<p>Hi, I'm currently stuck between UMD and Purdue's Engineering school. I'm out of state for both.</p>
<p>Tuition
UMD: 41k
Purdue: 46k</p>
<p>Location
Preferably Purdue, UMD has a reputation of not having the best location</p>
<p>Weather
Both pretty similar</p>
<p>Rankings
Purdue: 10
Maryland: somewhere in the 1x
(close enough to probably not make a difference)</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>anyone??..</p>
<p>Why do you say Maryland has a reputation for a poor location?</p>
<p>“Weather
Both pretty similar”</p>
<p>Not true. Better weather in DC compared to Midwest.</p>
<p>Do you have an in-state option that will come in under $40k each year? There is no reason to shell out that kind of money for your education. Of course if your parents have tons of money, and are more than happy to drop between $160,000 and $200,000 on four years for you that is a different thing. However most parents don’t.</p>
<p>^Agreed. For that price neither. Who pays 160k for undergrad ? Rather go to Arizona State. </p>
<p>Flymetothemoon because UMD-CP is located in a ghetto area just like Temple. The campus is awesome but if you go outside the campus(especially at night and evening), you are basically asking someone to come and stab or shoot you. On the other hand, Purdue is located in a conservative college town. I would rather take the latter.</p>
<p>Thanks Xtreme, but I really wanted to know what the OP’s thoughts were.</p>
<p>Mostly rumor. Word around school is that UMD’s campus is known as a riot zone. I even heard someone call it the Compton of Maryland. As for my in-state school, the best engineering school I got into has a pretty weak engineering program (>rank80). Of course ranks aren’t everything but isn’t it worth it to pay double to go to top engineering schools? 20k vs 40k. And should the money between UMD and Purdue make a difference? (5k difference, 4yrs = 20k)</p>
<p>NO matter how bad it is, it cannot be bad-der than Arizona State U, can it ? So, attend your in-state university because both UMD and Purdue are crazy expensive for OOS. They are absolutely not worth double the cost of your in-state. You will just be wasting money.</p>
<p>It is definitely not a rumor that UMD area is unsafe. Riot zone can be considered an exaggeration but its location is pretty bad. On the plus side, Campus is beautiful and the opportunities are great because its somewhat closer to DC(you still have to take the metro).<br>
If I had to choose one, I would probably go with Purdue.</p>
<p>What are parents saying about the costs? Are they happily willing to pay the OOS costs at Purdue or UMCP?</p>
<p>articwolf -</p>
<p>The likelihood that you will be offered more in starting salary coming out of Purdue or UMCP as a brand new engineer than you would be coming out of your best home-state university is just about zip. That is how engineering salaries work. Which is why the standard advice for engineers is to choose an affordable institution where their program is accredited by ABET and to save the money. 20k x 4 = 80k There are a lot of things you can buy with that 80k. Think about it, and talk the numbers over with your parents. They may be fine with this. They may not.</p>