<p>My comment about Utah was made after looking at the SAT scores and ACT scores of the incoming freshmen at each of the schools. Also US News ranks WPI as #62 and Utah as #121 of the National Universities. Cal Poly SLO, for some reason, is ranked as a Regional University (at # 9 in the west). It seems every bit as much of a national university as the other two. But averages and rankings are just numbers and they can be quite misleading when trying to apply them to an individual’s experiences.</p>
<p>Eyemgh, you know your son and would know better than anyone whether the LDS thing would bother him or not. Some people are real sensitive (and sometimes overly so) to their outside environment others are not. So what is a big deal to one person can be nothing to someone else.</p>
<p>The skiing thing might also be a red herring in the decision. A lot of kids I’ve known are really into something in high school. They meet up with a new set of friends in college and develop new interests, sometimes also keeping up their old interests, sometimes not so much. Also, engineering school is very time intensive, classes and labs all thru the day and a lot of school work on the weekends. Not sure he will have a whole lot of time for skiing. I had classmates that were into skiing (the slopes were a two hour drive each way) and about all they could do was about once a month.</p>
<p>It is kind of hard to turn down Utah for money reasons </p>
<p>LDS part does not bother me. My relatives attend BYU. I would love for my kid to attend BYU business school but not engineering. I also have a problem with given any kid the $35K difference, he/she has not earned.
That being said I said I would be glad to pay for ski trips and NYC trips for D2 when she was deciding between in-state school vs private school. She loves NYC and skiing. So far skiing has not costed me $80K yet. I gave her the choices and she picked in state school. But no I wouldn’t give her $30Kx4 divide by 2 difference. She has not earned that.</p>
<p>I’m always skeptical of rankings, because of their methodology and every one is looking for something a bit different. With that said, USNWR ranks Poly’s ME program as #2 among schools that don’t offer PhD. WPI is ranked #87 for engineering and #71 for ME among schools that do offer doctorate. Utah is #53 and #61 respectively. I strongly believe WPI is under ranked, but it does put Utah into the company of Colorado School of Mines at #49 and Northeastern at #53.</p>
<p>As for skiing, the U is an hour from 7 resorts, but only 40 minutes from Solitude and Brighton. It makes half day trips very possible.</p>
<p>At WPI the skiing wouldn’t be as good, but they have a race team and he’s very into that. He’s always had to be organize with his studies due to travel racing. Since he’d be racing with other engineers, they build study time into their race trips.</p>
<p>Poly is in one of the coolest places in California and has a great reputation on the west coast.</p>
<p>Hence the reasons for being conflicted. :-/ </p>
<p>I just want my kid to go to school that has potential to offer a job, even as a CS which is one of the hottest major right now, only 61% graduate found employment. So I just don’t want to be pennywise and pound foolish. Interesting, I’ve heard of WPI and Colorado School of Mines and Northeastern for engineering. I guess if skiing is a top priority then Utah should be considered. My kid is not that advance in skiing so that is not part of a consideration.</p>
<p>It’s not a top priority per se, but it is a pretty big part of his life. He was explaining to his college counselor that he can’t remember any portion of his life where he wasn’t a skier. He skis at least three times a week.</p>
<p>With that said, Poly is still at the top of his list. He’s wrestling with the merits of the others, which are valid and real.</p>
<p>I’m thinking that’s the way it will likely end up, plus they have a club that takes good trips. He’s still waffling though. That’s why I’m searching for more opinions. Thanks!</p>
<p>Oops, I thought that was MAJOR new information we hadn’t considered. It’s a mountain he’s trained and raced at. Mammoth is over 400 miles though. That link must be in error. Bummer.</p>
<p>"Utah would be one year tuition free and then three years instate. " - That sounds appealing. Is there any need to get residency? That can be tricky (and the warn not really doable for CO schools). </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the feedback! The discussion is now moot. When I arrived home today, he’d committed to Cal Poly. I think he had three great fit options and chose the one he felt he’d be happiest at. Thanks again!</p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t mean to sound like a jerk but paying 70K more for a degree is not a good financial decision. Oh well, hopefully he is the one that will have to live with the loan burden and pay it back. </p>
<p>If I had a kid, I would never allow or partake in such thing unless he/she took full responsibility for paying it back. Good luck!</p>
<p>No offense taken. Your’s is a legitimate point, just not one I hold.</p>
<p>We are fortunate to have saved enough that there will be no loan burden. There is though opportunity cost. That makes the assumption that a Utah degree and a Cal Poly degree are equal and will create equal earning potential. I have an opinion, that the Poly degree is “better,” but obviously no SO much better that I counseled him not to consider Utah. Let’s for argument sake though say they are equal academically, which they might be. These things are very difficult to assess and tend to vary from user to user. The difference then must be looked at as a gift, a gift we prepared for since he was born. </p>
<p>Congrats, Max. While I may have seemed to be pushing Utah, my opinion (from the east coast) mirrors yours in that Cal Poly is “better”. Your son made a great choice.</p>
<p>I like how you put it, eyemgh, that it is a gift to your child allowing him to choose the more expensive option. We, too, were faced with the dilemma of a perfectly good engineering college at a rather cheap price vs. a significantly more expensive option. We let our S decide for himself where he thought he would be happier as we are able to cover the cost and it is indeed our gift to him, which we judged worth it! I understand how others may make their decisions by giving the financial aspect a greater weight though. Congrats to your son!</p>
<p>Congrats, it’s the location that makes a difference. I’m also suggesting my daughter to go to SV when she’s graduating. I just hope the bubble does not burst before then :D. Friends of D1 graduated in 2012 have landed at startup that went IPO(linkedin) or about to go IPO(Box) just because of the fact that they came from and working in SV. $70K is chump change, I think these kids already net about $200K plus for the last 2 years. I don’t know about the one at Box but I would think it has some monetary value.</p>
<p>So by your rationale students should always choose the cheapest option no matter what? It certainly is a reasonable perspective and one that some parents hold when dealing with funding their children’s educatio, just not the one we hold. </p>
<p>It’s a matter of perspective and purpose. We felt, for instance, that a Tufts, a school that our son, and we liked very much, didn’t represent value at $250k versus the level of engineering they offer, so he didn’t apply. </p>
<p>It’s really a matter of where you draw the line between two years of community college followed by two years of the cheapest state school you can find, to four years at a quarter of a million dollars. Each person will justify to themselves where it should be. In the end all that matters is that they are happy with their decision.</p>
<p>@bschoolwiz, not $200K salary but $200k in stock options.
Too be honest with you, in some circles $150K is still chump change, if you compare with people who got rich with stock options. All you have is to be at the right place at the right time. </p>
<p>The point is you shouldn’t act like that is normal to make that much, especially that fast. Relatively few engineers top out above $200k, let alone get there in 2 years. Acting like someone is a chump for expecting or accepting less is misleading and, frankly, a bit condescending.</p>