College advice

This is kind of a weird place to ask this I guess, but oh well  

I'm a high school senior and now have to decide on a college (for electrical or mechanical engineering). I'm leaning towards a public school in the northwestern US currently (on a full scholarship in the honors program), and feel that I should enroll soon (only a few spots left in the building/floor I want) before my housing options diminish... But I've been accepted into a really good (so called Ivy League caliber) private school and may get into another one (unlikely, but I find out next Tuesday). Both would be only slightly more expensive than the public school with the scholarship. Would it be foolish to just enroll in the public, even before I've received my private decisions? I have not been able to visit and am a bit nervous about a stronger party/greek/ultra-conservative atmosphere and competing for jobs with students from more elite schools. I'm not terribly concerned with making a lot of money, but just want to do something interesting (like in a non-defense related aerospace field or nuclear or something) and I'm not sure that I'd fit well with the private school students either (not to mention it would be really sheltering from the real world). I strongly prefer the location of the public with outdoorsy stuff, and probably less academic stress. Naturally, I'm probably taking this too seriously, and I realize I'm lucky to even be able to consider college without huge debt, but I don't want to throw out an opportunity...

It's not that you're taking it too seriously, it's just that there are things where you really can't know which will be the better fit until you're there.

IMO, unless there's a HUGE difference academically or in culture (for instance a conservative Christian private college or Reed in Portland or wherever that is), your engineering degree will probably be worth about the same, and the average student will probably be pretty similar. Especially after the freshman year weeds out the partiers from the students, I think the typical student from a public and private school aren't that different at the college level.  What will really make the difference, IMO, is the small group of people that you really become friends with.  Who that will be where is impossible to predict.  Who your roommate will be, etc.  Larger colleges with more extra-curricular groups give more opportunities to connect with like-minded people, but a lot of life is just who you run into.  Again, unless you're talking about Reed vs. Eugene Bible College, it's going to be a lot of chance.

That's awesome that you have a chance to go to college for little or no cost.  Be disciplined and diligent and you'll be set up better than probably 95% of people your age in the country and 99% of the world.  That's a HUGE potential boost in life.  But the relationships can be just as valuable.

Hope that can help some.

Like Grindboy said, you aren't taking it too seriously.  This really IS a big decision.

Unless you are wanting to work for some prestigious company/firm, employers are more concerned that you have the degree than where it is from necessarily.  So unless the school you are still waiting on is your dream school, I suggest going ahead and enrolling in one of the schools you have already heard from.  It may seem like a little thing, but housing can make a huge impact on your college experience. 

Wait!  Before you enroll anywhere, get yourself to that campus!  They all look great on the website and in the brochures, but when you are actually there you can see the warts.  Make a point to make an appointment with someone in the engineering department--the admissions office can arrange that.

For most people, they can ditch college and still be successful in whatever venture they're doing.  Since you're looking at engineering then it's definitely for you.  The campus visit is a must - not just for the amenities, but catch the vibe too.

It depends on the school.  A benefit that comes with private schools is that they generally have research you can work on that will look great on a resume especially if it's an ivy league-caliber school, but if your public school has that which they generally do with honors programs, that's certainly good and some of them can be quite interesting.

Just a heads up, if you are looking at aerospace-via-mechanical engineering, try to get a minor to help.  My mom worked at a very good aerospace school here and noticed some students were having difficulties finding stuff because there are only so many jobs within the field, so they need to supplement the degree with something else to differentiate themselves a little more.

I have a civil engineering degree from a public college and a colleague has his from MIT.  There is no difference in the value of our education (from a work standpoint).  We both earn about the same and work on the same kinds of projects.  It's been my experience that an Ivy league diploma might open a few doors for you but after about 5-10 years of experience nobody is going to care what college you went to, just what projects (and what kind of work) you have done.

Thanks guys for the replies, I'll probably go with the public. Visiting is difficult since it's over 2600 miles away (travel is the main thing I'll be paying for), but I think it's worth the risk. I visited the private schools and they were alright but I didn't get to feeling too attached or excited. Also, most undergrads at this school participate in research, and I emailed with someone and honors engineering students generally get internships if they want them and have pretty good job offers. As far as working in aerospace goes, I'd like to work on flight systems and stuff, not necessarily designing propulsion or aerodynamics, so I think I'd get by with a mechanical or electrical degree - it wouldn't really be aerospace work, it would just happen to be on aerospace related systems. But that's good advice, if I decide to do something directly aerospacey. I think there's an aerospace concentration (though no major/minor) within the mechE major.

Sometimes the degree doesn't even matter that much (it can be more of a "what" or "who" you know).  I know a guy with a civil engineering degree who works at Boeing in their "structural" department.  I also know a guy with a civil degree who worked for several years as a mechanical engineer.  Then there is my friend with a history degree (and a graduate degree in library sciences....I kid you not) who used to be a big database guy at Microsoft.

Some of the most important things that come with an engineering degree are critical thinking/general problem solving abilities I guess. Most other stuff can be picked up on the job often times it seems. It's nice to know that I'm not (necessarily) set into a strictly defined path by the major I choose.

I ended up enrolling at the public school. Pretty satisfied with that as long as I have a roommate I get along with.

In the modern marketplace it is really more important that you have a degree than necessarily what that degree is in.  If you end up interested in something other than what your degree is in, there's always graduate school.

When you think about cutting class, remember this...