Can u tell me which 1 of stanford,virginia tech,columbia is best in engineering program and in social life?

Question

since i am a student from europe considering to transfer to one of them can u tell me how the in-state/outta-state,costs work out?

Answer 1

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/topprogs_withphd_brief.php

It only shows the top 3 schools for engineering, but Stanford is in those 3.

In-state and out-of-state only concerns public schools. Of the ones you listed, only Virginia Tech may be a public. I'm not sure. I know for sure Stanford and Columbia are private so that there's no difference in tuition. Public schools offer discounted tuition to residents of the state they are in. This can make quite a difference, but you have to prove residency for the required amount of time before you get that in-state tuition. Private schools don't make that distinction. Everyone pays the same basic tuition.

I'm not too familiar with VA Tech in engineering, but Stanford and Columbia are known to be top-10 schools in practically every field. This overall rep is great b/c it's acknowledged anywhere in the world.

As for social life, most engineers don't have much of one. The course of study is too hard to let you party too much and still get a decent grade. Still, you're not totally locked away like hermits.

Columbia is in NYC. Awesome place to be. However, it's not in the best part of town. Stanford is in Palo Alto. One of the most upscale towns in CA. However, there's just not as much to do in Palo Alto as there is in NYC. You'd have to travel an hour north to San Francisco to get the cool city nightlife you can easily find in NYC. At Columbia, you just hail a cab or catch the subway and you're there. Both cities are super expensive so cost is actually pretty close.

Answer 2

Virginia Tech for certain. Overall, Columbia and Stanford are great schools, however they specialize in liberal arts and business programs. Stanford and Columbia are known for psychology, law, medicine, political science, etc. Virginia Tech is a very technology-based school and excellent in engineering. It doesn't have the reputation of columbia and stanford, but their program is better and you will get a better education in engineering there.

Also, Stanford and Columbia are private schools, so they do not have in-state/out of state costs. Those are only for public schools. Everyone at Stanford and Columbia pays the same costs, no matter where you are from. At Virginia Tech you will have to pay the higher out of state tuition because you do not live in Virginia. Only if you lived in Virginia would you qualify for the lower in-state rates because Virginia residents pay state taxes that supports the school, so they are allowed a tuition discount. I'd guess that stanford and Columbia would run you about $35,000 a year in tuition. Virginia Tech would probably be about $20,000-$25,000 a year. So VT will be about $10,000 cheap a year, but you will have to check for specific numbers.

Answer 3

All of them are excellent schools...I would vote Stanford.

However, since I'm not from any of those schools (nor live in the same state), go to www.studentsreview.com. They'll have information of what current students and alumni think about their school. You can also go under comments and sort it by major, so you could go by engineering. However, look at all of the comments. Usually all of them are very very helpful.

For fees, go to collegeboard.com and type in the name of the college. I believe that you would be considered an "out of state" student and might have to do those fees...but since you're from outside the US, many colleges will provide a good amount of financial aid to help you out.

Good luck! I hope I was able to help