Admitted to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Major: Computer Science
Net Cost: $49,000 per year
Admitted to Virginia Tech
Major: General Engineering (College of Engineering)
Net Cost: $25,000 per year
Admitted to Purdue University and Purdue Honors College
Major: Computer Science (College of Science)
Net Cost: $33,000 per year
I’m Taylor from Virginia, and I am planning to major in computer science or possibly a different engineering concentration (mechanical or computer engineering maybe, but most likely computer science), and just wanted to see what some of you had to say about these schools. I attended Rose’s Operation Catapult, and loved it, and would be very excited to go there, would it not be for the cost. I am lucky enough to have parents who have saved enough money to pay for Virginia Tech for all four years or Purdue with a minimal amount of debt, but Rose is a different situation, and will involve me taking upwards of $60-80,000 in loans. I also made it into the Purdue Honors college, but not the Virginia Tech Honors program. Advice?
I would say that the cost for RHIT is too high and not worth the massive debts you have to pay after you graduate. Moreover, I think Purdue’s Computer Science program is better than VTech’s, and if your true ambition and passion is leaning towards computer science, enrolling to VTech for engineering could be a waste of time. And you’re admitted to the Honors College which is great. Granted you will have to pay approximately $25,000 debt when you graduate, but most people feel that $24k-$28k loan is the upper acceptable limit.
Personally, seeing that you prefer Computer Science and Purdue’s CS Program is well respected nationally, I think it is worth the minimal debt and enrolling there. I am saying this even though I got waitlisted and would love to get a place there, but I feel like it will definitely be a good experience for you. However, I recommend you visit West Lafayette and see for yourself if you would be a good fit or not.
Virginia Tech is very well respected in engineering and computer science. It is also the least expensive. Check out the post grad survey from Career Services to get an idea of the kinds of places students are employed by. Also, you can check out the Engineering Expo info . It is one of the biggest Career Fairs. Good luck with the decision.
My stats are 35 ACT (36 Math), 4.01 weighted GPA, around 3.7 or 3.8 unweighted. I also was accepted into Rensselaer and waitlisted to Carnegie Mellon.
Another thing about Virginia Tech is besides the in-state portion, my dad attended there. My main deterrent is that I did not get the honors program, which I feel would give me more opportunities at Purdue. On their websites, the stats for Purdue and Tech post-grad employment are almost identical, just with Purdue having a lot of job offerings in the midwest/west coast as opposed to Tech having many east coast employers. Although generally I would say the computer science programs are ranked RHIT then Purdue then Tech.
I would contact admissions at VT, tell them you are a legacy, but that the offer to the Honors program at Purdue is very persuasive. Ask them if they would reconsider admission to VT’s Honor’s program, and indicate you would accept admission there is they made that offer (assuming that is true, which is how I read your post).
Yes, if an honors program is important to you, doesn’t hurt to ask. But, it may not be as big a deal in engineering , Most of the engineering students were good students and many will have the better SAT scores at VT so you will have plenty of strong students around you , even if you are not in Honors. My VT engineering kid was invited to apply to honors and declined , he said most engineers are not that interested in the honors program- but this is anecdotal so not sure how accurate this is . Check it out. The engineering learning communities (Galileo for men) seem interesting if you are looking for a smaller community. If the fit and price at Virginia Tech is otherwise good for you, you could still apply to honors later.
