State School [$21k] [ABET accredited] Chemical Engineering or UChicago [$50k] Molecular Engineering Chemical Engineering Track

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Hey guys, I’m down to the wire and trying to decide between UChicago and my flagship state school as an incoming college freshman. Keep in mind the state school in question is no UMich or UNC Chapel Hill, but it is still a solid university and is perhaps one of the best schools in the part of the U.S. where I currently live. The state school is a similar size to UChicago but has a higher undergrad population. I have visited both schools in person, and I have liked being at both.

My parents will be paying for my college. Accounting for scholarships, the state school will cost ~21K per year total, and UChicago will cost ~50K per year total (Although I may appeal it again as an attempt to bring it down to be similar to the state school.)

As mentioned in the title, I will be majoring in chemical engineering if I attend the state school. Chemical Engineering is ABET accredited at this school, which I’m glad about because I’ve heard a lot of engineering employers only hire people that graduated from ABET-accredited programs. This school has other ABET accredited engineering majors like mechanical, electrical, civil, and biomedical, so if I decide I don’t like the chemical/molecular stuff, but still want to do engineering, I’m not trapped. I have the option to double major and/or minor at this school. Also worth mentioning is that I’ve been accepted into the honors college at this school.

UChicago isn’t really an engineering school, but they do offer a “molecular engineering” program that I really like and intend to major in if I attend. This program has a chemical engineering “track” that I want to do. The molecular engineering program isn’t accredited, which I am slightly concerned about, but I’m not sure how much this really matters for the kind of jobs that relate to molecular engineering. I’m also planning to double major (preferably in economics, but idk if that really is realistic because I read molecular engineering is the hardest major at UChicago, and there are most likely little overlapping classes between the two majors.) and/or get a minor.

I’m not sure whether I will enter industry, pursue grad school or get a job in academia/research after I complete my bachelor’s, but I am open to all three options. One of the issues with UChicago’s current price is that my parents may not afford to help me with grad school or other big expenses. I’ve heard that you need grad school/PhD for the molecular engineering degree to be useful in getting a job, but I don’t know how true that is. Also, I’m still slightly concerned about finding a job relating to the molecular engineering degree because of the lack of ABET accreditation, that molecular engineering is pretty much unheard of outside of UChicago, and that apparently a ton of molecular engineering grads go into fields that have little to do with the major like finance. Despite all that, UChicago does have extremely good connections to internships and research opportunities, which I doubt the state school has anywhere close to the same capacity. It also appears relatively easy to get internships/research, whereas I’m concerned at the state school my opportunities will be far more limited and possibly much more competitive to land a research spot or internship.

I really like the idea of going to college in a big city like Chicago, and the walkability and public transit accessibility is highly valuable to me. On the other hand, the city my state school is in is on the smaller side, but a lot safer than Chicago crime-wise. It is far more car-dependent outside of the university and downtown areas, but there is a bus system that seems okay. Another thing worth mentioning is that I applied for housing at my state school (I was able do it without committing) and got the dorm that I wanted, and my potential roommate seems tolerable, so that’s an additional level of security if I decide to stick to the state school.

The billion-dollar question is if the UChicago name and unique engineering program is worth the extra $30K/year over the more affordable, secure, and traditional engineering program of the state school. If I do manage to get UChicago’s cost down to something comparable with the state school’s, does that change anything? Any advice is much appreciated. Sorry if this came across all jumbled and made zero sense. I’m feeling very stressed, nervous, and uncertain. I don’t want to make a decision and then have it backfire horribly on me for one reason or another.

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Seems like if you really want to work in engineering (rather than something like finance), the lower cost option with ABET accredited chemical and other engineering makes more sense than University of Chicago.

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Worth is dependent upon the family. Most engineering majors won’t work as engineers. And 50% of engineers won’t finish in engineering. If you decided against engineering, which school would offer majors of interest? Do you have interest in other fields such as Investment Banking or Consulting? Don’t forget, the Chicago engineering program has three tracks - bio engineering, chemical engineering, and quantum engineering.

Truth is, Chem E pays well and there are ample jobs - but they may be different than you get out of Chicago.

Here’s the other thing - the bigger name - does it really matter?

