I’d like to start this off by saying that I know they are very different schools, and that’s what is making it so hard for me to decide. I have been accepted to Tufts Engineering, Georgia Tech, Rensselaer Polytechnic, and Northeastern Honors Program. I’ve narrowed my choices down to Tufts and Georgia Tech.
Tufts - I live 30 minutes outside of Boston and would like to stay fairly close to home, although this is not all too important to me. Because of our proximity, everyone at my school knows and respects Tufts. We send a lot of kids there through sports, and I’m the first in at least a few years to get in on academics alone. I would like to live in the Northeast after college, so the reputation for excellence that Tufts has is nice. However, Tufts Engineering is extremely small, and the school as a whole is very focused on liberal arts. I want to be able to branch out and get experience in a wide range of engineering fields, as well as specialize in a narrow field, such as Artificial Intelligence (I am most likely going to be either a CS or EE major). I don’t want to be limited by the size of the school. Socially, I think I’d be able to make closer friends in Tuft’s smaller environment. At the end of the day, I want to be an engineer. I want to research and build stuff, and hopefully someday own my own company. In my interview, the alum said “If you want to become an engineer, go to MIT. Me and my buddies have been really successful, but none of us work for Raytheon or Google, we do random stuff that interests us.” This makes me nervous for the education at Tufts. I know its top notch, but I want to come out with honed engineering skills, and I’m not necessarily excited by a liberal arts education.
Georgia Tech - I like Atlanta and am not too nervous about the location. Not many people know of Georgia Tech’s prestige at my school, or in the North East in general, and this worries me. I want to be able to move north after college and not be worried about prestige. Georgia Tech is ranked fourth in Engineering in the US, and although I know this doesn’t matter that much, it’s definitely still impressive. I love the large school atmosphere, and the ability to meet new people all the time. I love that I would have the ability to take classes in any engineering field I wanted, and find new passions. Pretty much every program there is nationally ranked, and I feel like the engineering education is more on MIT level than at Tufts. However, I’ve heard that making friends can be hard. Like an Tech school, there are a lot of nerds (me included) and not too many girls. Socially, I think I’d have a harder time because of it’s sheer size and also the personality demographic. I’ve also heard many negative reviews about the academics, saying that teachers screw over students, and that it’s hard to get into grad school once Tech has wrecked your GPA.
Please please please help! I’d love to hear any and all experiences you’ve had! Please let me know of any experience or jobs you’ve had after graduation, and tell me about your social and academic experiences at either school.
Sorry for the super long post, but I wanted you all to know everything I thought about each school.
Thanks in advance!