I intend to major in Biological Systems or Environmental Engineering with a possible double major in Computer Science. I am in-state for UF. Money is not technically an “issue,” but I get 0 financial aid from all of these schools (I’ve been accepted to all). I would be getting the National Merit Finalist package from Alabama. I am getting 10k per year in merit money at Virginia Tech so far, and I am a legacy there. I am a Rodman Scholar at UVa. So in order of expensiveness:
Alabama<UF<VT<UVa<MIT
I might want to go to grad school after graduation but if I were to choose UVa or MIT I would most likely go to work to try to pay back my parents for some of that large amount of money. I am interested in water quality research.
Paying back “all the money” for MIT would take you a very long time.
I didn’t mean all of it…should have clarified. This means paying back as much of the difference as possible (between what is in my college fund and MIT). @ucbalumnus I also am leading far away from UVa and MIT I am just looking for opinions. Unfortunately I’ve had a great deal of reality checks about this already 
It’s a cruel process
Any opinions?
I have to decide by April 17.
Well…lets look at UF vs VT. Either school would be a great choice.
UF is higher ranked, but VT has a higher ranked engineering school.
UF is stronger in Biological Systems, while VT’s Environmental Engineering is slightly higher ranked than UF’s (though I think UF’s program is bigger and has more to offer).Both schools have excellent Environmental engineering programs.
For Biological systems, UF’s an easy choice. For Environmental Engineering, it’s close enough I would go with UF and save on the OOS tuition ($28K a year minus your $10K merit scholarship is still much more than UF’s $6K a year minus bright futures).
UA isn’t particularly strong in either Biological systems or Environmental Engineering. so it’s a choice based on cost savings (nothing wrong with that!).
I’m not sure why you would want to double major in Biological systems and computer science, since I don’t see much in the way of synergies between the two majors.
If you do major in Environmental Engineering, I would recommend minoring in Computer Science, and using your free time to do Environmental design projects and/or research. The following link describes the research taking place at UF in ESSIE (Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment; which houses the Environmental engineering program).
http://www.essie.ufl.edu/research/
{VT is also strong in engineering research projects)
Good Luck!
The intersection of these two fields is called Bioinformatics and it is very hot up in the Boston area… Not sure about the DC or Fla. area.
http://csbi.mit.edu/technology/modeling.html
Environmental Engineering tends to be one of the lower paying branches of engineering and CS one of the highest, so that can make a difference in your return on investment calculation.
I know the average salary for a Tufts CS grad (4 miles from MIT, so same job market) is $90K and can range up to $130K. Not sure where bioinformatics falls in this range, but it will probably be a function of the amount of AI/machine learning involved.
In general, leading edge CS skillsets are worth more money. UA is not leading edge, but I have not looked at UF/VT/UVa.
I have a couple of family members who have attended MIT. It is very intense. Not the best fit for everyone, but a great school if it is a good fit.
For the best return on investment you want to choose a school in a biotech hub or a feeder school nearby.
A pure biology degree is a recipe for unemployment in many parts of the country and low pay even in a good job market. You need to be able to differentiate yourself from all the pre-med washouts that flood the job market. A joint CS degree would help. Environmental Engineering is better. The pay for various fields is available on-line.
Boston/San Francisco is tops, Washington DC is ranked around 5-6 so Vtech and UVA may be feeders for that market. Central Florida does have some biotech (ranked around 10-15) so UF may be a feeder for that market. I have never seen Alabama mentioned in the context of a biotech hub.
Thank you @Mastadon and @Gator88NE !
This is specifically what I am looking at as far as the CS double major: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modelling_biological_systems#Ecological_models
I’ve recently gotten into freelance programming and I want to be able to use it in the context of my passion for ecology and biological systems. Also, of course, a CS major improves the overall marketability of any graduate. I think that VT would be the best fit for me overall (and is the place where I see myself happiest) but the money is of course an issue so I’m hoping more merit scholarships (either outside or from VT) come through for me before April 17 (which is when I have to accept my VT engineering scholarship by).
The unemployment rate for biology majors (7.8%) is actually lower than the unemployment rate for computer science majors (8.7%) and mechanical engineering majors (8.1%), and is about the same as civil and electrical engineering majors (7.6%). Biology majors can get jobs; that depends upon what they do in college. (And bioinformatics and systems modeling is completely different from vanilla biology, anyway; there is very high demand in biotech for people who can do biological modeling using mathematical and statistical models, particularly in genetics and genomics.
Where the difference comes in is post-college salaries, but biology majors can make decent salaries: Georgetown’s original survey (2009-2010) says around $30,000 a year is the average, but with 5 years of experience that goes up to $57,000. An update to Georgetown’s data seems to indicate that the average is around $51,000 for new college grads. And the salaries in bioinformatics are higher, probably closer to what a CS major would make.
https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/9t0p5tm0qhejyy8t8hub
https://www.wallstreetprep.com/blog/salary-and-unemployment-rate-by-college-major/
That information is valuable @juillet! I’m definitely more interested in specialized environmental applications/modeling at this point.
MIT is the leader for multi-disciplinary CS and Bio/Biochem/BioEnv double major. Forget the costs differential, you will still have the degree from MIT long after you have paid off any loans. A degree from MIT, opens the world to you. Not saying the others are not great schools but MIT is a great school in a great Biochem hub in a progressive state.
@vhopts thank you for that point. Something I am also considering is what grad school options would be open to me. The schools I would be most interested in if I were to go to grad school would be JHU, Cornell, MIT, and Stanford. Not many people from Virginia Tech enter these programs, which makes me feel as though I would truly need to be top of the class at VT to have a shot.
MIT is worth the debt. MIT will open doors for you the world-over, and to quantify that into a dollar amount, I would say that the dollar amount-return of the MIT name is vastly superior to the dollar amount payed to attend such a school.
@adezar2 even at full-freight $63,900 a year…?
GO TO MIT.
@thegrant I don’t know if the answer is as simple as looking at the prestige. Do you have reasons for your recommendation, or any personal experience? Thanks!
Dude honestly if you really wanted to, you could graduate and work for Centerview Partners or Goldman Sachs and start with a salary of $150,000 out of MIT
I’m from the south. Don’t go to Alabama. Just straight up do not venture to Alabama. Academics doesn’t happen in the SEC (Except for Vandy and maybe Florida). VT is meh. UVa is meh. MIT is legendary.
Just strike a bargain where you ask the rents to pay half, and you’ll take loans for the other half or something. The thing is, you didn’t mention getting into any other decent engineering STEM schools, such as any UC’s, Duke, Northwestern, GT, UMich, Purdue etc. so not only here is MIT amazing, but that the other schools are rather lackluster.
At the end of the day, you will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be able to find a solid, well-paying job with that piece of paper from MIT. Which is something to consider because you may realize that Environmental engineering isn’t your gig, and MIT’s departments are pretty much good at everything
There has been some conflicting information about the Florida Incentive Scholarship and whether it is available at UF, and whether it will be available in the fall. If you are NMF you should look into this…the FIS covers 100% COA at Florida State Schools (if you meet the requirements). That would make UF a no brainer.