<p>For engineering I encouraged my sons to think about where they wanted to live in the country and we looked at colleges in that area. Regional hiring seemed to be very common in this field. Only a very few schools seem to have a national footprint. Pick a top school in the region and go where the fit and money takes you over Ivy or any elite tag.</p>
<p>On son is interested in the upper midwest and he decided on applying Northwestern engineering very impressive curriculum and co-op program.</p>
<p>Great story mercy, but I think you might get flamed for saying that engineers don’t have a life of the mind. ;)</p>
<p>What a family full of dynamos! You must be blowing a gale through your small southern town.</p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation Pack Mom. Let us know where he goes this summer.</p>
<p>drizzit, you are so right about engineering and architecture being regional. </p>
<p>Haha JHS. Good one. I think if a student can get ‘close enough’ to his or her requirements, it will probably work out for the best. This is my baggy pants theory. The pants ‘fit’ but they are a little baggy. I love 'em anyway. My S1 never even visited his school before he arrived as a freshman but he’s having a great experience–exactly the one ‘we’ envisioned when he chose four big school/big city universities. He’s going to be crushed when he has to leave after graduation in '08. (Just won his division for intramural basketball and was accepted for senior thesis with prominent faculty advisor).</p>
<p>There are so many different ways to eat cake.</p>
<p>I took a different path. I had difficult choices for my undergrad but stayed on for my grad studies because of the “girl” I was with. The grad school was right for me as well but not my marriage. I can’t complain as I was able to raise my D as a single parent for about 9 years before she went to college.</p>
<p>For some engineering disciplines I think there is such a demand, that employers can’t afford to be too fussy about schools or geographic areas.</p>
<p>My brother (chem engineer turned mech engineer), who lives in timbuktu Maine (we’re NOT talking Bar Harbor here), always has a selection of jobs to choose from. In fact he just left AIG for a risk management engineering firm in Ohio. He has always worked so that when he’s not on site (many of which are in Eastern Europe these days) he works from home. He is the type that absolutely must live in the wilderness. It’s a good deal, and excellent money. (He is, however, the quintessential engineer. NO problem is unsolvable…)</p>
<p>oh, i didn’t mean that engrs don’t have a life of the mind, it’s just that U of C has “life of the mind” as their slogan, if you will, so i just meant choosing U of C by that (and THAT doesn’t mean that other schools don’t have a life of the mind, either!)</p>
<p>as for going to engrg school in the region where you want to work, well it’s too late to think about that now. we certainly didn’t think about it when searching for colleges. i have read that since joining cc in some parts of the forum, but i guess we’ll just have to see how it turns out. 4 of my cousins are engineers, but 3 are military (ROTC programs) and one is with Shell so they just send him wherever.</p>
<p>Pitt has a pretty good co-op program with lots of multinational firms as well as local and nat’l. She thinking about doing co-op and, well, she may never come home. It happens.</p>
<p>we also live in an area with a lot of engineers and i also know (after 20 years of observing) that there is a certain amount of boom and bust to the job market there. plus now the ever present specter of outsourcing, but i still believe in following your passion. it will all work out. if you’re not careful, you can overplan.</p>
<p>I’d also add, re mercymom’s post, that Chicago is known for its focus on the theoretical rather than the practical. So the engineering daughter could very well have ended up studying quantum physics at Chicago instead – but if you hire an engineer to design a bridge, you’d probably want one who was more grounded in traditional, Newtonian physics. (Unless you hope to get a bridge that leads to two different places simultaneously). </p>
<p>And this could have an impact as to which was the best fit school.</p>
<p>Wow, what a long thread. I’d appreciate it if anyone can help me with my current dilemma:
I’m planning to go into engineering, and then ultimately business. My current two choices are Cornell Engineering and University of Toronto Engineering. Cornell will cost approximately 20k a year after financial aid, while the University of Toronto will cost literally nothing with scholarships (plus since I’m a Canadian citizen tuition is only 8000/year)
Of course, going to U of T has it’s cons, such as extremely large classes, and the rumours of your professors never knowing your name - which may lead to difficulties in getting into grad school.
