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University of Michigan?

University of Michigan or University of Illinois for Mechanical Engineering?

  • I know that this is a popular topic; however, my situation is a little bit different. I have been accepted into UIUC as a junior level transfer and in order to apply for housing, I must first accept UIUC as my school of choice. After I accept UIUC, I have until May 1st to say that I don't want to go there before I'm locked in. The application for housing costs $200; $50 is a nonrefundable fee, but the $150 I will get back if I tell them I'm not going before May 1st. Now onto Michigan, I'm still waiting to hear back from them and have called them to see when they will might notify me on whether I get in or not. Michigan is probably my top choice since, in my opinion, has a better reputation for Mechanical Engineering whereas UIUC is known for its Computer Science. The admissions office for the college of engineering at Michigan pretty much told me that they've got a lot more applicants this year and they're doing their best to get them completed asap. They also told me that it's unclear of when I might be notify, maybe middle of April to as late as the middle of May. What do you think? Should I first accept Illinois to apply for housing and hope I hear back from Michigan before the deadline, but if I don't then I'm just out of luck or should I wait on housing until the deadline that I have to let UIUC know by May 1st whether I am going there or not? Also, what are your opinions on these schools. It is to my understanding that tuition will be roughly $4,000 to $7,000 more expensive per year at Michigan than UIUC. Money is a parameter I would like to minimize; however, if Michigan provides a better opportunity, I think it'd be worth it. If you look at it, I've already saved nearly $100,000 by attending a university with a full ride than starting from Mich or UIUC as freshman year. Do you think Michigan would be worth it? I'm out of state for both schools. I haven't seen either campus yet, but am going to check out UIUC since I have quite a few friends that go there. Also, I understand that UIUC is only ranked one lower than Michigan for mechanical engineering according to USNEWS, but what do you think separates these two schools in terms of recruitment, job placement, percentage of securing a job upon graduation, the type of companies that employ there (if you could be specific as to which companies, i'd appreciate that) and etc.? Thanks in advance for your help and my apologies on the length of this message!

  • Answer:

    U of I has a tremendous reputation for engineering. I went there to study business, but met a lot of engineers, including one person who had perfect grades all the way through undergrad. He was a Mechanical Engineering major, and he ended up getting a PhD in that field from Cal-Berkeley. He is probably the smartest person I have ever met in my life - he turned down MIT for a full ride at UI. I wouldn't wait on Michigan. There's not much difference between the two schools academically. You will be challenged at U of I - it is a tremendous school for engineering and the hard sciences.

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I know literally nothing about UIUC, but I know a lot about U of M. It is far-and-away one of the best schools in the United States. It is known as the "Ivy League University of the Midwest." Only the best of the best get in, and even then some of them get differed and even rejected. It has a stellar reputation. However, if UIUC is ranked that closely to it in that field, they must be really great as well and you already know you've been accepted. My instinct is to tell you to go to UIUC. I was going to apply to U of M last year (when I was a senior in HS) but I heard that they over-accepted the year before (so from the incoming class of 2014, or the HS class of 2010) and so for the next year or two they would be extra selective because they were already panicked as how to fit everyone on campus and into classes! I got to nervous because I knew that with a 3.9 GPA and a 30 on my ACT, that still probably wasn't good enough for them. (and that's pretty good, I thought.) My cousin, a family friend, and many high school friends go there and they all say it is very hard registering for classes you need and that everyone there is smarter than you could ever imagine. My cousin jokes that "just passing the class is seeing who is the most robotic in their studying. No human can pass!" (And this girl is in pre-med, went to a great high school, all honors and AP courses, has had a 4.0 since the 7th grade, etc.) She also said that getting help in classes is a joke, the classes are too big and the professor is either not fluent in English or too far-removed from the class to help. I'm not sure if this is different if you are in a specific program (which might have smaller classes); I'm not sure if that's even different from UIUC. But U of M has a prestigious reputation. They also have a reputation for turning anyone who goes there into a pretentious a*s, but that's neither here nor there, haha. UIUC sounds really good though, even though I never knew of its existance. With a high ranking, already being accepted, already knowing people there, and it being cheaper than U of M... it sounds like UIUC is the way to go. But U of M has a tempting prestige to it. I know that most people that graduate from there can get jobs easily, and make quite a bit of money starting out as well. It's just that good (or, you have to be that good to get though it, I should say). It's up to you. I would visit both and talk to people already in those programs at those schools. Also look at their job-lead rates, if that's available. Research the professors that teach in your field at each school. See which school fits your personality! I'm sorry I don't know more about UIUC or your program of interest. But I know a LOT of people from U of M and looked into it for myself when I was going to apply as a freshman. Congradulations on your acceptance to UIUC which sounds like quite an honor! Best Wishes, Tiffany

T

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