UMich Engineering compared to others

Colleges & Universities University of Michigan
1

<p>What are my chances of not being rejected by every single one of these schools (at least getting into one): Northwestern, Duke, Cornell, UPenn, and Princeton Univ? </p>

<p>I already was lucky enough to get into UMich engineering, how do they compare to Mich and how much tougher are they to get into? I know Mich has an amazing engineering program, so I wanted to know how these compare
Applied to the Engineering programs at all of these schools for comp sci. </p>

<p>ACT: 35 Composite 36M, 36S, 36E, 33E
UW GPA:3.8
Weighted GPA: 4.38/5.00 (School gives a 5.0 for an A in AP course and 4.5 for A in honors course)
Class Rank: 3/300
SAT IIs: 800 MathL2, 790 Chem, 760 USHistory
Teacher Recs: Great
Essays: Decent CA and good supplements
APs: 5s on AP Calc AB, BC, Chem, APUSH, APES, Macro, Micro, and Statistics
Awards: Nat’l AP Scholar, NMS Commended
Senior Year Courseload: Number Theory Course at Princeton Univ., AP Euro, AP Physics B, AP CHinese, Humanities Honors, AP Computer Science</p>

<p>ECs:
-Science Olympiad: 3 year member, got 4th in the state award.

  • NJ Governor’s School of the Sciences: Highly selective summer program in NJ.
    -DECA: Got 3rd in the state for a role play in my event
    -Theoretical Comp Sci Summer Program at Princeton Univ.
  • 3 year member of Science Club, helped organize science nights for kids
    -Volunteer tutor at local library
    -volunteered at Indian cultural summer camp forr young kids.
    -JV Tennis member.
    -Math League Participant
    -National Honors Society</p>

<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

2

<p>Assuming you are OOS, Princeton is the only school that is significantly harder to get into than Michigan’s CoE. </p>

<p>As for how the other schools compare to Michigan in Engineering, it would depend on your area of interest. In most Engineering disciplines, Michigan is significantly better than Duke and Penn, with Biomedical Engineering being the only exception. Michigan is slightly better than Northwestern and Princeton in Engineering and equal to Cornell. That being said, given Princeton’s overall excellence, I would say that Princeton is worth attending over Michigan, even if you are a hardcore Engineering. Assuming you are interested in an Engineering field other than BME, Michigan, Cornell and Northwestern are in roughly equal footing. Duke and Penn are not really worth it unless Engineering is not a priority for you, in which case, Princeton would still be #1 with all the other schools tied for second and separated only by personal preference and cost of attendance. If BME is a priority, Duke would be my first choice, followed by Michigan, NU and Penn. </p>

3

<p>“If BME is a priority, Duke would be my first choice, followed by Michigan, NU and Penn.”</p>

<p>Now c’mon Alexandre, I know you would never attend Duke over Michigan all things being equal. Duke might be rated a little higher in this one area of engineering, but Michigan isn’t that far behind. ;-)</p>

4

<p>

What does being “better in Engineering” mean Alexandre? The major engineering firms like Cisco, Oracle, Google, Microsoft, Boeing, etc. recruit at almost any university with an ABET accredited engineering program. If you are referring to faculty research strength and citation count, then the major state schools will have an edge because they offer the full gamut of different engineering programs while the smaller private schools will only offer a limited number.</p>

<p>Michigan is not “signficantly better” than Penn or Duke in Engineering unless you think a gap of 15 or 20 spots constitute a major difference for a subject area at the undergraduate level where the material covered is quite rudimentary and non-specialized. Also, both these schools offer only half the engineering specialties that UMich or the major state flagships do so they are not as versatile and thus it is harder to draw a clear comparison.</p>

<p>Location is a major factor and Northwestern’s McCormick program along with Duke’s Pratt program provide a major geographical advantage for their students with regards to their proximity to engineering companies in RTP and Chicago. Princeton is suburban, Ann Arbor is a college town, and Cornell’s location is quite remote in comparison.</p>

<p>If Engineering is not a priority with regards to a career path for the OP, then all the private schools have a major advantage with regards to placing their students directly into Finance jobs over Michigan Engineering if that is the student’s ultimate end goal. Their lack of specialization centralizes campus recruiting in comparison to Michigan’s OCR which advantages certain programs like Ross.</p>

5

<p>When you put McCormick in Chicago instead of Evanston while UMich at Ann Arbor instead of Detroit, that is not a fair comparison. Ann Arbor is a much better town than Evanston, by the way.</p>

6

<p>It is humorous to read when specific posters only appear to post to denigrate certain schools, and take some licenses with both geography and math to accomplish it. </p>

<p>That being said- the OP has received some great advice from most posters. </p>

