Ok so I am looking into colleges right now, trying to come to a final decision. Out of the schools that accepted me, the two that I’m looking at most closely are Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY University at Buffalo. Now, I really want to go to RPI, but the main problem here is cost. RPI has my expected family portion as 40k. SUNY Buffalo has my expected family portion at around 28k. Now the thing is, RPI has given me a better financial aid package than Buffalo with a scholarship, as Buffalo only gave loans. My question is: Is RPI worth the money? 40k a year is no joke! Thanks!
RPI is very strong but in the field of engineering attending your state’s public engineering university is usually the wisest option. Lots of STEM employers in the northeast recruit at both UB and RPI, although engineering at RPI probably has a stronger reputation and is generally thought of as not terribly far behind Cornell, the best engineering school in the northeast not named MIT.