Penn State vs UIUC vs Purdue vs Virginia Tech Honors - Mechanical Engineering - Class of 2023

If the Honors offer at VT comes with a scholarship, then that would be worthwhile, but otherwise Honors at VT is not as much of a differentiator as it is at some schools. On our admitted students tour we met a student who was dropping Honors, because it didn’t seem worthwhile.
This is not intended to put you off of VT - DD is a freshman and loves it.

@skarekat On your visits, try to find out about various projects going on at each school that undergrads can work with. If there are some that are attractive to you, definitely consider that highly when making a final decision. All of your choices are good for the basics. It’s fit that can make a difference. Part of fit is college life, part is finances, and with mechanical engineering part can be specific lab experience on a resume, though remember there’s no guarantee any student will get on a specific project. They’re often competitive. Still, some do.

You will need to decide which parts of fit rate higher than others if the number one choice isn’t also the least expensive.

@skarekat I am a firm believer that when you walk on a campus you get a feeling. Good/bad/indifferent, you fit or don’t. I felt that way when I was touring (far too long ago…) and my S19 does too. For example, he loved EVERYTHING about Northwestern and we felt it would be a good fit for him. Beautiful campus, football spirit, location, etc. When he went to visit, as much as he loved everything, he said “I don’t fit with these kids, they are all so different than I am.” My husband looked around (who also was admitted/didn’t attend NW) and totally agreed. It was a shame, because other than that, it is perfect. We lean toward a traditional college town/campus. Some people prefer cities, some people don’t mind an array of buildings and designs to them. We, prefer uniform buildings, places like VT and Notre Dame build new buildings to replicate the old ones. That is a draw for some (us) and means nothing to anyone else…if sports interest your S, some of his choices have more spirit than others. You are fortunate to have great choices and I am sure once he tours, he will get a good feeling where he belongs. It’s a tough choice!

@sevmom The OP’s son got into Engineering at UIUC and at Purdue, which are as good as Engineering at CMU and at Cornell, and are better than CMU and Cornell in Mechanical Engineering, so the OP’s son has definitely demonstrated that he’s good enough for the best.

I agree he is clearly a strong student and did not imply otherwise. The OP has said he is still waiting on privates Cornell and CMU. All these schools are very strong in engineering. No wrong choice . Good luck with the decision!

I like Purdue better for undergrads than UIUC becausexthry offer better study support. Purdue tests every admitted freshman engineering student in math and places them in the correct math class. . At Purdue he will need to keep his freshman GzpAhigh to get into mechanical engineering. Its very doable as long as he has been exposed to calculus and honors physics or bettercin high school. Purdue offers all freshman an engineering seminar designed to expose them to a variety of engineering disciplines and help students make a good choice for major. Purdue has sons of the best co op degree plans and industry connections. Purdue has similar school spirit to the other public programs. Purdue’s campus is walkable and has attractive matching brick buildings. UIUC seems more spread out and less attractive in some ways. UIUC seems to have Chicago high school clicks and a very large number of international students from China. Could be a positive for some students. I like Purdue the best for undergrads.

Thanks @MWolf and @sevmom for your kind words. @Coloradomama, I agree, we all liked the vibe at Purdue. The student guides were super friendly and they took a lot of effort in showing us around. The campus was walkable and pretty.

I’m a little biased toward Purdue because my graduate advisor at Villanova was a Purdue alumni (Bachelors, Masters and PhD all from Purdue) and he was a genuinely great person and teacher from whom I learned a lot.

“The OP’s son got into Engineering at UIUC and at Purdue, which are as good as Engineering at CMU and at Cornell, and are better than CMU and Cornell in Mechanical Engineering, so the OP’s son has definitely demonstrated that he’s good enough for the best.”

Are you saying they’re better based solely on rankings? I’d be careful about concluding 5th is better than 6th and use that to make a decision. CMU and Cornell are harder to get in, maybe substantially harder to get in than Purdue or UIUC, even for OOS. The CMU stats are 1480-1560/34 for engineering while Purdue engineering is 1350-1470/32. The programs are very close that you want to use other factors like location, class size, strength of other majors or minors, sports, greek life and of course cost.

