<p>I’m between Penn State and Binghamton for engineering. Penn states about $8000 a year more for me but I’ve heard there engineering’s better. Are there any advantages of one of the over and what do you think what school is overall better?</p>
<p>Penn State is a vastly superior school for engineering. You have to ask yourself though…does 32000 in debt make the difference? You will essentially have a car payment worth of debt. Compare starting salaries for your chosen field between the two schools. Unless the starting salaries are more than about 10K a year different, it is not even close…choose the cheaper school.</p>
<p>The starting salary is about $3,500 a year more from penn state. Internships and work experience is a big factor that I’ve heard is important for engineering and I feel like Penn State would have more opportunities but Im not sure about that. Also although the $32,000 does seem like it would be the only debt I’ll have as the rest of it would be covered under a scholarship. That being said Binghamton would be a full ride. Would you suggest transferring from Binghamton to Penn State so that I could save the first year and a half or two years and then get the better engineering classes. Do credits normally transfer easily?</p>
<p>If you transfer, you lose all scholarship money (thus Penn State would be 45k for you).
You have to choose now.
Honestly, 8k per year to attend Penn State is a bargain… or is that 8k loan ON TOP of what your parents are paying?
32k in debt for an engineer is an okay amount - it’s above the recommended 27k for all 4 years but engineers make enough money to justify going to 32-35k. You have to be sure you’re able to handle the curriculum though.
Bing is a pretty good school though so if you have a free ride, you really need to evaluate cost/opportunity and what your parents can realistically afford.</p>
<p>After applying and being accepted at 15 of 15 schools, we took Binghamton off the list when we found out that the engineering program (and we heard math as well) were not good/highly regarded. </p>
<p>If you can swing the funds, Penn State is the way to go. Fortunately, if things continue the way they have been and if you can get good grades, you should get summer internships and be employed upon graduation. </p>
<p>Where else were you accepted? Did you apply to any other SUNYs? Buffalo and Stony Brook both have excellent engineering programs. </p>
<p>I got an outside scholarship that’s $25,000 a year. My parents aren’t contributing but I plan on using what I’ve saved and working to graduate without loans. Psu also did give me scholarships that idk if i would be able to get if i didnt accept them as a freshman. I applied to SBU and buffalo and got accepted to both. SBU is too close to home and I am still considering buffalo but their overall freshman profile isn’t that great. And Iliked bBinghamton and overall they have higher admissions standards it seems like but their engineering program seems to be lacking from what I’ve been hearing</p>
<p>No, if you don’t accept your admission with scholarship as a freshman, you lose the institutional scholarships* that were offered to you as a freshman.
Is ur $25,000 scholarship per year? Is it applicable at any university of your choice? Will it follow you to another university if you decide to transfer? </p>
<p>*institutional aid is the first source of financial aid; then federal aid; then the rest.</p>
<p>Yes its 25,000 per year and it is for any university of my choosing and will follow me. Its through Buick. And Penn state awarded me 7500 a year in scholarships as a freahman, 1200 in an academic grant and i got 5300 in pell grant. </p>
<p>Generally transferring is a great option (provided you don’t run into scholarship loss). The goal is to have as little debt as possible and get an education that will help you get a good job in your field. Sheer idiocy to get 27K+ dollars in debt for an education you can have for much less. You can literally never make up that money. Save Penn State for grad school.</p>
<p>Yeah that’s true but I wasn’t sure if Penn state would help me get a better job in engineering due to itits higher reputation for engineering and it’s abundance of resources. And just wondering how would the engineering programs at Syracuse, Uconn, and Drexel compare. They would essentially cost $0, $3,000, and $7600 respectively due to scholarships.</p>
<p>My D finalized her list to both PSU and Bing for Engineering…the winner is Penn State. Far superior than Bing’s program. We went to an accepted student’s event at Bing and we went to a break out session for engineering. A parent in the audience asked about what companies recruit engineers at Bing…I did not like the answer. The speaker said a lot of local firms and kids get a lot of jobs through connections. </p>
<p>I ended up choosing Penn state because of the alumini network and the opportunities that I feel will be available after graduation. Also $8000 a year isn’t that bad compared to what a lot of people are paying and I felt it was worth it over Binghamton. I wish I had more time to choose cause I would’ve liked to look at Syracuse but I think Penn state would still have he upper hand especially in terms of engineering. However I just got off the waiting list for RPI and depending o their financial aid I may look into going there</p>
<p>Congratulations!!!
and thanks for the update 
Would RPI be cheaper than Penn State? </p>