Which school has the better Mechanical Engineering program between, Georgia Tech, Purdue, and Virginia Tech?

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate ranks Georgia Tech #5 and Purdue #10 (tied with Princeton and UT Austin) for undergraduate engineering (GT is preceded by MIT, Stanford, Cal-Tech, and UC Berkley). Virginia Tech does not appear in the top 10. I received both an undergraduate and graduate degree from GT, though from their College of Sciences, not engineering. However, I have many friends that were in the engineering program, and in my estimation, all of them graduated as excellent engineers (and, 20 years later, all are quite successful in their fields of engineering; several with advanced degrees). I'd encourage visits to the schools, try and get to talk to a member of the engineering faculty (at GT, they professors were pretty approachable and you could call the department to arrange an appointment), and talk to the students about what they think of the school and what they do outside of classes and study.

Don't get too caught up in the rankings for undergraduate education.  All the schools are going to have solid ME programs.  When you visit the schools, consider the following: 1) What companies show up at career fairs to hire students in your daughter's field of interest? 2) Are the professors there to teach or to do research? 3) How is on-campus and off-campus life?  GT is in the middle of Atlanta while Purdue and VT are in remote areas.  VT is in the mountains, the other schools are not.  This is a personal preference. 4) What clubs and activities does the ME department offer (green energy club, electric car club, etc.).  These are the kinds of things that are important to get involved in as an undergraduate.  It will help to get hired and it will help you get into graduate school (where you'll look for a specific professor who is an expert in the field).

gatech is the best amongst it. But if u are out of state, i would say VTECH . the cost of vtech is cheaper as compared to out of state cost of all the above. i got into all of them but i opted to go to Vtech. Although these school's have same type of engineering curriculum. Vtech would be better.

She ended up choosing Purdue and is now in her second year. She loves it and managed to survive the coldest winter in living memory.

I can't answer this question, but I can say that Virginia Tech has a very tough engineering school. Thanks to my education there, majoring in Engineering Science and Mechanics, I got to work for NASA, Scaled Composites under the lengendary Burt Rutan designer of the model 76 Voyager, at AeroVironment founded by Paul MacCready, designer of the first human powered airplane, at General Atomics where they build the Predator UAV. I worked at Northrop with brilliant engineers on cool composite airplanes and at Space X where I spent 7 years playing a small part in the commercial space revolution. You can't go wrong with a Virginia Tech degree. Work hard and you should be able to go places.

A name brand sheepskin has more value than which program is subjectively better this year. So which College has the best long term reputation among the companies looking to hire Mechanical Engineers?

All three are very good schools.  Of the three, I've only been to Blacksburg.  Va Tech has an incredible campus, a very clean and pretty town center, and people who are smart and passionate about their Hokies.  That Hokie Stone is truly beautiful!  Most people who go to Va Tech who are not Virginians are from NC, MD, PA, NJ and NY.  So, you get a nice mix of East Coast folk at the school (although every state in the Union is represented).  Ga Tech has a reputation as being a pressure cooker, but is excellent.  I am encouraging my son to apply to Va Tech for engineering (we live in Connecticut).  There's something about those mountains, the flower-laden Main Street and that Hokie Stone that stirs the soul.