<p>I'm a high school senior from Las Vegas, Nevada. As my high school graduation approaches in less than nine months, my college search is in full swing. I plan on applying to the UC Irvine, SDSU, SJSU, UCF and so many others around the country in the hope of maybe leaving home for college. Unfortunately, it becomes more and more apparent that, financially speaking, in state at either UNLV or UNR are my only options if I don't want decades of paying off debt. In terms of academics, school spirit, location, etc., which school is better?</p>
<p>What is your major and career goal? </p>
<p>If your family wonāt pay the OOS costs for a Calif public or UCF, youād be better off applying to schools that might work out for you financially.</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>
<p>You can only borrow $5500 for frosh year.</p>
<p>*GPA: 3.52 UW, 4.2 weighted, ~3.6 UC/CSU</p>
<p>Class Rank: 73/357 (Hanging onto the top 25% as hard as I can!)</p>
<p>SAT Composite: 1800
(Reading:560 - Math:620 - Writing:620)</p>
<p>Rigor:
-AP: APUSH (Jr. Year), AP Statistics and AP Physics B (Sr. Year)
-All Other Classes like English, Science and Math are always Honors</p>
<p>Electives/Program Classes:
-Language: Spanish 1, 2 and 3 (all consecutive)*</p>
<p>I thought I put my intended major on my chance page? Well my intended major and career goal is Civil Engineering. My plan B is management in the airline industry. Plus, my focus for this thread has NOTHING to do with out of state schools, Iām focusing on the differences between UNR and UNLVā¦</p>
<p>Iām from Las Vegas, you can ask me anything about UNLV. I chose UNLV over UNR because UNR would have been costly due to dorm/room charges and I assume you, too, would be commuting to campus if you stay in town. </p>
<p>I know weāre not really that well known in terms of being a good school besides doing hospitality, but my friends have no problem landing internships and networking with the big wigs in the casino. They have jobs for pretty much every field, so keep that in mind (including engineering).</p>
<p>But I might be a little biased because I ended up really liking UNLV more than I thought (if your high school was like mine, everyone wanted to leave and hated UNLV haha). </p>
<p>However, UNRās campus life is a lot more active including their Greek life because it is way less of a commuter school than UNLV is. I believe we have pretty good school spirit but I would say UNR beats us in that dept since we are very commuter. </p>
<p>Academics? Iām not really sure but I know UNR is primarily focused in biosciences so theyāre good for that. Not sure about engineering as all my engineering friends go to UNLV. </p>
<p>I see my friends from high school as one of two categories. The UNR friends mainly left because they wanted to get away from their home and have that college independent life. The UNLV friends wanted to save money. </p>
<p>If money is really an issue for you, choose UNLV. We are seriously cheap ($3000 a semester without scholarships) and if you did well in high school you automatically get the Millennium. If you did really well, youāll probably be eligible for the presidential scholarship.</p>
<p>If you do decide to attend in-state, dont make the same mistake I did and not attend freshman year. As an incoming freshman, you are eligible for the most amount of scholarships and if youāre a good student you qualify for a lot of money. Unfortunately I transferred back as a sophomore and missed out :(</p>
<p>Thanks Lullabies! It feels good having someone from Nevada to relate to. What high school did you go to? Iām gonna end up graduating from Southwest CTA which is only in its fifth year. Based on a rough count and estimate from last yearās graduating class, about a third of grads go onto UNLV while about half that go to UNR. The other two thirds or so either leave for out of state or go to CSN, Nevada State, Online, etc. Our school is starting to build a rep of having UNR freshman coming dropping out and coming back to Vegas but i donāt know if that happens for a lot of vegas high school grads who head North.</p>
<p>Leaving home sounds really great and UNR is the financially viable place to do that. True also that UNR focuses a lot on Medical, Science and Engineering studies while UNLV is heavily business and hospitality driven. Iām hearing more and more that UNLV is a really dead campus, even for a commuter school.</p>
<p>Both UNR and UNLV tuition will be about 6000 without help like you said. UNR housing would add another 9000. Iām definitely getting millennium so that should cut off about 2000 a year from either. Both are much better than the estimated 53,650 a year that UC Davis quoted haha</p>
<p>I went to ATA, one of the older CTAs 
For my class (Iām in my third year), I have noticed that all UNR kids stay there and many OOS students come back to UNLV. I think Iāve seen so far a total of about 7-9 kids transfer back from OOS to UNLV. But then again, a lot of the kids who went to UNR in my class lived with strict parents so I donāt see them returning haha.</p>
