Hi, I’m a high school Junior here and at the moment I’m almost certain I would like to go into engineering. I’m not 100% set on what specific, but nuclear engineering is my top option, and also materials engineering. I’m really looking at the Southeast here-- East of the Mississippi and South of the Mason Dixon line is my strong preference. I live in North Carolina, so I have NC State here-- one of the best schools in the nation for Nuclear Engineering and amazingly cheap. But I’ve also recently fallen in love with Georgia Tech. I would absolutely love to go there but it is just so much more expensive and it’s hard to justify it with how great NC State is. But then I am conflicted because I feel I would be unhappy at State knowing I chose it for the price only. It is also important to note that, for other types of engineering (materials, for example) Georgia Tech would certainly outclass State. So I’m just direction less here, I don’t know how to make a decision on this and I don’t know exactly how to interpret return on investment either. I’d assume it depends on major, really.
Do you have the stats and the money? OOS at GT is a reach for most.You really don’t have a quandary unless you have offers, you really should not bother applying unless you have top stats and max rigour and full pay finances.
There is NO reason to go out of state and pay MORE for a degree in Engineering.
In fact, that would be foolish.
be very, VERY GLAD that you are instate for NC state.
Just as Calif students are blessed to have the UC system, you have a GREAT in state home University.
I dont see any UC engineering graduates thinking that they got the short end of the stick, because it costs them LESS to get an engineering degree at a UC than at another out of state U. . 8-|
So (and this is not rhetorical, a legitimate wonder), is the return on investment stat not really accurate for NC State because it is not only engineering? Because, judging by statistics, it looks as if Georgia Tech is much more expensive but then also translates to a muh higher later salary. Not saying this is true, just asking. I know that with non-engineering majors school prestige matters a lot, does this not apply here?
prestige does NOT matter for Engineering.
As long as the U is an accredited program, you will be fine.
Can your family afford GA Tech with no hardship and no loans? If so would they be willing to pay full freight at GA Tech? If the answer to each question is not a resounding “yes” then there is a good chance that NC State is your school. You might also look into some other schools that offer strong merit awards to OOS students (ex. UAlabama). Keep in mind that finances are an important part of the college decision for most everyone.
If you have the ability and means to go to a 4 year college and study what you want then consider yourself fortunate. You can have an excellent college experience at many schools.
What are your stats?
I would find it incredibly hard to justify the additional cost to go to Ga Tech if you get accepted into NC State for engineering. NC State is a fabulous bargain and there is so much opportunity for internships in RTP. You haven’t mentioned where you’re getting your salary stats from, without knowing how they were arrived it it’s impossible to say how applicable they would be in your case.
Have you looked at USC? If you have strong stats there are some tuition reciprocity programs available if you want another option.
What kind of ROI data are you looking at? Because if you are look at PayScale, there are a variety of reasons why that data is not accurate.
NCSU has over 150,000 living alumni. PayScale’s ROI report is based on 140 alumni reporting, as far as I can tell. Honestly, Georgia Tech’s numbers are not a whole lot better - GT has around 130,000 living alumni but only 180 salaries on PayScale. PayScale data is collected by whoever happens to stumble onto the page and enter their salary data (and there are many motivations for doing so); it’s not a representative sample of the schools. There are other factors - like over 60% of NCSU alumni live in North Carolina, a state with a generally low cost of living, so salaries may be lower on average than GT alumni (the Atlanta area has a higher cost of living and GT alumni may also be more likely to move to other states). They exclude everyone who has a graduate degree of any kind.
Even if the data were valid, I am hard pressed to understand how they come up with their rankings. Looking at their own data, they rank GT OOS #18 and NCSU in-state #161, and they rank GT’s salaries 26th while NCSU’s salaries are ranked 106th. But according to them, the average early career salary at NCSU is about the same as the average early career salary at Georgia Tech (around $65,000), and the mid-career salary at NCSU is actually higher than that of Georgia Tech ($129,000 vs. $112,000).
So I took a look at their methodology. The ROI rankings are based on the difference between 20-year median pay of the college’s alumni and the 24-year median pay of high school graduates. It’s hard to explain without going into the statistical weeds, but they use a really statistically MESSY and not-very-valid way of trying to extrapolate 20-year median pay (since they don’t actually have enough people with 20 years of work experience to make real growth models).
Basically…I’d disregard this completely.
I think you should reframe this. First of all, it’s obvious you are not choosing NC State because of the price only. If that was the case, you’d really be considering East Carolina University or North Carolina A&T, both of which are a bit cheaper than NCSU and have engineering. No, I’d say you are considering NCSU because it gives you a great value - an excellent engineering education at a well-reputed university for a really good price.
I’d be more concerned about the job prospects for nuclear engineering.
Save GT for graduate school if its still on your dream list by then. Enjoy every minute of NC at an instate price tag. Remember, its “just” undergrad.
I agree with pretty much everyone else here. You have a GREAT in-state option. For engineering and for most careers the “prestige” of the university that you attend is worth very little indeed (with most of the exceptions being areas where you need to go to graduate/law/medical school, so that the “prestige” of undergrad doesn’t matter). The OOS cost is not worth it.
Also, I too would be concerned about the extent to which irrational politics might influence job prospects for nuclear engineering (in spite of the fact that some believe it to be a way to make progress on global warming). Materials engineering on the other hand is likely to be needed regardless of the future political climate, as is true of many other forms of engineering.
One more time, @juillet knocks it out of the park.
The grass is always greener from a distance. NC State has great programs & resources. And fyi, Materials at NC State is a really strong program- GaTech ranks slightly higher, but not in a different category.
And have no/less debt will look more and more attractive the closer you get to actually have to pay the debt…
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/nuclear-engineers.htm
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/nuclear-technicians.htm
IDK what kind of job you want to have, but if it involves actually working with nuclear power, just know that the outlook is pretty poor.
The outlook for Materials engineers/scientists is a bit better. If I was you, I would try to major in materials science and minor in nuclear. You’ll already be taking the engineering basics anyways.
“Unsure Whether Out-of-State is Worth IT” I’m really just restating what most have already said but it kind of matters what IT is. If it means borrowing money there is really no question. It is absolutely not worth it to attend and OOS school. If it does not mean borrowing money then it comes down to opportunity cost and I doubt there can be an a real strong argument made that there are not better things for $120,000 to be spent on (a guestimation on my part).
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No, it doesn’t. Companies do not pay their GT new hires more than a NCU new hire…not at all.
That said, what are your parents saying about GT higher cost? Will they pay all of the GT cost? If not, then the question is moot.
Prestige doesn’t matter for eng’g, especially between two very good programs…GT and ncu
For an NC student, I would think that staying in-state for the highly-respected UNC system (widely considered the third best public U system in the country) would always be a much better deal. Especially attending a school of NC State’s caliber.