Tennessee Tech vs. UT Knoxville for Electrical Engineering? (Cookeville, Savannah: apartments, crime)

[swatpup32]

I'm currently attending Tennessee State University and I am not satisfied with the quality of education and administration. Thus I'm looking for a new engineering college in Tennessee. I've narrowed my options down to Tennessee Tech and UT Knoxville and I am looking for some input. Mainly, what areas of electrical engineering are available for concentration.

I've taken a look at the transfer equivalences and if I go to UT Knoxville I'll effectively be a freshmen. However, if I go to Tennessee Tech I'll be 4 non-essential credit hours shy of a sophomore.

Another thing to note is that I'm nontraditional student come fall 09 I'll be 26 years old. So, housing is a must. Most likely an on campus apartment. I'd like to have some information if possible but this will not be my deciding factor.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by swatpup32

I'm currently attending Tennessee State University and I am not satisfied with the quality of education and administration. Thus I'm looking for a new engineering college in Tennessee. I've narrowed my options down to Tennessee Tech and UT Knoxville and I am looking for some input. Mainly, what areas of electrical engineering are available for concentration.

I've taken a look at the transfer equivalences and if I go to UT Knoxville I'll effectively be a freshmen. However, if I go to Tennessee Tech I'll be 4 non-essential credit hours shy of a sophomore.

Another thing to note is that I'm nontraditional student come fall 09 I'll be 26 years old. So, housing is a must. Most likely an on campus apartment. I'd like to have some information if possible but this will not be my deciding factor.

I'm a fan of both universities. You can go online and see what their EE programs offer.

What kind of college environment do you want? I teach at UTK but would love to teach at TTU. Both TTU and UTK have a high percentage of older students; about 30% of each school is composed of graduate students (by comparison, TSU and MTSU are only about 10% grad students).

UTK is a big school in a big city. I honestly don't know what kind of on-campus housing is offered for older students at either school. Both schools have housing for graduate students, and maybe you would qualify for that, I'm not sure. Either way, if they allow you to live in graduate housing I would much rather live in Tech Village in Cookeville than any of UTK's graduate housing complexes, none of which are very near campus. Tech Village, on the other hand, is right across the street from TTU. There's also a LOT less crime in Cookeville than in Knoxville, especially the area around UTK.

If you choose to live in an off-campus apartment, they'll be less expensive in Cookeville.

Since both UTK and TTU have outstanding EE programs, if it were me I would look at what kind of school environment I would want. Cookeville is much smaller, of course, and is most definitely not a party town. UTK on the other hand has been ranked as a top party school.

Good luck!

[cqbdriver]

I received my BS & MS in Mechanical Engineering from TTU (early 90’s). I also started late (23 yrs old after enlistment in Army). I can’t really speak to the EE program, but the ME program had a good reputation. A saying TTU had at time, “if you want to party, go to UT. If you want a degree, go to TTU” (slightly biased ) Only negative, is name recognition even in the South. My 1st job was at Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah, GA. They had heard of the school, but never hired any one from TTU. After they hired 4 of us, they said they would be looking for more.

Tech Village, if the same as when I was there, will be hard to get in. Mainly reserved for families, graduate students & PhD students (mostly foreigners). However, there are plenty of houses & apartments right next to the campus. I rented a house & then an apt. – both walking distance to campus. There was no crime to speak of – you can go around campus 24/7 without worries of any type crime.

I always thought that I would like to retire to Cookeville, but I’m afraid the word is already out on Cookeville & too many people will be moving there. The nice quite crime-free small town will be gone by the time that I retire.