<p>My son wasn't really considering UVA. He got into Tech, Purdue and Michigan and was leaning towards Purdue or Michigan as their programs are ranked higher. UVA is offering more
money (we're out-of-state for all schools) and we don't know if he should
consider UVA for this reason. He's also not 100% sure he's going to stick with
engineering. Would love some feedback. For any of you out-of-state considering UVA for engineering...why UVA and not a higher ranked school?</p>
<p>Well, if you're out-of-state then why even consider UVA over Purdue and Michigan? I'm in-state and I've decided not to go to UVA engineering. Why? Because their facilities are not top notch and up-to-date as the Big Ten schools' are, and while it is ranked #30, an Engineering degree from UVA is still not as valuable to many employers as other schools.</p>
<p>Besides, if your concern is tuition, then please ignore it. With our state's budget in crisis, UVA's tuition is sure to go up, esp. for out-of-staters, within the next few years.</p>
<p>What difference is your son getting in financial aid from UVA compared to the other schools? BTW, if he's not certain about Engineering, then Michigan is a much safer school to do some "Major switching" at.</p>
<p>redski59, you think Michigan is a much safer school to switch majors at? UVa has top notch programs in many, many areas. For engineering, UVA is definately not the place to go. I would put it on par with Michigan for a "major switching" school.</p>
<p>Wait I applied to uva for engineering, can someone explain why UVA is not the place to go for engineering?</p>
<p>UVa is a fine school for engineering, but in the engineering circles the UVa name doesn't have the same reputation that it in other majors. Virginia Tech for instance has a much higher ranked engineering program than UVa and is generally considered to be the best e-school in virginia.</p>
<p>Yeah Wahoo, I'm aware of UVA being a good "major switching" school too. But in case boysrus3's son DOES want to stay with Engineering all the way to graduation, then it might not be smart to go to UVA, like you said.</p>
<p>redski59, so you're saying it is probably not in the student's best interest to major in engineering at uva because their engineering is not as great as other places?</p>
<p>UVa engineering is a small, but very well respected program.</p>
<p>The UVa vs Tech argument was played out in this thread on the old CC boards. Read it and decide for yourself which is better.</p>
<p>What I'm saying is that if you've got the opportunity to go to a well-respected Engineering school such as Michigan, then I'd choose that over UVA. I'm not stopping anyone from going to UVA (many of my friends have already decided to go there), but I personally feel like I won't get the most of a UVA Engineering education as opposed to another school's Engineering program.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, I'm probably going to USC for Engineering instead of UVA.</p>
<p>redski59, thanks for the info on engineering, I also got into Berkeley for their chemical engineering. However I got no aid from Berkeley and a $11.5k scholarship for UVA engineering. So for me, financial reasons would play a big part, Berkeley would be about $40k a year for me. Where UVA would be a rough 20k. Any opinion on what I should do?</p>
<p>haha, go to berkeley its world class</p>
<p>Squirrel888, it IS first class. However, I got almost no scholarships/grants. I'd have to pay 40k. I don't know if my family can afford it. I got a scholarship of 11.5k from UVA to do engineering there.</p>
<p>how is uva's e-school? How are the professors there? How big are class sizes and how hard is it to get into a good gradschool after graduating from uva?</p>
<p>what should i choose in between USC's Marshall and UVA's McIntire?</p>
<p>Well rose, congrats on the scholarship. While I did say that UVA's engineering program isn't top notch, if that's all you can afford then go with it. It's still among the top-35 Engineering programs, I just felt that if you had the chance to go to a better program, then take that chance. But a scholarship and financial aid does have significance over "which is the better program".</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Daughter went to UVA & had a couple of friends in engineering. They graduated in a tough employment year (2004) & still all received offers in their fields. If I had a student who thought he might not stay in engineering I'd send him to UVA. Engineering is very difficult, & the national average of freshmen that drop out of it is 50%. If he's already thinking he might switch majors I'd want him at a school that has the overall best reputation. Since cost is also a factor, I'd be moving him in at UVA in August !</p>
<p>hey pamvanw, did they tell her how hard it was to find a job? How long did they search? Also, what field did they major in?</p>
<p>They (3) all had jobs waiting upon graduation. I don't know their specific majors in the e-school. I assume they found these jobs through Career Services at UVA, but that is just an assumption on my part. Daughter was on the career services website when she was home & there were alot of recruiters coming for engineers. I only had this conversation with her because her younger brother will be going into engineering & I would have loved for him to go to UVA - but only if their graduates are employable. The younger brother however liked the atmosphere better at Tech & is going to be a Hokie. He is definitely going to be an engineer though. He's one of those without a doubt, there's nothing else for him but engineering kids. If he wasn't, I would have been pushing UVA much harder. And I have to admit that I see his personality as a better fit for Tech.</p>