<p>I want to study Computer Engineering and I have been accepted to the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Maryland, but only the Letters and Sciences program, not the engineering program. I plan to go to graduate school after my undergrad studies. I am in state for NJIT and received a scholarship so it is very inexpensive to get and undergrad degree then go to grad school wherever I get accepted. If I go to RIT I would have to take out loans but I could get a good amount of co-op experience and hopefully get into the 5 year bs/ms program and graduate with a bachelors and masters degree. For Maryland, I would also have to take out loans and would have to go through the process of transferring into the engineering program. Also, I don't believe Maryland has the 5 year bs/ms, but I believe it has the best reputation and is ranked higher than both NJIT and RIT. So, I was wondering if anyone had any input or has had any direct experience with any of these programs and could tell me their experience.
Thanks</p>
<p>Drop Maryland. You didn’t get into the program you want there, so there is no point in shelling out all that extra money on the off-chance that you might be able to transfer into the engineering program.</p>
<p>Run the numbers for NJIT and RIT, and then decide between those two.</p>
<p>I recently attended an Admitted Student day at UMD with my daughter. One thing they made very clear is that an internal transfer into Engineering is non-competitive. You just have to take what they call the “Gateway” courses (which are the exact same courses that the direct admits take), get the required gpa and apply for transfer at the end of your freshman year. If you meet these conditions, you are in period. If you cant meet the gpa, you should probably reconsider your major. The Business and Architecture programs are the only ones that are competitive for internal transfers. Seach “Internal Transfers” on the UMD website. Good Luck.</p>
<p>I agree drop Maryland. What if you don’t get the required GPA? Between the other two, you’ll have to decide how much the money matters and how much you like RIT. Have you visited? Are there things they offer than NJIT doesn’t besides the co-op program and the five year to an masters option? Where do you want to end up when you graduate? If NJ, would NJIT be a better choice because of job placement opportunities?</p>
<p>NJIT has a co-op program. <a href=“Career Development Services (CDS) | Career Development Services”>Career Development Services (CDS) | Career Development Services;
<p>And you can apply 6 credit hours (of 30-36) of your senior year to a Masters.
<a href=“http://www.njit.edu/graduatestudies/program-options/bs-ms/degrees.php”>http://www.njit.edu/graduatestudies/program-options/bs-ms/degrees.php</a></p>
<p>I went to RIT for undergrad. Their co-op program/system is INVALUABLE as a current student and job network well after you graduate. Particularly for technical majors i dont think another school compares and companies truly invest time and money into grooming students, providing co-ops and recruting from there because they know they kind of skill/experience an RIT student has. Many people don’t know much about RIT in academia but it is heavily respected within industry. Another thing to note is unlike most other schools RIT doesn’t do gen ed. This is of particular importance for students who are certain about their majors–or even if you end up switching to a major in the same college. Your first day of classes as a first year you are taking courses specific to your discpline and everything is very application focused. They strive for students to be work force ready well before you graduate and it pays.</p>
<p>There is def a 5 year ms/bs program for CS and CE/T. And just about all technical majors req at least 5 co-ops (in addition to coursework) to graduate.</p>
<p>One word on money-- RIT is generally very good about funding. You can always appeal your financial aid package (you’ll almost always be awarded more) and for the most part once you are there they will exhaust all options to fill gaps before you have to leave because of money. Also the 5 years I was there the tuition hikes were never above 5% once a year —MUCH lower than most schools.</p>
<p>The major downfalls of RIT are the weather, the weather, and oh did i mention the weather?! Seriously the winters there suck. a lot. and they don’t cancel class because of weather. like ever. Socially its also a tough school although they have made major improvements to make it more like a typcial university in the last couple years (i grad may 2011 btw). For example, there is no football team, D3 bball, D1 hockey men and womens now, and there are a lot of clubs and activities.</p>
<p>I live 10 min from UMD College Park. Excellent Engineering school --def a better school socially than RIT and in a better location. It is also more ‘known’ in academia than RIT. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about NJIT but getting instate tuition these days is definitely something to think about. Surely weigh all of the factors because if you can knock out an ms/bs in 4-5 in your field its not the worst idea.</p>
<p>Hope that helps</p>
<p>I agree with the advice to go where you’ve already been accepted into engineering. Things may be different for you but my personal experience was that the early foundation classes seemed to have harsher grading practices and people I knew were subsequently unable to transfer into different departments due to insufficient GPAs. The easier grading (or perhaps individual maturity) seemed to come later, but by then it was too late for some to transfer.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input. I have visited all of the schools and really liked RIT and Maryland, so much so that I’m still waiting to hear back from schools and I basically have it narrowed down to these two and NJIT. I come from a small high school so visiting Maryland was certainly astounding seeing all the social opportunities, although the main reason to pick a school is the academics. However, I have been emailing faculty in Maryland and have found out about the guaranteed place in the engineering program if I could meet the GPA requirements, however I would want my GPA in good standing regardless of where I went. So if I just perform academically as I should, I would have a spot in my desired program in my second year. I also loved RIT, no particular reason why, I just did. I didn’t get to RIT’s whole social scene though, because I went there during finals week so many students were in their dorms studying.</p>
<p>jqc5804: thank you for all of your insight, it is great to hear from someone who has been through the school. If you don’t mind me asking, were you a technical/engineering major and do you have any experience with the Computer Engineering program or anyone that has gone through it?</p>
<p>I recommend you choose NJIT, especially if you plan on going to graduate school. It’s going to be drastically more inexpensive in comparison to RIT, plus, it’s near New York City, so research and internship opportunities are close by. In fact, NJIT was ranked #1 this year for its best return on investment. </p>
<p>Get a high GPA from NJIT, be involved on campus, get a job or coop to boost your resume, and graduate virtually debt free.</p>
<p>Anonymous886: I had the same thoughts</p>
@thekid311
where did you wind up attending?
my daughter in NJ is looking into applying to the same 3 schools (along with RIT, UMBC and Rowan) but for CS.
any insights you have would be appreciated!