Can someone please share their views on NCSU vs VT in regards to College of Engineering. Looking for experiences around student life, quality of education, comparison to Ware Lab/Engineering Build Space @VT and career opportunities after graduation etc?
Trying to figure out how does NCSU (especially Mechanical Engineering) compare to Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech ??
A bit of a ramble -
Two of my kids were in the same situation - instate for NCSU and also interested in VT. They both applied for engineering and were accepted. Ultimately both chose NSCU. One just graduated last year (ME), and the other is currently a freshman. The programs are very similar, and probably not worth doing any sort of detailed comparison. But if I am pushed for something, I would say the facilities available to the students for project/work are generally better, and definitely more accessible for undergrad students.
FWIW, one of my first posts here essentially asked the same question. In hindsight, I realize I was asking the wrong question. The decision was definitely driven in part by distance. - we live in southeast NC. But I think the biggest factor, The bigger factor was which campus they were willing to call home for 4 years.
Personally. I am happy they chose State over VT. And I am a VT alum.
Career placement will be similar for both. I think both schools claim to run “the largest engineering career fair”.
GT is in the same boat. Others will disagree with me, but unless you are studying some niche subject, all the large engineering schools in the southeast, and most of the US for that matter, are very similar at the undergraduate level.
^
Engineering Admit Rates (eng applications):
VT 72% (9.7k)
NCSU 52% (8.5k)
GT 18% (27k)
Mechanical Engineering Ranking:
USNews, QS World, THE World Eng
VT ?, 50-100, 72
NCSU ?, 100-150, 101-125
GT 2, 10, 10
Current USNW ranks engineering at NCSU and VaT very close (24 and 31 respectively). We visited both and were struck at how similar they seemed. State was in-state for my sons and being so similar went there. Mine had no interest in living in Atlanta, so never visited GaT. An engineering degree from any of them will be a great start!
All have excellent programs. I would attend the least expensive of the three. You will get a great education and very similar opportunities at all of these schools. Why get into debt paying out of state tuition for programs that are pretty equal, in my opinion? Eh, maybe Georgia Tech has a little more cachet, but not enough that I would get myself into debt for it. My kid had a choice between his in-state school and other out of state schools, and it was not even a question that he would attend in-state. If you asked him, he would tell you he is glad he will not have any debt upon graduation. If you really want a name brand, go for a masters or Ph.D. somewhere with more name recognition.
“career opportunities after graduation etc?”
Career outcomes ranking:
1 MIT
2 Caltech
3 GT
…
136 NCSU
…
NR VT
Here are the survey results from each of the schools that covers career opportunities and salaries:
NC State: https://apps.oirp.ncsu.edu/pgem/index.cfm?action=main.summary
VT: https://db.career.vt.edu/scripts/PostGrad2006/Report/PostGraduationReportByMCU.asp?College=05&Major=ME&Cohort=2017-2018&SortBy=
GT: https://webapps.gatech.edu/cfcampus/adors/commencement/salary_report_result.cfm?termcode=201802&college=3&level=1&surveyid=105&Submit=Submit
If you have NC State as an in-state option I don’t think you can go wrong there for ME.
Thanks for all your valuable feedback
We visited both VT and GT and their maker space labs were amazing, haven’t done detailed engineering campus tour at NCSU. We will be there in few weeks, hopefully they have similar opportunities for the kids to be more hands on like other schools.
I was more looking for information like, does the kids at NCSU have access to build things, participate in engineering competitions etc, undergraduate engineering research space etc.
While the cost of attendance is major concern, we are also looking at what opportunities are there for kids to be doing hands research or do design and build work at NCSU.
May be since we saw in person at VT and GT (we went on a school day), haven’t seen that at NCSU, since it was general open house on weekend that we attended.
@kadalkanni – would love an update if your child is a senior. We are in same boat though my son is just a sophomore. We toured VT in March and he loved it. We’ve only done a partial tour at NC State so will go back. Honestly, I hope he falls in love with State b/c as in-state we’d prefer the price tag.
Since we live in an affluent county in NC, ironically I think he might have a better chance of getting in at VT since they are looking for OOS tuition $. Also, VT seems to put a little less emphasis on test scores and more on GPA which, so far, is where my S excels. NC State engineering test scores are really high – higher than UNC’s overall range!
In looking at the numbers I saw that VT has fewer graduate engineering students compared to State which may increase undergrad’s access to design / build space. Agree with you that VT really shone in that aspect on the tour.
I think State’s access to local internships and companies is a bright spot.
Overall, very comparable programs and outcomes for students.
GT is crazy hard to get into for engineering these days. We’ll see how my S tests b4 we plan a visit.
Yes, NCSU students have access to spaces for these items. One difference that I noticed at our visit several years ago was VT had some really great spaces for large student projects such as the Ware Lab, but not much access for smaller independent work. NCSU seemed to be more of a general access to lab spaces.
NCSU has a ton of engineering majors. Like most state schools the student needs to be motivated to find things; the opportunities are there but similar to my experience at University of California a long time ago, the large state schools don’t hand things to students. Students need to look ahead at their course plans on their own too. However, the co-op program which adds a year to graduation but allows kids to line up a job and pays them $18 + an hour is great. Centennial campus which houses mechanical, electrical and computer engineering is amazing, the hunt library is rated as one of the tops in the nation and is worth a tour. It will be a couple years but industrial and systems engineering will go to a new building at centennial eventually. Of course NCSU has other engineering (nuclear, aerospace, civil, environmental, biomedical, etc…) too but I know less about those. Taking a summer session of classes is also a good idea at large state schools, either for classes that may be hard to get, or really hard classes that aren’t necessarily foundational. They have a ton of clubs for each type of engineering that enter national competitions, etc…Although, my kids engineering major ISE doesn’t build stuff - they are “imaginary” engineers as ridiculed by the others. And for whichever of those schools you mentioned assuming in state tuition is 20K a year less I would choose whichever state I was from.
@anon145 – tks for your input and advice. What I like about both NC State and VT is they seem to support students well – nice combination of resources and opportunities within a collaborative environment. At least that’s my impression.
Question: do engineering students live near Centennial or on main campus?
The Hunt library is amazing!!
so I think most of the first year courses are on main campus, whereas for Mechanical, electrical, computer (I think materials) start having classes in 2nd year mostly on centennial. for now Industrial/Civil are mostly on main. (But at least for ISE I think they are supposed to move to centennial when the new building opens.
However, Math, chemistry, physics, statistics which are the core for 1st years are all on main. The centennial wolf (ridge/ village I always confuse them) whichever one is on centennial is very nice and very new. they have their own kitchens and dishwashers. Probably live on main first year and then move later.
The “engineering” dorm is on main, but as I mentioned I think this is mostly first years. And by no means does it really matter which dorm someone lives in. I would emphasize that students that go to state schools should really look ahead at their scheduling sequence to make sure their course plan is feasible and works out. The main thing with state schools is students need to self motivate to think about planning
This is helpful – thank you!