<p>My son is considering ME or AE, but would like a good overall school as a backup if he should decide to change majors along the way and also because it presents more students of diverse interests. A concern about UTA is that it is 95% in-state, while the other three are about 35% OOS. How do many OOS view the experience, student body, etc. at UTA? We would appreciate comments about academic quality, college life quality, job potential, etc. at these schools. Are other "similar" schools that he should perhaps check out? Thank you for any feedback and suggestions that you might offer.</p>
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<p>Is there anything in particular that he’s looking for? Also, do you have his basic information (ACT/SAT score and GPA?)</p>
<p>I’m OOS at VT. There are a lot of NoVa and Va. Beach people here, but theres a pretty good number of out of state people too. It’s an excellent engineering school and the other programs range from being decent to also excellent, depending on what he’d want to transfer into. I don’t think you could really get a higher ‘college life quality’ than you get here, but that depends on what exactly you’re looking for. For engineers the job potential here is very good; we’re more or less inundated with emails about internship and job offers, and there are multiple career fairs during the year specifically for engineers. It’s not as good as it was two years ago as far as jobs go, but nowhere is. If you’ve got any specific questions I can answer them.</p>
<p>What state are you from, by the way? If one of those schools were in-state I’d go there because of the huge monetary savings. From everything I’ve gathered PSU and VT seem to be pretty similar in a lot of ways, and I can’t remember off the top of my head but I think that Wisconsin has a pretty good engineering school too.</p>
<p>His GPA is around 3.9 uw, ACT 32, but is taking again in June. Took SAT but scores not back yet. Right on the bubble as to semifinalist for National Merit.
Visited UW and liked. Likes the idea of a large school for the many opportunities. Liked the idea that the campus had city, wooded and lakefront areas. He is open to checking out a number of options.</p>
<p>He is not interested in an in-state school.</p>
<p>Is there anything in particular that he’s looking for? </p>
<p>Great engineering program (and other very good programs ideally), but not a “pressure-cooker” environment (though he realizes the intense demands of engineering) as might be anticipated at certain schools. Probably not as interested in a mainly technical college, as it limits him if he would decide later to change his major.</p>
<p>Any comments about coop/internship opportunities with these schools or others?</p>
<p>Don’t let the 95% in-state figure deter your son from choosing UT. Remember that many Texas residents are transplants themselves and I can assure you that the student body is extremely diverse and accepting–the campus and city of Austin both have a very liberal atmosphere that’s quite contrary to the perceived conservatism in the rest of Texas. Academically, UT has the highest-ranked engineering program of the four schools you mentioned. The classes here are challenging and competitive, but there’s an incredible social scene here to supplement the strong academics. Job opportunities are great for UT engineering graduates, as they would be at any of those schools you mentioned. Also, consider that UT has extremely strong programs in business and the sciences, in case your son’s interests change down the road. Each of those schools would be a good choice–and I’m biased, of course–but I think UT is the best among those, with UW a close second.</p>
<p>Is it possible for him to visit all of the schools? None of them are bad choices, it’s really up to him as to where he’ll be the happiest. I think they all satisfy what you’ve said he’s looking for.</p>
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<p>I would rule out VT and PSU, unless there’s a compelling reason (like he really likes the campus). Your son can get into a better school with more opportunities. I might also drop off UW. It’s a good school but not known for either AE or ME. </p>
<p>I suggest you have him look at Michigan (34% OOS), Georgia Tech (40% OOS), and UIUC (11% OOS) in addition to UT-Austin. All three are excellent overall engineering, ME, and AE schools. You’ll find a substantial increase in marketability, particularly to the “top” employers coming out of these Top 10 engineering schools vs. the Tier 2 schools listed above.</p>
