<p>I’m currently torn between going to CMU and OSU (honors fwiw) for Computer engineering. OSU would be 7k tuition (National Buckeye and Provost scholarships I think) and CMU would be full sticker price of 54k. My family has the money to pay (EFC over 200k) but is reluctant to do so based in value and my dad thinks the programs are identical in everything but name alone.</p>
<p>Sooooo…</p>
<p>Is there really a difference between an elite school like CMU and a strong school like OSU as far as the educational programs?</p>
<p>My goal is to get into a really top grad school so I can be competitive for either tenure track positions at universities or sought after to do really interesting research engineering jobs. If I put in the (borderline excessive) effort to get a high GPA and connect with faculty and do research am I going to be competitive for those schools? </p>
<p>As far as fit I can see myself at either school having visited, maybe a bit more at CMU. The size of osu doesn’t bug me, but I can’t imagine the culture being so dedicated as CMU was and I honestly loved that!</p>
<p>Congratulations on your success! Sounds like OSU is making a big play for you to try to get you away from the top schools to which it undoubtedly knew you’d be accepted.</p>
<p>The best thing to do, I think, would be to talk to alumni of both programs and ask each program to give you information about graduate school placement. Weigh the information very carefully; realize that OSU has a lot more students, so think in terms of percentage and not raw numbers. Don’t be won over by a few anecdotes, every school has success stories. (I’m sure you know this as an engineer.)</p>
<p>You’re right in the sense that curriculum is curriculum, and there’s probably not a lot of difference between what you learn in the classroom at good programs. However, don’t discount the intangible value of a school’s name. That’s what you pay 54k for–the name, not necessarily a vastly different educational experience. But this “name” can take you very far and may pay off over the course of your lifetime. When you say “I got my engineering degree at CMU,” people will be impressed. (Whether they should be or not is a different question altogether, but that’s just how our society works.) I know from experience that elite graduate programs are definitely wooed by pedigree and would probably be impressed by a degree from CMU. However, I don’t know if they <em>wouldn’t</em> be impressed by a degree from OSU; you’ll just have to try to figure that out.</p>
<p>Again, congratulations.</p>