Hello all!
I have recently been admitted to PennState and NC States main campuses for engineering, and am relatively sure I will make it into Virginia Tech (fingers crossed).
I have already gone to check out PennStates campus and was happy with what I saw, but haven’t had the chance to see the other schools yet. (I have plans to check them out later this month).
I am a PA resident but don’t know what kind of aid I will receive from any of these schools. I have a planned major in mechanical engineering.
I was wondering if anyone could give me some “inside knowledge” as to how these schools programs stack up against each other and if there is anything that I should know about these schools that may aggressively sway my decision.
Is price a factor for your decision? These are all great programs, and if the money is a factor, you should probably go with the one that is most affordable so you don’t have to take out debt.
Penn State is obviously a much bigger university overall.
You may know that NC State’s engineering school is on its own (relatively new) campus across a busy road from the rest of the campus. There’s a frequent bus that runs between the two campuses. This campus also has a lot of industry research sites which makes for a lot of neat cross-pollination between academic and corporate research. RTP is booming overall, and Raleigh is a great city and the campus is not far from downtown; there’s a lot fo do.
I’ve never been to Blacksburg, VA and only saw Penn State once a million years ago so can’t help there. My S is interested in engineering (college class of 2025) and these colleges so I’ll be watching others’ responses too!
All 3 of these universities have wonderful reputations in engineering. The thing that sticks out about NC State is it’s the only one of these 3 that is close to a significant amount of potential employers.
I know that it’s very possible to get intenships & jobs from a more-isolated campus…but when the employers are nearby, it simplifies a lot of the interviewing, the traveling, the housing (especially for summer internships), etc. Also, I don’t know if internships during the school year are common for engineering students, but if they are, NC State would seem to have a clear advantage over the others.
All three have great reputations and will offer allot of opportunities. They are all very large as well. One has more winter, one is in the mountains and one has more seasons. I attended NC State and have visited the others. VaT is the prettiest campus, with the Hokie Stone buildings and mountain back drop. NCSU Centennial Campus is very nice too and is where most of your engineering classes will be. Be sure to check out the Hunt Library when you visit. PSU campus is huge and very traditional (in a good way). I went to a white-out game! Had a great time.
Raleigh/Triangle will have more opportunity and more things to do in the area.
Visit and see which one feels the best.
Thanks for the info! Price is really not a huge factor, but if any college is severely overpriced compared to the others, it will be easy to rule out.
I didn’t know NC State’s engineering school was a newer addition to the campus. It looks very beautiful! (from the pictures online). I assume this means I will be taking the bus to get to most of my engineering classes then? It sounds like a lot of people also agree there is a lot of opportunity in the Raleigh area, that is going to be a huge factor in my decision!
That’s also neat your S is interested in engineering! I will make sure to keep this thread updated on where I decide to commit and why after I do some more in-depth visits. I am also starting a YouTube channel documenting my life from now (A high school senior) to my college graduation (provided I make it that far). I will post a link in the chat after I upload the first video!
I have been hearing a lot of people agree that there is a lot of potential in the Raleigh area! I will definitely take that into account as I didn’t know that before.
I have not heard of many engineering students having an internship during the school year, but usually over the summer. It is still very nice to have all those business opportunities so close though!
Very cool to hear from a student that has visited all campuses! I really do appreciate the input about the type of environment each school is based in. I will make a special note to check out the Hunt Library when I come down to visit!
I also completely agree with your view on PSU being traditional, I really liked it when I went to check it out!
All three are excellent for engineering. Price and fit will be important.
Virginia Tech has a beautiful campus . Large but not overwhelming. The main engineering building is state of the art and built a few years ago. There is a corporate research center in Blacksburg with lots of potential employers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_Corporate_Research_Center
Many national companies come each year to recruit at the Engineering Expo, the career fair. Many Virginia Tech engineers do summer internships in Washington, DC, Richmond, Roanoke, Blacksburg, etc.
Penn State, NC State, and Virginia Tech will all have very good employment opportunities .
The Virginia Tech campus sounds great from how you described it. I haven’t had the chance to get out there and visit yet but am hoping to soon! Your Wiki link helped a lot too! I looked into the Engineering Expo and it seems like an amazing way to get in touch with potential employers and build relationships!
Hey! I have seen your posts on a bunch of other threads with this same topic! Thanks for the link, that’s a TON of companies (most of which I would love to work for) that attend the Expo!
That’s so cool VT does that, definitely factoring that into my decision!
@Amateurengineer You are welcome. All three of the schools you are interested in have career fairs. I’m not sure if they have engineering specific career fairs like VT, but they probably do. Keep poking around and I’ll bet you find info.
Yup, I just did a little google searching and found that my other choices also have career fairs! (Though not engineering specifically). I never would have thought to look into something like that, really thank you so much!
Thank you for the info on the engineering side of the campus! I will make sure to pay close attention to that when I am on the tour!
Also, thanks for the compliment! I am happy to try and document this whole process as much as I can because I know myself and a lot of my other engineering friends are hungry to get their hands on any and all knowledge regarding college engineering and how to decide on a college.
You may want to investigate how challenging each program is…meaning how bad are the weed out courses. I can only speak about PSU, but supposedly only 1 in 3 who start in engineeeing actually graduate with an engineering degree. It’s pretty brutal but that’s also why a lot of recruiters hire students from there. You could also compare the entrance to major requirements between schools. At PSU no one is technically accepted into their major. Rather they have to take a handful of required courses and hit a certain GPA before officially declaring it.
Hello! So your comment brings up a few questions, and I’m really into PennState, so I’m hoping you can answer them for me!
When you started at PennState, how difficult were the starting engineering courses?
You said no one is directly accepted into their major, but on my admission decision it states,
“I am pleased to offer you admission to the College of Engineering with the intended major of Aerospace Engineering for Fall 2019 at Penn State University Park.”
Does this mean I will have to maintain a certain GPA and then if I maintain it, I will be guaranteed admission to my major?
Do you know what the GPA is that I would have to maintain? (Not a lot of info from searching around google)
If you are in engineering, what are your thoughts in general about the program at PSU?
1 - I’m a parent of a Penn Stater and many parents of engineering students complain on the parents Facebook page about how their formerly 4.0 GPA kids are now struggling. Lots of weed out classes. (And possibly a bit too much partying.). Google “PSU engineering entrance to major requirements” for details. Some majors require GPAs as high as 3.2.
2 and #3 - As your email or letter states, you were accepted into the COLLEGE but with an intended major...but not directly into the major. You are technically in what PSU calls premajor status. To officially declare your major, you will have to successfully complete several courses with a C or better and hit a certain overall GPA, which varies depending on your major. Civil engineering requires a 2.6 but biomedical, mechanical, and chemical require a 3.2. My advice is to go to office hours, sign up for Lion tutors, create peer study groups, etc. and try to do as many math courses as possible at your community college over the summer and transfer them in. Just make sure you confirm with an adviser that they will be accepted before doing so.
4 - PSU engineeeing is super tough but they are in high demand. Alumni network is the largest outside of Michigan and so the brand name goes far.