Worcester Poly or Virginia Tech

My S got accepted the both WPI and VTech. He hasn’t made up his mind yet, although he has visited both. Outside of the money side, how is the best way to decide. How much stock do you put in references like US News and World report?

I put very little stock in USNWR. What’s important is how your son feels at each campus and city. How much does he care about class size and being taught by TAs. Most importantly, how does the WPI curriculum resonate with him? It’s a very innovative, but different program with only three classes per 7 week term and very project oriented. My son liked it quite a bit and almost went there. He was a high stats student and got into “better” schools. His gut will eventually tell him the right thing and he’ll be fine either way. Congrats!

Very different schools from a culture standpoint. All rankings aside, I would look for the best fit to the type of student your S is. VTech is large but has many opportunities for a student who is able to advocate for themselves but it is easy to get lost in the crowd. WPI is very project based and operates on a quarter system. I am sure you know all this so I guess what I am trying to say is they are apples and oranges and very hard to compare. It really is about fit.