Hi, @Pancho98 , Case parent here. My DS is also 7 hours drive from home … fortunately, there are numerous direct flights from CLE … but no doubt about it, I wish he were closer. (Does he wish he were closer? Hmmmm … maybe sometimes.) He has a really solid friend group at Case and is really busy with his sport, his social life, and his studies. He keeps in touch but isn’t eager to be home all the time. He knew 3 people there when he started, seems to know dozens now. Met his roommate on the accepted students facebook page … his whole freshman suite really bonded and decided to live together again sophomore year.
From what you wrote above, I think you have a clear-eyed view of Case’s pros and cons. I don’t know much about VT so can’t compare directly. I think this is one very significant line that you wrote:
“One huge advantage is that Case does not have restricted majors. At VT, I would have to take freshman engineering courses and apply to the engineering program with no guarantee of getting my first choice.”
I’ll note that Case also makes it easy to explore courses outside your major, to switch majors, to major/minor, or even (not easy but possible) double major. This flexibility has been appreciated by my engineering/foreign language loving son.
I’ll also point out this old/closed thread where the “fit” of Case was discussed extensively:
Whatever you decide, best wishes to you!