Too late, but is $70k extra for prestige worth it?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I'm going to Purdue this year and it's going to cost me $129,000 for a 4 year degree in chemical engineering (ranked 12th here). It's 250 miles from my home. I know once I graduate I will have graduated from a great school and that I will (I think?) have better luck finding a job with Purdue's degree. </p>

<p>However, I had the option to attend an instate school 75 miles from home (University of Missouri @ Rolla). This school would've cost me $60,000 for a 4 year degree in chemical engineering (ranked 67th there). I realize that I may have more money to blow in college if I went here, but it only has 5,000 students with 80% males (compared with Purdue's 35,000+ 50/50 ratio population). </p>

<p>Is it really worth taking $70k extra in loans just for Purdue's degree? Would I have made a better choice going to Rolla, which is not at all recognized nationally?</p>

2

<p>129K for 4 years? that is a lot for undergrad isnt it?. I would avoid chemical engineering (my opinion) and instead take maths and computing either at Purdue or UMR. You will also have more choice in Mechanical engineering or electrical. By the way, I live in Canada and I have heard of UMR so it cannot be that bad. My honest view is that Chemical Engineering is a degree that leads poor financial outcomes. Do not be mislead by the stats - they are wrong.</p>

3

<p>Chemical engineering is a perfectly lucrative and interesting field. I wouldn't worry. Plus, if it's too late to change, there's really no sense in dwelling on it. Purdue's an excellent school and you'll get an excellent education there. Don't forget to have fun, too... All work and no play, and all that jazz...</p>

4

<p>I mean I could always transfer to Rolla, or is it ok to have nearly $130k in loans after I graduate since I will probably be making $50-60k starting? I figure my living expenses won't be that great once I graduate, and some people have told me that it will take around 7 years to pay off my loan. I hope to work partime all 4 years and have internships all 4 summers, and if after freshman year I don't get one, I would work full time at a job. My main concern is, am I spending too much just for Purdue's name branded onto my degree? Will I be better off attending Rolla since the curriculum is pretty much standardized everywhere?</p>

<p>By the way, toronto guy, I have been reading your posts and you seem to dislike chemical engineering because I think it has limited prospects in Canada as I think sakky mentioned.. I have been reading these forums for a while, and the general consensus has been that chemical engineering is a good field to go into. I am not insulting or flaming you by the way, but I've just noticed that everytime you post about chemE you seem to steer people away from it.</p>

5

<p>I did get accepted to Purdue for AE, but went to USC because purdue was so expensive for oos. Yet UIUC was way higher than Purdue</p>

6

<p>I just realized during the summer how big of a loan my parents took for me. When at first I pondered $130,000 in loans, I figured that I'd be making $50-60k starting, living in an apartment, so I thought it would be easy to pay off. I'm not so sure about that anymore; the seriousness of my decision finally caught up to me.</p>

7

<p>You <em>will</em> be making $50-60k starting, living in an apartment, and it will be okay to pay off. It'll just take some time.</p>

<p>No freaking out! You've got a bright future! Enjoy it, don't let it <em>burden</em> you, for heaven's sake!</p>

8

<p>You may also get some scholarships from the engineering college once you are into the Purdue program. Another source of scholarship money may be professional chemical engineering societies.</p>

9

<p>It will be worth it, but only you will be able to answer this, probably over 10+ years. If you are challenged at Purdue to: work harder than you normally would on your on, to develop "models" in your head for solving all kinds of problems( analytical, psychological, and social); to create an independent framework within yourself to be a truly motivated doer, a person who really NEEDS to accomplish things....
well, then the extra money will end up being chump change over time.</p>

<p>A successful business must spend lots of up front capital before it ever earns a penny of profit. Your situation is no different. And I'm not necessarily referring to your potential income per se. I am talking about building the "inner" business of you. Look at this as a long term investment, just like a business.</p>

<p>You are building a solid foundation. I know this is lot of money. Just keep that in mind, and take advantage of all of the opportunities that a great school like Purdue has to offer you.</p>

10

<p>"I mean I could always transfer to Rolla, or is it ok to have nearly $130k in loans after I graduate since I will probably be making $50-60k starting? I figure my living expenses won't be that great once I graduate, and some people have told me that it will take around 7 years to pay off my loan. I hope to work partime all 4 years and have internships all 4 summers, and if after freshman year I don't get one, I would work full time at a job. My main concern is, am I spending too much just for Purdue's name branded onto my degree? Will I be better off attending Rolla since the curriculum is pretty much standardized everywhere?"</p>

<p>Well, I'm going to graduate from a state school, likely get a 50k starting salary, and have 30k+ in savings(from working), with only about 10k in student loans. (not factoring in possible scholarships. also, my parent's are not paying a dime). </p>

<p>But you got the prestige, and the likely better college life and perhaps better education. I just can't imagine putting 129k on school.</p>

11

<p>Indian, in your position I would consider the Mining Engineering program at UMR. From what a I read there are few Mining Engineers graduating and a lot of demand in the marketplace. I heard UMR has a very good mining program. I think this is a better option than chemical engineering.</p>

12

<p>In my opinion, school one of the best things to waste money on.</p>

13

<p>It is something that must be spent on.</p>

14

<p>By the way, Purdue has a 60/40 guy-girl ratio so it is not that much better than Rolla. Rolla is a good school, I would definately receommend going there since it would be much cheaper for you.</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
By the way, toronto guy, I have been reading your posts and you seem to dislike chemical engineering because I think it has limited prospects in Canada as I think sakky mentioned

