Hi! Looking to major in Civil Engineering and have narrowed it down to these three schools. All will cost about the same and I’m OOS for all. I got into my major and Honors Program at UDel. At UMD, I was admitted as an undecided major in the College Park Scholars program. I’m the General Engineering major at VT. My big concerns are having to transfer into the engineering college at UMD and the engineering reputation/job outlook at UDel. Should I pass up the Honors Program invite at UDel for the top notch engineering schools at VT and UMD? Thanks for any opinions!
Although I don’t have much experience in the engineering area I will give you my perspective. IF you decide to go to UD there engineering program is a respected one. I do understand that Chem E is the feather in UD’s cap and where their engineering reputation comes from. Looking at it from a parent’s view… the program at UD will NOT be easy. You have been given admission to your particular major as well as honors. The other two programs have not really promised you anything. You should do your research and find out exactly how hard the climb into the engineering major will be at UMD. ( as you mentioned) To me working hard at UD and doing the work as well as making contacts in your field, internships, and all the comes with progressing as a college student will help you secure a good job. I know VT is a “tech” school but not entirely sure how much better it is than UD. Also if you go to VT where are the bulk of the jobs students secure? Do you want to live closer to home after graduation or in the VA area? I would say if you go to UMD you may need to plan on an extra year or more of tuition once you get into your major to finish your degree. good luck to you!
I agree with the comments from lefty1. Obviously by most ranking programs overall the engineering programs are “ranked” higher than UD but all provide an excellent education if you apply yourself to the best of your ability (and you will have to do so wherever you go to be successful). I don’t know about the specific programs at UMD and VT. My perspective regarding UD is that an Honors Degree designation on a person’s diploma (along with all the Honors courses listed on a person’s transcript) would be very advantageous when applying to grad schools in the future (if that is your intent) and also would probably be very helpful in landing the best job possible following graduation (this was our D’s experience taking Honors courses in Nursing). In addition, and again this is my personal perspective, I would prefer to attend a quality program where I was already admitted to my major of choice rather than having to be worried about competing with my fellow freshman for subsequent transfer into that major. You are going to have enough pressure already on you when you start. Hopefully these comments are helpful to you. Best of luck wherever you decide to go. All three are excellent Engineering Programs.
Mwallenmd you must be a Udel recruiter. You answer almost any post regarding Udel touting it’s excellence for any subject. If they’re not paying you they should lol
Thank you for all the replies! @lefty1 you made a good point with the possibility of the extra semester or year in tuition at UMD and that will be important to factor into my decision. I did some research and UD is ranked in the 30s for Civil with UMD in the teens and VT in the top 10. Nevertheless, the honors program still makes UD stand out for me. @Mwallenmd thank you for your insight into the Honors Program! I am really excited about it and will be speaking with a student in it very soon to learn more. I think I will feel better (as you said) knowing I am already into UD civil engineering as opposed to the what ifs at the other colleges. Thanks again! I will update this when I make a decision. Any more insight from you guys or others is appreciated!
@beaner89 if you would like to explain why you don’t agree with @Mwallenmd 's opinion about UD I would love to hear your point if view on the subject too!
I went to UD and have kids that attend UMD, one is in engineering. I was in the honors program at UD and it was great, having said that classes in my major were limited after intro classes (Chem and Bio) so I would check what class options you have in the honors program for engineering. (It has been a long time so I am sure things have changed!) At UMD transferring into engineering isn’t supposed to be difficult, you take the “gateway” classes and then apply. It is not competitive, you just need to do well in your classes, you can go online and check out the specific requirements. You might also think about where you would prefer to live, I couldn’t sell my kids on UD’s campus but it is beautiful and safer than UMD. VT has excellent engineering and if you haven’t visited their facilities are supposed to be top notch.
newjersey131 my comment was not meant to criticize Udel, I simply noticed that mwallenmd comments on many majors/subjects/topics throughout college confidential regarding Udel so I figured maybe they work there etc? . I noticed this as I read posts since my daughter applied there. We are OOS and she did get in to the nursing program with merit money, but chose another school.
@terp2B that is a good point thanks! I would imagine that they have added more since that time. I researched this and it seems that while there are many honors courses, most are an extension to regular sections of classes.
Additionally, I made a mistake in my first post. I am not accepted into VT engineering yet, decisions do not come out until April 1st. However, I am hopeful that I will get it and would still like to compare all three schools. VT has very nice facilities and a good ranking to go with it. I loved the campus as well.
Thanks for everyone’s opinions thus far! This thread will be very helpful to me in the upcoming months and I hope it can be of help to others too.