I’ve Been Admitted.  Should I Accept?

We are fast approaching the time when colleges and universities mail acceptance letters, if they have not done so already.  UMass Lowell has contacted early admission applicants and will soon reply to students who applied during the regular process.  If a prospective student receives acceptance, the decision is literally in their hands.

A timely article in The Chronicle for Higher Education looked at the prospective student’s decision of college choice through results of a survey of 90,000 college-bound high school seniors by Eduventures.  In summary, more than 70 percent of those surveyed identified at least one of the following criteria (below, in bold) for selecting a college.  I have added my opinion as to how each criterion relates to UMass Lowell Engineering:

• Affordability:  As a public institution, the cost of attending UMass Lowell can be extremely appealing to residents or those that can take advantage of proximity programs.  However, even non-residents can find it affordable when compared to attending a private institution.  Furthermore, UMass Lowell offers a variety of scholarships, grants, loans and employment opportunities for undergraduates, as well as graduate students. Please note that affordability refers to cost, not value, which is noted in the following criterion.
• Value of education for cost of attending:  Value is in the eyes of the beholder, but payscale.com ranks schools based on their return-on-investment (ROI), which is an annualized measure of one’s median income 20 years after graduation when compared to that of a high school graduate (24 years later), less the cost of attending college.  Lowell ranks 33^rd in annual ROI amongst over 1,800 schools ranked nationally, second in the state of Massachusetts.  This affirms that a UMass Lowell degree leads to a productive career at a reasonable cost.
• Availability of a desired program:  I am often asked why one should attend a “bigger” school.  The answer generally comes down to options, as larger schools can offer more programs.  For example, we offer undergraduate degree programs in Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Environmental, Mechanical, Nuclear and Plastics Engineering, with a number of additional options and minors.  The number of programs grows considerably at the graduate level, which is important for undergraduates seeking work in research labs or access to advanced courses for technical electives.  Also, larger schools, tend to provide more options outside of the classroom, including co-op programs, student clubs, and sports.  While UMass Lowell’s enrollment does not define it as one of the largest schools in the country (i.e., over 30,000 students), it is one of the largest undergraduate engineering programs in the Northeast and big enough (roughly 20,000 students at the University) to provide a wide variety of both curricular and extracurricular programs and activities.
• Career outcomes/job opportunities for graduates:  Engineering is a profession, and thus, engineering degrees are defined as professional degrees.  Therefore, it is important, and expected, that an engineering degree will lead to gainful employment, albeit potentially after graduate school.  I am repeatedly told by employers that our students are in high demand.  This is supported by our placement rate (percentage of graduates gainfully employed or in graduate studies within six months of graduation) which has been over 90% for all graduates over the past few years, with some majors approaching 100%.  Why?  In addition to our hands-on approach to education, we provide students numerous opportunities to prepare for a rewarding career upon graduation, including a professional co-op program; interdisciplinary senior design projects sponsored by industry; and access to a variety of services from the Career and Co-op Center designed to prepare students for all aspects of finding and starting a job, including resume posting, interviewing, negotiation, and professional etiquette.
• Reputation/academic quality: There is truly no substitute for quality.  ABET, formerly known as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, assesses programs, upon request, across the country on six-year cycles to ensure that programs are up-to-date and continuously improving.  Our established programs are all ABET accredited while we will seek ABET accreditation for our new programs after the first cohorts graduate – a requirement of ABET.  In addition to accreditation, there are many rankings for reputation with U.S. News and World Report generally considered the leader as it considers surveys of peers and employers, as well as statistical program data, in its graduate program ranking.  UMass Lowell Engineering is currently ranked 67^th among public engineering programs and 104^th overall, having risen over 35 spots in just the past four years.
• Feeling of fit:  This may be listed last, but that should not minimize its importance.  Every school has a “feel” or “character” and it is important that one can envision themself as a student on campus.  The best way to do this is visit!  We would be happy to take you on a tour and even shadow a student.

In all, choosing a college is a difficult decision, and one that is critically important.  It is likely that one of the above reasons will drive your decision.  Thus, you must determine which of these criteria is most important and investigate accordingly a each school of interest, and visit to gauge the “fit”.  I invite you to do so at UMass Lowell!