get Bachelor’s/Masters in 5 years? That might be the most economical. I would think that employers would love to see co-op, internship experiences.</p>
<p>^ Agreed: his choices are all solid – it’s not as if any weren’t up to snuff. Go with the best FA. That’s what I would do</p>
<p>CMU is not worth $68k more than than Case, unless you’ve got money to burn. Case folks get great internships, go to wonderful graduate schools. Frankly, until reading this forum, I would never have known that CMU has more prestige than Case-Western, only that parents and students are constantly disappointed by their financial aid.</p>
<p>I think it depends entirely on the major. Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about Materials Science to comment.</p>
<p>we are paying the extra money because of the fit.
we only have one child and he really wants to go the big $ school.
he has struggled socially throughout HS and we all wanted a completely different environment
we are not wealthy but we have enough money for the school.
he is basically spending some of his inheritance.
we got no FA
we got no merit
over a 4 year period we will be paying $160,000 more.
we think it is worth it.
lol…we may be crazy too.</p>
<p>People are going to argue this one all day. There are so many different versions of this thread on cc.</p>
<p>There are many variables, besides just money and prestige. Does your son feel like one of those schools is where he would fit in the best? Is there a school on that list that he is really excited about? Or are they all just about the same to him? You really don’t know for sure about grad school. He could change his major 27 times, who knows.</p>
<p>If it came down to where I thought he’d have the best job opportunities, yeah, CMU would be first choice. But then again, alot will have to do with the contacts he’s made already and the ones he’ll make at school, so who can tell? For an extra 17K/year, I’d let him go to CMU and not blink an eye. Then again, that’s not so much money to me. If it was another time in my life (because I’ve struggled long enough), I wouldn’t consider it. If I had to take a second job, or someone would have to go into big debt for it? Probably not. Unless he absolutely loved it.</p>
<p>I have a very happy kid at CMU and it was definitely the right choice. Even though it’s costing us about 32K/yr more than our local school. But it’s not always the right choice for everyone. It depends upon how much you all have to sacrifice…and if it’s just for possible better job prospects, and not because he loves the school, nope, not worth it.</p>
<p>Our DD is also a full pay @ $55K and could have gone to a top 20 college (Rice) for less than $25K (after merit scholarship) but she loved the college and the city during the campus tours prior to application process.</p>
<p>It is turning out to be a great fit to her personality and we think the extra $30K is worth each penny and she is having a great time at a great university.</p>
<p>Still I’ll suggest that your DS should make this choice and here are couple of things to compare between the colleges.
- Compare the material science department at each college.
- Find out the access to internships and research opportunities through the career office at each college.
- Since your DS wants to go to graduate school hence check out each college placement results to graduate schools.
- Social fit. Let your DS visit the campus during pre-frosh weekends and let him make the decision.</p>
<p>CWRU is a great school. CMU is not worth the extra money.</p>
<p>Material Science BS is not good enough to get a decent job. You will need to get MS and or Ph.D. For undergrad, I am not willing pay for the extra for something that is not going to provide with the return. My advise is NO. </p>
<p>PS, I am now working in the field that requires Material Science.</p>
<p>POIH gives good advice. I would add - </p>
<p>Materials Science is a difficult major for most people. I would go with the school that seems to provide the best support system and fit for your own S’s personality and circumstances, looking at advising, research opportunities, and co-op and internship opportunities, beginning with freshman year. Also ask about attrition rates in the first two years, when the connection to a department might consist only of large (and often impersonal) intro and “weeder” courses. Ask if help is available for students who might find themselves foundering and how students would access this type of help.</p>
<p>Any of these schools could lead to a good, funded grad program, but since research experience forms such an important part of the grad school application, I would take an especially close look at the quantity and quality of opportunities at each school, and the ease or difficulty involved in accessing them. (At some schools, early access is significantly eased for students in honors programs, or students with prior experience.) Since most schools also require a senior design project that will go on the resume, I would also ask about the process involved in selecting and completing such a project.</p>
<p>Yes. Many schools have weed out program. Well, in material Science, for those who are not the right type of student, you may be weeded out in graduate school,as oppsed to at undergrad. I think it would be better to know sooner than later. Everyone is built differently, Mark Twain may not pass some of the tough Cumulative Exams today in certain top Ph.D. Material Science program…</p>
<p>Is a Lexus worth the additional money over a Toyota? I think this depends on how much money you’ve got.
A college education is sort of a hybrid of an investment and a luxury, which always complicates these discussions.</p>
<p>Here’s a thought experiment: a young person (not a member of your family) comes to you and makes the following proposition: If you pay for my college education, I will pay you 5% of my gross annual earned income for the next 30 years. He’s deciding between the same colleges the OP mentions with the same costs. How would you go about deciding whether to accept the deal, and which college to pay for?</p>
<p>That is an interesting business proposition, hunt! Before making the decision, I need to know the kid well. He/she has to give me a sound business plan for evaluation…Sounds too much like an angel investor? Perhaps so…</p>
<p>I have met a number of kids that I would be willing to invest in, even without a plan.</p>
<p>^^^I wouldn’t need to see a business plan, but I would need to know the kid. </p>
<p>I think that is what the OP needs to do: look at the kid. Some will wring every drop of opportunity out of any situation, but others will not be so aggressive and will do better if the ‘standard’ program provides more guaranteed opportunities.</p>
<p>Yes, Hunt and midmo. There are some kids out there worth investing. I wish I had the option of investing in a friend of mine over 25 years ago. The guy is now worth billions, working on the Wall Street. I am not greedy, just want 10%… :)</p>
<p>OTOH, someone I know working on Wall Street is now involved with a very highly publicized investigation … not good, at all.</p>
<p>PG,
I hope you are talking about Mr. Rajat Gupta. He is neck-deep in a quick sand…Yeah, I would not want to invest in him…</p>