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I never said that ChemE has limited prospects in Canada. In fact, I would argue that ChemE is arguably one of the best degrees to have in Canada. </p>

<p>The issue is that you have to be willing to move to where the jobs are, and looks like toronto_guy isn't willing to do that. ChemE has limited prospects in the city of Toronto, but in Canada as a whole, ChemE is huge. Seriously, Canada is not only one of the largest oil producers in the world, but also has the 2nd most reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia when you count in the huge Canadian tar sand reserves. The Athabasca Oil Sands project is one of the largest, arguably THE largest chemical engineering project in the world.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_Oil_Sands#Extraction_of_oil%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_Oil_Sands#Extraction_of_oil&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Fort McMurray, which is where much of the project is headquartered, is booming so dramatically that it is now being referred to as "Fort McMoney".</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mcmurray#Economy%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mcmurray#Economy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The issue is that with ChemE, you have to be willing to move to where the jobs are. If you're Canadian, that means moving to Alberta, or to a lesser extent to Newfoundland (off the coast of which the largest offshore oil platform in the world is located). What's so bad about going there? It's not like I'm asking you to go to the boonies. Alberta is by far the richest per-capita province in Canada. Contrast that with the US, where the bulk of the US petrochemical industry sits in an area that is relatively poor, such as the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast. In Canada, the oil industry is situated in an area that is the richest part of Canada (it is rich BECAUSE of the oil). </p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta#Economy%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta#Economy&lt;/a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_in_Alberta#The_Alberta_Oilpatch%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_in_Alberta#The_Alberta_Oilpatch&lt;/a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernia_%28oil_field%29%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernia_%28oil_field%29&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>But the main issue is that you have to be willing to move to where the jobs are. If you're not willing to do that, then I really don't know what to tell you. It's like somebody wanting to be a movie star, but who's not willing to move to LA. Or somebody who wants to be an investment banker, but isn't willing to move to New York. </p>

<p>Look, toronto_guy, I understand. Toronto is a nice city. I like Toronto too. If I was living there, I probably wouldn't want to leave either. Sometimes you have to move to advance your career. For example, a friend of mine is a guy from Toronto who left so that he could attend Harvard Business School. Boston is a nice city too, but it's not as nice as Toronto. He's willing to leave Toronto to advance his career. This is what people do. </p>

<p>If you have the attitude that you are unwilling to ever move, then I suppose I have to agree that you ought to major in whatever will help you get jobs that are available to you where you are, and that if you major in something for which the local area does not have demand, then that might not be the best choice for you. But that's a far cry from saying that that major is a poor choice for everybody, and specifically for people who actually are willing to move.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Indian, in your position I would consider the Mining Engineering program at UMR. From what a I read there are few Mining Engineers graduating and a lot of demand in the marketplace. I heard UMR has a very good mining program. I think this is a better option than chemical engineering

[/quote]
</p>

<p>See, right here, you've implicitly incorporated my logic. Mining Engineering is a good major only if you are willing to move to where the mines are. If you're not willing to do that, then MiningE is going to be no better than ChemE, and probably will be worse. At least ChemE has numerous applications in consumer goods, food packaging, and a wide range of other activities. MiningE is basically useful only for mining. You might say that there are few chemical engineering positions available in a city like Toronto, but there are EVEN FEWER mining positions (in fact, probably none) in Toronto. At least Toronto has some chemical facilities. I don't know of any mines in Toronto. All the mines are off in the countryside.</p>

<p>So miningE, like ChemE, is a useful degree only if you are willing to move to where the jobs are. If you're not, then I agree that degree may not be so useful to you, but you shouldn't blame the degree.</p>

16

<p>(omg, stop the presses...)</p>

<p>Seconding what sakky says. (!!!) </p>

<p>No reason to discourage chem eng; it's a good field. There are pros and cons to every field, you just have to know them up front and be willing to deal with them. In structural eng, there's a lot of travel. In civil eng, there's a lot of dealing with government agencies. In chem eng, you have to move. It's life.</p>

17

<p>$130K is a lot for undergrad.</p>

<p>UM-Rolla is pretty good to have a few big companies partnered up with them to offer M.S. programs to their employees.</p>

<p>Having said that, I don't think many of the other engineering/science areas have so many other "specialized technologies" as computer science/information systems, so if you are doing something other than computers, the school MAY actually matter.</p>

<p>I would still say do UM-Rolla and save your money BUT I cannot blame you for choosing Purdue.</p>

18

<p>My vote would be to give it a year and see how you like Purdue. If you're not happy there and are still worried about the money, switch to UM-R, and if you <em>do</em> like Purdue, then stay.</p>

19

<p>As far as your initial decision goes, personally I think Rolla is a fine place to go in the fields I'm most familiar with.</p>

20

<p>$130,000 is an enormous, humungous debt. Don't let kids who have never had to repay a loan in their lives make you believe otherwise. For 10 years, that is $1500 per month. If you are making $50,000 figure out what it will cost you for housing, car (purchase or lease, gas, insurance), clothes, food, health insurance, taxes, social security. Now see if you have $1500/month left over. Remember - you haven't budgeted in anything for fun. Also, you will be paying that back until you are, oh, maybe 33 years old. You could have kids by then...</p>

<p>If this is your debt you could be in big financial do-do. If it is your parents, well, that's up to them I guess. </p>

<p>Be careful. Anonymous people on the internet will not be paying back your loan for you 13 years from now.</p>