Which is a better school for me? GT UF

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I'm 30 y/o and a student at Miami Dade College. MY GPA is 3.2 overall, although my last 8 grades were all As and one B.
Any how I'm pretty sure I'll get accepted to both schools due to articulation agreement and excellent math and science grades. 4.0 So far. </p>

<p>Which school is better for me at my age and which can provide better job opportunities. I'm guessing GT will be better career wise, but how much better?
BTW I'll have a huge excess of credits when I graduate. GT will accept more than 60. UF will only take 60.</p>

<p>Money is also a factor, at least for the first year in Atlanta.</p>

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<p>if i can make this person choose UF over GT, that would be the greatest triumph ever in the eng board.</p>

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<p>also UM offers scholarships from grads from my school. I know they are not really ranked for engineering, but how much will it really matter after graduation?</p>

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<p>I’m considering the Florida schools because of the price. If it were no object, I’ll choose GT in ATL.
THX for the quick reply, btw.</p>

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<p>I would recommend you visit both schools to see which one is better for you in terms of school fit and location. You might like Atlanta more because of the night life, size, and the amount of things to do.</p>

<p>As for opportunities, that will depend if you’re looking for research or industry related work. GT is a good engineering school and I am assuming they have a good turnout at their career fairs. So look at both schools’ career services websites to see a list of attending companies. That will usually mean that they also have info sessions on campus, and perhaps they attend a networking banquet hosted by an engineering club. </p>

<p>The reality is that GT will be more expensive than UF, and you will have to decide if the extra cost is worth it. You should definitely contact the financial aid office to see if they give you a better package. It never hurts to ask.</p>

<p>Anyway, you have time to do all that research and decide.</p>

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<p>One thing to consider about the schools - GT will have a larger…more advanced age population (I really don’t want to say “older” because that’s really not old - just relative to the average 18 year old college freshman) because Tech is a former military school leading to military ties, which means there are many students that served active duty for 4-8 years before going back for an undergrad degree. Also, Tech is in a major city, so it’s easy to meet people your age, whereas at UF, you’re isolated in college town where 67% of the population is under 21. </p>

<p>As for career opportunities - you’re comparing the #4 engineering school to the #25 engineering school, and the #35 overall school to the #50 overall school, so there’s going to be a significant difference in hiring. Tech students are recruited nationally an internationally, whereas UF students are primarily recruited in Florida and the surrounding states. The salaries, offers, the companies that visit, and the prestige are obviously different.</p>

<p>As for cost, that’s up to you. There are many opportunities for scholarships at Tech (and Florida and Miami). Figure out your salary difference and the cost of attendance and see if there’s a positive return on investment. </p>

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<p>Tech has a hard-cap of 300 companies / day at the career fair (2 days) and there’s a 3-5 year waiting list to get a booth. As a result, there are several overflow career fairs at the different colleges. I won’t speak for Florida’s Career Fair, as I only attended once and that was quite a few years ago, but it was a very different situation, especially considering the student body is 3 times the size.</p>

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<p>If cost isn’t a factor then this is a no brainer…</p>

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<p>Are you considering majoring in Materials Science and Engineering? The materials program at UF is every bit as strong, if not more so, than the one at GT and just as highly regarded. Since cost is a factor here, UF would be the better choice <em>if</em> you’re looking to major in MSE.</p>

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<p>Well if your older than the average freshman then GT would make more sense to me. UF is known for their “college atmosphere” of young people. So if you want to associate and have fun with people who are in the same stage of life as you then GT wins. GT also has a way stronger engineering program. Burdell did an excellent job of explaining the nitty gritty with ranks and all. In the end if you want a prestigious school(job opportunities) and people your age then go to GT. If price is more of a concern then go to florida. Price vs friends and nation wide opportunities</p>

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<p>I look 19. No joke! </p>

<p>I don’t mind the college atmosphere. Especially since I still act like a child. I think GT would be a better choice for me because of the career fairs you guys mentioned. The only thing is it worth the differnce in money. Also U of Miami gives Full Scholarship to several MDC grads to those interested in entering their college of engineering. I just don’t know how good it is.
BTW I’m planning on majoring in Computer Engineering. Not software.</p>

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<p>I have been going to UF’s career fairs for last few years, they have one in the fall semester and other in spring semesters and every major company is there. Don’t base your decision just on better career fair, gator nation is everywhere after all. </p>

<p>I am in ECE department at UF and I have met a lot of grad students from the departments and as people have posted here, they r mostly people that go to grad school right after undergrad. But there are some older people, and they seem like they had no problems making friends. </p>

<p>Also, UF has EDGE(Electronic Delivery of Graduate Engineering), where a lot of grad classes are offered completely online, so you don’t even have to be in Gainesville all the time.</p>

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<p>In state UF for undergrad is around 4.5 grand a year</p>

<p>Out of state G Tech for undergrad is 21.5 grand a year
In state G Tech is 5.2 grand a year.</p>

