<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>It is coming close to decision time, and I am trying to pick between The Ohio State University, Purdue University, and Carnegie Mellon University, and I am thinking about majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering.</p>
<p>OSU and Purdue have given me scholarships, and I would be paying about $13,000/year at OSU and $25,000/year at Purdue.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has not given me a scholarship, and I am eligible for very little in terms of need-based financial aid. I would very likely be paying the full price for Carnegie, which is around $62,000/year. Also, I have received admission to Carnegie, but not to its Electrical and Computer Engineering program. I would have to apply as an internal transfer into that program at the end of freshman year. I have heard both from people on College Confidential and from the admissions department at CMU that everyone from the last couple years who tried the internal transfer got into the ECE major without any issues, but again this is not a 100% guarantee.</p>
<p>I know that the average starting salary for an ECE major out of Carnegie is around $20,000 higher than the same degree from either OSU or Purdue, but is that enough to justify the higher cost of Carnegie Mellon over four years? Advice from any students at the three schools or anyone else who could shed light on the quality of the ECE program at any of the three universities and career prospects at the end of four years would be really appreciated.</p>
<p>I personally like Carnegie Mellon the best because it has arguably one of the top 3 Electrical and Computer Engineering programs in the country, its student body is highly intellectual, and I believe I can put together a great network there. However, I think the last would be true of both OSU and Purdue as well. I have visited all three universities, and I don't think I would be unhappy at any of them, but attending Carnegie excites me the most. However, I really do want to get the best value for my tuition dollars, especially with the huge difference between the tuition at CMU vs OSU and Purdue.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Dude, CMU is the right choice for you! :)</p>
<p>Any reason why? Do you go there? Any experiences you can share?</p>
<p>The average pay increase per year is 4% no matter what job you work at. Starting your career with a salary of 20,000 more will compound significantly over the course of your career. Not to mention that, having a degree from a more reputable collage will keep you in a top earning position. Spending the extra money now will give a much greater life style financially speaking. The numbers speak for themselves.</p>
<p>YEAR 30000 + 4%/Yr 50000 + 4%/Yr
1 31200 52000<br>
2 32448 54080<br>
3 33745.92 56243.2
4 35095.76 58492.93<br>
5 36499.59 60832.65<br>
6 37959.57 63265.95<br>
7 39477.95 65796.59<br>
8 41057.07 68428.45<br>
9 42699.35 71165.59<br>
10 44407.33 74012.21<br>
11 46183.62 76972.7
12 48030.97 80051.61<br>
13 49952.21 83253.68<br>
14 51950.29 86583.82<br>
15 54028.31 90047.18<br>
16 56189.44 93649.06<br>
17 58437.01 97395.02<br>
18 60774.5 101290.8<br>
19 63205.48 105342.5<br>
20 65733.69 109556.2<br>
21 68363.04 113938.4<br>
22 71097.56 118495.9<br>
23 73941.47 123235.8<br>
24 76899.12 128165.2<br>
25 79975.09 133291.8<br>
26 83174.09 138623.5<br>
27 86501.06 144168.4<br>
28 89961.1 149935.2<br>
29 93559.54 155932.6<br>
30 97301.93 162169.9</p>
<p>ECE is one of the most lucrative majors at CMU. See this page for more information on ECE salaries and career outcomes: <a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/career/salaries-and-destinations/2012-survey/pdfs-one-pagers/2012%20ECE%20Post%20Grad%20Handout.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cmu.edu/career/salaries-and-destinations/2012-survey/pdfs-one-pagers/2012%20ECE%20Post%20Grad%20Handout.pdf</a></p>
<p>Before I say anything, however, are your parents actually willing to pay 62k/year for CMU? You really need to know whether they’ll support you if you choose to come here.</p>
<p>Oldmanwithadvice, The problem with this reply is that it assumes the company will continue to give 4% raises for an engineer as long as they are in that position. THe problem is no company works that way. You are hired as an engineer in a specific pay grade, as you approach the top of that pay grade your raises decrease because you aren’t allowed to make more than a specific amount. You must then change to a different position (project engineer, project manager…) to continue to earn 4% increases. However, it is at these transitions that engineers who graduated from other colleges begin to catch up. When they change positions their pay is bumped up more, because the new pay grade affords them more salary cap room than the CMU graduate who may be entering the new pay grade in the middle of the salary range. Also, when the engineer changes positions the company relies less on the college you graduated from, and more on the reputation you’ve built.</p>
<p>Not to mention that in your example it takes almost 9 years for the CMU student to catch up to the other student (assuming CMU is 50K/year more) and that is neglecting interest on the $200K and additional taxes on the difference in salary the CMU student is going to pay.</p>