<p>My S is interested in Computer Engineering. We are in state for Penn State and OOS for Va tech. Va tech seemed smaller and more focused than Penn State and we as parents are worried about the party reputation of PSU. Husband is PSU grad and he feels like they keep taking ur money regardless if you are learning (diploma mill). Husband was impressed by Va tech. My S loves both schools... price is pretty much the same.. Need advice. Tech is 6 hours from home vs 3 hrs w/PSU. We would really like some detailed info regarding program at VT and class size.</p>
<p>It seems to me like PSU has more of a reputation for mechanical-type engineering than CPE/EE/CS.</p>
<p>VT’s a big school and so is PSU. You’ll have gigantic freshman intro classes (unless he skips them with APs) and then 20-40 kids until (most likely) senior year when things will be smaller.</p>
<p>Party reputation is a stupid reason to choose schools, imo. If your kid wants to party, he’ll find them. If he doesn’t, he’ll ignore them. Most likely he’ll be responsible and not party too much. No parties are happening in classrooms or dining halls at either school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. VT is half the size of PSU and is focused more on its engineering program. 20-40 kids in a sophmore class would be small. I have heard that VT weeds out the CPE/EE quickly. I’m sure PSU is similar. VT partying atmosphere is more low key from what I hear. Just not sure if its worth being 6 hours away vs 3 hrs for PSU. So to be clear are the freshman courses the only really large lecture types? I do realize there will be some soph year.</p>
<p>The comment about distance is interesting. We are 4 hours away. When I tell people my son is going to VT, some say “wow, so far away” and other say “well, he’s pretty close by.”</p>
<p>A 3 hours difference (6 round trip) seems rather small when you are comparing colleges.</p>
<p>Not all commutes are equal. DC to Boston (for example) is a bit longer but public transportation is a bit more available (ie rail/air). Blacksburg is beautiful, but it’s not the easiest place to get to and from if you are OOS. In state students are at an advantage of usually being able to catch a ride with someone headed their way. It is something families have to think about as rail and air options are more limited.</p>
<p>Another consideration is the type of early experience your student is interested in. The majority of PSU students take part in the 2/2 program and don’t head to main campus until their Jr year. Yes, you can apply to main campus as a freshman with higher stats but the majority of your peers will be at other campuses. Not all VT students live on campus all four years, however you do spend all four years studying on the same campus. I’m sure you are very familiar with this being in state for PSU. Does the 2/2 concept appeal to your student?</p>
<p>Actually, the students doing a 2/2 program at PSU are nowhere near the majority and are generally the weaker applicants or non-traditional students. According to College Board just under 19% of PSU-UP’s undergrad population is freshman, with just under 22% of VT undergrads being freshman. The difference is not really that great.</p>
<p>If a student has the stats to be accepted at VT he would probably be accepted at University Park as well.</p>
<p>Fair enough. When my son (2011) was initially looking at schools as a hs sophomore, a PSU rep indicated that 2/2 was the norm. We’re OOS so didn’t have much else to go on. The size was larger then he wanted so we didn’t look into it further.</p>
<p>My S would be attending main campus at PSU. My husband did 2/2 program and maybe thats why he thinks differently of PSU. We dont have a problem with the distance of VT at all. I’m just trying to do a thorough comparison of the major he wants to apply for… CPE. I know both schools have a great reputation and are big. VT is half the size and I want to know if that makes a difference in class size, personalization etc. We have visited Vt and S loved the campus. We have been to football games at PSU and who doesn’t love that. We’re going to spend a summer day at PSU in July. He has basically narrowed it down to these 2 schools so I’m trying to get enough info to compare. I don’t think PSU has a math emporium etc. but I’m sure the early math classes are lecture type. If they are so similar he can’t decide then IS is the way to go…</p>
<p>Hey, saw your post on my visitor board. I can’t really comment that much on Computer Engineering class sizes since I wasn’t in that major. It’s very important to note that Computer Engineering and Computer Science are two VERY different majors, both within engineering. Computer Engineering is actually “Electrical and Computer Engineering,” aka Electrical Engineering. </p>
<p>If he’s looking to learn programming and stuff like that he wants Computer Science. I had a roommate do CS and it seemed like his classes were pretty small senior year, not sure about the other years since we didn’t live together then.</p>
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<p>FWIW, because VT has a much higher percentage of engineering students the number of undergrads in the Colleges of Engineering are almost the same (4501 at VT, 4631 at PSU using CollegeBoard’s numbers).</p>
<p>That brings to mind something else you might want to consider-- My older son was a math major and his decision came down to two schools, one a technical school and one a more traditional university. He decided that he would prefer being among a more diverse student body. (That also meant a more even number of men and women, which would be the case at PSU.) Of course, some kids prefer the “geekier” culture at a tech school. (I say that with the utmost respect, being married to an engineer and having an engineer and math-nerd as kids.) </p>
<p>Have you looked at Lehigh? I don’t know what they offer in terms of CE, but it is a well regarded engineering program in a small school setting.</p>
<p>Something I really like about Tech with regard to size is that it doesn’t feel as huge as many others with a comparable number of students (such as say, Maryland).</p>
<p>The gender difference is only about 55% male/45% female, so really it’s not off by much. The majority of the engineers at Tech are male, but I’m sure that’s the case in almost every engineering program.</p>
