Future Plans: Would like to get an accelerated masters (meaning that money will be more, keep this in mind)
All places are direct admit, main campus, starting normally this fall
The cost for each school already includes my parents’ contribution, merit aid, and a couple of outside/corporate scholarships
If you see any errors, please feel free to call them out, thanks!
University of Delaware (In-state) – Zero cost, Free Ride type situation
Please excuse my language here, I am very grateful to have UD as an option. I just want to lay out my mental situation as best as possible
Pros:
Will be coming out with no loans at all (assuming just a bachelors) which is definitely nice
Honors College (only really beneficial for priority registration and honors housing [seemed pretty nice and central to campus]), I don’t plan on getting an honors degree)
I like the campus, the spread out and stereotypical college-vibe especially
Not big on greek which is nice, I don’t plan on joining a frat
UD seems to be putting a lot of effort in becoming a uni that contends with the higher tier unis
Just feels accessible and not scary to attend, idk
Cons:
I live a 25 minute drive away from UD, I would like to get out of Delaware but isn’t a crazy big deal
Scared there aren’t gonna be many opportunities to stand out and develop myself with clubs and such
Bad reason, but I feel like, especially with my other options and how hard I worked during High School, I could be shooting for something greater than UD
Although it is a big school, I do kinda care about ‘starting fresh’ and not having to bump into a bunch of people I’ve known from high school
Since UD isn’t directly adjacent to a big city, I have serious concerns about the job/internship opportunities. I really don’t want to become an ‘average engineer’ making an ‘average salary’ working on ‘average’ work
UMD College Park (OOS) – $15.4k a year
Pros:
I like this university a lot. Ever since I first visited, Maryland has been one of my top choices
I like the campus (minus the constant construction)
Low greek life
Great engineering program, T20 overall, and T15 for electrical engineering
They have a lot of funding and money pouring into the engineering program (although idk now with all the funding cuts going on) and has many many many facilities of ranging applications, like the only collegiate buoyancy tank (although this doesn’t apply to me that much lol)
Similarly great graduate program
Many opportunities for clubs and research
Close to DC, so job opportunities and internships are definitely there
2.5 hours away from me, so that means I have the separation I want from home while not being too far away
Got into the FIRE program although I don’t know how useful or important that is
Feels good that I go here considering it’s a T20 engineering school, it just feels like I am going to a ‘great’ school
Cons:
No special housing arrangement at the moment (although applying to Virtus engineering LLP)
Dorms aren’t the greatest
Outside campus isn’t the best, but that isn’t a crazy factor right now to me
I am scared I will have to take jobs in DC or the surrounding area, which has a pretty high cost of living
Starting salaries posed on their websites look nice, but I suspect they are mostly centered around DC which has a much higher cost of living than most other places, hence the higher salary
University of Pittsburgh (OOS) – $1,575 a year
Pros:
Honors College (only really beneficial for priority registration and honors housing [the housing was on a massive hill though so I don’t know how good I feel about that], I don’t plan on getting an honors degree)
In Pittsburgh, so has many connections with the surrounding area
Co-op programs
Got into their accelerated masters program for Electrical Engineering (seems like a gimmick but idk)
I have some friends I know going there
Languages here are pretty good (I am looking towards getting a minor in a foreign language)
Cons:
I don’t like the urban campus, feels like I can’t just ‘be’ without hustle and bustle around me
Pittsburgh and the surrounding area just feels weird to me, I get slightly put off by it
I don’t like the fact that the weather there is pretty bad (cloudy a lot, just depressing weather)
I’ve heard the food is not great, the dining halls don’t look the best with not as much options as UD and UMD (although I could probably just eat more in Pittsburgh anyway)
My career electrical engineer husband asks…why do you need a masters? Most of the practicing electrical engineers he knows work learning the jobs. Some transition into things like management and being project managers. Some of them get MBAs, but not masters degrees in engineering.
I think all of your colleges are good choices. We know engineering grads from Delaware, and UMD. They are all employed well, and were happy with their college experiences.
Three great choices! Sounds like you are leaning towards UMD. Is it affordable to your family?
