I have been accepted to both Ohio State University and Purdue. I live in Illinois and I have narrowed it down to these 2 (Out of State) schools. (I want to leave Illinois, and I hated UIUC.)
At Ohio state I have received the National Buckeye Scholarship for $11,400/yr and a couple other smaller merit scholarships. (Total: about $18,000 off)
At Purdue I basically a lone for $5,000 (Basically useless for me)
My parents are able to help with both (giving more help if I go to Purdue), however they said I CANNOT fail classes or go for more than 4 years for a BS, or the cost difference will be all on me.
When I ask people for advice, I get about 50/50 between choosing the Universities.
Ranking wise, I feel that I am ranked somewhere in the middle of all admitted engineers at Purdue, and diffidently top 25% of admitted engineers at Ohio State. (I got a 31 ACT, and a 4.2 weighted GPA. I have taken AP Calc BC, AP Physics 1 Jr year [Got a 4 on the exam, I know, its useless for engineering], AP Physics C: Electromagnetism and Mechanics, and other AP Classes such as Gov and Econ.)
I have visited both campuses, and I love both of them. The only advantage Purdue has campus wise is that it is ~1.5 hour drive from home. OSU is much farther away. (5+ hour drive)
I know some people that go to both school, however not engineering. They all love both schools, and I swing no way when it comes to all of the “campus social life” aspects.
However, I am going for Engineering… (C’s get degree’s, right?) So here are my questions, please answer honestly and help me with whatever information you guys can give!
1.) I hear that engineering at Purdue is REALLY hard. I understand that is is a GREAT school, so it should be hard. Here are some statistics...
The latest data we have is as follows:
First year retention to engineering = 85.7%
First year retention to university = 91.8%
Graduation Rates:
Engineering 4 yrs 24.32%
5 yrs 49.97%
6 yrs 58.04%
University 4 yrs 33.14%
5 yrs 70.37%
6 yrs 77.90%
HOLY SH*T! Only less that 1 in 4 students make it through the universities engineering program in 4 years! I swear that has to be all Asians! No to be stereotypical, but I am white and I am not going to study 12 hours a day (Lets just be real here, how do Asians do it?!) I am so scared of how low that retention rate is, I am willing to put in a lot of work for a great degree. (Like if a class is 1 hour, then 2-3 hours of studying, but not much more) WHY WHY WHY is the graduation rate in 4 years so low?!
2.) Is Purdue worth the extra money? I know that tOSU is slowly rising in the rankings, and outside of engineering it is a better school overall. I calculated that Purdue is going to cost ~$180,000 dollars IF i graduate in 4 years. OSU will cost ~$90,000 for 4 years. Is Purdue worth $100k extra?
3.) What are the “weed out” classes at both schools?
4.) I feel that I am a lot more safe graduating OSU in 4 years than Purdue. About 85% of students finish in 6 years, and about 70% in 4. I don’t want to go for more than 4 years for a BS, so how hard is it to finish in 4 years at both schools?
5.) I hear Purdue grades really harshly, and that the average GPA is substantially lower than OSU (2.81 vs 3.17) I believe that I will get about the average grade or just a bit higher at Purdue, but I can get a 3.3+ at OSU. Which option will be better to get a job after I finish school.