<p>I'm a Maryland resident with the University of Virginia on my college list.</p>
<h1>Would it be foolish to attend U.Va. for a net cost of $50,000+ per year when UMD's net cost is only $20,000+ for me?</h1>
<p>I'm considering U.Va. because I hear it has a great Engineering program and the campus is a little smaller than UMD's.</p>
<p>You heard wrong. UVa eng is just OK. Some areas good some weak. Not worth extra money.</p>
<p>I would say it would be foolish. </p>
<p>I’m a parent of two boys that are planning on following their dad and I into engineering. We went to state schools. It was affordable. Dh went to Cornell for his masters in Enviro Engineering, which made perfect sense because it was fully paid for by someone else. </p>
<p>If your state school is ABET (and it will be), then go there. That’s all that matters for undergrad, in my opinion. If you want to continue on after your B.S., then go for an M.S. at U.Va. </p>
<p>For the first couple of years, all engineering students everywhere are taking virtually the same core classes such as the calculus series, chemistry, physics, and beginning engineering classes. Why pay $200,000 for something that really only needs to cost $80,000? The masters programs are where the interesting research (and classes) happen. The undergrad programs are pretty much the same everywhere. Having less kids in the calculus classes probably won’t mean too much - if you’re struggling, seek out the instructor during office hours or find a study group to work with.</p>
<p>Maryland has a well regarded engineering program. Doesn’t UVA play second fiddle to VA Tech when it comes to engineering? Regardless, it’s not worth the cost difference unless you have absolutely no difficulty with an extra $30k/year for a potentially second rate product (and if you did, I doubt you’d need to ask if the COA difference is worth it).</p>
<p>If you do go to the state of Virginia for engineering, Virginia Tech is the most prominent engineering school there, with a significantly lower list price than University of Virginia. But University of Maryland at the price you state is still a better deal.</p>
<p>I can’t think of a single benefit you would gain by paying a huge premium to attend the UVA engineering school over the one at UMD. The last time I checked, the UMD-CP engineering school was ranked significantly higher in USNWR than the UVA school of engineering (if you care about rankings). What possible reason could there be for spending ~$120k more to attend UVA?</p>
<p>Maryland is better than UVa for engineering. So, its extremely stupid to turn down UMD and study engineering at UVa by paying the OOS tuition.</p>
<p>I’m considering U.Va. because I hear it has a great Engineering program and the campus is a little smaller than UMD’s.</p>
<p>Who told you that? UVA has an ok eng’g program, but it’s not better than UM-CP’s. </p>
<p>As for the size difference…lol…do you really think it’s worth that much money? </p>
<p>OH…BTW…UVA’s campus is LARGER than UM-CPs. Where are you getting your info???</p>
<p>What are your parents saying??? If they’ll happily pay the UVA costs, then fine. If not, then the question is moot.</p>
<p>I can see paying a lot of money for a medium sized private engineering school. There are certain benefits that you may not be able to find at a large school in terms of research opportunities and faculty access. </p>
<p>I can’t see paying that kind of money for a public school when my own state’s engineering school is actually better. </p>
<p>Also, UMBC has peaked my curiosity ever since I saw the 60 minutes about it. I’ve looked over their curricula, and it seems pretty impressive. It seems very undergraduate focused. They have a pretty impressive scholarship program for people who intend to get their PhDs. I wish I knew more about it, but that seems like it could be a great option also.</p>
<p>UMCP has a very low cost for in state…in addition, they have many highly regarded programs. I personally would not pay that much more for my child to go out of school for a program that was not significantly better. </p>
<p>That being said, UMCP is HUGE. I went there years ago and it has grown quite a bit since then. ClassicRockerDad is right, UMBC is certainly improving its reputation and is a much smaller campus.</p>
<p>Thank you all very much for your constructive and prompt responses. And to those of you that mentioned UMBC, I have considered going there, but they don’t offer undergraduate degrees for my majors of interest: Aerospace Engineering or Electrical Engineering. To not have an Aerospace program is understandable, but Electrical Engineering seems like a major that any engineering school should offer as a Bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>Unless you’re very wealthy or have a large scholarship or tuition grant or something similar, I don’t think it’s worth going out of state at all. The prices are just ridiculous. UMD is a fine school.</p>