Anonymous
Post 02/19/2026 09:28     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:University of Michigan has a great Engineering and CS program would take it over many perceived "prestigious" schools.


yes -just toured and in gtech but kid still thinks ivy is better-even though they are not for engineering


But ivies are better, assuming you mean the ones with real engineering schools, due to more funded engineering opportunities for undergrad, smaller E-cohort thus greater ability to get top faculty letters, competitive TA spots, faculty connections, and higher reputations with regard to top industry jobs and top phD placement.


What absolute utter nonsense. Unless of course if you are talking about when you get past the Top 3 in MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech (tie), Cal Berk (tie). No one can compete with these schools in the criteria you state.

As far as Top industry jobs.

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-engineering/

Anonymous
Post 02/19/2026 09:01     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:University of Michigan has a great Engineering and CS program would take it over many perceived "prestigious" schools.


yes -just toured and in gtech but kid still thinks ivy is better-even though they are not for engineering


But ivies are better, assuming you mean the ones with real engineering schools, due to more funded engineering opportunities for undergrad, smaller E-cohort thus greater ability to get top faculty letters, competitive TA spots, faculty connections, and higher reputations with regard to top industry jobs and top phD placement.


Are you saying this as an industry recruiter or just because you believe "Ivy is always better"? I'm willing to change my mind but I've toured Yale as well as the larger state schools such as Purdue, Michigan and UIUC which all have entire sections of campus devoted to engineering/CS with vast and extraordinary facilities, more faculty teaching and researching in various areas of the industry, and relationships with top firms/corps which seem to make this an easy decision if a student knows they want to major in a specific field such as engineering or CS.
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2026 04:03     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:How about physics major for UMD vs UVA? Kid is more inclined to choose UMD due to the research opportunities and the global reputation of the UMD physics department, but saying no to UVA seems silly given the overall prestige.
Go wherever is cheaper and use the save money to offset the opportunity cost of unpaid research.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 22:08     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:Yep-my ‘24 grade chose UofSC International Business program over UVA. Direct admit, honors college, weather and wanted to get out of VA…


That is a no brainer because it's direct admit. I have a friend whose son chose to go to UVA over a direct admit to the business school at VT - hoping he'd get into UVA's business school. Well, he got rejected and sadly wished he had gone to VT instead.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 22:06     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:VCU Arts


+1
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 18:34     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Yep-my ‘24 grade chose UofSC International Business program over UVA. Direct admit, honors college, weather and wanted to get out of VA…
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 17:47     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
VCU Arts
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 17:17     Subject: Re:Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:Yes - daughter leaning toward VT over UVA for mechanical. VT's more hands-on opportunities and less country club vibe fit her better.


I mean that choice seems obvious for Engineering.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 17:15     Subject: Re:Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes of course. Especially for pre-med or pre-law, it’s so much smarter to do undergrad at an in-state honors program, get top GPAs, and save money for a top 20 medical school. No one cares where you went to undergrad if you have a Harvard law or Stanford medical degree (no one remembers Barack Obama went to Occidental).

So many kids get burned out from grade deflation at undergrads like Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, U Chicago and have little gas left in the tank (plus no savings and low GPA) left to support a run for a top post-grad which is where it will really count in this AI era.


All of the schools you mention are no longer deflated. Lower than Harvard and Brown's median GPA of 3.9, to be fair, but hardly deflated. As of 2022-2023 they have medians of 3.65-3.75 and rising. Same or higher range than UVA, UCB, UCLA. As long as one can be around average at those schools, they can get into tier-2 med and law, if they can be a little above average (3.85+)they can get T14 law and T20 med. Med and Law schools know the medians of undergrads, they know a 3.90 at Harvard or Brown is around the same as a 3.75 from the less inflated ivy-types.


Disagree. Just heard straight from the horse’s mouth neighbor’s kid home for Christmas told us her Cal class average at CMU is 73 and everyone is upset. Because this means a lot of kids have 60’s. CMU doesn’t give + or - grades so even if you scored a 79 you still get a C. If you have a 69, it’s a D. A lot of these kids have never seen a B+ in their life, let alone a D.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 17:04     Subject: Re:Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Yes - daughter leaning toward VT over UVA for mechanical. VT's more hands-on opportunities and less country club vibe fit her better.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 16:57     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:How about physics major for UMD vs UVA? Kid is more inclined to choose UMD due to the research opportunities and the global reputation of the UMD physics department, but saying no to UVA seems silly given the overall prestige.

Regardless of UVA vs UMD, you can't do much with just an undergrad in physics.

My sibling has a BS in physics from Cal. They had to get a masters to get a good paying job.

If your kid is planning to get an advanced degree, I'd go with the school that has a stronger research program. And yes, reputation does matter in most cases.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 16:51     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
The was a long thread on low ranked schools with high ranked programs. Some interests are very niche. Like mining or ceramics or nursing etc
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 15:27     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Its a personal choice, but kid chose program over college prestige - nyu stern
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 14:27     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Are any of your kids doing this? Say, VT Engineering over UVA Engineering? Are there other cases?


Friend's kid did the opposite- ED'd to UVA for engineering and the father is mad! Thinks the kid should've gone for Tech but agreed to the ED thinking he'd never get in. Whoops.


I was the opposite.

My kid wanted to do engineering but I wasn't so sure it would be a satisfying career for him considering his other interests. So I encouraged him to go to UVA because there are so many opportunities outside of engineering at UVA and far fewer at VT and the UVA brand name will make up for some of the engineering specific gap. It looks like he is going to graduate with an engineering degree so I wonder if I encouraged him to hedge his bests for no reason.


I’m sure the UVA brand will still open many doors for your son.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 14:11     Subject: Choosing program prestige over college prestige
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid is considering VT for English - yes, English, not engineering - over UVA for English. VT is accepting a lot of my kid's AP credits and will give him time to explore other classes/majors and participate in many activities.


I’m assuming “vibe” also comes into play in his decision.


Yes, but we're planning to revisit both schools again just to be sure. So many pros and cons for both schools.