Both schools are my top 2. I was accepted to both.
I originally intended on majoring in Mechanical Engineering (accepted to USC for). However, I have been thinking about possibly changing to physics (accepted to at Virginia Tech).
Can anyone give me their opinion on which choice they think would be better?
Thanks!
USC is a great school. My daughter goes there and loves it
I have 1 at VT & 1 at U of SC. Both great schools. If you still really want engineering, Carolina has a wonderful program. We know graduates who have done very well. It is possible but very difficult to transfer into engineering from other majors at VT with out doing an additional year. Being a restricted major, you really need to start with your required engineering classes right away and you can’t get into many of them until you are excepted into the engineering school which requires a certain GPA and there are only a few times a year that you can apply to transfer. I don’t know much about the Physics program at VT so I can speak to that, but the hard sciences at Carolina are very good. My D is a science major and graduates do very well and are accepted at many top graduate/medical programs. Both kids love where they are. You really need to determine what you want to study.
My older son chose USC over Tech and JMU.
SALSRL raises a really important point. It is hard to transfer to engineering at Tech. My guess is that it would be easier to start out engineering, and then change to Physics than vice-versa.
Remember that any USC financial aid that reduces tuition to in state rates is generally only good for 4 years, so if you need to stay longer because of a change in major you are going to pay higher rates. (I think that Tech imposes some sort of limit on the amount of semesters that you can receive in state tuition.)
Good luck. It’s hard to know at 17 what you really want to do.
VT Engineering is pretty prestigious so I could see why transfer in would be difficult. Here in the heart of Silicon Valley, we do not see any USC Engineers, and very rarely the other USC. However, VT is different as we have several who work at my company.
Physics I have no idea, other than my son goes to UC Santa Barbara (Physics major), which does have a prestigious Physics Dept. When we were researching colleges and their Physics Departments across the country, VT never popped up on the radar screen.
@SALSRL What required engineering classes would be unavailable as a freshman? The freshman engineering curriculum generally involves Calc, Physics, Chem, and a couple general core courses (history, writing, etc.).
Good luck! S18 deciding between VT, NCSU, and USC! Hard decision.
@shortnuke As a freshmen in COE, my S I believe took 3 engineering classes in addition to the chemistry, physics, calc etc. The COE students take well above the 12 regular credits to be a full time student. I believe my son took 19 his first semester and 17 his 2nd. If you go on the COE website you can pull up the courses needed for each of the engineering majors. Many of the courses require specific prerequisites.
Both are good schools but are in very different settings. Large City vs (mountain) College town. Which do you prefer? For a STEM degree I think VaT is the better choice. As an engineer in NC, we have hired a few VaT grads, don’t know of any USC grads in the area. Transferring from physics to engineering in college would be much easier than other transfers, since they are so similar for the first couple of years.
On Engineering vs Physics, I have one son who graduated in engineering and one a Jr. in physics (both NCSU). One wanted to get out quickly and begin his career, the other has longer range school plans. Nice thing about engineering is after 4 years of hard work, you can most likely land a very good starting salary. In Physics, the general trend will be to continue into grad school. But a nice thing about a physics degree is that it can easily transfer to engineering. He has received a few letters of interest from Engineering Grad schools, including Ivy league, and Cal.
Good Luck