<p>Hi all. I'm currently a high school senior. Right now, I'm deciding between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY Buffalo for undergraduate school. I plan on majoring in Engineering. Money forced me to turn down Cornell and other private schools, so I'm left with SUNY Buffalo and Rensselaer (I know, Rensselaer is private but I have a merit scholarship there that makes it affordable). Even with the scholarship, there is still a ~$30,000 discrepancy between paying for Rensselaer and SUNY Buffalo. So my question is: Is attending RPI and successfully graduating from RPI more valuable than doing the same at SUNY Buffalo? Is an RPI education more valuable than a SUNY Buffalo education? I also plan on attending/applying to a top graduate school (top 10). Will my choice of undergraduate and performance in that college affect my application to a top grad school? Thanks!!</p>
<p>What do you mean by “Money forced me to turn down Cornell…”? How do you know that already? Are you eligible for financial aid?</p>
<p>Oh I was accepted early decision but withdrawed my acceptance, and I will most likely have to do the same with the other private schools i applied to</p>
<p>Why would you have to withdraw your applications/acceptances from other private schools. Are your parents “full pay” income earners. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on here because a Rensselaer Medal is a relatively small merit scholarship and could easily be trumped by good need-based aid (either at RPI or another private school).</p>
<p>My parents don’t make enough to pay around $60,000 a year but enough to not qualify for need-based aid</p>
<p>OK. So the COA for RPI is about $56,000. Minus $15 K that is $41,000. As opposed to about $20K at Buffalo. Cornell CALS, which offeres the monor in biomedical engineering, costs about $40,000. So, why did you turn down Cornell? OR did you not apply to CALS?</p>
<p>cortana, let me get some facts straight. Just looked up tuition at SUNY Buffalo - $8500. Thus at RPI Your tuition will be about $38500 after scholarship. Tuition at Cornell is $41325 (actually less than RPI without scholarship). I understand that $3000 a year can be the make or break difference, but I wouldn’t give up so quickly on Cornell. Obviously $30,000 is a huge difference. Getting to your question about the view of grad schools. Coming from a school with a lower rank, you will be scruntinized more closely. However, you will still be able to get to a top 10 schools. For example, the first grad student listed on the Cornell Civil Engineering department’s website went to Lafayette Colege; the second, SMU. Those schools aren’t even on the US News list of best engineering schools and SUNY Buffalo is. </p>
<p>The real key is to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves to you and do the best you can.</p>
<p>I was accepted to the college of engineering at cornell. I considered transferring to CALS after the first semester, but it really wasn’t a viable option because internal transfer is not a guarantee and the only engineering i can major in CALS are Environmental and bioengineering, too limited.</p>
<p>But back to the original question, is a RPI education really more valuable than a SUNY Buffalo one? And would I get more opportunities, like from companies for one, at RPI? Also, would I be more challenged academically at RPI than at SUNY Buffalo? And would the competition from classmates at rpi be greater too?</p>
<p>Also, at RPI I can apply for the co-terminal program, which means I would earn my masters degree in 5 years instead of 4 years. Would that be an incentive to choose RPI over buffalo?</p>
<p>Also, I intend on doing biomedical engineering and right now, it is NOT ABET accredited at buffalo. Is that a problem and something I should worry about?</p>
<p>If you have good enough stats for Cornell, you are capable of doing very, very well at Buffalo and getting into a good grad school, not a guarantee at RPI. A high GPA opens more doors than the Rensselaer name. Save yourself the grief and save your parents’ money.</p>
<p>SUNY Buffalo also offers dual degree programs and make certain that you apply to the honors college which has many advantages and they’ll even cover your tuition costs.</p>
<p>OP - There are a few things to consider in addition to what has already been stated. Look into the career placement centers at RPI and Suny-Buffalo, and get some info regarding which companies recruit, how successful the placement center is at placing graduates in your field, etc. Second, if you are interested in attending grad school, which is probably a good idea for biomedical engineering, ask the respective departments which graduate schools students attend. The 2 lists might overlap, or they might be very different. Either way, you can learn a lot.</p>
<p>1) Save the $$ and go to UB
2) Excel and get into grad programme
3) …
4) PROFIT!</p>
<p>Hey I go to UB for Chemical Engineering and I’ll try to offer you my advice. I chose UB over other schools such as Drexel, UDel, and Penn State due to money. The engineering program here is very strong and each of the departments is full of highly respected and distinguished leaders in their field. The BioMed program at UB is unaccredited, but honestly Biomed Engineering is such a new field in many schools that it is common for it to be unaccredited, so I wouldn’t worry about that. Going to UB and RPI will only differ in a name, but honestly unless its an Ivy, MIT, or Caltech I don’t think it will matter. UB is a well known name in the engineering world for producing quality engineers, and like any other school your experience depends on what you put into it. Get involved, do research, join clubs and you’ll be golden no matter what school you go to. I’m only a freshman and I’m already heavily involved in research.</p>
<p>How about aeronautical engineering in UB? Should I choose it over RPI? I can get finaid to both of those colleges. Does the reputation of the university matter when it comes to job placement? Or is it just the gpa?</p>
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<p>Yes, no, maybe. Some companies have a prestige fetish and heavily recruit out of HYPS and other brand names. Having a good referral will get you much further, IMO (like, knowing someone who works there who can bring your resume to HR, as opposed to filling out 20 pages of automated questions no one probably even looks @)</p>
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<p>Not terribly important for job placement IMO, as long as you’re above a 3.0 or so (depends on the institution I guess). Don’t sweat this, but obv. try to get the best marks you can.</p>
<p>$0.02, recent MS grad.</p>