My intended major is Materials Science and Engineering. At UMD I have Banneker Key, a scholarship which covers pretty much everything. I was also admitted into Gemstone a 4 year research LLC. Georgia Tech is my dream school though. I received no financial aid there and would be paying full OoS tuition. I also wouldn’t be able to LLCs.
Can you afford the full OOS tuition without debt? Both are great schools. If they are both within your budget go where you want to go but if one is un-affordable that makes the decision for you.
Think of it this way. If someone gave you a brand new Lexus for free, would you turn it down for the privilege of paying $100,000 plus interest for a BMW because you like BMWs? You’d be nuts to do that.
Someone just handed you $100,000 to go to the University of Maryland + a research opportunity for 4 years! That’s something you can put on a resume. At GA Tech, you get a bachelors degree with $150k worth of debt and no research experience. That’s assuming you could get the loans to pay for it. I’d say, take the scholarship and run!