UMich or UCSD for undergraduate Chemical Engineering?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I have recently been accepted into both UCSD and UMich for Chemical Engineering. I need help deciding which school to go to. I am international student btw :slight_smile:

I have listed some pros and cons from the top of my head for both these schools.

UMICH:
Pros: Excellent academic program (very highly rated), good job recruitment after under graduation, I’ve read that Ann Arbor is a very nice place for students and I would love to go to a college town!
Cons: WEATHER. Coming from a country in the tropics, I am not used to the cold AT ALL.

UCSD:
Pros: Weather :D, Around 15000USD cheaper per year, plus I’ve got family there! Campus is also supposed to be very nice!
Cons: I don’t really have any cons, other than the fact that I don’t think its as highly rated as UMich, I’m not too sure though.

Any feedback would be highly appreciated!

2

Did UCSD give you a scholarship? I ask because UCSD is actually as expensive as Michigan.

By the way, I grew up in Abu Dhabi (temperatures over 40 degrees celsius most of the year), and I had no trouble adjusting to the cold in Michigan. It is inconvenient…a real pain in the butt, but it is perfectly manageable.

3

UCSD is BORING. Lovely neighborhood though.

4

If UCSD really is that much cheaper for you, you should go there. There really isn’t the huge gap in prestige between the two that you think there is. To be honest, I know people who would consider UCSD to be more prestigious that Umich for the sciences.

5

UCSD is great for any engineering other than chem E

6

“To be honest, I know people who would consider UCSD to be more prestigious that Umich for the sciences.”

Qwerty, generally speaking, as the rankings below demonstrate, both Michigan and UCSD are excellent in the sciences. I am not sure that anyone qualified to pass judgement on science programs would consider UCSD more prestigious than Michigan…or vice versa.

Engineering Undergraduate
Michigan #7
UCSD #26

-Aerospace (Michigan #2, UCSD not ranked in the top 15)
-Biomedical (UCSD #7, Michigan #8)
-Chemical (Michigan #12, UCSD not ranked in the top 20
-Civil (Michigan #8, UCSD #17)
-Computer (Michigan #7, UCSD #15)
-Electrical (Michigan #5, UCSD #13)
-Environmental (Michigan #4, UCSD not ranked in the top 15)
-Industrial (Michigan #2, UCSD not ranked in the top 15)
-Materials (Michigan #4, UCSD not ranked in the top 15)
-Mechanical (Michigan #3, UCSD #19)

Engineering Graduate
Michigan #6
UCSD #17

-Aerospace (Michigan #4, UCSD #18)
-Biomedical (UCSD #2, Michigan #12)
-Chemical (Michigan #12, UCSD not ranked in the top 25)
-Civil (Michigan #7, UCSD #12)
-Computer (Michigan #6, UCSD #13)
-Electrical (Michigan #7, UCSD #15)
-Environmental (Michigan #4, UCSD not ranked in the top 25)
-Industrial (Michigan #2, UCSD not ranked in the top 25)
-Materials (Michigan #10, UCSD ranked ranked in the top 25)
-Mechanical (Michigan #5, UCSD #22)
-Nuclear (Michigan #1, UCSD not ranked in the top 20)

Medicine
Michigan #10
UCSD #17

Biology
UCSD #14
Michigan #19

Chemistry
Michigan #15
UCSD#21

Computer Science
Michigan #13
UCSD #15

Earth Sciences
Michigan #8
UCSD #16

Mathematics
Michigan #9
UCSD #23

Physics
Michigan #11
UCSD #16

7

@Alexandre‌ where did those rankings come from?

8

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How is UCSD cheaper? It costs about the same as UMIch?

9

Erin’s Dad, I got those rankings from the US News (they are graduate rankings for the most part).

mom2collegekids, I agree. The OP is international, which means that he is unlikely to have received any aid or scholarship money. At full cost, Michigan and UCSD are identical in cost. Perhaps he intends on living with his family, which would explain the $15,000 gap. Or perhaps he did in fact receive a scholarship from UCSD. However, at full cost, Michigan and UCSD cost the same (roughly $60,000/year, all in for international students).

10

I too got accepted to both UCSD and UMich …
I want to major in aerospace though
i’m leaning heavily towards UMich …
As far as i know, UMich has more overall prestigious than UCSD.

The rankings show that UMich is significantly better than UCSD in Chem E, but then these rankings are pretty bogus most of the time

UMich is great across most disciplines, it is particularly strong in Engineering and business.

Apart from the weather and family, I don’t see any edge UCSD would have over UMich.
While UCSD is a great school, I think UMich is the better one :slight_smile:

11

I think OP factored in the cost for R&B and also the air ticket for a couple round trips per year. The CoA for UMich CoE is $55k for lower classmen and $60k for upperclassmen (before the airtickets). UCSD has CoA of $43k for OOS students but commuting.

12

First, unless you go to MIT or Stanford, engineering rankings are pretty stupid. That’s not even to say that MIT or Stanford are infact going to be awesome for undergrads, they aren’t without their faults. They just have massive name cache that the rest can’t match. From there, it’s much more about where you want to look for jobs after. Unless I wanted to live in the Midwest, there’s no way I’d pay $60k more for Michigan. Good luck.

13

Eyemgh!!! Brother that’s the best comment I have read so far this morning (including the office memorandums on my desk, LOL). How true!!!

14

UCSD chem program is new, and they don’t offer Chem E for undergraduate, but Nano Eng. So, I am confused whether to go UCSD for Chem E.