I am close to making a decision for my undergrad degree and would love to hear the good, bad and ugly. I am OOS for all of the below and from west coast. I am trying to get insights into the program and major primarily and also reputation and career opportunities. From a finance perspective there are no concerns from my family on affordability for below colleges.
Virginia Tech - College of Engineering (no scholarship)
Rochester Institute of Tech, NY - Computer Science (invited to combined masters program as well) Scholarship 26k a year
Umass Amherst - College of Engineering (15k year)
ASU - CS, Tempe (16k scholarship first year)
Stony Brook, NY - Computer Engineering (11k a year for 4 years)
Total costs after scholarship – ASU after scholarship ~38k, Stony Brook after scholarship ~42k, Virginia tech ~58k, RIT ~50k, Umass ~40k.
VT has secondary admission to major for students in first year general engineering, although a 3.0 college GPA means automatic admission to the engineering major of choice.
Congrats to all the acceptances. Your parents should be so proud of you for thinking about money. If money is not the biggest concern for your parents, I would say VT. I honestly don’t think my child would be mature enough to make a decision based on affordability.
First…please thank your parents for being able and willing to fund your college costs at the above schools. Some parents won’t do this even if they can. It’s a great gift to you that your parents will do this.
I think some of this will be clearer as you visit now looking as an accepted student. Academically, you will find like minded folks at any of these colleges…so think of the things in addition to the academic rigor at each college.
Congratulations!
RIT CS, especially with the access to co-op, would be especially attractive.
UMass would be the next best East Coast value imho, especially if you’re aiming for CE or EE, ASU if you want to remain on the West Coast.
I think they are very different schools - and will have different environments and student bodies. For example, Stony Brook will be more regional.
Some will be harder to access - in your case, ASU will be easiest.
RIT is very different than the others, etc. I wouldn’t worry about a Masters - it’s early and others will give opportunities.
I also wouldn’t worry about co ops - you can do them most anywhere.
I’d pick UMASS or Va Tech - but only because they’re the highest rated food in the country - and Va Tech is stunning (but difficult to access).
It’s really a fit and feel thing - although I suspect Stony Brook might be the first one to remove - just based on the geographic diversity and location - many will be from Long Island.
Congrats on the great acceptances! Assuming they are all ABET accredited (guessing that is the case) I would focus on finding the campus where you want to spend the next four years.
I agree with eliminating Stony Brook. While it would provide a strong education, it has a reputation of being a bit of a suitcase school.
UMass at a 40K/year COA is the one to beat, IMO. I’m not saying that you might not conclude that for what you want, one of the 50K+ schools might be a better fit and worth the differential… but IMHO the burden is on those schools to show you that they’re offering more value for the higher price tag. UMass is excellent for engineering and CS - I don’t think any other school on your list is going to give you a meaningful edge, reputation-wise, that would justify higher cost. It’s all about whether they’re offering an experience that would meet your needs better in some way.
VT is a great school, but it’s the most expensive, and the travel from the west coast could get tiresome. RIT is also a great school, but probably more of a “fit school” in terms of the social vibe than the others on your list.
At ASU, assume you’d be in Barrett Honors?
No bad choices here! I’d do a deep dive on access-to-majors and make sure that your top choices will keep all of the options you want open (particularly straight-CS if you decide not to do EE/CE). If any school has bigger barriers to some majors of interest than the others do, that’s where I’d make the first cut to the list.
While a student entering in UMass engineering does not appear to have significant barriers to declaring any engineering major (see https://www.umass.edu/engineering/office-student-affairs/declare-major-engineering ), there is a competitive admission process to get into the computer science major for those who are not directly admitted:
Yes, if OP wants to do engineering, UMass is great. If OP is hoping to switch to CS, he should probably pick somewhere else. I hear it is possible but not likely to be allowed to switch into CS if not admitted initially. (The most recent thing I read said not only is it a competitive application process, but they try to save those slots for students who did not have the opportunity to be exposed to CS prior to college and discovered it after exposure in college classes.)
What are your thoughts on weather (seasonal depression? or like snow?), what are your thoughts about where you might want to live after graduation? Also- are things like fraternities etc a consideration?
Thank you all for inputs. Now I am also considering CU Boulder got into Electrical and Computer Engineering oos but no scholarship so would appreciate any insights vs. Vtech, UMass and Stony Brook.
Congrats - fine school. Boulder will cost more - especially when you move off campus.
Really - solid flagships abound although again< i don’t see Stony Brook a fit - vs. residential, huge flagships.
Different areas of the country. Va Tech is Southern mountains and you’ll see some snow. Boulder - beautiful and yes snow. UMASS snow - but these geographies are all different.
My suggestion - work with your parents - finalize your list based on affordability - even if they can afford CU, do they want to?
If yes, hopefully you can get to each of them. If not, video tour - there will be school ones, student youtube ones. Ask to speak to a student ambassador at each. Find out class sizes, etc.
Also look at each to see if any have secondary engineering requirements, etc. When you list schools like this, it’s hard to recommend one when all are similarly strong.
I just shy from Stony Brook as it will be very regional.
I live in Boston (and have lived as far west as Texas). The biggest thing I notice is how far East we are, which means (assuming we don’t move to daylight savings permanently) it gets dark in the winter here at 4pm for part of the winter. My parents live in NYC and are always shocked when I say it’s already dark here- but it is just that much further East.
I LOVE living in Boston and I swear the spring and summer here could rival springtime in Paris, it’s just beautiful and possible to be outside for 6 months a year, but the other 6 months. It’s not even the snow, honestly it hasn’t really snowed (of any consequence) here for a couple of years but I did buy those glasses with the lights for SAD this year because it does get dark and it feels like we get 4 hours of daylight sometimes. Just something to think about. I would still go to school here, but I was also not built for the heat. Anything over 80 degrees and I start to wilt.
I know its Amherst, but we aren’t that far away where there is really a difference daylight wise between the two.
Also, if you want to be in an eastern city, while all of the schools are excellent, the reality is recruiting and internships will be easier at schools closer to you. For example on the Amtrak northeast corridor (Boston to DC).
Coming from the west coast, I would take Stony Brook off your list. It has a high percentage of commuters and a reputation of residential students going home on weekends. If you do consider SB, please research the school’s campus life.
Somewhat biased opinion but from an east coast standpoint Id say UMASS or VT all the way. I wanted to want RIT for many reasons but visited multiple times and just couldn’t get into it. No school spirit, didn’t seem too cohesive, no college town to walk to and tbh Rochester is bleak in the winter. Reputation wise I think VT or Umass (Amherst) are much more well regarded. As I said, biased opinion. RIT has some great things about it, but it is not as typical a college experience and an ugly campus that made me feel I was driving into an office park.
