UMCP vs. VT vs. PU

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi, I am a new user to the site. Currently, I am a fairly bright high school senior in the northern Virginia area and have already been accepted into UMCP and VT, awaiting a response from PU, but I believe I should get in and am scheduling a flight to go visit the campus.</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in <b>Computer engineering</b>, and have tried to do as much research as I can, but am still unsure which school out of these three has the best computer engineering program. </p>

<p>I tend not to put too much emphasis on the rankings I am reading, and many of them are old, from 2006. I am glad I got into UMCP, as it was my number one choice, however it is very expensive compared to VT, which is in state. I am not sure what kind of aid I can/will be offered at purdue, for being OOS. I also hear from people that IN GENERAL, PU has a very good engineering program, but trust/have heard all three of these schools are good.</p>

<p>Price is a big concern, but I am also worried about undergraduate experience, research, study opportunities, and surprisingly, diversity and size (preferably large). I love the fact that UMCP is the closest to home, and close to DC, which I am familiar with, but unfortunately there is no 'magic' tri state rate b/t VA, MD, and DC colleges.</p>

<p>Mostly, I am looking to go to a fun school. I have heard that engineering majors and fun do not go together, but hopefully someone can help enlighten me. are VT/Purdue fun places to go?</p>

<p>Any help would be much appreciated,</p>

2

<p>In term of undergraduate for computer engineering, I would rank UMCP slightly better than Vtech. I would think Purdue is more of a grad school engineering than undergrad. However, if you live in Virginia and money is an issue, definitely Vtech is your first choice. </p>

<p>All of these schools are good engineering schools. They are also very fun (in term of sports). I'll give you my opinion for these schools by categories.</p>

<p>Undergrad Engineering/academic: Purdue = UMCP = Vtech
Sports/party/social life: UMCP > Virginia Tech > Purdue
Financial: Vtech > UMCP > Purdue</p>

3

<p>I agree with chaoses...</p>

<p>If M.I.A.M.I. (money is a major issue), lol, always wanted to say that, Virginia Tech is definitely the way to go...</p>

<p>Many undergraduate research opportunities as is the case with any large public top 25 engineering school.</p>

4

<p>Thank you both for the helpful responses!</p>

<p>I just checked my PU application this morning, and I have been accepted for sure there as well to the CE program!</p>

<p>Now recently, I spoke in person one-on-one with a professor from the Eng. Dept at UMD. He looked at my background, which includes Vocational schooling in internetworking, Cisco training, Skills USA participant (11th place in VA >.<), and some of the certifications I have, and thought that I was particularly more technical than most incoming CS/CE students...I have a high GPA (3.98) and o.k. Sat (1830: 570/620/640) w/ extracirriculars in Music honors society, 4 yr member and current President of German Club, and an internship spent last summer working help desk at Lockheed Martin. He told me I could easily get a a job working as a Research assistant (not TA) in my undergraduate years, and that position would qualify me for in-state tuition rates (which would be about 24k this year, as compared to VT's 22k in-state this year estimate--just tuition for both).</p>

<p>The question now is: Does this possibilty of a job make UMCP a more viable option money-wise, or should I even work/not work as a RA during my undergraduate years, with weed-out classes and such? And, does PU stack any differently now that I have gotten accepted for sure?</p>

<p>I am definetly going to PU still; for an open house (though can't seem to find if/when it will be, but I'll keep my eyes open)</p>

<p>I will see if PU has any similar job positions that might help me as well financially, even VT as well when I go to their admitted OH in April.</p>

<p>It is sort of funny, I have applied to 8 schools, and have only gotten a financial package back from UMCP after several weeks, offering me some loans, is all, though I specified on my FAFSA I was interested in work study, though I am sure an RA position is much better than 'work study' positions.</p>

<p>Any advice would be much appreciated!</p>

5

<p>I don't know much about PU, but I can definitely speak about Vtech and Maryland because those were my choices for college too. Maryland instate tuition is definitely cheaper than 24k/ year even if you live in the dorm. Their tuition is $8000/year for instate, dorm is about $6k - $7k. For vtech I think it's about the same. </p>

<p>Vtech is kinda of in the middle of no where. There's nothing there. Most of the engineering companies are in maryland DC northern virginia area. So there's an advantage going to maryland compared to vtech in term of jobs & internships.</p>