Purdue was a very close 2nd place for my daughter. I think she would have been happy at both. She chose WPI based on term scheduling, location (6hrs away vs 10hrs away plus she liked NE more than midwest) and in the end she liked the smaller school vibe and feel. I thought both schools were fantastic. They were the only two schools in all the ones we looked at that had female engineers that were fun and engaging. The type of kids at both schools seemed very similar and true to what my daughter was looking for. I really thought she was going to pick Purdue as she loves football and sports.
If you haven’t yet, do one of the woman in engineering events at Purdue and see about doing an accepted student’s sleepover event at WPI. My daughter did both and that is when she decided.
She has a lot of good options. Are you in-state for VT? Not sure it is cost effective compared to Purdue and it is in the middle of nowhere. Like really there is nothing around for hours.
I have a family member who is a dean at Va Tech, and their kids all attended there… they are all very enthusiastic and full of Hokie spirit, but my kid refused to even visit (much to my family’s chagrin). It was just way too far away ( we live in MA) and, As @NewSR1 said, really in the middle of nowhere (although Blacksburg is a nice town).
This is a great thread and appreciate all the discussion.
What brought me here is that my D essentially has similar offers from 4 of the schools mentioned here: WPI, RPI, Virginia Tech, and Purdue.
WPI offered 32K merit.
RPI offered 25K merit, and a 6k grant, and then increased to 31K merit, 6K grant (I have to assume the grant may be gone next year since our financial situation varies year to year)
Virginia Tech offered 3K
Purdue offered no merit
Ironically, this puts all 4 around the same exact net price, give or take a few thousand in any direction. Amazing, since we had sort of counted on some of the offers to help us cross schools off the list, but that did not happen.
VT and Purdue offer the amenities of huge schools, and less risk in that there is no merit to lose. Purdue is known for freezing prices, they increase by 0.5% per year on average, while RPI and WPI increase by 2-4% or so each year on average. RPI and WPI offer a smaller feel, although neither is very small, both are 2-3 times larger than our High School size.
Her major is along the lines of: Game design, 3d design, animation, simulation (it varies from school to school). All 4 schools have strong programs in this regard.
My daughter graduated from WPI last year (2020). One of the many glowing things I can say about WPI is that my daughter had no issue getting awesome well-paying internships every summer, which certainly helped with expenses for the rest of the school year.
Her last internship resulted in a job offer - despite Covid!
As for costs, she actually got more merit from WPI than RPI. She also liked the vibe a lot better at WPI - more athletes, etc. And cost of living went way down after freshman year based on housing.
She also participated in two international projects Junior and Senior year which only added to her resume when it came to job search time.
I have no worries that the loans she had to take will be easily paid off with a degree from a school which seems to prepare their students well for what lies ahead.
So I guess when weighing options, look at the intangibles like return on investment and experiences unique to that school - for WPI, the study abroad projects are like nowhere else.