<p>I'm down between these three colleges. I want to do engineering (something more chemical/ biological than mechanical), but I really love school and thrive there so I'm considering doing a double major (or maybe just something that gives me variety). I have always gone to a small private school and I like more hands on environments not big lecture classes. I want strong academics but also like a good, well known/ regarded, big spirit school. </p>
<p>The way I see it is that Trinity is small, the best academics of the three but not much spirit and not well known. A&M is big, well known, great academics (but not the environment I would learn best in). TCU is almost in the middle but is really really expensive (I have lots of scholarship to trinity so the cost is a&m- trinity- tcu with about 25,000 difference over 4 years). I don't think TCU has the best academics at least in engineering. I also have to worry about graduate school just in case I want to go to med school or something later on.</p>
<p>Is TCU worth the cost* even though their academics aren't as strong as the other two for engineering? Obviously a&m is the best for engineering but I like the idea of having a liberal arts edge on engineering. Each has their ups and downs and I will sacrifice something but gain something else for each school. </p>
<p>If you are seriously interested in engineering, I would choose A&M hands down. If you were going to be an English major, I’d recommend Trinity, and for business, TCU. I couldn’t justify the extra money for TCU in engineering. Also, nothing would prevent you (except maybe course load ) from augmenting engineering at A&M with liberal arts classes. </p>
<p>Thanks for the response. I am at that split decision as to what I want my major to really be. I guess once I figure that out completely my decision will be really easy!</p>
<p>If you are going into engineering the choice between those 3 schools should be Texas A & M easily. Seriously that’s a no brainer. TAMU is ranked like #12 in the nation for engineering, the other schools aren’t even in the top 200. </p>
<p>Tough tough tough decision. My son went through the same thing. His final list was A&M, SMU and Trinity for computer science. He decided to go to Trinity and is double majoring in computer science and philosophy. He expresses some regret concerning Trinity not having big football weekends and a big social scene. I do not think he would give up the quality of his Trinity education however. His largest class so far was 30 and his smallest class was 3. He received a grant after his first year and went to Turkey to design a computer program to help map shipwreck debris fields. This year (his second year) he received a grant to work on a computer science / philosophy paper over the summer. Other than Rice you are not going to get a better education in Texas than Trinity (engineering, business, whatever). If you can thrive in big lecture hall classes and love football and big parties then A&M or UT may be a good choice. TCU may be a good compromise, but I am not sure it is worth the premium. Bottom line - you will probably really enjoy whichever school you select and you have some outstanding choices - Good Luck!</p>