I have to make a decision in less than 10 days. I have narrowed down my options to 3 schools: Boulder, Purdue and RPI.
Purdue is about $25k.
Boulder and RPI are both about $45k after scholarships.
Can someone help me decide with any information they may have?
Here is some information about what I am looking for and what the different colleges are offering. I will study physics no matter what school I attend and if I go to Purdue I will take 5 years and double major with Nuclear Engineering. I got into the Honors Program at Boulder but not at either of the other schools. I dislike college and high school parties and want to go to a school where it is easy to avoid such things. I want to go to graduate school for physics after undergrad and don’t know exactly how each school will affect my ability to do so. I am a little concerned about the girl to guy ratio at RPI. I want to do a lot of undergrad research.
I also got waitlisted at Cornell and uchicago and wanted to know if these school would really be worth the extra $20k to $40k if they offered me a spot.
Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Purdue. Ranked #4 for nuclear engineering and the less expensive option. There seems to be no shortage of clubs and tons of ways to socialize without a party scene.
I don’t think a Boulder degree is worth $80K more than a Purdue one, for sure. In fact, if it were switched and Purdue were the pricier option, I still might think that was a better choice. CU is a pleasant environment that attracts lots of the motivated high school students from throughout Colorado. There will be some extremely bright and motivated students there, but also a considerable party scene built around the 420 vibe. It is not ethnically diverse compared to other campuses (I had a Boulder college advisor call the city of Boulder “the whitest place possible.”) So you will find a fair share of white, outdoorsy, 420-lovin’, bright kids. I think Purdue at $25K a year sounds like the prudent choice. I have a friend who is a Purdue grad and her enthusiasm is high and loyalty strong. In contrast I have another close friend who is a CU grad and she hated it, called it “date-rapey”, and couldn’t wait to graduate. I do know of another CU grad, a man, who lives and breathes Buffs and couldn’t be a more enthusiastic fan…so I guess every school has its fans and detractors. But just from the most practical perspective, Purdue is extremely solid and a good value at that price, much more so than Boulder at the higher price. I don’t know anything about RPI so can’t speak to that.
RPI is much smaller, definitely is skewed male to female, and is not as highly ranked as Purdue. Not that rank is crucial but your least expensive option is the academically strongest.