Hi everyone!
I am currently a college student. I am transferring next semester as a Chemical Engineering major. I am a FL resident, and I have bright futures. I am missing 2.5 years to graduate.
I got into GT with very little aid around $5,000 a year. I will be paying out of state tuition. My parents are paying for my living expenses and the first year of tuition, but I will still need to pay around $41,000 of tuition (for the remaining 1.5 years). I can get a part time job and work in summers and use all the money to pay for part of my tuition. At the end I think I will have like $30,000 in debt.
In the other hand, UF tuition is free and my parents will still be paying for my living expenses. I would graduate debt free and with less pressure because I wouldn’t need to have a part-time job to help to pay my tuition.
I know that UF seems as the most reasonable choice in financial terms. But, still I am debating whether or not the sacrifices that I would make in order to go to GT are worth it, since is such a prestigious university.
I am planning to go to grad school, is really choosing GT over UF going to give me a huge advantage when applying for grad school?
What’s your transfer GPA? GT over UF will give you an advantage for grad school (more so for top 5-10 programs), but the question is whether that’s worth the 65k difference.
^ Not true, particularly for an engineering degree. This is definitely not worth it. GT’s degree is actually Chem and Biomolecular Engineering. Both are ABET accredited which is what counts.
Another vote for UF. Fwiw, my husband and our oldest son are both chemEs. They work with chemEs who graduated across the spectrum of schools. Don’t go into that kind of debt for an engineering degree when you have a great affordable option.
It definitely matters where you do your undergrad from if you are targeting a top graduate program (Engg. related) or say a M7 B school (I went to one). If all you are interested in is getting a job, it is definitely not worth spending $65k, most ABET related schools will do.
It’s not. Save the money - and check ahead of time: can you do a study abroad with engineering, for instance? Or does UF participate in NSE or other American Colleges Exchanges (where you can attend another US college for a semester so that you still get the experience of going out of state)? And of course with all the money saved, you could do your Master’s at GTech, or anywhere you could get into…
Unless your parents are ready, willing, and able to co-sign any debt in excess of what you can borrow in student loans, then GT is plain and simply a no-go.
You can borrow $6,500 for your sophomore year, $7,500 for your junior year, and $7,500 for your senior year. That does not come close to the amount of debt that you propose taking on.
If you maintain a 3.9, and get good scores on your GRE/MCAT/GMAT/other exam you need for the grad program you want, there is no reason to believe that a GT diploma will get you anywhere that a UF diploma can’t.
Love GT, but have to agree with most of the responses here. UF is still an excellent school, and you’re getting that education for a real bargain. If money were no object, possibly a different answer. But that doesn’t sound like your situation.
No, it’s not worth it, and no, it really doesn’t make a difference for getting into graduate school. The threads posted earlier are primarily about the representation of students from top colleges; students from top colleges will aways be overrepresented in grad school, but it’s not because the name-brand prestige of their college got them there (it’s partially because they are more likely to want to go to grad school in the first place, more likely to have the resources to go, more likely to be familiar with careers that require graduate education…) Also, although only certain posts are linked, read the rest of the first thread. Pretty much everyone else in the thread disagreed with the linked post.
However, this is moot anyway since UF has an excellent and well-regarded chemical engineering department. You can either go to grad school or to work afterwards; the UF degree won’t hold you back.
I agree with the UF rec, but I’d also suggest that this is one of the places where informational interviewing can really add value. Go to your career placement center and get the contact info for alums who are in the jobs/companies/industry you want to work for and then them to talk about career paths. As part of the interview, present your question. I’d ask if an undergrad UF/grad degree from Georgia Tech would be just as good (or better) than getting your undergrad from Georgia Tech. I think they will validate what we are saying here, but you will have heard it from those already in the industry - and have established some valuable contacts as well. Most alums are happy to do informational interviews either in person or over the phone so don’t be intimidated.