Does anybody have feedback on uri engineering versus wpi?
My S is choosing btw the 2 schools…feels he will be more comfortable at uri engineering school but that the wpi program is considered to be more prestigious…
Also, uri engineering is embarking on a large construction project to start this fall and I am concerned abt the disruption this could cause on the living situation …
Any advice?
Engineering curriculum is very similar everywhere is the institutions are ABET accredited. That said, the admitted student profile (average GPA, SAT scores etc.) are higher at WPI than URI.
I think the biggest difference is size and how they structure academics. WPI feels small even though it’s got 4000 undergrad students. (I’m surprise, I thought it felt tiny compared to RPI but it’s only a bit smaller.) WPI has the three course at a time 7 week terms and the project program. It also has great job placement.
@misbrom My son faced the same question for the same two schools. He just choose URI. WPI was too expensive to pay for comfortably though it’s a great school. The negatives for him for that school were the surrounding city was not that safe and the student population was less diverse than URI. Also he is not hardcore engineering so if he changed majors he would have more options at URI He loved his sleep over at URI engineering dorms and really felt he would easily fit in. I have zero worries about the construction. They are simply going to fence off the old engineering section and it will not factor into their lives in any way. There is money to update the old chemistry buildings for engineering. The new chemistry buildings are ahead of schedule. That is where they will have their labs. Regular class work is held around campus anyway. He also like the minor choices which included Digital Forensics and Cyber Security. He is also going to do the honors program which was a surprise. They have a relaxed personal approach to the program. My husband and I both went to URI for engineering and we spent a long time speaking with professors in his department. We were happy with their knowledge and enthusiasm. If we could afford it we certainly might have sent him to WPI though I really do think URI is a better fit. His major is intense and he will have more balance and fun at URI to counter that His dorms will be right next to the new dining hall and rec center so it all seems rather posh especially compared to what we had in the dark ages.
Thank you!
Are you referring to the Engineering LLCs…,
Bc as I understand it, the LLC is only available to the freshman class …,
Thank you for your feedback … It was very helpful!
@misbrom Yes the Engineering LLC for freshman. For sophomore year, if he wanted to live on campus he would go to honors housing which is still nice. My younger two boys would probably choose the IEP and that housing. Frankly, after freshman year a lot of kids want to move to something else. They are ready. I lived in a sorority and two different apartments that lined the school. There are houses and apartment for rent across the street from the school which are technically off campus but you still just walk to class. My husband lived down the line one semester and while it is very nice did not want to drive so moved to an across the street apartment. We are looking at WPI for grad school for him and the prices for grad school are reasonable compared to undergrad. You have a lot more fun in grad school because the basics are done. And some employers will pay for grad school. Mine did So he will get an undergrad degree debt free and maybe even have a grad degree at a place like WPI for free and we still have enough money to have him study abroad.
Until his visit to URI he was going to go to Maine because URI is our state school. But he was so comfortable and they have all the geek and non-geek clubs he likes. Humans vs zombies, a gaming club that meets to play after school, anime, quidditch… It was like he found his list tribe.
And it’s certainly different than when I was there. The kids are well supported in the LLCs and I liked the RAMs that were available for tutoring.
@mathmom @misbrom While the admitted student profile at WPI is higher, the engineering students profile is probably very similar. From talking to the kids most did get into schools like WPI but went to URI. My son’s engineering department at URI has 100% job placement. They don’t have enough graduates to fill spots that employers are requesting. There are juniors who have already received job offers. This is not to say that WPI is not an excellent school because it certainly is but just for evaluation purposes I just putting this out.
Yes, I thought that might well be true and meant to add it as a possibility. It might make some difference for the courses taken outside of engineering, but I doubt it’s the critical factor. WPI offers some things URI doesn’t and vice versa as well. It’s really a matter of what one can afford (reading between the lines, I assume that’s the main issue.) I think from either place the student will have the ability to repay back a reasonable amount of loans, but it’s all a matter of what one is comfortable with and just what the difference is.
