<p>Hi! I plan on going into mechanical, aerospace, electrical, or computer engineering (a little broad, I know). I was looking at Georgia Tech, but unfortunately it seems like I won't be able to afford it so my best option right now is Virginia Tech. Of course, GaTech has a better reputation for engineering, but I was wondering just how much better. How large would you say the gap is between the two programs? How much of a difference will it make for getting a job / into grad school? How would it look if I got my bachelor's from VaTech and master's from GaTech? Thank you for the help! :)</p>
<p>You will be totally fine at Vtech, both for employment or grad school.</p>
<p>James Madison, Jr</p>
<p>People often ask about if a cost different is justified for a school quality difference. Unfortunately, that’s not something that others can answer for you. Everyone values money differently (a wealthy person will value $20,000/year very differently than someone living in poverty, etc) and everyone will value the quality of education differently.</p>
<p>You just said the main point…you may not be able to afford GaTech.</p>
<p>Ummm…I don’t think many employers are going to turn up their noses to VaTech. Plus like you mentioned, you can goto GaTech for grad school.</p>
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<p>People say this too frequently for my tastes: “I can go to X for grad school, anyway”. Graduate school at a top school isn’t guaranteed - you need to be an exceptional student (and not just above average - truly exceptional). I wouldn’t plan an educational path with the assumption that you’ll get into a graduate school later, especially not a top graduate school.</p>
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<p>The exceptional student requirement is for the “fresh out of undergrad and wanting a fully funded status”. U-Wisconsin in supposedly Top-10 in Industrial Engineering (where systems engineering is offered) and my undergrad grades should not have allowed me in the parking lot…</p>
<p>But…</p>
<p>I had 9 years experience and tuition checks coming from my employer. I aced the first 9 credits of the MS program and was bumped up to full admission…didn’t even take a GRE.</p>
<p>Even Georgia Tech has professional graduate engineering programs with no GRE required. I am pretty sure they realize that they are not getting 3.8 GPA students…but are they gonna turn down employer checks and experienced engineers?</p>
<p>Three things about executive education: 1. they’re not the same as non-executive degrees, 2. people are very often denied with inadequate experience and educational backgrounds, 3. the programs usually cost $80,000+ so it’s not so easy to convince a company to sponsor you.</p>
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<p>I think there are two areas that this message board has flaws:</p>
<p>1) being strictly academic
2) not looking at the business world</p>
<p>Some more points…</p>
<p>1) Many companies could care less if your degree from Georgia Tech says “Professional Master of Systems Engineering” or “M.S. in Systems Engineering”. All they care about is that employee X has graduate engineering degree…and we “may” acknowledge a tiny bit that it was from GaTech.</p>
<p>2) Often times, the distance/online tuition amount is less than the full-time student who is funded. On top of that, there is no risk allowing these experienced engineers take courses. They are not hogging up classroom seating space. The school won’t have them as TA’s.</p>
<p>Again, college is a business. The BEST indicator that a student can do graduate work is…doing graduate work.</p>
<p>It’s easy to think that the whole academic and corporate world is some linear process but it is not. There are SO many different routes, so many loopholes and so many alternative options that it is not even funny. Even I agree some of it is not fair to the exceptional academic student.</p>
<p>…but I sure took advantage of them.</p>
<p>The linear process many try to follow is painfully boring to me. I would rather chart a unique path in life than follow the status quo and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with choosing that.</p>
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<p>No, the biggest problems are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>People who use their personal experiences and attempt to extrapolate that to all experiences and </p></li>
<li><p>People who think they have everything “figured out” when they actually do not.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Georgia Tech Graduate School in Engineering</p>
<p>31% acceptance rate</p>
<p>Students
3681 enrolled (full-time)
849 enrolled (part-time)</p>
<p>Master’s Program Entering Class GPA and GRE Scores
Average undergraduate GPA
3.60 </p>
<p>Average GRE
545 verbal
770 quantitative
4.04 analytical writing</p>
<p>Doctoral Program Entering Class GPA and GRE Scores
Average undergraduate GPA
3.60 </p>
<p>Average GRE
544 verbal
775 quantitative
4.14 analytical writing</p>
<p>thanks, that’s awesome. Do you have the stat for V-tech also?</p>
<p>Virginia Tech Graduate School of Engineering</p>
<p>20% Acceptance Rate</p>
<p>Students
1680 enrolled (full-time)
352 enrolled (part-time)</p>
<p>Other info not available</p>
<p>what is the best engineering major that VT has?</p>
<p>['U.S</a>. News’ gives high marks to Virginia Tech’s undergraduate engineering, business programs | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech](<a href=“http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2010/08/081710-eng-usnewsrankings.html]'U.S”>'U.S. News' gives high marks to Virginia Tech's undergraduate engineering, business programs | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech)</p>
<p>In engineering specialty programs, Virginia Tech’s Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering program ranks fourth in the nation for industrial/manufacturing engineering; the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics program ranks fifth for engineering science and 17th for materials engineering; aerospace and ocean engineering ranks 11th; the Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering civil program ranks 11th, while environmental segment ranks ninth; mechanical engineering ranks 13th; and electrical and computer engineering ranks 15th. The biological systems engineering department, shared with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, ranked eighth in the nation among biological/agricultural programs.</p>
<p>that is undergraduate?</p>
<p>yes…</p>
<p>I’m facing a situation that is similar to op’s. I just got into GT and I’m waiting on a decision from VT. </p>
<p>I am a transfer student with my lower division courses completed, and I am sure I want to get an engineering degree (either mechanical or aerospace). But I am not sure I want to do engineering work for the rest of my life. I am also interested in finance and economics. Is there any difference between VT and GT when it comes to engineering students who want to branch outside of the field?</p>
<p>Branching out of engineering is where you’ll find the biggest difference between VT and GT. If you want to branch out into strategy consulting (working with large companies and private equity firms to tell them what to do with their company - that’s where you make big money), the Big 3 (Bain, McKinsey, BCG) recruit Georgia Tech but not Virginia Tech. In fact, McKinsey (the largest strategy firm in the world and one of the most prestigious companies in the world) only recruits from about 10 schools (Harvard, Penn, UVA, Duke, etc) including Georgia Tech. There are parallels in i-banking, as well. Neither school is particularly strong in Venture Capital work. To do that sort of work, you generally want to go to a school close to the VC firms (in San Francisco or near New York or Boston). Georgia Tech’s name also carries you farther in grad school applications, whether for engineering, law, businesses, or medicine.</p>
<p>Where the schools are closer are for traditionally plant engineering positions. VT is not as heavily recruited as GT, but it’s fairly heavily recruited by traditional engineering employers because of it’s size. As a result, you’ll see many of the same traditional engineering positions at VT and GT.</p>
<p>bump / re-rail</p>