Hi everyone, I need help deciding what school to go to. I’ve been on a high school FRC robotics team for years now, and I am 100% sure I want to study Mechanical Engineering. I applied to many schools, but the two schools I am deciding between are Clemson and Virginia Tech.
I got into Clemson’s Engineering school, but for Virginia Tech I got into my second choice major (business). Virginia Tech was the school I was hoping to go to, because I know their engineering school exceeds that of Clemson. Also, I wish to concentrate in robotics, and VT is home to an advanced robotics lab. If I went to Virginia Tech, I’d have to transfer to Engineering for my second year (which is very difficult) and take intro engineering courses over the summer to catch up, but perhaps starting off as a business major could help me with the “college transition” phase? If I went to Clemson, I would be on the "front door’ path to engineering. I’m torn and don’t know what to do anymore.
I love both schools campuses equally and student life, and both are out of state for me. (I live in NC near Charlotte)
But if you really want to study engineering, Clemson appears to be the obvious choice. However, verify with the department to make sure that there are not extremely high GPA requirements to change from frosh general engineering to mechanical engineering after completing the prerequisites.
Well Clemson is more expensive, which isn’t good… but in the long run, spending 5 years at VT because I had to transfer departments would be more expensive than 4 years at Clemson.
Because you got into Clemson for Engineering and because of what you said ^^^^, I would go there since you would automatically be starting off in that major. You always have the option of transferring if you feel that Clemson isn’t the right choice for you when the time comes. Obviously you still have a few years until that.
What’s your parents’ budget and did you get into any school of engineering that’s within budget?
VT is out - since you know you want MechE, you should choose a college where you can have that major. Because engineering is so sequential, you really dont want to star “late”.
I got into UNC Charlotte (Engineering), UNC Asheville (Mechatronics), UNC Wilmington, Virginia Tech (Business), and Clemson (Engineering)
I live in NC. I suppose the best option would be too go to UNC Charlotte for a year, and then transfer to VT for engineering my second year … but I simply do not want to go to UNCC. I may end up having to though.
Clemson is extremely expensive, and very hard to justify the cost, but it can happen.
I don’t see how you roll the dice with VT and possibly not get the major you want (and we love VT).
What about UNCC for a year and then NCSU? I don’t know much about their (NCSU) ME program though.
A transfer to VT could possibly work, but I’d look at the VT transfer threads to see how likely that plan is to work. You have good options in NC so it’s hard to justify the cost of Clemson just over the state line.
Of NC publics, the ones with ABET-accredited mechanical engineering are UNC-C, NCSU, and NC A&T. Did you apply to either or both of the latter two? If not, the deadline for NCSU has passed (1/15), but you still have time to apply to NC A&T (5/1).
If you want to be an engineer go to best affordable school where you have been accepted into an engineering program. Internal transfers are extremely difficult and you absolutely cannot count on it working out.
NC Charlotte seems like it would have a much lower price for you and be the best option for you, being in-state. Clemson is beautiful and has great engineering programs, but is probably not worth the extra $$ X 4 years, I am guessing Clemson and VT would cost an extra $15-20K per year. As others have pointed out, you cannot count on being able to transfer into engineering at VT and an extra year would also be costly. You would probably like to be further from home, but once you get settled at UNC Charlotte, make friends, get busy with clubs and activities, and become more independent, it will seem as though you are further away(I attended a state U 40 mins from my family, and it was that way for me).
We currently live 20 minutes away from our state flagship, and many students from my daughters’ high school will attend each year. Many of them are not happy about being so close to home, but financial reality sinks in for their parents, and they end up there. Within a few months, they are invariably settled in and having a great experience! On the plus side, you can visit family easily if you want to or need a weekend away from dorm life, and they can help you move in more easily and drop by with items you may need, snacks, medicine or chicken soup when you are ill, etc. Being close to your family has perks, too!
UNC-A mechatronics is also a 2+2 program. Presumably, either of these transfer paths starting at UNC-A or UNC-W requires applying to NCSU (and/or NC A&T and/or UNC-C) to transfer, needing a high GPA or competitive admission. Essentially, it would be like using UNC-A or UNC-W like one would use a (probably less expensive) community college.
Sounds like VaTech would be an unwise decision, given that your target was the Engineering School and you were not admitted to ENGR. VaTech is very popular and even for freshman admissions many well-prepared students never make it off the waiting list into ENGR. UNC-Charlotte and NCA&T may be more advantageous to you than you realize. Give it more thought.
It’s late in the admissions game so if money is a concern your options today are limited, but you do have choices.
Keep in mind that at probably every U.S. engineering school there’s an SAE club, a robotics club or related student activity. Low cost options for an out-of-state student may still be had at places like Tennessee Technological University, Louisiana Tech University, and South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Any of those schools could provide you entree into an internship with an automotive firm. General Motors, Nissan and Volkswagen all have factories in Tennessee. Students from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology have interned recently at Ford Motor Company and at NASA. If you find that any of these less expensive universities interest you, you can still submit an application for Fall 2016 if you hustle.
Mechatronics can be completed in Asheville. http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/academics/undergrad/admission/partnerships
Based on what I read, the students have some specific classes via NCSU video class + regular pre-reqs, and are not automatically admitted to NCSU if they meet requirements but it’s pretty seamless (3.0 GPA, with 2.5 in calculus, higher for MechE, ChemE, CivE). I don’t know whether there’s a same deal at a NC CC. Also, those are quite good residential colleges.
Another possibility: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/mes/bse-eastern.php