@mathmom I don’t know if affordability is a factor for OP but for us. WPI is a good 100k more. While they could have the ability to pay that back as an engineer, there would have to be a great deal of sacrifices for some time. The real kicker for us on our decision matrix was the 10 year salary rate. URI and WPI grads were making the same salary from the IEEE data we looked at. And certainly we know this to be true from our own lives with grads from many different schools working side by side at the same job. With no significant cost benefit, there was just a “what the heck are we paying for moment.” Other negatives for WPI from our decision matrix were, we were not happy with the freshmen dorms at that price. Both quality and that tripling was possible. Upper classmen did not have guaranteed housing from what I understood and apartments in Worcester can be dodgy and they have had parking bans this winter. Also not enough girls. That said WPI is still an excellent school which produces very capable engineers and they have a great career placement center. Financially, I think it is just a strong contender for grad school because 60k a year is a bit much. Of course only you know your finances. Our neighbor’s kid is a NMF who received an amazing deal at WPI so he is there. His brother did not so he is at URI for engineering.
^@musbrom
My son got more merit money from WPI than anywhere else, but we had the good fortune that did not have to be the deciding factor. He ended up studying comp sci at Carnegie Mellon. He’s in his dream job now, so we have no complaints. No way of knowing if he’d just just as well or been just as happy at other schools.
@mathmom Carnegie Mellon is tops. DS received about 14k from WPI. If it was double that and our final cost was about 30k, that is about the point in which WPI becomes more attractive than URI for us. Schools like Carnegie Mellon or Stanford we’d reach more for (I don’t think he’d get into either). But DS did not want student loans and we’d have to sell property which takes time AND we’d have to make sure we could give the same amount for our younger two to keep it fair.
Well, it looks like my son is choosing uri engineering…
Over Wpi bc of cost and perceived "fit "
Yes, he would have abt $100,000 in debt to supplement other aid, scholarship and parent contribution…
Hope he does not get off track after engineering LLC of freshman year is no longer available …
That’s my concern!
He was invited to join honors club…so hopefully , he will join that and have the honors LLC available in sophomore year …,
$100,000 in debt is highly risky, and you would have to co-sign most of it, generally a bad idea, since it implies that neither you nor he has the money. This is especially problematic if you are close to retirement or have younger kids looking to go to college (how would you tell them that you used up all of your money and borrowing capacity on their older sibling?).
If the “cheapest” school requires $100,000 of debt, then it looks like his application list was poorly made. If he has other options that require substantially less debt while having the academics he wants to study, they should be strongly considered. If not, he may want to look into starting at a community college and transferring to a lower cost school (perhaps an in-state public) later, or go to work for a year while reapplying to a more financially realistic set of schools.
Sounds like he made the smart choice. I think it was WPI that would have resulted in $100,000 debt, right? That’s a lot.
Yes…actually, a bit less 80k…
Still tremendous amount though …
Yikes. I would definitely have him work at trying to get a co-op or internship to start after his first 2 semesters to help pay for some of his school costs. 80k is a lot of debt even with a degree in a good paying field.
URI engineering is very well regarded and they have a great international engineering program as well.
WPI is a great school too-very different choices.
My daughter really liked URI more than she wanted to (we are instate so you know what I mean!). She did not end up attending but it wasn’t because we all didn’t like the school we all did.
$80,000 is still a very risky amount of debt that would require parent cosigning of the loans. If URI requires that much debt, does he have any less expensive options?
@misbrom 88k is what it costs us for four years. The good thing if you are in state is commutable from most places since it’s such a small state. That could be an option in later years. I would also have him look into being an RA for the engineering LLC. I think you have to apply for that around Dec/Jan of your freshman year. I think URI provides free board for that job. Also maybe a RAM position. Our guy is going to earn about 4k a summer. Look into summer internships after freshman year. Also off campus apartments are cheaper for upper classmen. Look along on Rt.138 for an apartment that he can still walk to campus. I will PM you.
So $88,000 is total 4 year cost, not the amount you’d need in loans? That seems pretty reasonable!