<p>I agree that VT feels smaller than it is. We will get more info from Penn State this summer regarding class sizes etc. We are also checking out Lehigh and Bucknell which are much smaller and much more expensive. My S wants a college town with a football stadium and lots of people… that’s how we ended with with Tech and Penn st. We also looked at Maryland but the culture there and surrounding city didn’t appeal to him. If he decides on PSU I want him to be housed in FISE as 1moremom suggested and I think you have to apply for that early. We may make another trip to Tech this fall to help with decision. (he’s not guaranteed admission to either school so who knows) I think the issue for me is that he wants a big school for social reasons but has always gone to smaller ones. He is not assertive (not geeky just not assertive) and may not go out of his way to get help. Bucknell or Lehigh would provide more individual attention but not the big school feel. He’s gotta grow up some time!</p>
<p>bandgy, You might want to call the department you are interested in and ask to meet with someone when you are “Spending A Summer Day”; there are usually faculty available if you set it up in advance. That way, you can be sure get answers specific to your program. </p>
<p>As you seem to know, FISE is for freshman in science and engineering. It is housed in East Halls, which are primarily freshman dorms. (It has a reputation of being a little noisy, with so many kids living on their own for the first time.) E House is another Special Living Option which is all engineers but not only freshman. It is located is West (across from the Lion Shrine) and convenient to the engineering buildings. You might like to walk by them both when you are on campus. (I don’t know if it would be possible to see inside.) I have not heard of students requesting an SLO not getting in, but it’s always good to be on the safe side and apply early.</p>
<p>Your S sounds similar to mine. Lehigh was not an option for my S as it didn’t offer his major. I think being in a bigger school setting required him to step up and he has been doing fine. :)</p>
<p>One thing I’ve learned on CC is that there is a fairly significant number of students who apply to both PSU and VT. My daughter included. Ultimately she chose VT for several reasons:
- Higher ranking for civil engineering - PSU civil engineering wasn’t impressive at all and architectural engineering seemed like a great fit for her goals but VT civil engineering will allow her to do everything she wants to do but be finished in 4 years.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Financial - as OOS VT is easier on the pocketbook than PSU- especially being able to finish in 4 years but the 5 years at PSU was tough plus an extra $16K for the summer in Italy (arch engineering only). Yikes!</p></li>
<li><p>Most importantly - the more we scratched the surface the better VT look. Initially it seemed liked PSU was a no brainer - great rep, beautiful campus, met her criteria for big campus, nice town, rural area surrounding. But on our second visit to PSU, a few cracks started to show - kind of intangibles that just left us wondering if we hadn’t put rose colored glasses on throughout the application process. On the other hand, VT was originally a distant second after our first visit (we took 1 roadtrip and visited both schools in the summer before sr year). Campus looked good but the town was a little lackluster compared to College Station. Distance was an issue - 12 hours vs 6, plus a few other things like that really annoying frat boy tour guide (but that was more me than her). Presentations by admissions - PSU’s Spend a Summer Day was great, VT was so so., VT’s school colors and mascot are frankly weird. But, who doesn’t love the Nittany Lion and classic blue and white?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>On her second visit to both schools, she started to see things a bit more clearly - she tried to attend a class in engineering at PSU but wasn’t able to schedule it, no problem at VT and the prof made her feel very welcome as did the other students. She felt very on par with the other students from an academic perspective. She tried to talk one on one with a prof at PSU but wasn’t able to get that done , no problem at VT. VT engineering students called my daughter 3x to invite her to visit and to chat if she had questions, we had to track someone down at PSU Women in Engineering. She’s emailed the academic advisor at VT and gotten some great responses - really helpful stuff. PSU responses were very generic. VT seems to have great support for women engineer with the Hypatia program, PSU less so.</p>
<p>so overall, VT won out on each important issue and PSU, while still a great school and an awesome choice for anyone, turned out not to be quite the right fit for her. </p>
<p>Not sure your son’s experience will be the same given the difference in majors and gender but definitely make the second trip and try to reach out one on one with VT staff, I think you will have a good experience.</p>
<p>Wow a direct comparison …thanks Bennnie! We will definetly take another look. We did visit VT during school year and I’m sure Blacksburg looks much quieter in summer. 1moreMom was your son in E house or FISE? I saw E House on line but wasn’t sure about the sophmore freshman mix. I will call and try to set up appointment with Computer eng person. thanks for advice</p>
<p>Bennnie </p>
<p>was your second visit before or after your daughter was accepted?</p>
<p>He was in E House for two years; there are also upperclassman who I think tempered the freshman exuberance a little and were good role models for the younger students.</p>
<p>I agree that you probably can’t go wrong with either school. I had VT on “my” list when my S was originally thinking architecture. (Of course, I started my list long before S. ;)) Once he zeroed in on architectural engineering VT’s civil program didn’t really have what he was looking for. We thought the extra year for the BAE was worth it because of the great job placement rate, usually 100%, though 97% last year (<a href="http://www.engr.psu.edu/ae/include/AE’s_Get_Jobs.pdf[/url]">http://www.engr.psu.edu/ae/include/AE’s_Get_Jobs.pdf</a>). Also, he is in the combined BAE/MAE program, so he will have a master’s (and a minor in Architectural Studies) after five years.</p>
<p>She was accepted to 6 engineering, 1 architecture and one dual program. She visited PSU and VT a second time after being accepted. Both second visits were during the school year. First visits were during summer. Highly recommend going during school year</p>
<p>1moremom - during our last visit to PSU AE we were told tha most of hte specialties within AE had about 95% placement except structural which was closer to 60% (if I recall correctly). Not a reflection of the program, just the economy. </p>
<p>As I stated before and worth repeating, both schools are great choices, its just a matter of which works best for your student.</p>
<p>Bennnie</p>
<p>Is your daughter still happy? Does she get the attention she needs regarding professors and advisors? also how big are the engineering class sizes?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>