<p>I agree somewhat with G.P. Burdell’s take. Why not look at some other schools, too? I was very impressed with GT on my visit–I think it’s safe to say it’s a better engineering school than UT, as is UIUC. I disagree that choosing, say, Michigan over PSU makes one “substantially” more marketable, rather, I think recruiting (such as through career fairs) by “top” companies might be better at the schools G.P. Burdell mentioned. At any of these schools, your son’s own performance will be the defining factor in his success, and all could just as well lead to “top” companies. Anyway, the main point I wanted to get across was that the OOS figure at UT is rather deceptive towards the sort of student body the school actually has. GT and UT are very different socially, so I’d recommend trying to visit both and see what atmosphere your son might prefer.</p>
<p>Those stats are in-line for VT, and VT is an excellent engineering school. G.P. is being a bit silly to say you should rule them out if you want to do engineering, no matter what your test scores are.</p>
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<p>VT is a fine school, but it’s not a top school. This student has the scores to go to a top school, which will result in more career opportunities, both in academia and in industry.</p>
<p>A Mercedes is a nice car, but if you can buy a Ferrari for the same price, you take the Ferrari.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! I appreciate the lively discussion and debate and hope there is more to come. We do plan to make more college visits. I agree that visiting the campus is essential in making a good choice. However, since time and money limit the number of possible visits, we are trying to narrow the choices. </p>
<p>I’ll throw a few more things out there that might help. Morally conservative, would be interested in participating in Christian campus groups. Politically liberal (except on a few issues).Would enjoy intramural sports but not that interested in the whole school sports fervor (although that could change). Not interested in drinking and partying. Enjoys intelligent friendships and conversations. Not into the frat or jock mentality. Would like the opportunity for nature and outdoor physical activities on campus or nearby. Plays guitar and would appreciate opportunity to attend musical events in area (I’m anticipating some big shout-outs for Austin :)</p>
<p>Basically, he has favored a larger university because there is more of an opportunity to find your niche and more like-minded people there.</p>
<p>His older sisters and I visited UIC a few years ago and none of us liked the feel of the campus. So I’m a little hesitant about Illinois. </p>
<p>All of the 4 schools originally mentioned were ranked in the top 14 for ME (US News – I know that rankings are controversial and only one of many considerations), so although I understand the better and best mentality, I still wonder how much they will really vary in quality and if so, how so?</p>
<p>Sorry for the length of this.</p>
<p>I dont know I would rule out the other schools simply because they’re “tier2” or even because of their career fairs. The only way you would know who recruits at the career fairs is by checking all the listing of companies on the respectable career fair websites or actually attending all of them ;).</p>
<p>Also for some of those schools (like Penn State for instance) there also is an honors college. </p>
<p>I would say it really depends on where in the country the student wants to live as he/she is more likely to do better where he/she is happy. (For instance in choosing a college I knew I didnt want to live anywhere in the midwest.)</p>
<p>universityquest-> You visitied UIC, and you didn’t like it. Did you visit UIUC? Although they’re both University of Illinois, Urbana Chamapaign and Chicago is two different universities, not to mention UIUC engineering is top-notch in the nation. And furthermore, its within your son’s reach.</p>
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<p>I’ve been to career fairs at most of these schools at one time or another - you see a difference. Even if you see the same company go to multiple schools, they’ll have more stringent requirements at a lower tier school (and usually less positions). </p>
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<p>The big difference is the teaching philosophy of the school, either practical (e.g. “Here’s how you design a wing”) or first principals (“This is Bernoulli’s principle. Now how would you design a wing?”). Once you know a school’s philosophy, other schools with a similar philosophy are of roughly similar quality. ABET ensures that everyone teaches basically the same things. The biggest difference will be in how much your son is challenged and the quality of the other students.</p>
<p>Realistically, though, it’s about more than learning - it’s about the school’s brand. Different schools will pull different employers and different job openings at different salaries. A Stanford graduate will have more and better opportunities than a similar student at Clemson, even a Stanford graduate with a low GPA.</p>
<p>regza:</p>