<p>Choosing between all the schools listed, if accepted, will be a nice problem to have. Good luck! </p>

7

<p>“It is humorous to read when specific posters only appear to post to denigrate certain schools, and take some licenses with both geography and math to accomplish it.”</p>

<p>It’s even funnier when a poster invents a new screenname after being banned from messaging on this board using his old one. </p>

8

<p>That , too! ;)</p>

9

<p>Haha, thanks for the responses! I am hoping for the best, good luck to anyone else waiting for decisions!</p>

<p>While I am sure that Michigan’s engineering program is top-notch, since I’m OOS, Mich would probably cost me 55k/yr or 220k. Whereas schools like NU and UPenn, if I’m lucky enough to be accepted to one, would probably cost me 40k/yr or 160k, w/ financial aid, which is more affordable for my family. However, if Mich is worth the extra ~60k, I would be willing to take some loans and hopefully do some co-ops to pay for it.</p>

<p>I was also offered a full scholarship(tuition & room and board) at Rutgers N-B.
Would you say Mich would be worth the extra money over these schools?</p>

10

<p>In your case studentnow2, I would definitely consider going with Northwestern if accepted. However free tuition and R&B at Rutgers is a very powerful incentive. I don’t think any school is worth going into huge debt. Unless you absolutely hate New Brunswick, that might be your best option.</p>

11

<p>“Michigan is not “signficantly better” than Penn or Duke in Engineering unless you think a gap of 15 or 20 spots constitute a major difference for a subject area at the undergraduate level where the material covered is quite rudimentary and non-specialized. Also, both these schools offer only half the engineering specialties that UMich or the major state flagships do so they are not as versatile and thus it is harder to draw a clear comparison.”</p>

<p>I agree that in most instances, a gap of 20 spots is insignificant. If we were talking about overall rankings, or Psychology or Economics rankings, 20 spots would be negligible. But when it comes to fields with limited programs, like Engineering or Law, 20 spots is very significant. </p>

<p>“Location is a major factor and Northwestern’s McCormick program along with Duke’s Pratt program provide a major geographical advantage for their students with regards to their proximity to engineering companies in RTP and Chicago. Princeton is suburban, Ann Arbor is a college town, and Cornell’s location is quite remote in comparison.”</p>

<p>Ann Arbor is located within 50 miles of major Engineering firms, including the auto makers and major Chemical Engineering firms such as Dow and BASF. But most major Engineering firms are not located in Durham, Ann Arbor or Evanston. They are scattered all over the US (many of them on the West Coast), and those firms must travel to recruit. The majority will travel to Michigan, few will travel to Duke or Penn.</p>

<p>“If Engineering is not a priority with regards to a career path for the OP, then all the private schools have a major advantage with regards to placing their students directly into Finance jobs over Michigan Engineering if that is the student’s ultimate end goal. Their lack of specialization centralizes campus recruiting in comparison to Michigan’s OCR which advantages certain programs like Ross.”</p>

<p>Not really. Even at schools like Cornell, Duke or Penn, IBanks focus primarily on specific majors. For instance, most IBanks recruit Wharton students at Penn. From CAS and SEAS, most IBanks focus on Huntsman and Jerome Fisher students. At Cornell, the vast majority of IBanks recruit AEM majors as well as Econ majors. At Duke, there is no such focus since there is no Business school, but the competition for IBanking jobs is truly overwhelming. You have hundreds of students competing for limited offers. </p>

<p>Not that it matters. If the OP should change his mind during the first year and decide to work in IBanking, he can switch to Ross. If he is indeed IBanking material, he should have little trouble getting in. Once at Ross, his odds of getting a job in Ibanking will be as good (if not better) as if he attended any of the universities mentioned on this thread. </p>

12

<p>Thanks for the advice rjkofnovi! I do think Northwestern, UPenn and Cornell would be a better deal too. I am trying to avoid Rutgers N-B, haven’t heard too many good things about it or its comp sci program, and UPenn, NU, Cornell, Duke and P’ton would be affordable for my family most likely, just that Mich is a bit too expensive. </p>

<p>Alexandre: Thanks for the info! I totally agree that Mich’s engineering program is extremely good. I’m trying to study comp sci, and do not really hope to go into IB, but even in that it doesn’t seem Mich would hinder me. I’m just trying to see if the school gives me good value compared to the other schools on my list and if it’s worth getting into debt over whereas I wouldnt graduate with much if any debt at the other schools.</p>

13

<p>If cost is a concern, then obviously the affordable option is the way to go. If you got into Michigan’s CoE as an OOS, you have a shot at the other schools. Good luck and keep us posted.</p>

14

<p>NU has a very nice Engineering Design program. If it is cheaper, I would definitely go for it. Full ride school is always tempting too.</p>