<p>Well I applied to a limited number of colleges for a B.S Civil Engineering degree and I need your advice on the best possible choice I can make. Factors I am taking into account are Climate, Education, Research opportunities, Internship opportunities, reputation and scope of scholarships after the freshman year.
So here goes the list for consideration:</p>
<p>UT Austin (****rell) - Honors, 1,000 USD scholarship for the freshman year.
UIUC - James Scholar, Honors
Purdue - Honors
Penn State
Rose Hulman - 3,000 USD for the first year.
Drexel University - 17,000 USD for the first year.</p>
<p>I really know nothing about the major for each college, I can only comment on climate.</p>
<p>Austin is a beautiful city. Weather is mild. Can get hot in the summer. I LOVE that climate but not everyone does. If you get any snow there it is an anomoly not the norm. Texas is beautiful but very different from the other areas you are looking at. Very good music scene.</p>
<p>The amount of scholarship offered is not nearly as important as how much remains to be paid after that scholarship. Here is a calculator that will help you compare the costs of the different schools: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>
<p>Since you are an international applicant, you need to find out which of these schools is more likely to help you get a job in your home country after you graduate. If everyone wants to hire people from University X, then you probably want to graduate from University X if at all possible.</p>
<p>^ Agreed, you won’t get a bad C.E. education at any of these schools. As an international, you might not feel that you “fit in” at Rose Hulman, so I’d recommend a visit before seriously considering that school. Drexel is known for it’s Co-op program, which is important for some students, so be sure to check that out.</p>
<p>What kind of climate are you interested in? The only “warm weather” climate on your list is UT. The rest have all four seasons and winters with snow and cold weather.</p>
<p>We have no way to comment on the scope of your scholarships after your freshman year. You would have to ask each school about that. You should also find out if your scholarships for freshman year are renewable for all four years.</p>
<p>I’ll speak about Drexel - $17,000 leaves you with about $30,000 to pay for your first year. I know with my son’s merit aid, the amount stays the same for every year as long as you keep a 3.0 average and the co-op experience helps bring down the cost. In his major, the average co-op pays $17,000 for six month and they suggest that the students use $10,000 of that towards the cost of schooling. I believe the engineering program is five year one with three co-ops. The co-op is a big plus for employment. Philadelphia is also a very diverse city and Drexel has many international students so you would probably feel comfortable socially. However, it is in the Northeast part of the country and it gets quite cold in the winter and hot and sticky in the summer.</p>
<p>Congrats on your wonderful array of options!</p>
<p>You might do better by going onto each school’s board if you haven’t already, and asking there about co-op and internship opportunities in your major, and also about opportunities open to students in honors programs where applicable. In schools with honors programs, find out whether intro courses are taught in honors sections that might be much,much smaller than regular versions of these courses, or attract “better” professors.</p>