Sam Lee

Whether it's worth the extra for NU is very open-ended esp the difference is 60K, which is a good chuck of money but not unbearable to many people (not sure about you). Nobody knows what you will want to do in the future. That said, here's what I think:

1. If you are going to be an engineer, GaTech is gonna give you better ROI (return of investment), assuming $ is your primary focus.
2. In case you want to get into MC/IB like many CCers do, more firms come to recruit at NU. Assuming you will do well in either school, your chance of landing one of the spots with those firms is greater at NU. However, those spots are still very competitive so the risk of not getting it is very real. Here's one more thing: if you get into one of the two Kellogg cert programs, your chance of getting one of those jobs should increase by quite a bit and may even be pretty good.
3. If "worth" is strictly measured by money, then going to the top school in your home country is probably a better deal than either one. You can save the money and apply for one year master program in the US 4 years later. So you will still be in the US in the end while spending even less. Obviously you are already willing not to take the cheapest route, suggesting you are not basing everything with a dollar sign. NU is a more well-rounded school and likely more flexible in terms of changing/adding majors and you said you enjoyed your NU visit. So are these worth 60K *to you*? Nobody can answer that for you.