My daughter was accepted to Cornell, RPI, Case Western, Northeastern, Clemson, Stevens, Rutgers and Rowan in-state, all for engineering. She had a range from no aid to very good merit. We really, really struggled with the decision, but it came down to Cornell, ranked #11 for engineering, and VT, ranked #14.
Cornell was too expensive for us, and the other schools just didn’t measure up. She cried for 24 hours, then she was over it.
She is finishing up her freshman year. She made Deans list last semester (no worries about getting her first choice major) She lives in the engineering housing (Lee Hall, Hypatia for women, Galileo for men) which has probably made a difference- everyone is taking the same classes and so they all have to study at the same times, no pressure to party when you should study.
My favorite part? Everyone seems so happy to be there. When we were wandering around campus trying to come to terms with turning down “an Ivy” , kids would literally just start talking to us. “Would your daughter like to see my dorm room? I live in Lee Hall” or telling us about their plans for graduate school, how their classes went, what they thought about work-life balance. Literally random girls we met while petting their dogs. Tons of cute dogs.
The parents we met at restaurants were nice, and many were alums. They showed us photos of their kids, they asked us to let them know what she decided. Every single person we met was so great. There were NINE rainbows on our drive home. It was just so great. It IS so great.
My friend is a CEO of a tech company in the research triangle. She says “some of the best engineers I hire are VT grads”
I’m sorry, I am a little biased, but, really, it’s the whole package. Rutgers is basically a commuter campus. I don’t know much about PSU engineering.