<p>Hi friends,
I want to work on the margins of CSE and CogSci and it seems that researchers in AI are bridging this gap. However I am confused between these two choices. I talked with several grad students and here is the list of positives I could come up with:</p>
<p>For UMich:
- Higher on ranking and reputation in both CSE and CogSci
- Has some very famous researcher (Dr. Satinder Baveja and Dr. Benjamin Kuipers)
- Interesting interdisciplinary problems on Reinforcement Learning
- One year financial support (tuition fee + stipend for 12 months)
- Lower cost of living</p>
<p>For UCSD:
- Has more faculty in AI/ML (more options for evolving interest)
- Faculty members are younger and more friendly
- Highly interdisciplinary
- Three year financial offer (tuition fee + stipend, though for 10 months per year)
- Good weather and location
- More internship opportunities</p>
<p>Am I missing something important? I would really appreciate the opinions…</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>fellow CCs, Please help!</p>
<p>How much higher ranked is Mich? Did you meet specific people u would like to work with? How impressed were u with the other grad students?</p>
<p>The climate and location are so incredibly different. One is in by ocean, great weather, suburban, near lots of large companies; the other in a college town, cold, etc. Where did u feel comfortable?</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply!
One of the USNews rankings I looked at ranks UMich at 6 and UCSD at 17 (however I once googled and a USNews article said that ranking were 13 ans 16 respectively).</p>
<p>I could not go for a visit because of the visa issues (I’m in India) but I did skype talked with faculty members and emailed grad students… Based on just that its difficult to have a strong opinion and that’s the main issue with the decision: both look good!</p>
<p>I guess I would be able to tolerate the cold (never have experienced so cold before though)… If it was just weather UCSD would have been my choice but its the other factors that are causing confusion… Can you comment on those if possible?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m not qualified to speak to your field of study specifically, but you seem anxious for any info about the 2 schools. My D is an undergrad at U Mich, but is a manager in her research lab, where she interacts with many grad students. Her experience at Michigan has been wonderful. The faculty is exceptional and has really been helpful with advising her. In her lab, she’s been able to be involved with all aspects from experimental design to publishing and presenting results. Overall, even though she’s from Florida, Michigan has been a great place for her and she’s gotten used to the weather.</p>
<p>We have relatives at UCSD, and I have heard they are very happy there, too. It is a very pretty campus. They are undergrad and not doing research, so I have no info on that.</p>
<p>I could not visit either campus so I am in that sense anxious about any information. I heard that UMich has a great campus (the central campus), the only negative was prolonged winters which can be very testing…</p>
<p>In the CampusVibe section I read someone saying that UCSD campus is bland and somewhat dilapidated so I thought I’ll inquire more… you have any idea?</p>
<p>Maybe you can post on the UCSD board to get more info about the campus itself?</p>
<p>The U Mich campus has a nice feel to it and the people are very friendly. Although it’s a large campus, the way it’s set-up it doesn’t feel like it. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!!!</p>
<p>is the board on CC? I couldn’t find it… I did talk to a friend of mine at UCSD and he says the campus is nice and that I could do loads of activities if I manage my time well… So for now I’m getting biased towards UCSD!</p>
<p>Hi again friends,
Another thing came up which has left me befuddled… Just when I was convinced I would go to UCSD, I got an offer from UIUC… It’s engineering school is amongst the top few (just after the big three) and there’s some great work going on at Beckman Institute there… </p>
<p>The prof who emailed me also said she is open to the possibility of me working with other profs and in her opinion I should make the decision based on school coz given the extensiveness of these schools I would find good problems everywhere… I feel that I am again at square one, only this time its UCSD vs. UIUC! </p>
<p>Please post your suggestion, deadline is only 3 days away :(</p>