If there are anyone experienced with the two universities, or the engineering field, or anything related to this situation, would you mind inputting your opinion?
Thanks for your time! I really appreciate it</p>
<p>You should try posting this on the Engineering thread, where I’m sure you’ll get lots of responses. Personally, I don’t know squat about Toronto, but Cornell is very excellent. It’s also very cold, but you’re used to that!</p>
<p>Stuck, with an engineering degree, you can EASILY afford to take on $80K of debt. See if you can sign up to be an RA one year to make that $70K of debt–and try to get great summer jobs to lower it to $65K</p>
<p>Cornell is a great school and it attracts kids from all over the US and the rold. UT is similar–but in this case, I think the Cornell program is worth the risk. As good as UT is, an Ivy degree has cache all over the world. I don’t know what sort of engineering you are interested in, but for example, literally half of the world’s cranes are in Shanghai at the moment. Half. Your future could well have an interrnational component to it.</p>
<p>Cornell is very good about internships and job placement too. Go for it! You can always head back to UT if you don’t like Ithaca.</p>
<p>Good luck and CONGRATS!!!</p>
<p>If you can, sign up to visit the school during the admitted students days. In the meantime, email or call the Dean’s office at Cornell and ask them if they could assign you a pen pal–preferably a same-sex junior in your field of interest. Get the insider scoop from your pen pal–and make an upper school buddy in the meantime.</p>
<p>Going back to the original discussion: I took the prestigious school over the other ‘lesser’ colleges for undergrad four years ago. All of them offered me a free ride except the one I ended up going to. Mind you, we’re not poor, so, it wasn’t about that so much. I did what my parents wanted and I lived here for four years. I didn’t really like it very much, but I got some friends and a lot of knowledge out of it. I didn’t really find my perfect-fit school in time for undergrad anyway, but I really wanted to move out. </p>
<p>The prestige ended up saving my butt, though. I found the perfect school for me and I applied for graduate studies. It is a top-notch school on the other side of the Atlantic ocean so I don’t have to put up with my parents anymore. There is very little chance I could have gotten in there had I not gone to the prestigious school. So, take from that what you will. I still don’t know what I’d do if I could choose again…maybe apply to the British University right off the bat? Too bad I didn’t know about it four years ago.</p>
<p>Stuck, You didn’t say that you would need to borrow, but if you do, I disagree strongly with Cheer’s assessment that you can easily pay off $80K worth of debt. People are always optimistic when taking on debt, they never think about the things that can go wrong along the way. $80K is way too much debt for an undergrad degree, expecially as you are Canadian. Where are you going to work after school? What would you owe when you take into account the exchange rate? Will the Cornell degree be more respected in Canada than Toronto? Or will the Toronto degree do more for you in terms of finding local employment? </p>
<p>Now – if your parents can pay from other resources, it’s a different question. Just don’t take on debt that you aren’t certain you can pay off on the sort of salary you could earn even if you don’t complete that engineering degree. A lot can happen in 4 years to send the best laid plans awry… but debt is debt. Your plans can be interrupted or they can change… you’ll still owe the money.</p>
<p>For an engineer who will be making $65K a year to start and up to at least $150K after 10 years (the life of a 10 year loan), a $65K loan is doable. Start your own business after five or six years apprenticeship and the money will be even higher, Stuck.</p>
<p>Besides, I believe the terms offered by the socialist Canadian government will be more favorable, Stuck. I think the Canadian government will be thrilled to see you at an Ivy league school and they will do everything they can to help you. I suggest you go to their offices and meet with them as soon as possible. See if they can offer you the funds on a graduated payback scheme; ie you pay back the loan in increasing amounts as your salary increases. An engineer is a good bet for lenders. An engineer with a Cornell degree is golden. So says me.</p>
<p>You should also ask the loan office about special fudning for top tertiary students, Stuck. Oftentimes, socialist governments will have special scholarships for their top students–of which you are clearly one. Start researching what funding you can get from Canada.</p>
<p>Go for it kiddo. It will be hard work at Cornell, but if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. You will be a bloody engineering superstar.</p>
<p>Got a minute to look at the last couple days of postings. Got kinda nasty for bit. Still kind getting over the fact that S and I yesterday were within a nanosecond of not having to worry about college or anything else. Kind of put CC and college worries etc in perspective. I have been trying to search my memory banks to come up with examples of kids who took the mega-offers and what happened down the road. I have some other examples that I will post later if I get time. And maybe some other random observations of questionable value.
