My daughter has been accepted to RPI and Western New England University for mechanical engineering/robotics and is waiting on decisions from WPI and University of Vermont. She’s received merit scholarships of $34,000/yr at WNEU and $40,000/yr at RPI and been invited to do the combo bachelors/masters program and honors program at WNEU. WNEU has been pursuing her aggressively which of course feels great. She is presently leaning towards WNEU, likely for that reason as well as she feels that it will be less pressure, which I’m also sure is true. My question is whether or not it really matters which school she chooses? Will it really affect the trajectory of her career if she works hard and applies herself? And I’d like to know if anyone knows anything about WNEU and their mechanical engineering/mechatronics program. It seems that they are putting a lot of resources into growing it but I’m having trouble finding up to date opinions on it. She’s a good student overall getting a 3.7 unweighted gpa in an IB program including physics, chemistry and math. She has ADHD well controlled with meds. She feels she will do best in a smaller school with lower student teacher ratios which allows more interaction with teachers, also a plus for WNEU but none of the schools she’s applied to are all that big.
WNEU has ABET accreditation in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering, as well as civil, biomedical, and industrial engineering, according to the search at ABET.org .
Can she research employment outcomes from her top options?
I think historically WNEU didn’t have a strong reputation. I don’t know about it today as you don’t hear much about the school anymore.
RPI is a leading school.
But there is so much more at play. Your daughter seems to like the atmosphere, etc. better and if the school is ABET accredited, as was previously noted by @ucbalumnus ,she’ll be in play for jobs.
Engineering is hard - really hard. So being where you can succeed is important.
If you do have concern, have them give you a placement report - where are their grads landing? They have some generalist info on line but I don’t see a full report.
But in the end, even if RPI places better, you still have to get through the four years, day after day,- so you want to ensure you’ll prosper where you are.
Not being in the most comfortable environment can have serious drawbacks, especially in a major like engineering which has amongst the highest drop out levels of any major.
As far as career trajectory, once she is placed - she’ll likely be on her own - growing or not based on her own actions.
RPI is a great name however. So there is no denying that it will have more staying power - but I don’t think it impacts much after she starts.
But the truth is there’s no surefire way to know.
Good luck in her decision.
On its own, RPI is more known. As WNEU is ABET accredited though, I don’t see this student having a problem getting jobs. Thereafter of course, her career will depend on her experience. I think it may be worth asking WNEU to sweeten the deal. She got a better scholarship from RPI, but it is a fair bit more expensive than WNEU. She must be very competitive because her scholarship exceeds what they list on their website.
It is great she has two viable options who have recognized her strengths. No rush until she hears from her other options, too.
If possible, visit during the school week so she can get the full vibe. They may let her sit in on a class or meet with current students or professors.
Have her look at the variety of course offerings at each college. There are so many directions to go in with robotics and some have interesting cross-departmental collaborations while others have fabulous foundational elements to launch into lots of different directions.
WPI’s robotics are pretty phenomenal, but she has to like the vibe there if she gets in.
Many engineering programs these days offer a joint BS/MS 5-year program so I don’t see that as much of a plus. WPI has one, I think RPI does, and so does UVM (see https://www.uvm.edu/cems/me/accelerated_mechanical_engineering_ms) . Often there is a gpa cutoff around junior year to qualify/continue; check to see if she’ll face one at WNEU. I expect she will.
It doesn’t really matter what school she chooses as far as her career goes assuming they are ABET accredited. There are a few tippy-top programs like MIT but most employers will view engineering degrees from the rest as rough equivalents. The standardized curriculum for ABET and the known difficulty of engineering ensures grads from just about anywhere are ready. A key to her future is if she puts in the effort to find internships; coops are easier to find but mean your graduation from college may take an extra year. And after 2-3 years in the engineering workforce all anyone cares about is what you’ve been working on (even if your degree is from Stanford).
As for “less pressure” I hope she understands the rigor of an engineering education. She’ll be spending around 6-10 hours studying per week on every math/science or engineering class. The dropout rate nationwide for engineering is said to be around 50%. I think most of them could have done the work, they just decided it wasn’t worth it compared to the college experience they saw their friends having.
Congratulations! I think she needs to visit campus during the week while school is in session and talk to people and observe. My kid is seriously considering RPI, it really seems like a strong engineering school, but that is only part of the equation. Fit amongst peers is also really important, particularly at schools like this where the dynamic is supposed to be students working together to take on a very challenging curriculum. It really is worth the time to visit since the environment at these 4 schools is likely to be somewhat different.
RPI is a much better school for her major.
