UT Austin vs WVU vs. VT for Undergrad Cmp E

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I’m caught in a dilemma between these 3 schools for undergrad computer engineering. I’m from West Virginia, so I get instate plus a few other scholarships at WVU. At Virginia tech I have not received financial information yet, but I’m fairly positive I will get little to nothing. At UT Austin , I would receive no financial aid.</p>

<p>The tution + room and board for Texas is around 39.5 thousand per year, Virginia tech is 27.3 thousand, and WVU (with scholarships) is 4.7 thousand a year. </p>

<p>I can graduate from WVU debt free, but would it be more advisable to go to Texas/Vtech in terms of career and educational opportunities? I believe wherever I go, I can motivate myself to work hard and succeed. But really, how much more valuable is an engineering degree from Texas or Virginia tech compared to a degree from WVU. </p>

<p>Because I would be a considered a higher tier student WVU who knows, I may be able to “get inside” a lot of the opportunities offered. I could also probably maintain a higher GPA. (I would also be in the honors college , although that probably doesn’t mean much)</p>

<p>But then again , maybe I’d be missing out of the quality of education offered at Virginia Tech or Texas…. </p>

<p>So how I see it is.
Texas = expensive , good education, well respected school and engineering ;
Virginia tech = medium cost , good education , well respected engineering ;
West Virginia = really cheap , but I could receive more attention and opportunities, I’ve heard engineering is one of WVU’s strengths as well;</p>

<p>I also plan on later pursuing an MBA, if that helps any.</p>

<p>Any help, comments, thoughts, tips, would be extremely appreciated. Further questions are also welcome. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Honestly I would go with Vatech if your parents can afford it because in your case it is worth it.</p>

3

<p>How so? And yes, my parents can afford it .</p>

4

<p>UT Austin is great top 10 school in CS/CE. If cost weren’t an issue, I would go with that. If you do well in there, you shouldn’t have problems getting into a top company. Dell and IBM frequently higher CE grads.</p>

5

<p>If you want to switch to MSE or possibly Aerospace you can get in-state tuition at VT, although those are substantially different than Cmp E so that might not be an option.</p>

<p>I’m also from West Virginia and I now go to VT, and it was a really, really good choice. It’s a very good school, and it’s the perfect distance from home that I can drive back pretty easily but I’m not tempted to go back every weekend. </p>

<p>VT (and UT) engineering is absolutely in a different league than WVU’s. I looked at WVU when I was thinking about where to go but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go to a top school like VT, even though I’m in a bit of debt now. Luckily thanks to connections I’ve made at VT and their excellent job searching services (literally hundreds of companies attend our career fairs; we’re heavily recruited) I have a job starting right after I graduate that’ll allow me to pay it off pretty easily.</p>

<p>If you can even come close to affording it VT is the obvious choice, unless you end up liking UT a lot more for some reason. UT is a great school as well, but the distance would be a killer and I’m not sure the cost difference would be worth it.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the great information guys. But it still seems like I keep getting varying arguments for each of these 3 schools.</p>

<p>So what from I’ve heard, UT has a slight edge (in terms of prestige and academics) against Virginia Tech in the engineering department. But is this slight edge in undergraduate really worth the extra 12k a year? </p>

<p>Also, if any more insights/info about any of these schools would be much appreciated.</p>

7

<p>It does have an edge, that’s true. It’ll work out to being more than 12k a year difference though, when you factor in how much more it’ll cost to move there and back and get home for holidays and stuff. I don’t know where in WV you’re from but it’s only about 3 hours from Huntington to Blacksburg, and it’s nice being able to drive down whenever I need to without it being a day long trip.</p>

<p>At the end of the day you’re still going to be receiving a top notch education at VT, for 12k a year less. That’s a LOT of money, especially if you’re paying it yourself. Think about it this way; even if going to UT would get you a slightly better job upon graduation, and in all honestly I don’t think it’d make a difference, would the extra debt be worth it?</p>

8

<p>Chuy, I agree with what you are saying . I am going to visit these schools soon, to get a feel for the campus. Oh and I live in Charleston, which is yet a shorter drive I believe. </p>

<p>What else did you like about Virginia Tech? Are the classes interesting ? challenging? I am really interested in computers and what I know about circuitry , and I love programming. And I find math interesting , but only if taught well. I’ve also heard the students at vtech are laid back, which I am as well for the most part. </p>

<p>I am fairly certain I will stay in computer engineering , but my second choice would be computer science. How does Virginia tech’s computer science department compare to it’s engineering?</p>

<p>Sorry for the barrage of questions , but I haven’t really had a chance to talk to any engineering students at V Tech , Thanks!</p>

9

<p>I’ve liked my classes but I’m in a totally different field of engineering. The exception to that is the intro to engineering class that everybody has to take, and it’s bad. It’s just a ton of stupid busy work for an entire semester. After that, though, you get to take classes you’re actually interested in so it gets much better. They’re definitely challenging. You’ll have to take one math class that is taught online, but if you’re even decent at math you’ll have 0 problems with it. Other than that math classes tend to be small (largest I ever had was 30 or so) and the professors seem pretty good.</p>

<p>I guess we’re laid back. We’re not a cut-throat competitive school if that’s what you mean. In engineering you do have to work hard though.</p>

<p>At VT Computer Science is still in the college of engineering. The way it works is you take one year of basic engineering classes, then for your sophomore year you pick which concentration you want to go into. That means you would have a year to decide whether you want to do CS or Electrical and Computer engineering, and you’d have plenty of chances to talk with people in both majors. If you really like programming you’ll probably like CS better and if you really like high level math you’ll probably like Electrical better.</p>