Calmom et al : Keep up the the greats posts.</p>
<p>A grasshoppper walked in the bar I was at last night. He sat on the bar chair and the bar tender said to him : “Hey, you know we have a drink named after you?” The grasshooper said: “Oh, you a have a drink named Steve?”</p>
<p>thank you mercymom, cheers, and calmmom for the replies.
The main reason for my attraction to Cornell over U of T is due to the lack of opportunities and big class sizes at U of T. Although U of T has a great Engineering program, (or so I am told by my teachers) I keep hearing about people who come out and can’t find jobs.
My parents are okay with money, and they’ll probably be able to pay for the tuition fees. My main concern at this point is whether the extra 80K would be worth it. (80K is a lot of money… I can use the 80K to by an apartment or something)
Thanks</p>
<p>any thoughts on lafayette vs amherst, gtown, bryn mawr, tufts, wellesley? i think i’ll go to lafayette- it’s amazingly personal and with the scholarship i’ve won i feel like i’ve been put in a prime position to excel.</p>
<p>It looks like what you’re saying is that $$ wise you can do either one and your parents are ok with it. They can afford either one; it’s your choice. So how about doing a completely unscientific decision? When you think about going to one school, do you get a gradually building splitting headache and start to have trouble breathing, like you’re being suffocated? When you think about going to the other school do you feel exhilirated, like the whole world is opening up before you and you can breathe lots of cool refreshing air? Does one feel like prison and the other like the world is your oyster? See where I’m headed?</p>
<p>If it were me, I’d stay away from large classes and anything that hinted of the impersonal, esplly if I could afford to avoid it. I would go for as much quality as I could afford while getting as far away from the known and familiar as I could afford so as to experience new things. At least that’s how I felt when I was 18.</p>
<p>Don’t worry so much about what kind of job you’re going to get after, esplly if $$ is not a problem. I wouldn’t say that if you had to go into debt for the degree, and I can only say that to you 'cause you’re not my kid. Of course, my own kids have to graduate, find work and leave home. You will not boomerang back into my house, so I can afford to be more forgiving.</p>
<p>Seriously, the job thing will work out. It isn’t worth being miserable for four years or studying something you hate just to get a job. But if you can get lots of plusses studying engrg at a particular school, you love the school, you can afford the school, then go for it!</p>
<p>Stuck, if you are 18 and comparing a house deposit to a chance to go to Cornell, then perhaps you will never get comfortable with the idea of that debt being worthwhile. Personally, I think you will find that your opportunities are higher with a Cornell degree, but taking the riskier option requires a leap of faith. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind, it’s not as though you will have a lump sum of $80k when you graduate from UT. You will have less to spend per month if you do the Cornell degree–but then again, your salary could be much higher with a Cornell degree. The amoutn spent on the loan payments could turn out to be insignificant. </p>
<p>That was the case with my school loans. I paid for half of my private university architecture (!) education. Paying off the loans never bothered me or crimped my lifestyle. If I hadn’t assumed that debt, I never would have had the confidence to pursue a global career and lifestyle.</p>
<p>On the ohter hand, I never thought about a house deposit when I was 18. I have purchased expensive houses and/or apartments, but I wasn’t worrying about that when I was 18. If you are worrying about it at such a young age, then perhaps UT would be a better fit.</p>
Nice.</p>