<p>Like many here, our kid is trying to rank his acceptances but since neither of his parents are engineers, it's hard for us to judge wisely. The kid is interested in electrical engineering, with current ambitions of a PhD in biomedical engineering but there is also a distinct possibility that he will complete a BS/MS and enter the real world instead. Among his choices are a couple of top 10 engineering schools as full-pay, several schools ranked ~30-50 with varying degrees of merit, and some schools ranked >50 with substantial aid. The kid has visited all the campuses and seems to be happy enough with all of them.</p>
<p>We'd appreciate the opinions of engineering student and professional engineers here about the differences in opportunities at a top 10 school vs a school ranked >50. For example, UIUC would be $50K/year (which we can just manage with savings) and RIT would be <$20K/year (we would give the remaining savings to our kid upon completion to start his post-grad life). The research, internship, and recruitment opportunities at UIUC seemed very impressive during our visit - are they significantly better than those at RIT to be worth the additional >$30K/year? My feeling is that the differences would not matter for applications do PhD programs as long as he does well in courses and is meaningfully involved in on-campus research, so I am mostly interested in the differences in opportunities should the kid choose instead to join the real world instead as a professional engineer.</p>
<p>There is an effect on MS and PhD admissions, though. It’s a relatively minor point, but most graduate programs are going to be more willing to take a chance on someone from a “name program” if their stats are considered borderline as compared to a student from a smaller program. RIT has a good reputation in that regard, but not as good as UIUC. That’s a relatively minor advantage, though, and I don’t know that it’s worth double the price.</p>
<p>The other consideration is research is research opportunity. RIT has lots of research; UIUC has lots more. Any undergraduate research will be fine for helping with graduate admissions, but from the standpoint of personal growth, if your son has any remote inkling of the kinds of topics he wants to study, see which department(s) are strong in those areas. Maybe it is RIT, maybe it is UIUC, maybe somewhere else. It would at least maximize the chance of getting into an enjoyable research group sooner to know that going in, though. Of course, that also does not pigeonhole him into that topic in graduate school should his goals change, either.</p>
<p>For industry jobs, it will simply come down to what he would be happy to do and where. UIUC is going to have a national recruiting reach with well-known companies from all over at its career fair. I’d suspect RIT would have a decent amount of that, too, but probably not quite to the same degree. Both will also be very marketable regionally. Take a look at te companies at the career fairs at each relevant school and see what kind of opportunities are typically available for students. That should give you a good idea on the possibilities coming out of each school and help you make an informed decision.</p>
<p>My son went to see RIT after his acceptance. He was told to expect to graduate in 5 years. We added that to the cost. At this point I don’t know if the 5 year grad rate is/was customary or not. This was for Mechanical Engineering. In the end, he went elsewhere and obtained 2 bachelors in engineering in 4 years (with lots of hard work). Just a consideration. If the 5 years matter to you or your son, contact RIT and ask to see the expected course schedule. We may have just gotten bad information, or they may have meant many student s take 5 years to graduate.</p>
<p>I think the differential in cost should be a significant consideration. My university, Illinois Tech, is more or less similar to RIT and if the student is good, there is no problem getting into a top graduate program. The strong students have no problem graduating in 4 years, some even with a BS/MS. The amount of research in a lot more at UIUC but it is likely that your son will only work in one or two labs while at university and there are probably al lot more students at UIUC looking for research experience than at RIT so it balances out. Furthermore, a research experience is valuable even if it is not in the specific field that your son will study in graduate school. </p>
<p>That being said, if your son is planning on a Ph.D., it should not cost you any more as he should only go to a program which gives him full support.</p>
<p>I think the 5 year grad rate at RIT is mostly due to the co-op and/or internship requirement. At least that is my understanding from the website and all the other information I’ve obtained about the school. We haven’t visited yet but are going to the Accepted Students day (overnight really since my D will be attending the Women in Engineering event) so will find out more. In fact aren’t most of the schools with a co-op requirement on the 5 year plan? I could be wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time and certainly will not be the last :)!</p>
<p>RIT graduates take 5 years because of their co-op experience. </p>
<p>That is a substantial cost difference. If you are concerned about grad school admissions, I would inquire with RIT. Find out where their students end up. Illinois is an excellent engineering school. RIT is very good, too. </p>
<p>We attended an RIT program yesterday. Yes it is five years. But, you only pay for four. You actually will earn money while getting the work experience during the extra year. </p>
<p>I like the fact that you are sharing the savings with your son. We are doing the same. I think it’s a great way to broaden a child’s assessment of their options. That changes the calculus to “real world” by putting some of their own (potential) skin in the game.</p>