Hi folks, my son was accepted to Georgia Tech as an out of state student. We flew down there to see the campus and attend an info session. We all liked it but being out of state he would get no aid, not even being a national merit finalist.
At other schools it would be less expensive due to scholarships. So my question to students and parents is whether the education and college experience there is worth the added expense… He will be a computer science major.What do you think of that major there? Any advice would be appreciated.
Totally depends on the other schools he is looking at. We are more and more impressed with Georgia Tech everyday but my D was lucky enough to get a Provost but if she stayed in state she would make money because she is also a NMF. It all depends on value in my opinion. A degree from tech is very, very well respected. The coop and internship possibilities are probably the best in the country.
Computer Science rankings
College of Computing
Address: 801 Atlantic Drive
Atlanta, GA 30332-0280
Admissions Phone: (404) 894-4267
Admissions Email: edward.omiecinski@cc.gatech.edu
Admissions Website:
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/
Rankings
9
Tie
in Computer Science
Specialties (4)
6
in Artificial Intelligence
13
Tie
in Programming Language
6
in Systems
8
in Theory
So I guess you are in state? is your daughter choosing Tech? where else is she considering? My son could go forhalf the price to our state flagship
university or pay $ 15000 a year less to go to Northeastern, among others. But he really liked Tech.
I wondered the same thing @jerseymomof4. My daughter got accepted to Georgia Tech, Texas A&M and The University of Texas at Austin for mechanical engineering. We could not justify the small grant offer and huge amount of loans that were offered in Tech’s financial aid package. I rejected the admission offer from Tech today. I know it’s a well respected school for engineering, but so is UT Austin. That’s where my daughter will go. By the way, my son is a senior at UT Austin and majoring in Computer Science and is doing very well and has had many internship offers in the last two years. Computer Science has become so hard to get into at UT Austin in the last year. Good luck to your son!
No my daughter received the Provost. UT Austin is amazing but we did not chance it as we heard they do not give much oos assistance. She is also considering UF, FSU, UCF, Alabama and rejected Colorado School of Mines and RPI ( both offered lots of merit but not enough to even come close to Tech or free to stay in FL.
@jerseymom, Rutgers has decent computer science program, nearby stony brook also has solid CS program.
Kids always put school rankings first, but in reality it is what he truly masters that will give him the edge.
If he goes to Stanford, Berkeley , MIT or CMU, maybe we can argue whether it is worth to buy the name brand.
Thank you all so much for your insights. It’s tough isn’t it?I think my son is getting burnt out ALREADY and so are we.If you folks have any more advice I’m very glad to listen. I don’t know how much to push my opinions on him. How are you handling that aspect?.
@jerseymomof4 - It is difficult, isn’t it! We had DS make a comparison chart of his top three schools (UT-Austin, UIUC, and GT, all for comp sci) so he could see, in black and white, what the differences and similarities were. That really helped him figure out what was most important to him as well. It took quite a bit of research but he was able to confidently decide and is really looking forward to attending GT in the fall. It is out of state for us but we are able to afford the difference in tuition so that wasn’t a major part of the decision (although GT falls smack in the middle tuition wise compared to the other schools he was considering). It is worth it to us to pay the extra for him to attend the school that “checks all the boxes”, as he says. I don’t think I really pushed my opinions on him but I did let him know what some of those “boxes” had to be, like ease of travel to and from the campus and freshman support networks, so I may have had a little bit of an influence on his decision. Just a little… wink:
@treehuggermom Did your son enroll into GT and pay the deposit of $250? I did that and now it shows that my transcript is missing. Do they mean my final transcript? Any idea?
@devileng - yes, he did enroll and pay the deposit. I would assume any missing transcript would have to be the final transcript. Congratulations on making your decision! Do you know where you want to live? My son has put in for West since it is a little quieter but he definitely wants to do Freshman Experience. Make sure you join the Facebook group for the class of 2019. They are posting about finding roommates there.
https://www.********.com/groups/GTClassof2019/
(replace *** with facebook)
@treehuggermom Thanks for your quick response. I emailed the admission counselor and she replied really quickly. She said that it was a glitch and she fixed it. She also said that I will have to submit a final transcript once I finish high school.
