UPenn or Georgia Tech

I got accepted into electrical engineering program at UPenn and Georgia Tech. Both are great schools. But UPenn is obviously costing more money. .I am not sure if UPenn is worth the money. I feel like if I don’t go to UPenn , I am missing a big opportunity. But engineering rating wise GT is higher. I am not getting any financial help at any of these two colleges. But I heard you can easily get some internship or some kind of financial support at UPenn after one year. I really need some advice here.

Penn and GT are not even in the same orbit for engineering. I would certainly not pay MORE for a lesser program. I’ll flag this and ask if it can be moved to the engineering forum. You’ll get the best feedback there.

Thank you! For anyone else viewing this, any input would be appreciated so please contribute your advice/expertise if you are informed in this area. Both of these programs have great strengths but I’m trying to determine which ones are the ones that really matter for an engineering, and possibly a switch into computer science.

Penn for bragging rights and GT for a job in your field with the same pay as Penn. Honestly, this is an easy one and $100k less.

GT all the way.

Thanks for the input. Is it the same if I want to do CS instead of EE?

I would certainly say so, but I was hoping others would chime in.

CS at GT is Top 10 and Penn Top 20. Both certainly stellar but GT had serious cred and it is heavily recruited from.

I would ask about changing majors though as I know GT has a separate college for CS.

Are you in state or out of state for GT? Our children have different SEAS majors @ Penn and wanted the med school and robotics labs plus breath of CAS classes. Don’t think either would have chosen Penn for EE though.

GT four year grad rate is 40%. Coop lowers the rate but so does the culture of taking a lighter load and stretching to 5 year curriculum. At Penn SEAS students are more likely to overload for a minor, masters or just to take a fun course.

I though about the fact that the lower GT tuition compared with loss of a year of full salary and extra year of tuition for year 5 flip the equation upside down.

Penn and GT are very different colleges. Do you have a preference for one or the other, when you visited ? This decision is not just about the rankings, as both are Top colleges.

GT is a Tech focused school, and CS or EE will have a lot of breadth and you will get a great engineering education.
Penn SEAS is well known, and the students there, go on to work at well known companies, Grad schools, or start a company etc. They can take Wharton or CAS classes, double major, add a minor in a non-engineering field.
Which one suits you ? It is your college experience for the next 4 years.

Don’t assume though that a lower 4 year graduation rate means you won’t graduate in 4. Much of that is in direct control of the student, not taking early classes or dodging certain professors for example. My son’s program had a 4 year rate of 37% and it is not a coop school. He walked with both BS and MS in 5 and never took summer courses. One extra term bumps the stat to 5 as schools don’t have increments less than years in their stats.

Penn will not accept any AP courses and GT has a list that they accept 4s and 5s.

Any student would be far more likely to graduate in 4 years at UPenn than at GT (or any public university). These are two very different schools. Review the (very different) electrical engineering curriculum, and it’s clear why it’s easier to graduate in 4 years at UPenn vs GT.

https://www.ece.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/documents/undergrad/curriculum_charts_ee_2018-2019.pdf

http://www.ese.upenn.edu/current-students/undergraduates/ee-sample-2017.php

GT’s program requires 132 credits (vs the standard 120 for a bachelor degree). GT designs the program to be completed in “4” years by cramming up to 6 classes into a semester. You can also see the complicated system of prerequisites, co-requisites and even prerequisite with concurrency (got to love those). It’s a challenge graduating in 4 years, and that’s before considering any minors or certificates (or design teams, clubs and other demands on the students time).

UPenn expect’s only 4 or 5 classes a semester. They also expect each student will graduate with their class. They have far smaller classes, and much better advising/tutoring.

Can you graduate in 4 years from Tech? Sure! However, you should plan on the possibility of taking at least 1 additional semester to graduate.

I know kids that graduated from Tech in 3yrs. Plenty of AP credit, started as sophomores.

My DT just graduated from GT in Dec. and one of her closest friends graduated in May as the #1 graduate in the EE dept. I just had hand surgery so I can’t write more until tomorrow but search under my name and you can see my previous posts about GT.

I also disagree with poster. Class size at GT is small other than a couple intro classes and advising is very personal and top notch!! If you subtract co-OP or internship time away from campus, my Dd and all her friends graduated in 4 years. All work with top companies and had a great college experience.

Two students from my dad’s first robotics program went to Penn and IMO DD had a more diversified e experience. (E.g. study abroad, completion teams, sports, social justice etc).

You can switch majors once no questions asked and then I think a form and some approvals afterwards.

What exactly is the cost differential between the two schools?
Can your family afford both schools with no loans/hardship?
Do you have a preference?

The difference is 100K. We are not super rich but my family will support me with whatever decision. My preference was initially towards UPenn due to their outstanding connections but I’m not sure anymore because I’ve heard GTech has just as many connections to top tech companies (google, fb, tesla, etc.) as UPenn. Please correct me if I’m wrong in this assumption.

GTech = better school + $100K. I don’t even understand why there is a debate.

You can graduate in four years or less from GT as my child just did with a coop designation. Its a choice and its hard work. And my kiddo earned an engineering degree while always holding a job. However, my kiddo likes to be on the go all the time with little down time.