UVM vs UNH vs Rowan University? (Mechanical Engineering Major)

College Search & Lists
1

Hey all! I’m a senior in high school from northern New Jersey and have narrowed my college decision to three colleges:

  1. University of Vermont (Burlington, VT) - $28,600
  2. University of New Hampshire (Durham, NJ) - $28,000
  3. Rowan University (Glassboro, NJ) - $18,000 ___________________________________________________

I’m a mechanical engineering major and would love some input regarding which college has the best engineering program, internships, and/or career placement. I feel I have a pretty good sense for the atmosphere of each college, but if you have any comments regarding student life, please feel free to share!

If you were a senior in high school, which one would you decide upon and why?

Any responses are greatly appreciated!

2

Choose Rowan. Rowan is a great, affordable school with a very good engineering program.

3

Rowan has become a great engineering school, with excellent facilities. Considering the price difference, that’s what you should choose.
However, if your parents had budgeted 30K and you want to go out of state, UVermont is good. It sounds like you got into the Honors College, so you would have a good dorm (and one small class but, the Honors College isn’t very comprehensive at UVermont). I think in terms of engineering quality it’s a wash with Rowan, and the environment (cool college town/more affluent student body coming from OOS for skiing opportunities, thus more geographical diversity but probably less socio-economic diversity) is great. Essentially, you’d be paying 12K a year for that environment so you should only consider it if it’s no stretch for your parents and they are totally okay with it. If what you’re after is skiing, you can afford 2 nice ski trips for a quarter of that amount…

4

Thanks for the replies! I do snowboard and love the atmosphere and location of UVM, but I simply can’t get past the fact that I’ll save $40,000 over 4 years by going to Rowan. One of my ultimate goals is to come out of college debt-free, so it looks like Rowan is the best way to go from a financial standpoint.

MYOS1634: You bring up a really good point with the two ski trips. Even though UVM’s location can’t be beat for skiing, I’ll be saving so much money by going to Rowan that I can afford to go up north a few times a year to ski. Hell yeah!

5

I loved UVM’s location too but you can’t beat staying in Jersey and getting practically a low-debt college education!