<p>ArpMom, Cal is the only UC school that competes with Michigan and UIUC in EECS and all three of those programs are at least as good as all private universities save MIT and Stanford. the reason why she should consider Michigan is because she may not get into Cal and Ann Arbor is actually significantly nicer, safer and more fun than most college towns.</p>
<p>Alexandre: If Michigan is as good as UC Berkeley and if my D doesn’t get as instate at UCB then what chances she will have to get into Michigan.
It seems very contradictory.
If she has any chances to get into Michigan or UIUC as an out of state then she should get into UCB otherwise Michigan or UIUC is not as good as UCB and in that case UCLA and UCSD should be good enough.</p>
<p>ArpMom, don’t be so defensive. The fact is that Michigan is as good at Berkeley in eecs and in the off chance that she gets into one and not the other, she’ll have the option there to make.</p>
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<p>If this is the case, I would definitely not consider these schools as safeties, like some posters have.</p>
<p>Michigan and Wisconsin are some of the higher tier public universities that are easier for OOS students to be accepted. They accomodate more OOS students than the UCs. However, Michigan’s OOS cost is substantial. When looking OOS, I recommend privates because they are usually more generous with financial aid.</p>
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<p>Cal has a much better program in EECS than UMich and UIUC. Cal’s proximity to the Silicon Valley cannot be denied.</p>
<p>The Big 3 universities for EECS are Stanford, MIT and Berkeley.</p>
<p>Only schools you are missing are UCI and RPI</p>
<p>beefs: I was not being defensive but very practical as there doesn’t seem any sense in adding public schools that will be equally tough as UCB EECS and cost same as private schools.
Won’t it make more sense to apply to Rice, Duke, JHU, Northwestern if we have to spend more on tuition?
I’ll say the big 4 in EECS are Stanford, MIT, Berkeley and CMU.
And if she has to consider $50K/year college then she might be better off applying to good private colleges than to apply as out of state to public universities.
We really believe in UCs.</p>
<p>^ Rice is a good option and gives great financial aid. Duke EECS is meh.</p>
<p>USNWR 2008 Undergrad EECS Rankings:
Electrical / Electronic / Communications
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
1 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br>
2 University of California–Berkeley *
3 Stanford University (CA)
4 U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
5 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
6 Georgia Institute of Technology *
7 California Institute of Technology<br>
8 Cornell University (NY)
9 University of Texas–Austin *
10 Carnegie Mellon University ¶
11 Princeton University (NJ)
12 Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
13 Northwestern University (IL)
14 Univ. of California–San Diego *
15 Univ. of California–Los Angeles *
15 Univ. of Southern California<br>
17 Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
17 University of Washington *
17 Virginia Tech *
20 Columbia University (NY)
20 Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
20 Univ. of California–Santa Barbara *
23 Johns Hopkins University (MD) </p>
<p>(At schools whose highest degree is a bachelor’s or master’s)
1 Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. (IN)
2 Cooper Union (NY)
3 Cal Poly–San Luis Obispo *
3 Harvey Mudd College (CA)
5 United States Naval Academy (MD)*
6 Bucknell University ¶
7 United States Military Academy (NY)*
8 Rowan University (NJ)*
8 United States Air Force Acad. (CO)*
10 San Jose State University (CA)*
11 Bradley University (IL)
11 Union College (NY)
11 Valparaiso University (IN)
14 Gonzaga University (WA)
14 Lafayette College ¶
14 Manhattan College (NY)</p>
<p>^ Lots of UCs on that list for your daughter to choose from…</p>
<p>Thanks UCBChemEGrad: I also think UCs are good enough if she doesn’t get into one of the top EECS program.</p>
<p>So will this be good enough list:</p>
<p>Reaches:
MIT
Stanford
Princeton
Columbia Fu</p>
<p>Matches:
UCB
Cornell
CMU
UCLA
Northwestern</p>
<p>Safeties:
UCSD
USC</p>
<p>Shall we add UCI, UCD or UCSB as another safety.</p>
<p>^ Heck, check 'em all off and pay the additional application fee…minimal effort and small price to pay for additional peace of mind.</p>
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<p>If I were you, I would not consider UCSD and USC as safeties. USC is just as competitive for admission as UCLA and Berkeley nowadays…UCSD is almost as tough as well.</p>
<p>Thanks UCBChemEGrad: We will check all UC’s as it is only question of fee.</p>
<p>But won’t UCSD admission is number driven? I’ve not heard of any complaint from anyone applying to UCSD being rejected with proper numbers.
UCLA and USC might be different.</p>
<p>UCSD is more numbers driven, but for the more competitive EECS/engineering majors, things get more complicated since there is such demand from top students.</p>
<p>But UCSD admission is not major based and you can go in undeclared and choose EECS, also it is less competitive to get into EECS at UCSD than with premedical major.</p>
<p>Your current list is pretty much dead on, except those are a lotttt of essays, heh. Personally, I’d apply to all the reaches and just use the UCs as my match/safety schools.</p>
<p>I was in the same situation as you a year ago (except Mech E instead of EECS, but seriously considered EECS).</p>
<p>I applied to a bunch of privates because they sounded great. After I applied, I realized I wouldn’t choose many of them over Berkeley and wondered why I spent so much money applying.</p>
<p>Btw, her CR score is good enough. That’s what I got on CR and I got into MIT.</p>
<p>What is your daughter interested in studying? A boy in my class is attending The University of Chicago in the fall, and when he visited earlier this year he said it was one of the most amazing enviornments that had ever seen that housed so many intellects. Your daughter also must understand that the college experience matters also, don’t just be persuaded by the name of a school.</p>
<p>Thanks diffy q: Thats encouraging as my D is not score obsessive and we are having hard time convincing her to retake SAT1. At least we now know that she might still have a chance with this SAT1.
Yes, these are too many essay’s but if she starts early she might have time to finish these in time.
Did you apply early anywhere?</p>
<p>Very true, donsauga…all the environments are very different.</p>
<p>The OP’s daughter is interested in studying Electrical Engineering/Computer Science.</p>
<p>U Chicago is a top university…it’s intellectual environment cannot be denied.</p>
<p>Thanks donsauga: U of Chicago is quite popular with CC at D’s school and we like it too but she is interested in pursuing Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
I’ve tried talking to her to change it to Computer Science under the college of arts and science which will open more options to her but she still thinks EECS it is.</p>