Is UVM out of the running? Is she still waiting to hear about scholarships from UVM? If the costs end up being close the overall campus experience and area the schools are located could be a compelling reason to chose UVM.
RPI’s overall reputation far, far surpasses Western New England’s, across the board. I don’t know specifically about robotics at WNEU, but their overall reputation is not at all prestigious. The name value of RPI far, far exceeds that of WNEU.
It’s been said many times, but the amount of money awarded is irrelevant. So many parents proudly report, “School Third Tier gave her a hundred thousand dollars!”, when what it really means is that family would have to pay 240K for an education at School Third Tier, vs 120K at
their very good flagship state U. It is the actual cost of attendance that matters.
BTW, RPI has been known to match other cost of attendance offers, even that of public schools. So if she gets a better cost of attendance elsewhere, but she wants RPI, you should contact them and ask for them to match it.
Once she has her degree, no one will care what her grades were, but the fact of having a degree from RPI vs WNEU will have some influence over her first job. After that, what matters is that she can do the job, but forevermore, her resume’s education section having that degree from RPI rather than WNEU will command respect. Unless you are worried that she could not complete a degree at RPI, I think it would be a big mistake to choose Western New England over RPI.
100% agree - and this is where, I think the WNEU comes into play, the parent noted this: “She has ADHD well controlled with meds. She feels she will do best in a smaller school with lower student teacher ratios which allows more interaction with teachers, also a plus for WNEU…”
The truth is - engineering has a huge drop out rate - and some kids, no matter how talented, may struggle and pivot to another field. So also good to ensure the college attended has other areas of interest.
Thank you. That makes me feel a lot better. She has no problem with hard work, especially if she feels connected to the teachers. She just prefers to do it by choice rather than by directive so less pressure would likely be a big help.
As far as friends partying, she doesn’t seem very interested in any of that at this point. Of course that could change, but I really don’t think that will be as much of a diversion for her as it was for me :).
We have visited WPI, UVM and WNEU. Only WNEU gave us the personal tour and allowed her to shadow a freshman engineering student for a day. She said she actually knew more than he did during the classes (Calculus and physics), so she is well prepared, at least for WNEU. I agree that that type of visit is necessary. Our problem is that we live in WA state so not so easy. We may try to take another trip out.
So how about WPI? They seem to excel at Robotics in particular. RPI offers a minor. At the bachelors level that is probably OK as she will likely go on to get a masters possibly at a different school.
Its not out of the running, though it is much larger than the others and intimidates her a bit in that way. Her high school is very small with no more than 20 students in a class. Also, they don’t have a robotics major as such though they do host and mentor the HS first robotics competitions in Burlington. I personally LOVE UVM. I’m just not sure it is for her. But nothing is off the table at this point.
Depending on what she wants to do with robotics, look into who actively recruits at each school. Back in my day, the companies recruiting at RPI year after year was impressive. One of my freshman year BARH dorm mates at RPI got internships with JPL, and after graduation I saw them on the TV talking about the Mars Rover (he was in charge of the solar arrays build/deployment/etc.). One of my freshman year suitemates has been to the ISS and is scheduled to command the Artemis 2 flight. Obviously, not everybody gets to be an astronaut, but RPI has a track record and connections with leading edge companies. Also, now I feel a little like I must be some kind of slacker…
FWIW – I also worked with a Comp. Sys. E from WPI who was one of the smartest and best engineers I’ve worked with. Never heard anything but good things about WPI engineering.
I don’t like to make definitive comments about someone else’e college search but I would definitley not suggest WNU vs these other two schools. Academically RPI is great. You may find when you get to visit , that it is not quite as charming as UVM.
College GPA often matters, in that many employers use a 3.0 threshold to prioritize which new college graduate or intern applicants to interview first.
From College Scorecard, the median recent graduate earnings of ME bachelor’s graduates who received federal financial aid as students (added the OP’s in-state publics that have ME for comparison):
| School | # Graduates | Earnings |
|---|---|---|
| RPI | 233 | 84101 |
| UVM | 92 | 75683 |
| WNEU | 52 | not available |
| WPI | 262 | 83729 |
| Eastern Washington U | 70 | 69502 |
| U of Washington Bothell | 55 | 87137 |
| U of Washington Seattle | 124 | 87137 |
| Washington State U | 294 | 83875 |
As an aside, I would not put a lot of stock in how aggressively admissions is pursuing your D (other than $) – once she enrolls in a college she will never have anything more to do with the admissions office. I would keep the focus on finances, academic program, school facilities, and social fit.
I would ask what percent of WNEU students commute, how many live on campus, and what percentage are from out of the area (dont know the answer).
If possible another visit seems to be a good idea.