<p>Thanks AuburnMathTutor for the input. Firstly, I did not start this thread for validation, it is just that through the course of this thread, I realized that going to a state university does have its possibilities, and there is not much reason why I should go for a debt of any kind.</p>
<p>RML: MIT, CalTech, etc?</p>
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<p>I think that’s the take away, here.</p>
<p>There are advantages to a top school: access to more potential career paths, more prestige, better education</p>
<p>There are advantages to an in-state school: less debt, closer to home</p>
<p>When your in-state school is not a top school, you have to trade off these two. Where is the trade off made? That changes based on the person. Some people are debt-averse and more inclined to go to the in-state school. Some people are wealthy and will not need debt to go out-of-state, so they’re more inclined to go to a top school. Some people place a lot of value on the career opportunities top schools bring (i-banking, consulting, etc) and are more included to top schools, and some place no value on those fields and are more included to in-state schools. Some people are “prestige whores”, while others really want to be near friends, etc. It will be different for every person.</p>
<p>Where we get into trouble is when we pretend that there is no advantage or little advantage in attending a top school or when we pretend that an in-state school is a career killer.</p>
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This is a very relevant question. Many highly-ranked and reputable engineering schools such as Purdue, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, and the University of Minnesota are not overly exclusive.</p>
<p>G.P.Burdell: I totally concur. You put my thoughts regarding this issue into words. I really doubt if I will be going for banking, so that advantage offered by top schools, cancels out in my case. I am not really a person who likes to flaunt so even the prestige bit cancels out in my case.</p>
<p>Well, as long as the state universities give me an initial spot in the career race (albeit behind the graduates of top schools), I really wouldn’t mind.</p>
<p>noimagination: Yes, I have considered those schools but I think these schools fall somewhere in the middle of top and average (?) [Please correct me if I’m wrong]. So, instead of going pretty much into debt and get this education, I might as well go a lot more into debt and get the best education. So, again its average schools against top schools.</p>
<p>Just wondering, which are good schools for engineering in the northwest?</p>
<p>University Of Washington</p>