<p>Ok, so if you go to UF you have about 2.5 years left if you can only transfer 60 credits, needing about 128 credits to graduate. Cost of living say 1300 a month to be conservative, we will make this equal for both schools (even though they are obviously not).</p>

<p>1.3 grand *30 months (2.5 years)=39 grand cost of living
tuition, 4.5 grand * 2.5 years = 11.25</p>

<p>total 50.25 grand.</p>

<p>G Tech, assuming say you can transfer 75-80 credits, saving you half a year of school. Cost of living set the same.</p>

<p>1.3 grand * 24 months = 31.2 grand cost of living
tuition, 21.5 grand first year, assume you get in state second year making 5.2 grand
total tuition = 26.7 grand</p>

<p>total 57.9 grand.</p>

<p>Now i made a lot of assumptions, not sure if you will have to do an extra semester at UF, not sure if you will save a semester at GTech, not sure if you can keep the same cost of living at both schools. </p>

<p>Find out the specifics, if you can complete both degrees at the same time, i would go with UF, saving you 15-18 grand. If GTech because they allow more transfer credits saves you a semester, i would go with them, only an extra 7 grand and you won’t lose out on an opportunity cost of 6 months worth of work.</p>

<p>IMO that’s how i would have analyzed the situation if money were an issue.</p>

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<p>Nice. I like your analysis. But I doubt I can save a semester. I’ll probably have a lighter courseload due to electives. But I would still have several years left. When I went to realtor.com I’ve seen cheap rentals, but I don’t know how safe are those areas, and how bad parking and traffic would be. </p>

<p>Anyone has a positive opinon on UM?</p>

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<p>I have friends who do engineering at UM. I have visited UM many times and sat in 2 classes. The faculty are ok, students are not very active with engineering societies and projects IMO. Not a strong candidate at all IMO when compared to GTech and UF, even with full ride to UM i would go with UF every time.</p>

<p>Just as an anecdotal example for the south Florida region, recruiting is better at FIU then at UM for engineering in my opinion. FIU is listed as a list school for Lockheed martin, Boeing and GE has FIU as one of its 25 schools it directly actively recruits from year after year. UM is not on the list for those 3. Those 3 are big in the region, just goes to show you. </p>

<p>Also i’m not sure where in South florida you live now to attend MDC, but coral cables is very expensive, with rent being a minimum of $1000 for mediocre. UF has some nice apartments for $700 with furniture! </p>

<p>Also not to knock UM but whenever i visit i feel out of place without a BMW. Since you live in the area you can contact UM now and ask to sit in a class or two and walk around there engineering building and check it out yourself! You might like the atmosphere so much you might just take the full ride ;)</p>

<p>good luck with your decision.</p>

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<p>aalba thank you for all your informative posts. The good thing about UM is that all I need is a room or place to study. And have all my clothing, ps3 and all that stuff in my mother’s house. And traffic from UM to Kendall is real good except M-F 4-6</p>

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<p>Hmmm. I was just browsing the UM website and it seems i was mistaken with the recruiting, they also have Lockheed, NASA, GE as recruiters. I was misinformed :)</p>

<p>If UM does offer a full ride and rent is covered u could go with that and do a 1 year master’s degree at a ranked institution. Especially 1 year at UF graduate school can be done on 25 grand total. (10 grand for course work 15 for cost of living). Since the economy is in such a bad state it would be hard for many to transition to jobs from a weaker institution especially in the South Florida region. I Have many friends who graduated almost a year ago without an engineering job yet, and its hard to get your foot in the door for these bigger companies with a weaker school on the resume.</p>

<p>But you have to consider lost potential salary though. If you went to UF or GTech for undergrad and graduated then got a job starting at the average, say 55 grand for engineers. </p>

<p>you do the masters the cost is 25 grand for UF, 50 grand for GTech, plus 55 grand in potential wages is a cost of 75-105 grand.</p>

<p>The ability to get a job with a degree from UF and GTech is far greater than UM during this type of economy so just put that in mind.</p>

<p>A lot to think about :)</p>

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<p>UF and GaTech are both “key-schools” for Lockheed. UM is neither a key or target school…so I’m surprised we are on the recruitment calandar for Miami. I will check what is going on when I get back to work.</p>

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<p>I used to attend FIU, a recruiter once said he prefers FIU over UM because it lacks the spoiled kids.</p>

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<p>University of Miami for engineering? Florida is a lot better</p>

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<p>Contrary to a prior post, UF has a strong national…and international…level of recruitment. Here is a list of employers recruiting at last spring’s career fair:</p>

<p>[Employers</a> Attending Career Showcase](<a href=“http://app.crc.ufl.edu/careerfairs/Events/Showcase/csjan08_attending.htm]Employers”>http://app.crc.ufl.edu/careerfairs/Events/Showcase/csjan08_attending.htm)</p>