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<p>This is generally true, however, that debt that you rack up during your undergrad will still haunt you as you work through grad school on very very low pay (i.e. normally just enough to pay off rent/food). Do you really want to graduate with a Ph.D. at 26-27 and then realize you now have $60k+ in loans to pay off before you can enjoy the benefits of your degree? Or try to buy a house an realize you can’t because of your undergrad loans from almost 10 years ago?</p>
<p>To OP: I had the same conundrum when I went to college, I was accepted to Pitt with $12k/year and UHC for Materials Science Engineering and CIT with no money per year for the same program. I chose Pitt because I could not in any way afford CMU and didn’t want that burden for either me or my parents. The choice, for me, was excellent. SSOE is a phenomenal program with loads of great opportunities for students (co-op/internships are highly encouraged and you get a LOT of help from the school to do them, I don’t think CMU has a co-op program?). Our relationship with local industry is phenomenal, and people really recognize the quality and caliber of students at Pitt. Fun side note: since at least 2008 when I started my undergrad, Pitt’s engineering students actually had a higher SAT average than CMU’s CIT students. Why? Because smart kids go where there was money for them. Just a thought for you.</p>
<p>As for the ECE department in general, I have friends who have done all sorts of things- co-ops with local companies, my old roommate got a fantastic co-op (and now full time job offer) with the government. Another friend is in a Ph.D. program at Duke now. A friend of mine in the graduate department is going to work for the DOE in DC after he gets his degree in May. Just because it’s not CMU doesn’t mean our students don’t go on to do great things either. The important thing to do while at Pitt is to take advantage of EVERYTHING. Do co-op/internships in your free time, get to know your professors, join a research group as an undergrad to get some experience, join some clubs or professional societies so that you can try to go to a conference or two before you graduate. Expand your networking group. A Pitt student who does all of those is always going to look better than a CMU student who did nothing but study and is using the name of their school to “ride to success”</p>
<p>/endrant</p>