I live in Virginia, and both UVA and Virginia Tech have pretty good engineering schools (rank #39 and #27 respectively). Since I live here, tuition is quite affordable, and I’m also almost guaranteed to get into both schools. I’m also looking at some out-of-state schools like Duke, Georgia Tech, and Carnegie Mellon, but am not sure if it would be worth the cost – or if I can even get in.
What’s your general opinion? Is the education worth the extra cost? By how much do employers prefer applicants from more-prestigious schools?
Just don’t look at sticker price. You have to understand your net cost. Depending upon your family’s financial situation, a private ( or a few OOS publics) could actually be cheaper. Run a NPC at a few of your choices to see your net price. Most would argue that spending more isn’t worth the money. You are lucky that you have very good instate options.
UVA and VT are superb schools. You are very lucky to have both in-state. Duke, GT, and Carnegie Mellon are also great schools. After you graduate, no one will care which of these excellent schools you went to. They will care what you studied and what you learned, but you can do very well at any of these schools.
If you go to any of these schools, then 10 years from now you are likely to be working in your field alongside people who went to MIT, Stanford, UMass, UNH, IIT, San Jose State, Rutgers, and a long list of other schools. No one will care who went to which school.
No difference, this is especially true for engineering. The curriculum will be the same at all the schools that you list, so the differentiation of students will come by GPA. If you were majoring in anything other than engineering then Duke would be something to consider. In other majors its just as important in who you know as well as what you know. Cohort would be better at Duke.
@EleanordaBeast , Rankings aren’t everything but you may not be looking at current undergraduate engineering rankings by US News. For 2018, Virginia Tech is ranked # 14 and UVa is ranked #34. You have excellent instate options. If you are affluent or can get the cost down elsewhere, then put other schools in the mix. Be careful about assuming you are almost guaranteed to get into UVa and Virginia Tech engineering, particularly UVa. It is very competitive, even for high stat , instate kids. Good luck.
I wouldn’t go out of state simply for a “better ranking” - something about the school’s program, campus environment, or the cost should be distinctly better in terms of its fit with your wants, needs, and budget.
Run the NPC as some private universities could be cheaper depending on your income level.
For CS or CS+x Stanford, CMU, MIT, Northwestern (Penn M&T) would all make a difference in terms of freshman internships, peers, and VC access.
Virginia Tech and UVA are excellent colleges so my advice would be to apply there, a few tippy tops that offer something different that your parents are okay paying for, and two safeties.
The OP has not asked about CS or venture capital access. But since it’s been brought up, here is an article about VC in Charlottesville. https://news.virginia.edu/content/charlottesville-new-capital-venture-capital. UVA engineering median SAT is over 1400, 96% were in top 10% in high school, 1/3 are OOS students. There would be no problem finding interesting peers and very good opportunities there , even if not at the level you might find at a place like Stanford or MIT.
There is an engineering business minor and an entrepreneurship minor available to engineering students, if that is of interest. If UVA is not a good fit, that is a different story. Also,as has been mentioned, run the NPC’s, to see if some of the other OOS schools you have an interest in come out less expensive. UVA is now up to about $33,000 for engineering if you are full pay instate, so not cheap. What is your EFC and what has your family agreed to pay?
Both UVA and Virginia Tech have strong alumni networks, very good job placement, and very good interest from both regional and national recruiters.