<p>I am going into Nuclear engineering for college and as of right now I am applying to U of Florida. But the problem is that being from VA there are NO ABET approved nuclear programs in VA and I am forced OOS and its high costs. So right now I am applying to U of Florda. However, my financial situation is really distressing and I am looking into In-state "fallbacks". I mean who knows, I may get into the various OOS programs but I don't think I can afford many of them. I went to the financial aid section of CC and asked about it. Someone mentioned I should go to undergrad for mechanical and then nuclear for masters. It would allow me to stay in-state but still get a nuclear degree. So here's my question. U of Florida only has 3% OOS students. So Should I axe my application for them and apply to Virginia Tech so I have another In-state option (VCU has a nuclear "tract" within their mechanical degree I'm using as a fallback). I mean my chances are pretty slim for U of Florida if only 3% OOS go there.</p>
<p>Virgina Tech with In-State tuition and a good chance of acceptance vs U of Florida, with OOS tuition, and lower chance of getting in. If I go to Tech then I would have to major in mechanical engineering and then master in nuclear somewhere so Florida gets a plus there. </p>
<p>I'm liking the Tech option even though I'd have to do Mechanical because of its costs. I mean my only other In-State option is VCU... and I'm pretty sure they don't get much respect on a national level. </p>
<p>I want your opinions/thoughts/input on the situation before I act. </p>
<p>VARIOUS INFO YALL MIGHT ASK FOR:
EFC=0</p>
<p>Math SAT=700
Reading SAT=660
Writing SAT=520
3.7/4.0 GPA
"Governor's Academy for Engineering Studies" (So I've touched on circuit anlaysis, Statics, Dynamics, and done an engineering job shadow already for examples of stuff the program does)
Taking APs
Varsity Tennis Captain last year
Church Youth president
National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta</p>
<p>Colleges applying to (U of Florida is obviously in question):
U of Florida, Georgia Tech (I would get In-state here btw), U of Illinois, Purdue, Penn State, U of Michigan, MIT (I know I have 99.9% chance of not getting in. Leave me alone though), Texas A&M, U of Wisconsin, and VCU </p>
<p>If the program is accredited, don’t worry so much about prestige value. GT is great, if you have in-state tuition for some oddball reason, go for it. I don’t see anything wrong with VCU of VTech. If it wasn’t for your horrendous writing score, I’d say MIT was almost an option.</p>
<p>Also, MechE is a more versatile degree than NuclearE, so the Tech option has several benefits. You may end up really liking it. And if you hate it, it’d probably be more b.c. you don’t want to do engineering than a particular dislike for MechE. All lower-division courses are the same.</p>
<p>VT does have a nuclear certification program. I think you can go through MechE for it (I know you can go through MSE and get it, I figure any engineering major should do) which isn’t a full fledged degree but it is at least something. The Dean of Engineering at VT is a pretty huge proponent of expanding the VT nuclear program although he said he doubted there’d be a Nuclear Engineering degree in the near future.</p>
<p>What is it you actually want to do? If you want to do research you’ll probably need a masters anyway so MechE undergrad with a Nuclear Masters/PHD would probably be necessary anyway.</p>
<p>“If it wasn’t for your horrendous writing score”</p>
<p>Tell me about it… I feel that is the biggest hole in my “resume”. I cringe everytime I post it but I’ve taken the SAT twice and the writing score only improved 20 points after taking a class. I just suck at pressured writing like that.</p>
<p>“If the program is accredited, don’t worry so much about prestige value” </p>
<p>Thats the thing. VCU isn’t accredited for nuclear. Its purely a fallback. I wouldn’t even consider it an option if they didn’t have connections with the local power company. VT isn’t accredited for nuclear either btw.</p>
<p>I think VTech is your best option. PSU is also good, if you can get FA. I’m not familiar with their programs, but if you in-state in GT, why not there?</p>
<p>Cause the male to female ratio is like 3:1 and the chances of me getting in there are much lower than VTs. But your right, GT is an excellent option still. They are ranked highly and have one of the best reputations for engineering.</p>
<p>I want to nuclear power btw. So those giant plants would, hopefully, be my future kingdom :)</p>
<p>The thing about those giant plants is just how giant they are. There is plenty of room in one of those plants for a lot of MechEs, a few MSEs, a few EEs, and several other disciplines. Learn Thermo and all of the other engineering basics, learn computer modeling, take available classes in nuclear engineering (most big engineering schools should have several) and you should be in good shape.</p>
<p>GT is a better school if you can get into it, but UF is still very good. 33rd isn’t something to sneeze at. Make sure you think about the atmosphere difference between the two schools. You could likely end up miserable at GT while you would have had a great time at UF, and if that’s the case you’d have been better off at UF since happy people, in general, do better. Some people would like GT’s atmosphere better, and it is a fantastic engineering school, but it’s for a certain type of person and if you’re not that type you’ll get eaten alive.</p>
<p>G.P., while GT is a very good school, the atmosphere there is… different than most other schools, and it really is only a good fit for some people, especially at the undergrad level. I NEARLY went there for grad school, and I really liked it for that, but it is somewhere that I am glad I didn’t go for undergrad. If he gets in, it is definitely worth a visit, but saying it is a no-brainer that he should go there is kind of jumping the gun given its extraordinary atmosphere.</p>
<p>What do you guys mean GT is for a certain type of person and how is the atmosphere there? Is the GT’s undergrad atmosphere just a mimicry of an state school engineering department only with lots research all on steriods?</p>
<p>GT is really, really hard. That’s why it’s relatively easy to get in (compared to similarly ranked programs) and still ranked so highly. You’ll learn a lot if you can make it through the grind, but it can chew you up if you can’t. Even if you can, it will eat into a lot of the time that you could be using on other things.</p>
