<p>My son is a NY resident who has been accepted into UVA and CMU. He plans to major in physics or astrophysics.</p>
<p>CMU ($58,500) is more expensive than UVA ($47,750), and both gave about the same aid package ($24,800). As a result, CMU will cost $33,000 and UVA will cost $23,000.</p>
<p>Financially, there is not much of a contest, but is CMU "worth" the extra cost?</p>
<p>One of his concerns is distance (UVA is 8 hours away from home; CMU is 5). But other than that, are there any reasons to pay an extra $40 grand over four years?</p>
<p>Physics Department Rankings</p>
<p>USNWR Graduate
30. Carnegie Mellon
40. Virginia</p>
<p>NRC Graduate
32. Carnegie Mellon
54. Virginia</p>
<p>While UVa is just so-so in most sciences it does have a very good astronomy dept which offers an astro-physics major jointly with physics. Given the better general atmosphere at UVa I think it could be really good in this area.</p>
<p>The other thing to keep in mind is a student’s exposure to a subject in HS could be very different from what s/he’ll be exposed to in college. The student may actually find that Engineering in college may be closer to what he expected based on his HS physics or math experience. So it’s good to consider this possibility, possibility of a dual major, etc. and then assess the merits of the two institutions.</p>