<p>I know MIT is a no brainer for engineering as they are top rated.</p>
<p>. My graduating senior is interested in mechanical engineering. Problem is cost and is it worth the debt? Being VA resident, UVA is a whole lot less $$. But how is their engineering program perceived in general (not compared to MIT)and is it worth the debt. My senior would have to pay the difference and a potential student loan debt of $80K when getting out of MIT. Though could be less with internships. And this is just for undergrad. Not sure if grad school is in the plans. Interested in research which is probably more at MIT for students to be involved?? But then, is there time cause the academics are a lot harder. true?</p>
<p>My son is going to UVA in the fall, but on a math/physics track. His understanding is that the math/physics classes in in the college are more difficult/advanced than in eng’g and thus challenging courses for your son might be an issue. </p>
<p>On the other hand, one of our neightbors has a daughter at UVA’s eng’g school, and she loves it there. She says UVA’s eng’g program is up and coming and now on a par with Va Tech. </p>
<p>Still MIT is awesome, and if I had that choice (which i do not, lol), I would advise my son to take MIT plus $80K in debt over UVA in eng’g (there are very few places I would give this advice, but MIT is one of them).</p>
<p>MIT does have finacial aid. The average tuition per person is around $35,000.
While I understand your situation, I think that MIT is once in a lifetime.</p>
<p>MIT may be “once in a lifetime” but the debt will affect finances for a long time. How much more will a mechanical engineer from MIT earn than one from another school? I suppose if your son goes into some sort of consulting he might gain enough of an advantage that he could break even with UVA in less than ten years.</p>
<p>Since you are from Virginia and your son applied to UVA for engineering I’m guessing that overall school prestige is more important than engineering ranking. I think UVA grads do perfectly fine in engineering but if you wanted a more in-depth engineering experience he should have applied to VT.</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn’t want to start my career or graduate school with $80k debt. Congratulations to your son for being accepted to both schools, it’s a difficult decision.</p>
<p>he did get into VTech as well as GW and schools up north like Syracuse and Boston U. But there is also a sport involved. With another in college and getting no aid = loans</p>
<p>Have you contacted MIT about aid? The cost is considerable, but I would be hesitant to dismiss MIT before getting all the facts - even if it is the sensible choice, even if it is objectively the financially best choice, he may well regret passing on that opportunity for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>The one thing I would consider the other way is the question of his relative standing. Most of the advantage of MIT will fall to the top half of the class - if you/he thinks that he is going to be in the bottom half of the MIT engineering class (nothing to be ashamed at, there are top students at other schools who would kill to be in the bottom 50% at MIT), it might not be worth the money and stress.</p>
<p>He need to choose VT over UVA for engineering, obviously MIT over everything.</p>
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<p>That isn’t as obvious as you seem to imply. MIT isn’t for everyone, and in many respects, it is advantageous to go somewhere else for undergrad and then try for MIT as a grad student if you are interested in graduate school and MIT has the research you want.</p>
<p>I’ve met more than one MIT graduate who lamented going there for undergrad and wished they had gone for grad school instead.</p>
<p>Well, for mechanical engineering I think his best choices are MIT then VT. UVA and GW are great schools but they made their names in non-engineering disicplines. VT’s undergrad mechanical engineering is very good (#13 undergrad) and offers opportunities that aren’t available at UVA/GW/Boston/Syracuse. For example, he could pursue a joint BS in engineering at VT and at a top German university. He can work in the Ware lab or the RoMeLa lab building robots. VT has three levels of sports teams: 1) the scholarship teams, 2) organized teams that compete intercollegiately, and 3) intermural. So, if he were not on the full time tennis team he could try out for the level 2 teams or at a minimum play intermural. I was told that the level 2 tennis is still a substantial time commitment for engineers.</p>
<p>I would be loathe to turn down MIT but if he’s good enough to be accepted to MIT undergrad then he’s likely still good enough for grad school. If he were to get a MS at MIT no one would care that the BS was at VT instead of MIT.</p>