Help with college decisions [engineering or computer science]

DadBodThor
Fri, 05 Jan 2024 05:36:52 +0000

My son is a freshman at Virginia Tech this year and is really enjoying it. He also got into ASU engineering… and some other engineering schools. We’re in state for Virginia Tech, so it was the cheapest school he got into (even after scholarships at Michigan State and ASU), which really made it a no brainer.

I put cost as a bigger weight than prestige for engineering schools - for the most part. I would also put fit over presitge – you’re going to be better off at a school where you feel comfortable and get good grades and really learn the material.

I can say Virginia Tech does a good job of preparing their students. I’ve recruited out of there for the engineering fair, and they have a lot of impressive students, but I suspect that’s the case at a lot of schools.

We looked seriously at ASU b/c my wife’s sister-in-law works there and we have a lot of family near there. There are tech companies that recruit out of there, and plenty of internship opportunities.

I think you should be very happy with your acceptances so far, and you can have great success at any of them. If money is really no concern, I’d go with the one you feel most comfortable at, b/c your mental health and ability to do well is super important. After that, you can look up various ranking lists for prestige - but it’s not the most important thing. I’ve heard good things about most of your choices from an ability to get a good education and job prospects.