<p>I've been accepted to both as a Chem engineering major. I visited Delaware in November and liked it, but didn't fall in love with it. I'll be visiting UMinn in a couple of weeks. As for scholarships, I received 11,000 per year from Delaware and an OOS tuition waiver from Minn (worth $5,000/year). Going by the cost figures for this year (they may go up next year, but nothing's certain yet) the respective costs of tuition+room and board (excluding books, personal expenses and the like) would look like:
Minnesota - $20,954/year
Delaware - $27,000/year</p>
<p>I live in Virginia, but since my family flies Southwest, I don't think that airfare costs would add all that much to the cost of UMN, especially not enough to negate the differential between it and Delaware. That being said, UMN is cheaper and has a higher ranked ChemE program than Delaware. I know that looking at solely at numbers isn't the best strategy, but it seems that at the moment that Minnesota is definitely the "logical" choice. Can anyone weigh in on this?</p>
<p>Go UMN, it’s ChemE program is very strong. Twin Cities has tons of career opportunities.</p>
<p>In the not unlikely event you change majors, UMInn is superior in many more areas.</p>
<p>I would recommend UMN in this case.</p>
<p>Looks like the choice is fairly obvious in that Minnesota is less expensive, and is generally considered better in many other subjects if you change major (or want to study some other subject more in depth than you would just taking breadth requirements).</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies everyone, looks like Minn is the overwhelming consensus. I was thinking along the same lines, but in my parents’ mind the distance factor is playing a disproportionately huge role at the moment…</p>
<p>Wait until after the visit. If you still feel good about UMN, do it. The program is excellent and you have a number of other good options as well.</p>
<p>Not gonna lie, it can be pretty tough going to school far from home. But Delaware would still have some distance (well, maybe not as much if you’re from NoVa) and you do learn how to fend for yourself.</p>
<p>Distance should not be an issue. I’m assuming you’re in Northern VA, which would put you about a 2.5 hour drive from UDel. Minnesota is about a 2 hour flight from DCA or IAD. It costs more to fly than to drive, but most of the time it’s not terribly expensive to fly between MSP and DC, and with a cost differential of roughly $6K per year in Minnesota’s favor, that’s probably roughly 18 r/t flights per year you could do, and still come out about even. You won’t want to do that many trips home from either school. The rest of it–phone contact, e-mail, text, skype–is going to be identical from either school. So the whole “distance” thing is pretty much an artifact of the past. I guarantee, in the event of a family emergency you could be home from MSP in almost the time it would take you to get home from UDel.</p>
<p>One factor that would concern me about Minnesota is the pressure from the following statement</p>
<p>[Applying</a> for a major form : College of Science & Engineering : University of Minnesota, Twin Cities](<a href=“http://cse.umn.edu/services/advising/CSE_CONTENT_188758.php]Applying”>http://cse.umn.edu/services/advising/CSE_CONTENT_188758.php)</p>
<p>"Admission to a major in the College of Science and Engineering is a competitive process based on the successful completion of specific technical courses and a grade point average (GPA) based on technical courses (the technical GPA). Students who have completed the necessary technical courses and have a 3.2 or above technical GPA at the end of fall semester will be guaranteed admission to that major.</p>
<p>All other students who have completed the necessary technical coursework for their intended major (as identified by each department) will be considered for admission to that major on a space-available basis.</p>
<p>Students who are not admitted to their intended major following fall semester should work closely with their college academic advisors to determine their next steps and future options. Admission following spring semester is based on space-availability."</p>
<p>For most engineering programs, a 3.0 is not bad. Given that Minnesota is world famous for ChemE, I wonder how competitive admission to the major is.</p>
<p>Perhaps the OP should make sure that s/he is admitted directly to the major in both schools before deciding.</p>
<p>That’s my point. You don’t get admitted directly to the major at Minnesota. </p>
<p>Maybe it wasn’t clear from what I quoted, but if you follow the link, it’s the technical GPA at the end of fall semester of sophomore year that counts when you apply for the major.</p>
<p>we are trying to decide between 2 schools for Chemical Engineering also. DU has a recent history of tuition going up like crazy. Secondly, we are having a very difficult time finding out attritian rates. There are a total of 395 chemical engineering students – but how many started out as freshman? I was told on CC that in the past DU cut the bottom 50% after sophmore year. Another concern we had was the undergraduate research opportuntites at DU – which aren’t good. Look on their site – getting summer internships is very very difficult.</p>
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<p>I may be about a year behind you, but this could be very valuable information to me. I’d love to know specifically where you found this out. Where on their site did you find that getting summer internships is very very difficult or that undergraduate research opportunities are difficult to get. </p>
<p>I have concerns about UDel also, but I was having trouble finding out how hard it was to get in and stay in the major. I did get the sense that once you’re in, you can stay in. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>