UVA vs Ga Tech Engineering
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Anonymous
And yet, look how many folks on this board who know engineering were like absolutely GT without a question. If you care about prestige in your neighborhood, sure, maybe UVA. If you care about prestige in the field your child is entering, there is just no comparison. GT is one of the top schools and EVERY engineering firm knows it. GT is way way way way more prestigious in engineering. You should understand that in engineering, it's like not far behind MIT. So it's just not true that UVA is "simply more prestigious." Before my kid went into engineering I thought Georgia Tech was a good-ish school but I wouldn't have known the difference between Georgia Tech and UGA. Now I find that crazy that I didn't know that Georgia Tech is truly in top 5 reputation in country for engineering. The prestige is through the roof. Including for undergrad graduates. |
Anonymous
We are oos for both VA and GA. I know several eng/cs major kids from a magnet program. They all applied to GA Tech but not UVA. That was not even on their radar. Some even applied to VA Tech, but not UVA. |
Anonymous
That is a function of location rather than prestige. More than likely UVA grads stay in the east coast, which is more expensive than the midwest and south. You'd have to compare location of jobs to really get a like for like. Let's look at feeders to FAANG in SV in 2024. That's more of a like for like: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-tech GATech #3 UMD # 24 UVA #27 -- doesn't even break 100 grads |
Anonymous
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For engineering, ABET ensures curricula are more similar than different AND that all are rigorous. "Prestige" matters much less in engineering than for most other majors.
Go to whichever (ABET accredited) E school is best fit for the DC. |
Anonymous
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GA Tech has amazing co ops and internships in Atlanta. You can put your degree to work before graduating. I can't imagine you get anything close to this in Charlottesville.
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Anonymous
A top 25 school has the same outcomes as T10 engineering schools, that's why I posted the salaries. It has little to do with location because Emory CS grads also make more than GT CS grads. The difference is prestige, the reason GT grads can't get jobs outside the south is because the degree isn't as portable as a UVA or Emory degree. They're more likely to be stuck in the south with lower salaries. This isn't new information. If UVA costs less then it's the obvious choice, if they cost the same it's still the obvious choice. |
Anonymous
It's prestigious to some Republicans and people who don't know any better. GT doesn't have better placement than day UIUC or UVA. The proof is in the salaries. |
Anonymous
Exactly this is what I'm trying to get at. Prestige of the school matters more because engineering isn't prestige conscious, but the rest of the world is. So if you're paying the same price why not go to the more prestigious school? |
Anonymous
The "proof" is not the "proof" you think it its. Like I said, locality of where the grads are getting jobs matters for salary. I make more than the DC area person for what I do. Why? Because I get paid CA wages. I tried looking for something similar in the DC area, and the pay was like $30K less. |
Anonymous
You are delusional with your UVA boosterism and clearly unfamiliar with engineering. While it is true that on paper most ABET certified engineering schools appear similar, the best schools have much stronger students that allow for a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the topic. And Georgia Tech gets some of the best engineering students in the country. It as a perennial top 5 program. And there is no comparison with UVA. Even in Virginia, the top STEM students don't go to UVA. And trust me, any West Coast company hiring engineers is going to be far more impressed with a degree from Georgia Tech than one from UVA. This isn't 1980 anymore. |
Anonymous
Georgia Tech is significantly stronger than both UVA and Emory in computer engineering and engineering overall. UVA is clearly stronger than Emory in computer science and is generally a better institution. |
Anonymous
Engineering is a huge area. This is why comprehensive engineering schools have campuses that start to look like a city. Georgia Tech is comprehensive. UVA much less so. It has some strengths in areas like biomedical, but not across all areas. |
Anonymous
Exactly. https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-engineering #1 GA Tech #14 UMD #22 VA Tech #24 UVA I stated up thread, I know several magnet students who are majoring in Eng/CS who applied to GATech, UMD, and some even VATech. No one applied to UVA. |
Anonymous
And. yet, my Aerospace Engineering kid applied to GT, Purdue, and UVA. Got into all three. Picked UVA and was taught by a woman astronaut. She decided after Calc 3 that engineering wasn't for her - not surprising since 80% of all grads change their majors at least once. She moved towards UVA electives she had enjoyed in econ and poli sci and wound up a PPL (politics, pholosophy & law) major. She's now on full scholarship at Oxford and applying to T8 law schools. We joke often "Thank heavens she didn't pick GT" because you don't go there for poli sci. UVA is more prestigious and a better chance for that 80% who may change majors. |
Anonymous
There is no adjustment for size (# of engineering graduates) in that ranking. MIT is ranked 23, which is between VT and UVA. MIT is obviously considered better, but it is much smaller. It has 4,500 undergraduates with about 30% majoring in Engineering. VT has 30,000 undergraduates with 24% majoring in engineering. So VT has 5.3X as many engineering graduates. |