<p>Iām not sure what your idea of a dead campus is, but we are pretty alive Mon-Thurs. We are dead Fri, and even moreso on Sat/Sun because the majority of UNLV students commute and those who dorm sometimes go home. This excludes game nights and if youāre part of Greek Life, you find yourself on campus a lot more. UNR definitely has a more active campus but I canāt get into details because I havenāt gone there lol. </p>
<p>Academically, UNR > UNLV. But I do think that job prospective wise, UNLV is geographically better. Many of my UNR pals who come back home during the break will take their internships here in the summer whereas I get internships year-round. I mean think about it ā weāre at the heart of a growing and active city whereas Reno is just a small city. </p>
<p>When it comes down to it, my question is: Just how badly do you want to leave home? </p>
<p>9k is a very large sum of money. Will you need to take out loans? If so, do you mind having the loans? For me and many others I know, UNLV requires little to no loans unless youāre in a very bad financial situation. If your family is making a decent income, UNLV is very affordable. I can pay for my tuition all by myself with a part-time job without asking for money and I will be graduating with no loans from UNLV. </p>
<p>I mean, if money is your main concern, I would choose UNLV > UNR. If the loans donāt bother you, UNR would overall be a better choice, especially if you really want to leave home and want that ācollege experienceā. UNLV can give you that, but I believe at UNR it comes easier.</p>
<p>If you ever have any specific questions about LV/UNLV you can PM me too :)</p>
<p>Both UNR and UNLV tuition will be about 6000 without help like you said. UNR housing would add another 9000. Iām definitely getting millennium so that should cut off about 2000 a year from either. Both are much better than the estimated 53,650 a year that UC Davis quoted haha</p>
<p>Have you run the NPCs on the websites? Did the NPCās already include student loans in their estimates?</p>
<p>If so, how would you come up with those shortfalls?</p>
<p>It seems that UNR and UNLV have identical admission requirements and nearly identical scholarship offersā¦ Leaving home was always my dream of a college experience but money wasnāt really in mind back then. UNLV may be a whole lot better than a community college but out of 27 universities around the country I had in mind, UNLV was dead 26th, right above Sacramento Stateā¦ How are the professors and workload for the freshman undergrad classes like ENG 101?</p>
<p>I only took half of my GEs here, but overall I found the workload is manageable and normal for a lower-level course. Math/science reqs will be a little harder in terms of workload, even at 100-level. English was compromised of essays and readings. My 102 class had probably like ~five 3-4 page essay and one final 10 page essay bc itās research intensive. Eng232 (also a GE) was more reading intensive so we had more discussions and tests, 2-3 short essays, and some short responses. Social sciences are easy if you have a good professor.</p>
<p>My professors have all been positive, helpful, and passionate about their subject but I do use ratemyprof to judge who I take.</p>
<p>Re: #7</p>
<p>The OPās estimate of $6,000 in-state tuition and $9,000 housing at UNR is not too far off from the in-state list prices listed at [Student</a> Budgets: Financial Aid: University of Nevada, Reno<a href=ābut%20the%20actual%20amounts%20are%20slightly%20higher,%20at%20$6,610%20and%20$10,196ā>/url</a>. However, there is also an estimated $5,794 in books, transportation, and personal expenses listed, giving a total in-state list price of $22,600. [url=<a href=āhttp://www.unr.edu/tuition-and-fees/cost-calculator]Costā>http://www.unr.edu/tuition-and-fees/cost-calculator]Cost</a> Calculator: Tuition and Fees: University of Nevada, Reno](<a href=āhttp://www.unr.edu/financial-aid/cost-estimates/student-budgets]Studentā>http://www.unr.edu/financial-aid/cost-estimates/student-budgets) can allow calculating tuition, room, and board for the various options available.</p>
<p>UNRās net price calculator at [Office</a> of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships](<a href=āOffice of Financial Aid and Scholarships | University of Nevada, Reno | University of Nevada, Renoā>Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships | University of Nevada, Reno | University of Nevada, Reno) indicates that UNR does not offer need-based financial aid grants of its own, though students can get federal Pell grants, or scholarships like the Nevada Millenium scholarship (looks like $1,920 per year for a full time student at UNR).</p>
<p>Of the California public universities, you may be able to get the WUE discount at CSU Chico and CSU Sacramento, according to [WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=āhttp://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all]WICHEā>http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all) . However, they would still cost more than UNR, probably around $26,000 at WUE list price.</p>
<p>Other low cost schools to consider for civil engineering include South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, South Dakota State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (with WUE discount), and University of Wyoming (with WUE discount).</p>
<p>If you need really cheap, your stats will get the full ride at Prairie View A&M, which has civil engineering.
