<p>Here is my dilemma.
I am currently a sophomore at the Euro. American Institute of Technology (in France) and my major is Aerospace Engineering.
I've been accepted as a Transfer Student to Virginia Tech as well as to the University of Florida and I really don't know which one to choose. I could really use some advice...</p>
<p>I'd be truly grateful if some of you could share facts, opinions, anything that would help me choose between those two great schools!</p>
<p>I’m not an Aerospace Engineer, but within my engineering field I can say that graduates from VT have been VERY well prepared - moreso than other often recommended schools. Alumni love the school and speak highly of their time there.</p>
<p>Both are very good choices. Both are on Lockheed’s “key school” list, and as such, both are considered among the best schools in the country for aero.</p>
<p>From just an academic perspective VT likely is a better overall engineering program though UF is still pretty good. Either would be a nice place to spend some time and you’d probably learn plenty.</p>
<p>Other factors: I lived in Gainesville for several years in the 80;s so I’m not completely unbiased: Gainesville is a huge University once you add the UG, Grad, Professional students, etc. The city itself is pretty nice, but nothing spectacular. It’s big enough to have most anything you need pretty easily, but none of the Big City clutter – decent number of movie theaters, a nice variety of ethnic restaurants (a few surprises actually). The weather is hot and humid for 8+ months a year, no cold, no snow, no hills or mountains for hundreds of miles, but you are an hour from either coast and within 2-3 hours of Jacksonville, Orlando, Cape Canaveral, St Pete/Tampa (Disney, Universal Studio, Busch Gardens, Sea World, etc). Clothing is nearly optional for the wonderful co-eds and it’s a pretty liberal environment. </p>
<p>VT is a pretty campus and not the same throng of students as Gainesville, but Blacksburg is pretty blah (My opinion). It’s going to get some cold weather, you are going to get some snow, you are a long way from the beach, but pretty near (or in) some nice Mountains and near Ski Slopes. In the summer it can get pretty warm and muggy. Spring and Fall can be pretty wonderful. It’s a pretty long way away from any other big city – 5 hours from DC, 7 hours to Philly, 3-4 hours from Raleigh and Charlotte, 6 hours to Atlanta. The area around the University of pretty typical Southern religious and politically conservative in many ways though the University itself less so.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot duncanidaho, i really appreciate it.
So you think that eventhough VT has a better Aerospace Engineering program (and a better engineering program in general) than UF, it’s undecided as UF is also an excellent undergrad experience with a great area.</p>
<p>I’ve lived in Cannes (France) most of my life, and it’s sunny about 320 days a year, so I would like to have the best possible undergrad experience I can possibly have.</p>
<p>Which of these two universities do you think would give a better undergrad experience then?</p>
<p>The engineering rankings between the schools are pretty close…within a few places of each other, so it will come down to individual departments between the two schools. With regard to Aero specifically it is (in my opinion) a wash academically. USNews has VaTech at about ~17 and UF at about ~19…which is a completely inconsequential difference. With regard to Lockheed’s key-school list…of course it isn’t the same list as all other S&P500 companies. These lists are generally proprietary, but I wanted to point out that the two schools you are looking at are considered equivalent by the company that makes F22 Raptors, F35 Joint Strike Fighters, and F16s…arguably the most advanced aerospace company in the world.</p>
<p>Your choice should probably come down to factors other than simply academics when looking at these two schools.</p>
<p>The most recent USNews ranking for Undergraduate Programs in Aerospace Eng (among Universities with Doctoral degrees) has VT about 15th and Florida 18 or 19 so educationally they are close enough to be basically meaningless – assuming you believe in such ranking. You will get out of the programs what you put into it. For other engineering areas I suspect VT has a bigger differential, but UF being so close to NASA I suspect that gives it a bit of a boost.</p>
<p>I can’t say much about Lockheed key list, but it would make sense that they have a good feel which programs train their future employees well. </p>
<p>As far as which University has the best Undergraduate experience that sometimes has more to do with what you want. Just for me personally, I think Florida in a better location, it’s nearer to a lot more fun things without needing to fly, and the campus I think is a bit more diverse – it has more educational programs in a wider range of disciplines. Overall Blacksburg has about 100K population with 20-30K students. Gainesville has a general population about 250K with over 50K students. </p>
<p>I loved being able to take a daytrip or weekend to go to Disney and Sea World or a trip to tour NASA. Florida was much more of a Spanish colony than English so there is a different feel to some of the older areas like St Augustine, Micanopy, Ocala, Jasper – there is still a lot of old historical small Florida cities.</p>
<p>The overall weather is great though certainly warmer than Cannes looking at weather.com – it’s a hour inland so it doesn’t get the constant on shore breeze that the Beach areas have. It may rain a bit more particularly in summer, but I can’t find much on precipitation in your areas. I’m not a winter sport person and while snow is fun for about a week or two, constant 30 degree days gets old very quickly. I did hate being away from the mountain areas in spring and most certainly in autumn.</p>
<p>U Florida is ranked 9th in the above reference overall. VaTech is 13th. Not sure what to make of all the subcategory rankings, as they appear incomplete. Engineering is one of UF strongest recruitment drivers.</p>