Based on the current situation Purdue and Penn State seem to the best options from a cost/benefit perspective.

In most situations I would recommend the least expensive option. ABET accredited programs are very similar. If you consider a STEM centric atmosphere where engineering is the center of campus Purdue fits the bill. Only you can decide if that’s worth 12k dollars a year more. Purdue has held its costs the same since 2012. I don’t know how PSU plans things.

If you are doing a cost/value calculation, just scrub Cornell right now. We made that mistake last year, even went to admitted students day. I have a happy Hokie now, but last April was tough.

ABET accreditation means that the program meets a (high) minimum standard for content and learning outcomes, but different schools may organize the curriculum differently, and may offer different in-major electives within the major.

Whether such differences matter to a given student depends on the student.

My son is from a STEM high school, that’s why I feel that he might feel more at home at Purdue versus Penn State.

The cost difference between Purdue and Penn State is $8k ($44k - $36k) per year which might be worth it.

Given the stiff competition I’m not too optimistic about an admit from CMU or Cornell.

No scholarships from Virginia Tech so that’s not a cost effective option anymore. That leaves UIUC ($54k), Purdue ($44k), PennState ($37k) and potentially UPitt ($32k incl $5k scholarship). UIUC seems a bit out of budget at this point. How does UPitt compare with PennState and Purdue? To me UPitt doesn’t seem worth the cost but I’d love to hear your thoughts. If it comes down to PennState and Purdue which one would be better and why? Thanks!!

My dd didn’t apply to Penn State so I can’t compare but let me know if you have any specific questions about Purdue engineering, My daughter is finishing up her first year there and is loving the experience.

Hmmm… Pitt is the cheapest and does not require a high GPA to declare a specific engineering major like at PSU and Purdue. Seems like two points in its favor.

https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/First-Year/First-Year/Advising/Choosing-a-Major/

I was sitting here reading this thread with interest and was totally all butthurt that he was admitted to Pitt but not interested but was very interested in attending next door at CMU.

The great thing about engineering at Pitt is they spend an entire year exposing the students to the different types of engineering and then your student gets to declare their major. It is a year to grow up, explore, ask questions and then decide. My daughter turned down engineering admits at Purdue (with $10K merit per year; University of Texas and Texas A&M (and a few others) in order to attend Pitt (with $17K merit/year so we pay a bit less than in-state rates) and have a bit of time to choose.

With an ACT of 34 she was the lowest ACT score in her suite freshman year and was surrounded by kids who had attended much more rigorous schools. The atmosphere is collaborative and the first year of engineering culminates in a First Year Engineering Conference where the students have to present a professional paper. Along the way they are guided by engineers in the community and the writing center.

Except for her scare of almost failing physics :(( it has been a great experience. Kids who want to party can find a party but there are plenty of other things to do and a nice city to explore. Mine has an on campus job n the engineering department and accepted an offer for a co-op job last month. A lot of her friends have co-ops already since MechE students can start a co-op as early as sophomore second semester. You really should encourage another peek before making a decision.

By the way she made a dramatic switch from thinking she would do BME to realizing she really wanted to do CivilE. The ability to choose is the reason we are fine with her attending school so far away. Good luck with all the decisions!

Purdue does the same in terms of exposure to many different types of engineering. Students don’t transition to major until after the end of freshman year. I agree that it’s a positive.

^ the difference is that it’s much more competitive at Purdue than at Pitt.

What kind of environment does he envision himself in? A mostly STEM school ? A university with lots of different colleges and various majors - and if so, would he prefer a college town where key places are within walkable reach or a big city with a bus pass?

My son is currently in a STEM school so he would prefer a STEM like environment. He would prefer Purdue but that’s $8k/year more than Penn State. How does the PSU engineering program compare with Purdue?