Schools are similar enough that I'd suggest going for cheaper. Maybe look at AP credit too if your student will earn some?

I have 2 Hokies - one came in with 50 credits due to AP and the other earned 53. VT will only allow 38 credits to count towards the degree, so they had to decline some. But it meant my engineering Hokie could spread out some of her more difficult classes a bit, and she only had to take 2 gen eds that weren't either covered by major requirements or AP. My Bio Sci major Hokie probably could have graduated early if he wanted to do that. Both are very happy at Tech.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either is fine. Pick in-state if that is an option.

As a STEM hiring manager, I mostly don't care what rank your engineering / STEM program had, provided it either is Caltech, MIT, Stanford, or it is AbET accredited. ABET sets a high floor. I care a lot whether a student took rigorous in-major upper level electives. We hire from many STEM programs. We consistently find that "program rank" from US News (or wherever) does not correlate with either ability or knowledge or on the job performance.

The US News engineering rankings are "based on peer assessment surveys of deans and senior faculty from accredited U.S. institutions" of "peer programs they were familiar with". Your finding that there is not a great correlation between the rankings (outside of the toppermost of the poppermost programs) and the ability or knowledge of graduates gibes with this haphazard methodology.

Alex, I will take what people say from USNWR lower ranked engineering programs for $100.

Bingo! And it’s obvious what school that PP is always plugging. They post this all the time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD is in a gross part of PG county, but it's close to home. VT campus is beautiful but about 4 hours from here.

Ridiculous comment. First of all, its fine. 2nd of all, however you might describe it, there are for worse parts of PG. Sheesh.

The ^PP probably thinks there are too many people of a certain color in that area.

NP. I agree with first poster. College Park is a ghetto. Even the Ikea kids play area looks like a dump.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tour and select best fit. UMD will have more diverse students fwiw.

+1 on the whole, UMD > VTech but for Engineering, it's about the same.

UMD is one of the most diverse univ in the country, and that includes gender diversity. It also has a better football team and is part of the B1G for research, too.

https://btaa.org/about/member-universities

My son is weighing both schools do no dog in fight. Saying UMD football is better seems like a stretch. The schools are 6-7 spots apart in ranking. I'd give the nod for VT for food and campus to make up for those 6-7 spots.

Anonymous wrote:Tour and select best fit. UMD will have more diverse students fwiw.

+1 on the whole, UMD > VTech but for Engineering, it's about the same.

UMD is one of the most diverse univ in the country, and that includes gender diversity. It also has a better football team and is part of the B1G for research, too.

https://btaa.org/about/member-universities

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either is fine. Pick in-state if that is an option.

As a STEM hiring manager, I mostly don't care what rank your engineering / STEM program had, provided it either is Caltech, MIT, Stanford, or it is AbET accredited. ABET sets a high floor. I care a lot whether a student took rigorous in-major upper level electives. We hire from many STEM programs. We consistently find that "program rank" from US News (or wherever) does not correlate with either ability or knowledge or on the job performance.

The US News engineering rankings are "based on peer assessment surveys of deans and senior faculty from accredited U.S. institutions" of "peer programs they were familiar with". Your finding that there is not a great correlation between the rankings (outside of the toppermost of the poppermost programs) and the ability or knowledge of graduates gibes with this haphazard methodology.

Alex, I will take what people say from USNWR lower ranked engineering programs for $100.

Tour and select best fit. UMD will have more diverse students fwiw.

Anonymous wrote:Either is fine. Pick in-state if that is an option.

As a STEM hiring manager, I mostly don't care what rank your engineering / STEM program had, provided it either is Caltech, MIT, Stanford, or it is AbET accredited. ABET sets a high floor. I care a lot whether a student took rigorous in-major upper level electives. We hire from many STEM programs. We consistently find that "program rank" from US News (or wherever) does not correlate with either ability or knowledge or on the job performance.

The US News engineering rankings are "based on peer assessment surveys of deans and senior faculty from accredited U.S. institutions" of "peer programs they were familiar with". Your finding that there is not a great correlation between the rankings (outside of the toppermost of the poppermost programs) and the ability or knowledge of graduates gibes with this haphazard methodology.

go with the in state

Anonymous wrote:VT is ranked higher than UMD for Electrical? Is that correct?

I believe UMD is slightly higher but it's not significant enough to make big differences. You can't go wrong with either one OP. Pick the one that makes most sense for your kid/family

UMD has the purple line opening soon. It goes right through the center of the campus and will make getting into DC much easier. My DC goes into DC often for concerts etc.

My other DC at Penn State can't go anywhere. The town is nice but there is literally nothing else in that area. IDK if Vtech is the same or not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD is in a gross part of PG county, but it's close to home. VT campus is beautiful but about 4 hours from here.

Ridiculous comment. First of all, its fine. 2nd of all, however you might describe it, there are for worse parts of PG. Sheesh.

The ^PP probably thinks there are too many people of a certain color in that area.