I started college at Michigan in 2010 and graduated this spring with a BSE in Industrial Engineering. I wanted to share some advice for incoming students about U of M and college life in general. If my advice can help just one reader have a better college experience, I will consider this post a success.
Disclaimer: These thoughts are mine and mine only that I have drawn from my personal experiences as a college student, and should only be treated as general advice.
Go to class (I sound like your mom don't I lol). You will hear this frequently at freshman orientation. I agree that there are certain joke classes where you do not have to go to class to get an A (yes, I have skipped classes and still got an A-). I think skipping is ok for easy classes, or for classes where the professor records his/her lectures. However, don't skip core classes or your degree courses. Skipping class is also a great way to waste your tuition money. I remember reading here or some other forum that skipping class is like paying for a five star hotel room and then sleeping the night outside on the sidewalk.
Use your AP credits for calculus AB and calculus BC (aka calculus 1 and 2). Some freshmen forgo their AP credit and take calculus 1 or 2 at U of M, thinking that since they know the subject, they can comfortably pass the college-equivalent class and have a "smooth" transition into college. The problem is that calculus 1 and 2 at Michigan are designed to be much more difficult than what you saw in high school, and you will likely have a hard time, as many of my friends did. If you are an engineering student, you will also be required to take calculus 3 and 4, which at U of M are easier than calculus 1 and 2, so take calculus 3 and 4 instead. I actually took calculus 3 at a community college during my senior year of high school, so I took calculus 4 my first semester as a freshman (I got a B+).
Don't drink if you don't want to. People commonly assume that the majority of college students drink, which is actually statistically false. You will find many people who have fun without drinking. If you feel like you have to drink in order to hang out with a group of friends, you need to find new friends. I made this mistake as a freshman, and missed out on building relationships with other groups of people.
Take a summer class after you finish your freshman year. I don't know about LSA majors, but the engineering curriculum can be quite heavy and getting your general coursework (physics, chemistry, calculus, etc.) out of the way during the summer allows you to take fewer classes during each semester, making college more fun and less stressful. This is one thing I wish I did during my freshman summer and it would have made my college life more enjoyable.
Some people try to look for summer internships after their freshman year, but in my experience, companies are generally uninterested in students who haven’t taken any advanced coursework.
Consider studying abroad. You know how older people always tell you that they regret not traveling more often when they were younger? I think what they say is true. I studied abroad for a year (I spent my entire sophomore year overseas) and it was one of the best decisions I ever made as a college student. It's a great way to expand your personal and professional network, as well as learn about the world. It also looks great on your resume and is a wonderful talking point when you start interviewing for jobs later on.
I think one year is a hefty commitment (I delayed my graduation by a full year by going abroad), and so I think spending a semester is a nice balance. Some people study abroad during the summer (because they think it’s more convenient), but I would discourage this because summers at foreign universities are similar to summers at U of M: It’s quiet and there is no one around except local students taking summer classes, and so you won’t get the full experience. If studying abroad in the summer is your only option though, I would still do it. You only get one chance in your entire life to study abroad as a college student.
I suggest studying abroad early (like I did). It is easier to transfer overseas coursework for lower-level general courses (like social sciences or chemistry), as compared to your junior and senior courses. This is especially true for engineering, which has specialized courses that foreign universities may not offer.
Start building your resume when you are a freshman. Do this even if you think you don't have enough stuff to put on the resume. In my experience, resume building takes practice, and it takes a number of iterations before you have a really good-looking one. Don't throw a resume together the night before a career fair. Recruiters can tell whether or not you put effort into your resume.
I remember in my first interview ever (with a large manufacturing company), the interviewer was kind enough to let me know that my resume was too long (my resume was two pages stapled together). Your resume should never exceed a page, especially as a college student or a recent college grad. Both LSA and the engineering school have great resources to help you create a good resume. Start early!
Have a plan for what you want to accomplish in college and in your future career. What do you see yourself doing after graduating from Michigan? In my opinion, it is more important that you have a plan, rather than following your plan 100%. This is because plans can change (you decide to switch majors, you decide to study abroad, etc.). For example, I came to Michigan thinking I would do computer science, then I considered math, and then I decided upon IOE. From what I have seen, the students who seemed like they had a plan for their future have had the most successful college experiences.
If you enjoy classical music, check the School of Music website for orchestra performance schedules. The Michigan symphony and philharmonic orchestras usually perform once or twice a semester at Hill Auditorium and admission is free. The quality of the performance is very high and you will not likely get to enjoy this kind of live music for free after you move on from college. Michigan Pops, a student-run orchestra for non-music majors, also has great music and they perform once every semester. Admission is only ~$5 and they do really well too. The nice thing about Michigan Pops is that they perform OSTs or popular culture theme songs (Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, etc etc) alongside traditional classical pieces.
Consider joining student-run clubs in theater, sports, dance, music, or any public performance-related group. This is one thing I wish I did as an undergraduate. These kind of "team focused" clubs generally have tighter communities compared to the more general clubs or profession-related clubs, and are a great way to have fun and make meaningful friendships.
If you are still considering whether or not to apply or commit to U of M, be mindful of the winter weather. Winter in Ann Arbor is usually dreary, cold, and is long. If sunny weather is important to your lifestyle, or if your emotions are easily influenced by good/bad weather, I would think hard about whether you want to come to Michigan. In my experience, out of state students have a hard time getting used to the weather, especially those from warmer states like California or Florida.
