Can anyone comment on the Computer Science and Engineering majors at Miami as far as their reputation, popularity, internship opportunities, personal experiences, etc.? If this has been discussed elsewhere on another thread, please point me in the right direction! Thanks everyone.
There is a thread on the 2nd CC page titled ‘Miami engineering’ you can look at, but there wasn’t a lot of activity. I’ll preface my next comment by saying I was not a computer science or engineering major, but I have friends that have majored in both disciplines and all had jobs upon graduation. I can’t comment on rankings against other schools, but I do know that Miami’s manufacturing and paper engineering programs in particular are very mature and well-regarded. Miami offers one of very few paper science engineering programs in the country, and there is typically 100% job placement upon graduation! The facilities/equipment for the engineering program are all very good (new building opened within past 10 years). I know less about the computer science program - except that everyone I know in the program is exceptionally intelligent. I cannot comment on internships and student satisfaction, but I’m sure someone in either department would gladly connect you to some current students to get their take.
Thank you LoveandHonor (love your handle!). I will check that out.
@Robinsnest I started the referenced thread, so I will follow up. My son and I visited Miami last month for Make-It-Miami day. As part of the visit, we attended a presentation by Assistant Dean Brian Kirkmeyer in Benson Hall and then broke out for tours of the Engineering Building, conducted by students from different engineering majors. (Benson Hall, Garland Hall, and the Engineering Building are essentially one modern facility.) Overall we were very impressed with the facilities including the classrooms, labs, and high-bay machine shop.
We got some useful handouts. Miami’s College of Engineering and Computing offers six accredited engineering programs: Bioengineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Manufacturing Engineering. The Computer Science program is also accredited. Three majors are unaccredited: General Engineering, Software Engineering, and Engineering Management (I don’t know if there even are accrediting bodies for these majors). There are three Masters degree programs: Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, and Computational Science and Engineering (concentrations in ME and ECE). It is possible to earn both a bachelors and masters degree in five years.
As of Fall 2014, there were 1553 undergraduate students in the College, up from 1398 in 2014. 415 were first year students. The four most popular majors are Mechanical (433), Chemical (223), Computer Science (209), and Bioengineering (172).
The student leading our tour is in the Honors College, has studied abroad, and is in Naval ROTC. He turned down Ohio State to come to Miami. He was very enthusiastic about Miami.
The largest engineering classes are first and second-year lectures with up to 80 students, but these typically break out into smaller labs once a week where the lectures are applied. Junior and Senior year classes typically contain 25-40 students. All major classes are taught by faculty members.
For May 2013 graduates, by graduation 82% had jobs, had been accepted to graduate school, or were entering the military. By six months after graduation, 98% had jobs, were in graduate school, or were in the military. For those with jobs, the average salary was $63,000, with a range of $50,000 to $95,000. Approximately 59% reported having internships or other job experience during college; 39% did engineering research; and 35% joined professional organizations.
I do have major-specific information including required courses.
Overall, we were very impressed. For reference, we have toured many engineering colleges, including Michigan, Illinois, and Rose-Hulman. Michigan and Illinois are of course huge with incredible state-of-the-art facilities. Rose-Hulman is comparatively sized to Miami’s Engineering College and I would give it the edge in facilities, teaching, class size, and reputation. But Rose-Hulman is exclusively a STEM school and will not provide the overall college experience that Miami offers. Both RH and Miami Engineering are about 80% male, but Miami overall is 52% female. Oxford is a very nice little town, right off campus, and the Miami campus is beautiful. RH is five miles outside Terre Haute. There is nothing walkable from the RH campus. My son has been offered similar scholarships by both RH and Miami, but Miami works out to be about $14,000 per year less. For an Ohio in-state student, the difference would be even greater.
I hope this helps.
@Beaudreau Your information was fantastic and most helpful! We did visit Miami in March 2014 and met in a small group setting with one of the Professors and then went on a student led tour of the facilities. We too were very impressed, especially with the Paper Processing operation! You gave me a lot of information and figures that we did not previously have and your insight is much appreciated! I was particularly interested in the number of undergraduates in the Engineering program and the job placement percentages. Since we live on the East Coast I am curious as to Miami’s reputation outside of the Midwest. Not sure if we will make the 500 mile journey to a Make It Miami event but we are going to try. My son is also looking at computer science and engineering at Clemson and at James Madison Univ. and the University of Richmond for other areas of study. Again thank you so much for your input. Will your son be attending this fall?
