My S was accepted to both SLU and ND, and the net cost (after financial aid, scholarships, etc.) is the same. He’ll major in engineering. I realize there are many factors, but which should he choose and why?
ND is probably more of a “brand name”, however, SLU does seem to benefit from being a smaller engineering program where everyone knows everyone else. SLU seems to be more “accomodating” of interests beyond engineering. I would suggest reaching out to Admissions and scheduling a meeting with Engineering faculty in your S interest area. After speaking to Engineering faculty, I got the impression that they will do everything they can to help you succeed as opposed to being a weed-out environment that often occurs at large major university Engineering programs.
@RugbyDad Thanks for the input! We’ve visited both schools and we’ve made followup calls to both, and they both seem very accommodating. I’m sure a lot of big, state school engineering departments may try to weed out some students, but ND’s 98% freshman retention rate seems to belie that notion.
Good luck with your decision! Having had two kids at ND (one in engineering-chemical) and one son at SLU, I can tell you that both schools are outstanding! You will not make a bad decision. You mentioned that “a lot of big, state school engineering departments may try to weed out some students, but ND’s 98% retention rate seems to belie that notion”… Just to clarify for you-Notre Dame is not a state school, nor is it big. In fact, ND and SLU are about the same size! (many a bet was won on the enrollment at ND!) Best of luck! Feel free to message me if you have any questions about either!