Hi!
I was admitted into both schools to study chemical engineering and I’m really torn between the two. I’m out of state for both, making UMN approximately $35K to attend and UT about $50K to attend. I know both programs have great programs for this field and I don’t care about the rankings, so its really a matter of preference (and maybe price) at this point. On one hand, I’m attracted to UT because I want to work in the energy sector and I can do relevant research there and probably be employed in the industry and live in Texas if I go there, but I like Minnesota because it offers great programs/location and I feel like I really fit in there (I haven’t visited Texas yet) and the cost is far less than Texas. Has anyone experienced this dilemma before and what choice did you make?
Thanks
Go to Minnesota. At UT 95 percent of the students are from in state and would be paying a third of what you would have to pay to go there. Austin is also a fraction of the size of Twin Cities metro area. You will have plenty of opportunities attending Minnesota (which is 75 percent in state by comparison). You could still pursue summer internships in Texas or wherever you like – but then someone would be paying you to be there. Since you would be saving $60,000 – assuming that’s the annual cost you named – you could even do unpaid internships or travel abroad or so many other things with that money than hand it over to UT. Also, the College of Science and Engineering is so hard to get into that your peers will be an extremely high caliber.
Thank you @mommyrocks after visiting both schools, I think Minnesota is the better option for my undergrad studies.