We are from NJ; DD was accepted to Clemson and VT, I discouraged her from applying to GT because 1) housing isn’t guaranteed and I didn’t like the area around the school and 2) for her, the atmosphere would probably have been more stressful.
All three schools will land you a good engineering job. All three schools are known for their strong programs, although GT is the highest ranked and the point about I-bank and consulting jobs mentioned above is valid.
DD is at VT and doing really well. Hokies really love their school. The weather is crazy, but in general tolerable when bad (winter at the beach) and beautiful when good. Lots of dogs. People hanging hammocks in trees. The engineering LLC is very helpful for maintaining freshman GPA, which needs to be above 3.0 to guarantee that Mechanical engineering major. She has not had any stressed-out meltdowns, which I know would have been the case at certain schools. The food is very good - lobster, london broil…tied with Cornell for best food.
One consideration - GT is definitely much easier to reach from NJ than the other two. We are near Red Bank and have tried train, ride share, flying into Philly, and finally settled on the bus to Allentown PA (also makes stopsmin Mtn Lakes and Vince Lombardi rest area)…next year she will have a roommate who lives in NJ, so it’ll be easier, and probably a car jr and st year…
But if you and son are not dead set on GT, I’d visit all three of possible, and if there is still no clear winner, definitely take the cheaper option.