Hi! I am an international student. So far, I have been admitted by RPI, Washington-Seattle, UIUC, UC Irvine and UC San Diego. My dream major is Chemical Engineering. RPI and UIUC a offer me with my dream major. Washington-Seattle included me in the engineering college. UC Irvine put me in undecided part and UCSD offered me with the alternative major, applied math. I don’t know which one I should go. I like UCSD quite much, but I don’t know whether I would have the chance to transfer to engineering college at that school. It is quite competitive. However, I still hope to major in chemical engineering. Should I go to RPI, WS or UIUC? Or should I go to UCSD and transfer to engineering later? Will that be challenging? Please tell me your advice and please give me some reasons for your choice. Thanks a lot!
RPI and UIUC are both great choices and they offered you the major you want.
Is cost an issue? Have any of these schools offered you aid?
What is RPI again?
Washington-Seattle, I presume you meant UW Seattle, that’s a very good school but as far as I know no one is admitted directly into engineering. You have to wait until your junior year to find out if you got into engineering/CS, and competition is fierce.
If UIUC accepts you directly into their engineering school (find out for sure), you should go there. I wouldn’t bother with schools that make you wait 2 years to find out if you got into the engineering program if you are certain you want to major in CE. UIUC also has a top notch CS department.
As far as campus life, UW Seattle is an urban campus. The quad is beautiful but outside of that, the campus is very spread out, and the part of Seattle the campus is located in is quite run down and not very safe at night. The weather in Seattle is wet and cold 10 months of the year. Illinois is bone chilling cold in the winter but less rainy. San Diego and Irvine obviously will have the best weather.
@JoanneB RPI = Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
^^ Rensselaer is also the school with the highest entering SATs in the group by a significant margin. The school is very strong in engineering, though so are your other choices, particularly UIUC. RPI has a “city in the country” environment, with four seasons. The school’s main disadvantage may be its gender imbalance, which might be compensated for with opportunities to interact socially with students from nearby colleges. Good luck!
As the only private university on your list, RPI should have the greatest geographical diversity in the student body, just one more factor to consider.
Yes, who could bear to live in such an awful place:
^ That doesn’t look THAT bad.
You left out some incredibly important information… what is the cost of attendance after scholarships/grants but before loans? Public universities are generally very stingy with financial aid for international students, whereas private schools often tend to be a bit more generous… but those are just generalities… by now, you should have detailed financial aid packages.
I don’t get any financial aid so far, so schools themselves are the only factors I considered from. I posted this just because I hope to get help from more aspects.
Actually, I have another question. I hope to stay in the US to finish my master’s degree. When I apply for graduate program, will universities consider about which university I came from during undergraduate period? Will any of the schools I listed be more advantageous?