[University</a> Scholarships](<a href=āhttp://www.pvamu.edu/pages/2154.asp]Universityā>http://www.pvamu.edu/pages/2154.asp)
[Civil</a> and Environmental Engineering](<a href=āhttp://www.pvamu.edu/pages/184.asp]Civilā>http://www.pvamu.edu/pages/184.asp)</p>
<p>OP, will your parents be able to help you with costs, or will you have to borrow/earn everything? I think itās valuable to go away to school, even to another part of your home state.</p>
<p>@Hanna, itās a mix of both. If I stay Nevada, the burden on my parents will be very minimal. Out Of State is another storyā¦</p>
<p>One BIG idea I hatched is maybe living on campus at UNLV even I stayed in my hometown. Dayton Hall has private rooms and semi-private bathrooms and they even give you a 2000 scholarship for living on campus. What do you know about the dorms at UNLV Lullabies?</p>
<p>DjB, I think thatās a fine idea, though it may not save much money compared to dorming at UNR. So if youāre going to spend that money, may as well go with your preferred choice.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Nevada has a very poor educational system and neither state university is very strong. Check into the fee arrangements offered by some of the Arizona schools to NV residents. That could be an option. Not hugely better- but still better than the two NV choices. I hope something works out for you for one of the CA schools. I do agree that UNLV offers some decent internship opportunities in Vegas, but it is definitely a commuter school- and one with mediocre academics. I am quite familiar with the educations offered at both schools and in the pre-college schools in Nevada, and there just arenāt many positives.</p>
<p>@momofwildchild, while counselor and teachers promote both UNLV and UNR with enthusiasm, virtually all of us high schoolers really do agree with you that, frankly, they both suck. So many of us have dreams of getting out of this state but financially, itās a far fetched dream. Nevada is just a sucky state to live in for many aspects soā¦</p>
<p>Would just going to SDSU (for 30 k) or UCI (53 k) and putting myself in debt be worth it and just the best decision academically for me to do? I am CERTAIN that my scholarships wonāt reach 30 k, let alone 50 kā¦</p>
<p>@djboom, No, I donāt think itās worth borrowing tens of thousands for SDSU. If the Western Undergraduate Exchange can get you a better deal somewhere, that might make sense.</p>
<p>Here are the schools with civil engineering majors and WUE discounts:</p>
<p>University of Alaska Anchorage
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Northern Arizona University
California State University, Chico
California State University, Sacramento
University of California-Merced
Colorado State University
University of Colorado Denver
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Boise State University
Idaho State University
University of Idaho
Montana State University, Bozeman
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Nevada, Reno
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
New Mexico State University
University of New Mexico
North Dakota State University
University of North Dakota
Oregon Institute of Technology
Portland State University
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
South Dakota State University
University of Utah
Utah State University
Washington State University
University of Wyoming </p>
<p>However, since civil engineering depends on ABET accreditation, even a relatively low reputation school like UNR or UNLV needs to meet a decent minimum standard in that major.</p>
<p>Some of the schools above may have only specialty areas (e.g. environmental), or may be in the process of getting ABET accreditation for their degree programs (e.g. UC Merced).</p>
<p>Ok everyone, before any more WUE posts come up, I have carefully looked at all WUE Civil Engineering Schools and only Sacramento State is in my 27 schools and that will not change. Worst of all, Sac State is even weaker than UNLV when it comes to academics soā¦ If only SDSU or SJSU join WUE, only thenā¦</p>
<p>Generally, schools with WUE discounts are the ones with excess capacity, meaning that they are relatively less popular and less selective. Presumably, they figure that empty seats (= wasted capacity) is worse than having WUE-discounted students in those seats. In some cases, the WUE discounts apply only to certain majors, presumably ones with excess capacity even though the other majors may be āfullā.</p>
<p>So donāt expect SJSU or SDSU to offer WUE discounts, since they are impacted for all majors.</p>