Just wanted to make a note about location. You will be able to go anywhere with an EE degree. My daughter works with a number of Pitt grads and they have all been all over the country for both coops and permanent rotations. Same for UMD and UD. IMO, you can take that worry off the cons list.
My oos students were able to get internships and clinicals outside of the college state. My daughter’s junior internship options from her SC school were in charlotte NC, NJ, NYC, New Haven CT, she decided what area she wanted. My BU grad student (UD undergrad) has had clinicals in Boston, NJ, and is currently at one in Brooklyn. Most interviews are online. My daughter who is graduating from here SC college got a great job offer in NJ.
Yes this is affordable for my family. I guess just the fact that I have one full ride and another close full ride makes UMD a little less tantalizing of an option.
If you are 100% going graduate and I don’t think you can know, UD. So it’s close to home - doesn’t mean you’d go home. I think honors offers more than you give it credit for but not everyone is interested in Honors and you aren’t so that’s ok.
UMD seems a great fit. Pitt does not.
So I’d say UMD unless it causes hardship on your family - day to day living, retirement and more. That’s $60+ thousand over four years. Only your family can decide.
If it does, then UD.
Congrats on incredible opportunities.
Ps most schools aren’t in big cities. Kids find jobs today on line and UD is close to Philly my kids ended up out West from Alabama and in Denver from Charleston. While I can’t predict the job market in four years, I wouldn’t factor location and jobs in the decision.
At time of graduation, UMD says 1/7 of engineers and EEs were still seeking jobs. You’ll hear from another not to trust the data. I’d surmise if anything, those with worse outcomes don’t report so it might be worse. As a barometer, my son a MechE had 5 offers by Xmas so far earlier.
UD says 100% were employed. UD has a link to how it defines.
Some of the employers are the same at both.
In the end, you will be somewhere for four years, day after day.
If both are affordable, pick the one you like, get engaged and realize that you and not the school will own your job search.
If the price of UMD includes your parent contribution, that leaves at least 60k in loans you would need to take out to pay the difference. It’s not worth it. Pitt is 90% cheaper. I think the decision is a no-brainer. Go with Pitt. Graduation from an honors program is a tangible accomplishment you can put on a resume.
So the listed cost is what you have to pay?
Unless you have personal savings for UMD, it means only Pitt and UDel are affordable.
Then the choice becomes, which is the worst downside for you personally, being in a big city or being close to home?
I agree unless we are missing something, Maryland appears outside of what I would consider reasonably affordable.
If it is Pitt versus Delaware–no judgment, but I find it kinda interesting on the one hand you want to experience something different from Delaware, and then on the other you didn’t like it when you experienced something different at Pitt! I don’t actually think that is you being hypocritical, it is just the reality of how all this works. It can be tough to adjust to a major change in terms of setting and surrounding culture, to the point it is actually a mistake for some people to try to make such a change, at least at this stage of their lives.
So I would reflect on that experience and ask yourself whether that was really telling you maybe Delaware actually is a good choice for now. Or alternatively, maybe with more time to adjust, something different like Pitt could in fact work out. And that is entirely up to you.
As an aside–Pittsburgh is definitely a bit of an odd duck. I came here for grad school many years ago, ended up staying, but it was not a given early on we would settle here.
Randomly, my wife was from Delaware originally (she came for B school), and I was from Michigan, so we sort of split the difference, but neither of us was sold on it being a permanent location until we were actually starting a family. And I have a whole theory about how that region of the country has a really distinct history from both the East Coast and the Great Lakes, and why that makes it feel so strange to people from either direction.
But we did grow to love it–really no other city in the US looks quite like Pittsburgh with all the hills and ravines and streams and rivers. And as a result of that broken up topography it has all these crazy microneighborhoods with distinct histories. There is also an amazing diversity of architecture from all different eras, and there are all sorts of great cultural institutions including as a legacy of its robber baron hey-day. Just a very interesting city in so many different ways, and you will certainly not run out of things to do and explore in four years of college.
And yet, if you read that and are still like, nope, not so much for me, not right now . . . totally fine.
from a “big city” and constant pressure in DMV area.