<p>We did visit UICU. As I mentioned, though, it was a few years ago and we were not looking at it from the engineering program standpoint. If I remember correctly, it just seemed like a very concrete campus right in the city. Our impression (which of course, is very subjective and only based on our one visit there) was that it just seemed kind of cold, the students not particularly friendly. The sidewalks were covered in chalk writings protesting social and political issues. I know, different strokes, but I guess that is what finding the right fit is all about. I know at the time that we all thought that it seemed to be a very good university academically, but it wasn’t a place that either of my daughters or I warmed up to.</p>
<p>go to UT Austin, it is great!</p>
<p>I’d like to interject a few more points into this discussion. Choosing a college is a weighty decision based on numerous factors. After again checking out a few supposedly “academically better” schools than the four I originally listed, I was still not convinced of the overall better choice. Opinions on sites such as **************.com can be helpful. After reading similar negative comments about particular aspects of college life at X school and reading a variety of favorable comments, one can perhaps get a flavor of what school might be like there. As in college confidential, they are not scientifically representational and show biases, but both sites can add information to aid in the decision-making process.</p>
<p>If college is a means to an end, hopefully it can be a somewhat satisfying means. Four years (or more) is a big chunk of time.</p>
<p>The excerpt below is not meant to bash this particular school (although there were a lot of similar statements of discontent from students there), but as representative in addressing the question of “academic quality” vs. “quality of college life”. Ideally each student finds a balance between the two that works for him/her.</p>
<p>From **************.com:</p>
<p>Sort By: Engineering Department Quite Bright </p>
<p>“Sure, Georgia Tech has a very good engineering program, and a graduate of it will probably know as much as anybody else, but the fact is that nearly everybody at GT is miserable, and the degree you get is not worth it…
Sure your first potential employer will be impressed with where you graduated, but five years down the road nobody gives a damn where you went to college, and you will be no better with a degree from here then you would be from any other respected engineering program. It is simply not worth going through the hell that is GT.
If you want to do engineering, go to a place like Virginia Tech instead, the people there are friendly, happy, and there is a good social scene that will give you the “college experience” that the majority of Georgia Tech grads missed out on because they were either studying or playing video games in their dorms…
Another thing that comes up is when somebody who came here for engineering discovers that they don’t want to do engineering after all, and decides to change their major, but GT’s options beyond engineering and computer science are a joke, and they can’t transfer anywhere because of their miserable GPA.”</p>
<p>of course, from the same site you can also see for VT…</p>
<p>“simply put it, i hate this school…the professors are not approchable at all…especialy for electrical engineering…the class lectures are very short…for example a 3 credite course is only 2 and half hours week and the professors usually b.s half of that time…so u basicly get about an hour of lecture per week…most of material is left up to u to figure out because professors simply go over theory…and not enough examples…i dont understant why this school is ranked as one of the top engineering schools…the level of teaching is very low…i would not recomend this school…because if you come over here…its gonna four years of worrying…stress…work…and just trying to survive…”</p>
<p>The point: there are good and bad reviews of every college. And many of the reviews are irrational: someone has to move away from his girlfriend, so he decides to hate the school. Someone fails Calculus because she decided to party instead of study, so that professor is a bad teacher and the school is horrible, etc.</p>
<p>But if your child has his/her heart set on Virginia Tech, go there. If you can convince yourself that your student would be happier there and earn a higher GPA, that’s one thing. But that’s a hard thing to do without actually visiting places - anonymous internet users will give you their experience based on their opinion, which may or may not reflect your opinion / experience.</p>
<p>Don’t try to rationalize that it’s a better school - that’s just lying to yourself.</p>
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<p>The campus you visited was not UIUC. The campus that you visited in the city was the University of Illinois - Chicago Circle (do they still include Circle in the title?) We used to refer to it as UIC or UICC. </p>
<p>UIUC is the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign which is located in central Illinois and is not very concrete. It is the main campus of U of I and is top notch in engineering</p>