<p>Neither of those cover why I said it is a different atmosphere.</p>
<p>First, it is on an island in the middle of a bad part of midtown Atlanta. It is not a nice neighborhood.</p>
<p>Second, it is not, based on my visits, a school that has a particularly diverse population given that it has mostly technical degrees and a few additional programs. I don’t mean diversity as in racial diversity, but more in the sense of you aren’t going to get as broad of a cross-section of people there as you would at, say, UIUC or Berkeley or something since it doesn’t have a very large number of people outside of engineering and the sciences.</p>
<p>It is still a great school and a great program for engineering, and like I said, I almost went there for grad school, but for undergrad I am perfectly happy with my broader, more classical college experience that I had at UIUC. Like I said though, that is a personal preference thing, so I would suggest visiting there before deciding, don’t just take my word for it.</p>
<p>Also Pillar, I don’t know what you mean by “Is the GT’s undergrad atmosphere just a mimicry of an state school engineering department only with lots research all on steriods?” since a lot of state schools (UIUC, Berkeley, Michigan, Texas, Texas A&M, Purdue, Virginia Tech, etc) are on par with GT in terms of research.</p>
<p>So is GT program rigidous due to time spent on the concept or is it due to time spent on learning the material? Cause If get the concept, I’m able to get the material. @boneh3ad
By state schools, I mean lower tier non research teaching oriented schools like KSU,Virgina State University, LSU & Georgia Southwestern State University.</p>
<p>“considering that your scores are below average”</p>
<p>Burdell, I swear nothing is good enough for you. I understand a 520 writing score is average and my GPA isn’t mind blowing but a 700 Math and 660 Reading is in the top 10% thank you very much. And as someone else has stated, 33rd is by all means respectable. Remind me if I get into GT that I can shove it in your face.</p>
<p>But I’m not comparing GT to U of Florida anyway. I’m comparing U of Florida to Virginia Tech. Yall should have read more carefully. Should I apply to Florida or VT using the reasons I’ve already stated? I just threw GT in the conversation for something to chew on. I’m not comparing GT to anybody. And from what I have read I don’t want to go to GT unless I have to. I enjoy having a life outside of school… unlike some on here.</p>
<p>Good for you. It’s still below average for admission at GT last year.</p>
<p>As for the “different” aspects of GT - should two people that haven’t attended really be making comments? As someone who has attended 5 different universities, I can tell you that Tech is no different than other schools. The biggest issue you’ll find is “urban vs. rural”, meaning that in a place like Gainesville (or College Station), the college is the main focus. Everything is geared towards college students. It takes an hour drive to escape campus life.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Tech is 15 minutes from everything in Atlanta. It has access to world-class restaurants, clubs aren’t all the typical college dive bar, you can meet students from other colleges – basically your life can be things other than college. If you want to catch a baseball team, you don’t have to watch the college team, you can go to Turner Field. If you want to see a play, you don’t have to watch the college kids – some broadway production is probably playing at the Fox, etc.</p>
<p>Which is better for you is up to you - but keep in mind the impact on your career. “Georgia Tech” on a diploma opens up many more opportunities than “University of Florida”, and the difference grows exponentially as you move away from Florida/Georgia.</p>
<p>As for the “bad neighborhood”: North of campus is Atlantic Station, which is one of the trendiest and most expensive places in the Southeastern US. East of campus is Peachtree St and midtown. West and South of campus aren’t the best neighborhoods, but they’re improving (especially west of campus - lots of development). It’s not an island.</p>
<p>As for the admissions: the rate is relatively high, but that’s the case with all public technical schools (like UIUC). The reason is that the average “I don’t know what I want to do with my life” students that are trying to get in anywhere don’t apply to technical colleges. Students that apply to technical colleges self-select based on their scores and abilities, which is why a school can admit 60-70% of students and still require a 2000 average SAT score. </p>
<p>And the school is not that difficult. 10 years ago, “let 'em in and fail 'em out” was the mantra, but that has changed. Tech now has one of the highest retention rates of all technical schools (over 92% last year)</p>
<p>690 CR, and 730 M are in the 75th percentile of accepted GT students. How are 660 and 700 “below” average? On top of which, doesn’t GT has over a 60% acceptance rate - and his scores seem to be at the higher end of average. I can’t see the OP being rejected. If he is, it would not be because his scores aren’t good enough.</p>
<p>Why are you so fixated on the admissions rate? Many top PhD programs have admissions rates in the 75-100% range. It’s not because the programs are easy to get into, it’s because only people that are qualified apply.</p>
<p>Why does Harvard have such a low admissions rate? Because 75% of the applicants are “trash” applicants - people that apply to Harvard for novelty purposes. I bet the median applicant has a combined SAT score below 1600.</p>
<p>Engineering schools don’t get “trash” applicants. Students that apply are students interested in engineering who have done at least a marginal amount of research into the area. As a result, GT has a 60% admissions rate, UIUC has a 70% admissions rate, Purdue has a 72% admissions rate.</p>
<p>Two schools have the same Math SAT cutoff: 750. Each school gets 3 applicants: School A gets 790, 770, 730 and school B gets 760, 690, 550. School B has half the admissions rate of School A, but that doesn’t mean that school B is more difficult for admissions (in fact, school B has a lower average admitted score).</p>