I did not complete my housing assignment yet. I will tomorrow. Having researched all about it, I decided that I will put West as my top priorities and will definitely participate in Freshman Experience.
Thank you for the link. I am looking forward to finding a roommate! 
i’m OOS and was accepted to Tech…i’m also looking at 3 schools in MA…and unc-chapel hill and tufts. I really liked Tech…I did get a small financial award…
@treehuggermom those were great ideas. Are you a big distance from Atlanta?
@GreyGarvin what are you thinking and what would you major in?What do you think of the distance?
@jerseymomof4 - We live in Houston. Flying to Atlanta is quick and easy!
I live in PA, got accepted to Georgia Tech for computer science, and got a tiny financial aid award. With my family’s EFC of 0 and Lehigh giving me a pretty generous package, I think I’ll be making a good move by opting out of OOS tuition at Tech.
OOS son accepted to many of schools above including GT and also UA as a NMF. We decided to seek out recent graduates of GT and UA. In the end it looks like he’ll choose UA. Frankly we were more impressed with what graduate students had to say at GT rather than undergraduates. Sure you’ll get an excellent job at pretty much a placement rate of 100% in three months but you’ll be miserable those four years. Many students were high flyers in HS and once they realized they had to work super hard it’s a steep learning curve and some can’t climb out of that. He didn’t like over 60% instate and likes seeing more diversity in the engineering program. Whereas MIT graduates told us about critical thinking being taught there, GT is more cookie cutter. We heard that multiple times. It’s a machine.
Son has talked to at least three dozen UA graduates who all graduated last three years. Award winners, amazing research and many had a free education or close to it. My son says he’s enough of a go getter and feels confident he can forge those opportunities for himself. A current junior told him whatever ideas you have or path you want to forge, UA engineering will make it happen. Plus the caring parent network and family approach…yes a professor will inquire if you don’t show up for class. Some will call the parents. They want you to succeed. I had concerns about internships when a few parents complained about their kids not finding them. Someone set me straight why those kids had issues, and it had nothing to do with their schooling. Many parents sent me news articles of their kids and what they did. Concrete examples to ease my mind and to see it wasn’t a systemic problem.
If I were you I’d talk to many graduates of both. Also some current students. Dig deeper.
Georgia Tech has an excellent reputation and a diploma from there will open doors for sure, but the environment there isn’t for everyone @jerseymomof4.
I would suggest that you try to find a copy of “Fiske Guide to Colleges” for 2014 or 2015 and read it. Georgia Tech is a very tough and competitve school with only a 33.6%, 4 year graduation rate (http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/collegeprofile.aspx?institutionid=139755). What the 33.6% graduation rate means for you is that it is likely that you will be paying for 5 years of OOS college tuition, and not 4, as you are thinking.
A few quotes for you from the 2015 Fiske Guide:
-Grading on a curve creates hypercompetitive situations because your absolute grade is largely irrelevant.
- Classes are big.
-Students are generally stressed and tired.
-It’s common to spend 5 years getting your degree.
-It’s absolutely horrible for things like freshman math classes. You’re typically taught by TAs, maybe half of whom have only the slightest grasp of English.
This isn’t to say that it isn’t a good school for your son, but he needs to be able to handle the competitive and stressful environment and be a good independent learner. If he he is, and you’re willing to pay for 5 years of OOS tuition if needed, then he may thrive at Georgia Tech.
One factor that is a potential wild card for GT is I understand they have more possibilities in providing credit for high enough scores in IB classes, thus reducing potentially a full year of tuition and at least 1/2 year in our case. I believe you can do that with more courses at GT than some other schools where my son applied. This would help as GT is our highest cost option as we are OOS.