If you have a dining hall meal plan, I would recommend eating at East Hall or South Quad, which in my opinion have the best food. North Quad has equally good food too, but it is small and gets easily overcrowded.
Feel free to ask questions here or in my inbox, about U of M or IOE or anything else.
I also have some industrial engineering-specific advice for students considering IOE as their major, or have declared IOE:
IOE is regarded as an easier major than the other engineering majors. This is mainly due to the curriculum being easier and the grading is more lenient. This being said, I still encourage you to study hard as an IOE major. In my opinion, recruiters are aware that IOE is an easier major than other engineering majors. This means that you need to have a solid GPA when competing for internship or full-time positions. I would consider 3.5+ as a safe GPA and is totally doable as an IOE major. Take advantage of the lenient grading and get good grades.
Make friends early on in your sophomore and junior-level IOE classes, as well as identify hard-working individuals. Many of the junior and senior-level IOE courses involve group projects and it is highly important to your grades and psychological well-being that you pick good peers to work with (most IOE classes let you pick your teammates). I made the mistake of not making IOE friends early on and found myself with nobody reliable to work with in some of my classes.
Take IOE 310 (Intro to Optimization) with Professor Amy Cohn. She is one of the best professors in the IOE department. I believe that she teaches in the fall semester. There is another professor that teaches in the winter semester, but Cohn is much better.
Take IOE 461 (Quality Engineering Principles) with Professor Pat Hammett. This is one of the most practical courses offered by the department. Hammett teaches highly useful information, and the course offers you a path to professional certification in the Six Sigma problem-solving methodology if you choose to pursue it.
To offer a different opinion on this topic, I tutored quite a few students in 310 material across different semesters, and I noticed that Cohn focuses very heavily on modeling. As a result, she doesn’t have much time to teach the more algorithmic side of the course. Thus, it really depends on what you like as a student. Personally, I’m glad that I didn’t take the course with Cohn as I was more interested in learning how different optimization methods worked, rather than practicing modeling techniques.
That being said, almost everyone I’ve talked to agrees with collegebound_guy in that they really enjoyed Cohn’s course. In the end, I think it boils down to student preference, and it just so happens that more students prefer learning about modeling techniques and enjoy Cohn’s personality/teaching style.
Wow, thanks. I’m not going to UM, but some of your advice (except for the studying abroad) is exactly what I’m planning to do. I’m going into aerospace engineering, I’m using dual enrollment credits for Calc I and II (and would have for Calc III had the class not gotten cancelled), and I’m planning to take some gen-eds next summer to offset the high unit loads. I’m also not planning to be a drinking party animal.
BTW- I took calculus 2 at michigan when i was a freshman and i have to agree- it was brutal! very very difficult. at the time though, the only AP would get you out of calc 1 but not 2 so i had to take it.
Do you have any recommendations on orientation? Does it matter if you go earlier in the summer? Earlier in the week? Any concerns with getting classes you need as a freshman?
“This is mainly due to the curriculum being easier and the grading is more lenient.”
Look at my new thread.
There were 2x as many CSE grads with Summa Cum Laude than IOE grads. IOE grading is not as lenient as you think.
Furthermore, operations research can be quite complicated. It is the instructors, not the material itself, that may make classes “easy.” For instance, “easier” linear programming models are used in the undergraduate classes. If the instructors wanted to, they could easily choose more complicated models.
I would sign up for the earlier days because you register for your fall classes during orientation. If you sign up earlier, less people have registered so you have more room to create the schedule you want.
@777Blue77
In this year’s graduating class, I counted about 145 IOE grads and almost 200 CSE grads. Are you taking this into consideration? And the grading is definitely more lenient. Curves are generally set higher compared to curves in other engineering departments and homework is easy enough for many classes that you should expect to get >90% on them.
I think you are missing my point about the curriculum. I’m sure that the department can make the curriculum as hard as the other departments if they wished. My point is that there are some IOE topics, like ergonomics and industrial management courses, that are simply just not as difficult as other engineering topics. Once you finish your core classes, you can skate around in your academics just by taking these types of courses. I agree that there are more difficult classes in the optimization or statistics-based courses. It all depends on what courses you decide to take.
I did take this into consideration. I did not count, but I figured that there were not twice as many CSE grads as there were IOE grads.
Where is the information that shows that curves are generally higher? I don’t think that is the case (I could be wrong though). People bring this up, but I want to see definite numerical evidence.
Based on what I have heard, IOE classes have higher exam averages. However, if the average is an 80% and you get an 80%, you are probably not going to get a great grade. If you are in an EECS class with an average of 60% on an exam and you get an 80%, you are probably going to get a great grade.
I have graded for multiple IOE classes and I can tell you that not everyone gets >90%. I have probably graded assignments where there were not many >90% scores.
Ok, I understand your point. But can you please take this discussion to your other thread? It’d be great if we could leave this space open for others who may want to ask a question regarding the original topic. Thanks.
If you are from out of state, make sure to bring warm clothes for the winter that includes something heavy like a parka. I remember some of my out of state friends underestimated the cold and had to buy new winter clothes after they arrived in Michigan. If you are going to live in the dorms, you’ll likely use a communal bathroom for showering. Bring flip-flops or sandals if you don’t like to walk around barefoot in the shower areas.
@billcsho- this was a long time ago for LSA. i don’t know what it is like now. i will find out in the fall when my daugher who took calc BC AP exam and got a 5 starts as a freshman in LSA