My son has admits from the following schools (estimated costs - tuition, fees, room and board) and is not sure which one to accept:
He plans to pursue Mechanical Engineering. So far no scholarships. Can you advise which would be best? Thanks!!
If money is an issue, I’d stick with Penn St. They are considered a very good engineering school.
If money is not an issue, one thing you can look at is what programs/projects each university has going on and see if undergrads are participating in any that are preferred by the student. If so, hands on in labs can translate nicely into internships - several companies work directly with some schools. The “best” engineering school in rankings is not always the “best” school for any particular goal. A school that is working with that goal has an edge.
Note that projects can be competitive so a place having something is not a guarantee that any particular student will be able to work on it, but the odds are better there than at a school that doesn’t offer it. Having more than one project going on that’s of interest to the student increases the odds that they could get into something they like.
Another way one can look at options is if they have a preferred place they think they want to work. If so, look at who’s already working there and where they graduated from. Give that school extra bonus points in your “pro” column. Sometimes students also email people within companies asking them if they have a school preference or not. Often there isn’t (among schools like you listed and with mechanical engineering), but sometimes there can be. This can coincide with the projects mentioned above.
Best wishes with your decision!
Thanks Creekland! Let me put it this way, money is not a major issue, but I do not want to throw in an additional 12k every year if for example, Penn State and Purdue offer very similar level of education/training/programs/projects/internship/job opportunities/etc. I’m willing to pay the extra $$ if those things are significantly better than Penn State. My son seems inclined to go to UIUC (Out of State for him) but is the additional 17k per year justified for his major (Mechanical Engineering). I know the mid-west probably has more of internship/job opportunities in Mechanical Engineering, so would that be something that should be considered or would a Penn State student have an equal shot at those internships or jobs? Thanks!!
Totally biased here as I have a Boiler, but she loves Purdue. It’s been an amazing freshman year. I also think your estimate is high. We were at $44k oos and that was with honors college fees. Tuition is frozen again for next year.
Penn State instate sounds like a good opportunity. Can’t see any reason to spend thousands extra every year anywhere at an OOS engineering school for a comparable outcome (unless you are very wealthy and willing to pay for whatever price any college choice might be), Since you seem concerned about price, listen to your gut. Hopefully, you communicated your financial limits to your son before the applications went out. The only reason I might see for going OOS would be if he did not get into PSU main campus for engineering(doesn’t seem to be the case?) or if it seemed to be an unworkable fit. Many kids in engineering go to their state schools or look for merit that brings the cost down. Penn State has very good recruiting and outcomes, I believe.
Thanks @momofsenior1 and @sevmom. We liked Purdue a lot when we visited the campus last summer (July 2018). Though my son visited Penn State I personally haven’t visited Penn State. He seemed to like UIUC and Purdue better. I’m planning to visit Penn State soon with him since the last time he was there they got rained out. He has an admit to Penn State main campus and is waitlisted at Schreyer (Penn State Honors). What are the chances of getting accepted into Schreyer from a waitlist?
Not sure Schreyer needs to be a deal breaker if PSU is otherwise a good fit. Many kids in engineering don’t care all that much about honors as most of their classes are challenging as it is (and they are with mostly good students and hard classes already}. Are there any living/learning communities at PSU for engineers? I love VT and one of my kids is an engineering grad from there, but we were instate. How much did you agree to pay for with your son before the process began? We told our sons , for instance, that we would pay up to instate costs .
The benefit of honors is VERY school dependent. Of the schools my son applied to, there was only one where honors made an appreciable difference for engineers. The things to look for are no increase in size to the curriculum, actual honors engineering classes that are smaller and taught by the best instructors, and early registration. I agree with everyone else. These schools are all very similar. You wouldn’t be buying a better career or earnings, just a different experience, and there’s nothing wrong with that if it’s important and you can afford it. Otherwise, they’d be far better off if you just give them the money upon graduation to invest, start their own kids’ college fund, or make a down payment on a house.
You cannot go wrong with VT Honors. Total college experience. Great place. Engineering is highly regarded. Best of luck with his decision!
PSU does have GPA requirements to get into your major.
https://advising.psu.edu/entrance-major-requirements-college-engineering
Purdue and VT have a similar system.
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Academics/FirstYear/T2M
https://enge.vt.edu/content/dam/enge_vt_edu/undergraduate/coe_com.pdf
Don’t obsess over these requirements that are mentioned. Send your kid off knowing the GPA requirements and tell them you expect them to do their best). Most kids that will finish/are motivated to finish will do okay and will seek out support if needed. None of these schools want your kid to fail. Don’t over think this stuff. If your son is motivated and going to do well in engineering, he will do well regardless of school. All of these schools are great for engineering. Finances and fit should guide you. Good luck!
All are very good schools and generally comparable. My daughter had to chose between Penn State, Purdue, VT, and a few others and is very happy at Purdue. I think a student just needs to spend time on campus and feel for the best fit - it’s different for different people. She loved Purdue and VT and hated Penn State, even though many of her HS friends were going to PSU.
Fwiw, I think I’ve paid under $43K, all in, at Purdue the last 2 years, and they’ve frozen tuition through 2020-2021.
The competition is intense these days. Even with a perfect GPA and a 1520 in SAT he couldn’t get into Georgia Tech which was his dream school. He’s still waiting on Cornell and Carnegie Mellon, but he’s not too optimistic. Hence he’s considering one of Penn State, Purdue, UIUC or Virginia Tech from which he already has admission offers.
The best schools on the list are UIUC and Purdue (they are about equivalent, so it would depend on field), then VT, and then PSU. That being said, the difference between UIUC and PSU is not really worth the extra $68,000, IMO.
So, if cost weren’t an issue, I would say UIUC or Purdue, unless one of the other two schools appeals to your son for some reason or another. If cost is an issue, PSU provides the best value of the lot.
Well, my husband went to Carnegie Mellon decades ago in engineering and played basketball for them. He has mentioned more than once that he probably would have enjoyed Penn State more! Please don’t let your son go off to any of the state schools feeling he is settling if he does not get into CMU or Cornell. We loved UVA and VT instate for our sons in engineering. Older kid in particular was competitive for lots of the usual suspect engineering schools. It really is many times about fit and finances at the end. Engineering and computer science are much more trendy these days . My kids come from a long line of engineers . Not me, of course! Good luck!
For some reason, maybe based on information he gets from his friends, he doesn’t think too highly of Penn State. We haven’t visited VT yet. We did visit UIUC on 7/3/2018 when hardly anyone was on campus so we couldn’t get a good feel of the campus activity. The information session was very perfunctory so we had to pretty much walk around campus ourselves without a guide. Purdue on the other hand was bustling with activity on 7/2/2018 and the student guides were extremely friendly and took a lot of effort in showing us around. So I personally liked Purdue a lot. My son liked UIUC better.
UIUC normally does direct admission to major, but some admits get an alternate major or undeclared. But changing major (or getting into the original first choice if not directly admitted) can be difficult, since many majors are full with direct admission.
Since you have not visited Virginia Tech yet, then don’t if you don’t want to muddy the waters more! Beautiful campus, friendly students, great school spirit, great outcomes, state of the art engineering building.
Except for Purdue, which only accepts undecided, he’s been accepted for Mechanical Engineering major everywhere else. He also has admits from UPitt and Drexel but isn’t considering those.
Just registered for an admitted students visit at Virginia Tech, Penn State and UIUC. ?
Hoping if he gets a scholarship at VT Honors College maybe that’ll tilt the scale in their favor for him.