I will be attending college this upcoming fall semester and I’m still trying to decide on which school I want to go to. I know engineering is a competitive field so I was wondering would I be better off going to a private college than a SUNY school for engineering if names and connections play a big role in employment. I was considering a SUNY school like Binghamton or Stony Brook because they are pretty good schools and they are affordable too. However I also really liked Boston University and Worcester Polytechnic but both of those would be expensive to go to. Do you think I would better off in the long run going to a school like BU or WPI even if I have debt when I graduate?
I personally feel that if you apply yourself, you can do as well in your career if you attend a public. If you were my kid I’d recommend Binghamton over Stony Brook because Binghamton is more of a residential school SB is more of a commuter school, but also a good school.
My son’s friend graduated from engineering at Bing and has been working (graduated 2016 from Bing) for a company since then.
In general, I agree with the posters above, but WPI does have a pretty unique approach. Will you make dramatically more over your career? Probably not. That said, what dollar amounts are you talking about at all of them? How much debt if you choose WPI? Are you eligible for needs based aid? Are your stats high enough that merit is a possibility at WPI?
Sorry I didn’t check the post for a while. I don’t qualify for financial aid because both of my parents have pretty good jobs so they just offer loans. My grades and SAT scores are pretty good. I did get $10,000 a year from WPI but even with that it’s still pretty expensive probably about 40-50k a year. I applied early and they said there are other outside scholarships I could possibly get which they should release pretty soon. I also have not heard from BU yet.
And the price of Binghamton? Lastly, how will you pay the difference? Loans? Family savings?
Would your family pay for WPI out of pocket? You can only take 5.5k in loans.
If you can’t afford WPI, for engineering I’d choose Bing or Buffalo unless you live near NYC and could go home for the weekend as SB is a “suitcase” school.
If you’re thinking of going for grad work, it might be a very good idea to spend those undergrad dollars on SUNY.
Go to SUNY for undergrad and a name school for graduate work. You’ll be fine and in a good financial position to start your life.
Don’t make a decision by assuming you’ll go to graduate school. That is not a necessary step to have a career in engineering, nor is it compatible with everyone.
Listen to “boneh3ad.” He will not waste words. He does know what he is talking about.
Somewhere in the SUNY system a list exists of the companies that recruited CS majors last year. Consider this hard data to support your decision. I was not able to locate this list through their on-line website. If you find this list, I suspect you will be comforted by the names of the hiring companies. Focus on SUNY at Stony Brook if CS is your interest.
WPI puts their list on line but you have to dig for it . See it @ https://www.wpi.edu/student-experience/career-development/outcomes. Select 2016 Post-Graduation Report(PDF) under Career Outcomes and Salaries. When the PDF downloads it will be for all majors. Check out your selected major. Salaries and graduate schools are also listed.
The results are there, but this does not mean SUNY does not have similar results. Note that a very small percentage of graduates go directly into graduate school in cs and most engineering fields. Costs become an issue here. There are engineering graduate schools that will pay to, basically hire, graduate students for research if you are good enough, but you will not be living the high life during that period and you may find the experience rewarding in other ways… By comparison, Biology majors who want to eat often go on directly to PhD programs in their field or medical or law schools.
As already noted by “eyemgh,” WPI does have a “pretty unique” approach which you are probably aware of, but money counts. Do not expect the difference to show up in your hiring salary. IF you are excited about team projects, interdisciplinary studies, overseas experiences and can afford it you may be rewarded by a more motivating experience. Motivation counts!
Full disclosure, I am a WPI Alumnus.
thanks for all of the replies. Binghamton is about 20k a year. As for paying for college my parents said they would pay for most of it but I’m not sure about if it’s a very expensive school they might pay for some of it and I could get a loan to cover the rest. I still have some time to decide but I did like WPI and Binghamton a lot when I visited them so I’m still doing some research on both. I was considering the graduate school option but I have heard from people that it is not always necessary for engineering jobs.
Also I do live in the city but I do kind of want a college experience so I don’t really love Stony Brook. I also didn’t love stony brook’s campus.
WPI’s current listed COA is $67k/year. Binghamton is $25k/year. The difference, over 4 years is $128,000. The opportunity cost for this differential is HUGE. If you assume 7% return and 40 years of returns, you’d end up with almost $2,000,000. That’s how much MORE you’d have to make over your career to justify the cost of WPI from a pure financial point of view.
Don’t get me wrong. I like WPI a lot, but Binghamton is not a bad school and the honors college has a very good reputation.
What I would do, since your parents are willing to pay, is to split the difference of the savings. Have them put half of what they save by you choosing to forego WPI into an investment trust. That would be $16k/year. Agree not to touch it until you are 62 and you’ll have a cool million in that account. It’s a win-win.
JMHO.
BTW, I like EdQuest quite a bit. Stuart has a well justified, pragmatic approach in his advice. I linked his Binghamton profile below.
http://www.educatedquest.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Binghamton-University-2014.pdf
I would absolutely not go into debt to go to WPI. All engineering schools that are ABET accredited must meet similar standards of education. They do have different approaches and styles but not worth the incredible debt.
Spend your energy researching the area of engineering you want to work and seek out experiences to get you closer. All schools have engineering clubs to do more hands on applied projects. Look for mentors who will help you along the way. Good luck!.
“eyemgh” has a point!
Many of the concepts in the WPI program have been recognized and parts have been introduced into other universities. This is a good thing. Did you apply for and have you been accepted into the Freshman Research Immersion Program at Binghamton or the Binghamton University Scholars Program? If not, check them out at https://www.binghamton.edu/admissions/academics/honors.html These programs incorporate many of the project learning elements. You might want to apply for them…
The WPI Great Problems Seminar is in its tenth year, see https://www.wpi.edu/academics/undergraduate/great-problems-seminar. I don’t believe this program is restricted only to selected students. At WPI all students are treated as honor students. These programs are expensive and require a great deal of faculty time. That is why they are only for honor students at many schools.
There is a second program that feeds out of the Great Programs Seminar which does require application in the Freshman or Sophomore year. This is a program of the National Academy of Engineering. See: https://www.wpi.edu/academics/undergraduate/grand-challenges-scholars-program.
If you should choose to participate, beginning with the Class of 2022, all students will receive a $5,000 Global Scholarship to complete a project at one of WPI’s 40+ project centers across six continents. This experience fits in very well with IQP studies. See: https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/global-project-programprogram
Money still counts, but I don’t buy into the concept that WPI is just taking more of your money and there is really no difference between the programs. I do buy into the concept that SUNY and UMASS are great buys, but not, necessarily the same programs.
Even at its high price, the six year graduation rate at WPI was 89% for 2017. Binghamton’s rate is considered very good at 79.4%.
If you go with “eyemgh’s” financial analysis, I suggest you set the money aside for a very special purpose.
You win either way!
You can borrow 5.5k. That’s it. See if your parents can pay the difference for direct costs without parental loans; if they can, ask yourself whether you’re ready to work all summer+ during the year and earn money for your personal expenses. It should tell you whether you’re really interested in the experience that WPI offers or not.