Help Me Decide Which College

[CovertCow]

I am currently a high school senior interested in Electrical Engineering. After applying to college, I have a number of options. The main ones that appeal to me are Columbia's Fu Foundation (School of Applied Sciences), University of Pennsylvania Engineering, and University of Washington Engineering (Through the honors program).

I am having a terrible time deciding between these different institutions. Here are things to keep in mind:
-I want to have a life during the 4 years that I'm at college
-I want to have many great options for job/grad school
-Penn/Columbia cost about $155000US for 4 years, while UW is about $55000 (My parents gave me $120000 towards whatever education I get. Anything extra I pay for. Anything left over I keep.)
- At UW I am in the honors program and admitted directly into the Electrical Engineering department

I was wondering if you guys/girls could give me some advice on where to spend my next 4 years and any general college advice you have.

Thanks for your time!
Jeff

[Pexster]

Can't speak for the others, but UW is a great college campus with a very vibrant atmosphere. You'll have plenty of options from all of those places, assuming you perform well. What school you did your undergrad work at is greatly overemphasized by a lot of people. What grad school you attend is much more important, and your options will not be limited by the choices you presented.

[phenious]

UW is a good school and I think you could do well. Also, having money to help start your life as you move into the work force would be highly valuable. <-- thats kind of a pun isnt?

-: phenious :-

[jman01pa]

You have the money, go and visit each of the campuses. Dont allow dollars be your deciding factor. This is the rest of your life you are planning for.

[The Real Bingo]

Why not a tech school? With that you dont need those superfluous classes like langauge, arts, etc. Plus I would imagine the cost would be less.

[Pexster]

Writing skills are not superfluous. I don't care how brilliant an engineer you become, if you can't write a good proposal or spec, no one will listen to you because they will think (and rightly so), that you are uneducated and/or illiterate. Also, good writing complements good and clear thinking.

[butch81385]

upenn is a very nice school, but i didnt like the innercity atmosphere (if i wanted that i would have stayed home and went to CMU with my sister or to Pitt). Penn State is a very nice school that is one of the top engineering schools, plus it is cheaper if you are from PA.


if you like the city schools, you may want to try drexel (in philly as well).

i would suggest going to a university over a tech school only because of what a university degree brings with it. people are more likely to hire a university grad over a tech school grad if they perform similarly. it is also a common stereotype that tech school is below universities (kinda like a "you werent good enough for a university")
I do not believe in these views, but they are held by many

as for college in general? Time management is everything. if you can manage your time you will be fine....

[Mike]

UP degree will look a bit better (the whole Ivy league thing) over a PSU degree, but PSU isn't a shabby school. Drexel isn't a bad engineering school, I have an uncle that is taking courses there. Also, Philadelphia is just a very fun city!

University of PA is expensive and butch is right, it's Ivy league, so a lot of students there have the "I am superior to you," kind of thing going.

[CovertCow]

Thank you all for generously taking time to respond:

Here are some responses to input:
-glad to hear UW is respected, the price is definitely right.
-I intend to spend my spring break visiting these schools, spending 2 nights with engineering students at each institution.
-I hope to pursue my interest in liberal arts in college (mainly history and poly sci/gov) so that kind of rules out tech institutions
-Its nice to hear that Philadelphia is a cool city, wouldn't want to spend 4 years with nothing to do other than study study study.

[teengeek88]

)ever thought of U of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois? i want to go there for engineering, and i have been advised it is one of the top engineering schools in the US

and oh yeah GO ILLINI!!! (got knocked out of the ncaa tournament last week tho )