Engineering: Purdue v Northeastern v Lehigh v Pitt

RichInPitt
Wed, 13 Feb 2019 10:00:47 +0000

My D was admitted to Purdue, Pitt and Lehigh and after multiple visits and lots of research, Purdue was a clear choice. Virginia Tech was close 2nd, then a significant drop down to the rest. Lehigh was probably 3, Pitt was 6 of 7. Northeastern wasn’t even on the original long list of 20. Currently a Sophomore, she’s very happy with her choice.

As obvious from my handle, Pitt is just down the road, but the cost difference wasn’t that much (~$6K/yr), and not enough to make up for the quality difference. Purdue is a bargain and PA state schools are the most expensive in the country, iirc, so the in/out-of-state decision may be different elsewhere.

Fwiw, my experience at a top 10 engineering undergrad, when compared with HS friends who went to state school/other big schools, was that the skills you come out with are indeed different. It’s not the “tools”, it’s the thinking behind how to apply them.