@Robinsnest I do not know anything about Miami’s reputation outside the Midwest. We are from the other side of the country (Arizona), so we are also interested in this question. However, I am less concerned about the reputation of an Engineering college than, say, a business school. If an engineering or computer science major is accredited, then everyone will take the same basic classes at one school as another. Instruction and facilities must be up to a certain standard. If a student gets good grades, then jobs should be available. The difference will be the ease of getting jobs. A Michigan engineer will be recruited nationally; a Miami engineer will be recruited regionally. So, the Miami graduate will have to independently contact national employers and have a strong resume. Previous job and research experience will be particularly important. Employers also like candidates that have participated in engineering extracurriculars like the Formula SAE and SAE Baja, and have been members of student professional chapters.
But it can be done. A friend of mine’s’ son graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Northern Arizona University, hardly a top-tier school. His son got a job with Boeing in Seattle. Boeing definitely did not recruit in Flagstaff.
I think we will select Miami. The Arizona and Arizona State Honors Colleges are the two lowest cost options, but my son really wants to go out of state. (Most of winter it was 10 degrees in Oxford and 75 here in Phoenix.) In order of net cost, he has merit scholarship offers from Miami, Trinity University (San Antonior), Portland University, Rose-Hulman, and Santa Clara (still very expensive). We really liked Santa Clara, but with two other brothers in college, we can’t justify it. Rose-Hulman will probably provide the top engineering education, but I outlined the negatives in my previous post. I liked Portland quite a bit, but he was not as keen. We both liked Trinity a lot, but they only offer an general Engineering Science degree. It is accredited, but he wants more specific instruction. I have told him that he will be responsible for the difference between ASU and Miami (about $9,000 per year) and he is OK with that. He is already working and is willing to take out a small student loan.
We just did the Make it Miami tour for the class of 2020. My son liked it a lot. Accepted as a Chemical Engineering major. We too liked the paper science concentration due to it’s job placement. My son was also admitted to University of South Carolina with a scholarship that amounts to one years OOS tuition. We have no scholarship from Miami. What’s our opinion on one school vs the other…if you take the money question out of the equation. Where do you get the better education for Chem E ?
@10standish - I don’t know anything about SC. As a follow-up to my post from last year, my son is now half-way through his freshman year with a dual major in mechanical and biomedical engineering. He likes Miami a lot and is doing very well. They really do focus on undergraduate education and career preparation. Within a few weeks, they helped him create a LinkedIn page, and they have helped him with his resume too. He is applying for the Lockheed-Martin Leadership Institute for next year and they have helped him apply for two internships. He lives this year in a designated triple and both of his roommates are OOS, one from California and one from Virginia.
My D is torn between SCE at Miami and Cal Poly SLO. With a generous Miami scholarship, the cost is basically equal.
Miami pros: Pretty much guaranteed she’ll be out in 4 yrs. Honors program will give her lots of attention and scholar community dorm.
Cal Poly pros: Better known in CA (she wants to return to LA after school), learn by doing, beach.
Miami cons: awkward to get there, rural.
Cal Poly cons: Hard to register for classes (so we’ve heard), possible faculty strike interfering with classes.
What would you consider the better choice? Thank you for your thoughts!
@zenmommy - If the annual costs are the same, then the cost to graduation for Miami should be substantially less. My son is a Miami honors freshman engineering student. His roommate is from Northern California, and I asked his Dad: “Why Miami.” Here’s what he said:
His son’s final choices were Miami and Cal Poly SLO. At Cal Poly SLO, it was virtually guaranteed that it would take five years or more to graduate. That’s one more year of tuition and room and board. You have a scholarship for your daughter as he did, so let’s call that another $30,000 to attend CP SLO. Then, by postponing graduation for a year, his son would miss a year of working and pay. Let’s call that $60,000 for one year. So the total additional cost of attending CP SLO is $30,000 * $60,000 = $90,000.
And my son’s roommate loves it at Miami!