<p>Trying to decide between VT, Stevens and Udell for Civil or Mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>Any help will be appreciated.</p>
<p>Depends, do you want to be a duck, a turkey or a blue hen? (Come on that can’t be a coincidence)</p>
<p>Is money an issue at any of them? What are you looking for?</p>
<p>They will all run about the same amount of money.</p>
<p>Quality education, job or graduate school opportunities and a social life.</p>
<p>Industry respected school n the NJ/NY area?</p>
<p>Well, for quality VT is #17 in engineering, UD is 49 and Stevens is 84. Rankings aren’t everything though. I know VT’s career services are good, no clue on the others. Ditto on social life.</p>
<p>Good ME schools in that area include Princeton, Cornell, Johns Hopkins in MD, and Rensselaer. There are plenty of other schools where someone could get a good education and job from up there but those are the best ranked.</p>
<p>My son was down to Stevens and VT… decided on VT purely on the basis of lifestyle choices. Decided he wanted a bigger more traditional Div I type university, and he is an outdoorsy guy, so the Blacksburg area is right up his alley. Both engineering programs are excellent, and I actually think Stevens had some better opportunities for him over the long term (scholars program, guaranteed internships, etc). Stevens has EXCELLENT job placement track record…</p>
<p>Stevens co-op program does look really good.</p>
<p>My son chose VT engineering over UD engineering where he was accepted in honors program and given $10k/yr. He never really considered UD. I’m a UD alum in EE, and my opinion having gone is if you are really looking for a good engineering program, UD is average at best, except for chemical (top 10 in country because of Dupont). My son is also interested in EE, and I was surprised to see that their EE curriculum is almost identical right down to the course numbers and even quite a few profs as when I was there '82-'86. That to me is pretty scary. If a school basically hasn’t changed and updated their program in 30 years, you have to wonder.<br>
Don’t know anything about Stevens. But as for VaTech, from what I’ve read and people I’ve talked to, have not heard one bad thing about VaTech. Every co-worker or other parent I’ve talked to has raved about how their kid has loved it.</p>
<p>Our son had to choose between UD, NCSU, UMD and VT for engineering. He chose VT and it definitely chose him. It just felt right to him when he visited and again when he returned for accepted students weekend. </p>
<p>VT has great school spirit, great alumni involvement and connections, is higher ranked than UD in engineering, has the broadest recognition for its engineering value, hosts the second largest job fair in the country (always sold out-more companies want to come than there are spaces for), has a very clear sense of its identity and distinguishing between the disciplines, VT engineering grads have at least (and may have been higher) 80% plus graduating with jobs or grad school lined up. </p>
<p>I wish VT wasnt so far out in the middle of nowhere but on the other hand, I don’t mind that my son will not have much reason to go off campus. His sister attends a very urban school and school really takes a back seat to the sights and sounds of the city. </p>
<p>VT has great internships, great research opportunities, cool projects that even freshmen can become involved with. </p>
<p>Like someone else pointed out, I haven’t heard anyone disappointed with the choice to attend VT. There is a strong sense of community that carries on long after graduation. that translates in to more than just a feeling of belonging; it translates in to connections, jobs and high professional regard. For the record, I am a UVA gerad, from a long line of UVA grads, and I definitely NEVER intended to step for on Va Tech’s campus!</p>