<p>DD was accepted EA to Georgia Tech and is waiting RD from Northwestern. I am NU alum so can't be totally objective. Georgia Tech seems to have it all in terms of reputation, opportunities with co-op, study abroad, etc. for Engineering. Northwestern has more diversity and better recognition in our midwest state (despite GT's higher engineering ranking). Why would you pick Northwestern over Georgia Tech for Engineering?</p>
<p>Depends. If the focus is on Industrial Engg, then GA Tech is #1, no question about that. The opportunties to double major is plenty in NU and one can take a broad spectrum of classes from Econ to Music, which I am not certain is available at GA Tech. Also, you have the Kellog Certificate Program. On the non-academic side, I tend to believe that the social life is better at NU. It all comes down to fit (assuming money is no object!).</p>
<p>Northwestern definitely has a better social life, better sports (For the most part), actually has girls (Tech is like 70% male or so, I believe). Also, I personally think that Chicago is a much better city to be near than Atlanta (Atlanta has a few good parts, but it’s not a nice city in general). Education wise, NU is probably not going to be quite as good as GA tech at most engineerings, however it will be great either way (And better at Mat. Science most likely). GA tech also isn’t really known for anything other than science (They do have other stuff though), and NU would have opportunities if he wanted to switch to something else.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight! I am a 1988 BS mat sci & eng grad. So much has changed since then- we had only 30 in our department graduating that year! </p>
<p>What are the current thoughts about the late September start date? I always felt it was a negative but maybe I’m not thinking about some advantages? </p>
<p>DD has her heart set on NU but Georgia Tech is really gaining some ground with her. Time is dragging waiting for these RD schools to reply!</p>
<p>No one should really take academic calendar into consideration in a college decision. It’s a frivolous thing to consider compared to academics, social life, etc.</p>
<p>That being said you get a longer summer between high school and college (MWAHAHA), classes go faster, which is good if you don’t like the class, you get to take 48 classes (on average) rather than 40, which is nice for double majors or minors, etc.</p>
<p>I know it seems very silly to be asking about the calendar; however, I do remember being at a slight disadvantage getting a summer job/internship lined up- most students had been out for 4 weeks and got a jump start. I think it just comes down to good advanced planning. D plans to co-op, so the calendar probably becomes a non-issue after the first summer.</p>
<p>what is the cost difference? if she’s the pure engineering type without any interest in liberal arts (as a second major) or without any ambition in finance/management consulting, GA Tech does have the edge due to its strength in engineering.</p>
<p>Although, quarter system students also stay that much longer too, so they can stay past the normal time. Maybe not helpful for internships, but for regular jobs that might make it better.</p>
<p>Very often the school or internship work something out. My daughter arranged early finals to get to her internship on time while another student arranged to start the internship a bit late. Not worth adding or eliminating a school over a calendar.</p>
<p>AMTC, glad to hear that they’ll usually work things out. A lot of internships are based off of semester calendars so it will be nice to know they’ll work with students.</p>
<p>The size difference is pretty significant. Although GA Tech is a little less than twice the size of NU, 70% of the GA Tech students are in engineering. What that translates to is that the engineering school alone at GA Tech has more undergrads than the entire NU. As an example, the folllwing shows the difference for Chemical engineering:</p>
<p>NU
Faculty: ~20
Undergrads:120</p>
<p>GA Tech
Faculty:~55
Undergrads: 863</p>
<p>As far as Co-op goes, surprisingly, NU engineering probably has higher participation rate than GA Tech. I used to think just about everybody at GA Tech is in Co-op but according to their “mini fact book”, there were 1805 participants for FY 11-12. That translates to about 20% participation rate. At NU, that rate is about 30%. The rate implies that Co-op may not be guaranteed at GA Tech; this is something you may want to investigate. </p>
<p>I now think that NU can actually be a better choice even for engineering.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.irp.gatech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2012_mini_FB_FINAL_cvr.pdf[/url]”>http://www.irp.gatech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2012_mini_FB_FINAL_cvr.pdf</a></p>
<p>^ This is extremely helpful information, Sam Lee. Thank you! The Georgia Tech co-op program is a big draw for my D, so we will be sure to investigate this further when she visits again next weekend. The link that you provided has a lot of very useful information.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech really is an enigma to me. It has a reputation for being extremely difficult and yet it currently has a (close to) 50% acceptance rate. Some of this is likely self selection. The “low” 4-year graduation rate is a concern. I orginally thought this was due to a large percentage of co-ops, but the data you provided does not support that. </p>
<p>Of course, D is an RD applicant at NU and doesn’t even know yet if she will be accepted. When I think of NU Engineering, I just picture Tech with it’s labyrinth-like dark halls. I know the landscape has changed considerably since I was an eng undergrad 25yrs ago. When we took the campus tour last Spring, we did not go into any of the newer engineering buildings, so I don’t think D got a good picture of everything they offer. Georgia Tech really does an excellent job of marketing the school and making the applicants feel wanted. They have amazing programs for incoming freshman and beyond. D has had a long time to think about GT because she was accepted in December. Hopefully she will have the luxury and honor of making the choice between GT and NU, and, if she does, I know it’s going to be a difficult one. I will say, though, the warmer weather down south is very appealing.</p>
<p>I can only add that you might want to consider (for financial purposes) engineering at Tech will take 5 years, or 4 1/2 at the least, even without co-ops. The common terminology when telling someone what year you are at Tech is “third year” vs. junior, as an illustration of that point. While you are earning a salary at the co-op job, and not paying tuition, you will be paying room & board for that period of time. Perhaps this is also true with Northwestern?</p>
<p>I do know that Tech is always actively recruiting women for reasons mentioned above.</p>