U of Chicago doesn’t post career outcomes - so it’s hard to tell. You haven’t mentioned your school but here’s a comparison of top and not - and you tell me.

Georgia Tech - top school - in 2025 - 78.4% of grads that wanted a job had a job. It doesn’t show when the last time they captured that - at grad or another time. The median salary was $85.5K. They don’t show a knowledge rate for the major but school wise it’s a bit more than a third. I’d hypothesize that if you don’t report, you might not have done as well.

I don’t know your “solid” but not top university, but neighboring to Ga Tech, Bama shows 100% positive outcome - so between school and who wants a job, they got one. They have data on 93% of grads - or 57 people. They show an average - not a median - of $75.6K.

So which is better - the better brand name - or the “average” flagship.

Your school might put out data - but you haven’t shared it. You might ask Chicago their data - so you can compare.

But given you will have an ABET Chem E degree, you’ll be fine. Is the $$ important to your family, etc? The rank type stuff isn’t relevant - especially in engineering. That’s for selling magazines, etc.

Here’s others - a year ago, UCONN had 14% who couldn’t find jobs - median $77K (class of 24).

U Arkansas doesn’t give data on who is seeking - but has a median of $80K for undergrad ChemE. Yet UMD (much higher ranked) shows 22% still seeking They don’t show salaries - and it’s 2023 - but your top public - as you said yours is not UVA - well UVA Chem E grads made less than $74K. Of course, that will be higher than today. NC State - 65.6% of Chem E grads reported - so 99 of 151 - 25 were still seeking a job - but the 25 grads showed a median of $82,500.

Bottom line - higher ranked doesn’t necessarily mean better - companies pay by where you are. Yes, Ga Tech kids seemed to make a bit more - but also have a harder time finding jobs.

My guess is Chicago alums are chasing different jobs but ask them for their stats and compare them to your school - whatever it is.

The point is - whatever your public is - there’s nothing wrong with it - if you choose to go there. But I’m sure U Chicago will be great too - if you decide to go that route.

Best of luck.

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My immediate reaction is that you should stay in-state. There are two main reasons that I would lean this way.

One reason is the ABET accreditation. U.Chicago is a very good university. However, I do not think of it as particularly focused on engineering. For MIT or Stanford or Caltech I might not care whether they were ABET accredited. Otherwise I would care. I also like that your state school is ABET accredited for multiple types of engineering, which provides options which might or might not not turn out to be important for you.

The other reason is price.

A master’s degree can be valuable for someone with an engineering degree. To me it often makes sense to get the bachelor’s degree and then work for a year or two, and think about whether you want a master’s degree. However, this can be valuable particularly if you want to focus on some specific area and get extra academic credentials and knowledge in that area. Master’s degrees are usually not funded. Also to me it is more likely to be worth spending the big bucks for a master’s degree partly because it is often the last degree and partly because it is shorter in length. For example there are some very good one year master’s degrees in engineering (when I did this but in a subfield of math most students got their master’s in three quarters, but a few stretched it out to four quarters to reduce the work load – still getting it done in one full calendar year).

And if you do decide to go into academia, then a PhD would be valuable. While a STEM PhD is generally fully funded by the university, the stipend is typically just enough to live on. A small amount of additional financial help from parents can make the marathon a bit easier to handle for 5 or 6 or 7 years. Also admissions to PhD programs can be very, very competitive and some students get a master’s degree first before being accepted for a PhD.

Also, there are a lot of cases where public “state” universities are very good for engineering. It sounds like you have one such case although I did not see which specific university you are considering.

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Perhaps some or many may eventually move into management, marketing, sales, etc. but that does not mean that they never work as engineers.

However, for students who did well enough to get admitted to Chicago, the attrition rate is likely much lower.

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My d is a chem e and graduated from a state flagship. Her opportunities were fantastic.

We live in Chicagoland and U Chicago was never a consideration because they are not an engineering school. Northwestern she toured, but U Chicago never even made the visit list.

Go where you can major in what you want, and knock it out of the park!

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I can tell by how your framed your choices that you have good insight and judgment. You are going to do great at either place. I wish I had some insight that would help.

Congratulations!

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