It seems as if there’s more focus here on the unaffordable schools than the affordable ones.
I do understand that everything is kind of on hold until you can assess RHIT firsthand.
But, if might help if you were to narrow down the other affordable contenders in the meantime, so that you can then make a head-to-head comparison between your mid-priced front-runner and RHIT. So, two questions:
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Purdue and CWRU are very close in price. If you had only those two to choose from, which would win? Both have top-notch reputations for STEM, but they’re very different schools and experiences. The cost difference really isn’t enough to sway the decision, so where would you go if it were down to these two?
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Purdue and VT have a lot more in common than either has with CWRU. Is Purdue worth an additional 40K+ over four years, compared to VT?
If Purdue beats CWRU, then question 2 identifies your winner.
If CWRU and Purdue both beat Purdue, then Purdue is out of the running and you have to weigh VT vs. CWRU.
If CWRU beats Purdue and Purdue beats VT, then CWRU probably wins but weigh VT vs. CWRU just to be sure.
Figure this out, and then you can do your RHIT visit with a specific comparison in mind.
One more question - how important is gender-parity to you?
Rose is the most gender-unbalanced of your schools as far as overall student population. But according to this table (from '14-'15) http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/women-in-engineering-and-computer-science/2089/ RHIT graduates a higher percentage of women in both engineering and CS than VT, RIT, Northeastern, or Purdue.
Percentage of women in engineering:
VT: 18%
RIT: 18%
Purdue: 21%
Northeastern: 22%
RHIT: 24%
CWRU: 29%
Northwestern: 33%
Percentage of women in CS:
RIT 4% (wow)
VT 7%
Purdue 8%
Northwestern 9%
Northeastern 10%
RHIT 11%
CWRU 11%