Reply to What Schools are Worth Paying For Over UVA In-State Tuition?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Thanks for all the thoughtful responses (and some of the back and forth was kind of entertaining). To answer some questions: my son is looking to go into either biomedical engineering or mechanical engineering, he likes UVA and likes its fun atmosphere but is a little worried there's too much partying, he has the stats to apply to "top privates" (1550+, 3.98 UW, high course rigor, rest of application should be good we believe). He would be unhooked though. What I'm understanding is most people think only a handful of schools (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Duke, and a few others) would be worth it over UVA in-state in general? I thought UVA engineering was good, but some people are saying otherwise so now I'm not as sure. We are also looking into CMU, Georgia Tech, UIUC, etc. as some here suggested. We weren't looking at Purdue but more than a few people here mentioned it and it looks like a great option, so thanks for highlighting that!

The LACs included are interesting but so far my son has not looked into them much, perhaps due to a perception of them lacking STEM research opportunities and resources. That could be a false assumption so happy to learn more about them!

Also a couple we were on the fence about: would people consider Cornell worth it over UVA in-state? We know a number of people who turned down Cornell to stay for UVA but not all of them were engineering and that's one of Cornell's stronger suits. What about Northwestern?[/quote]

It's nice to hear your son likes UVA OP. UVA engineering is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but as others have said it's more theoretical than a place like VT or probably GT. I would agree with what most have said here, if you're comfortable paying and you want to let your kid pick any school (and it sounds like the undergraduate degree will be his main thing), then maybe you pick Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Caltech, and a few others if your son gets in. Those schools will open a lot of doors especially if your son changes his mind on what he wants to study. CMU, Georgia Tech, UIUC could also be worth it. Purdue is a great school for engineering and pretty inexpensive so it's good you're looking at that. As for Cornell and Northwestern, I personally would opt for UVA. Cornell is a large school so the attention your son gets won't be much better than if you went for UVA. And for better or worse Cornell does seem to have a reputation as the least desirable ivy. Northwestern is a phenomenal school but again, it's hard to say it's worth it in your son's situation -- maybe toss a coin if he gets in.[/quote]

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