Cornell Engineering vs. other schools

College Majors Engineering Majors
41

<p>"In Europe, Michigan usually has a better reputation"</p>

<p>...dude, there is no Michigan. There is a "University-of-Michigan-Ann-Arbor" that is a great school. UMich-school-system is AA, Dearborn and Flint put together. </p>

<p>It's like saying University of California is a great school!!! Well, Berkeley is, but Riverside may not be. </p>

<p>Also, people in Europe have never heard of University of Michigan Ann Arbor. They've heard of Ivy-League, Oxford, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, maybe UCLA, but not UMAA...sorry.</p>

42

<p>Golubb, California has a unique system where 5 or 6 campuses are considered major universities. Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota etc... do not have such a system. They each have a flagship campus and a couple of satellite campuses. When educated people speak of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, it is automatically assumed that they are speaking of the Madison, Ann Arbor, Urbana Champaign and Twin Cities campuses. So dude, as always, you are WRONG. There is not such thing as "UMAA". You just made that one up. Nobody refers to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as UMAA. It is Michigan. Everybody in academe and the professional world refers to it as Michigan. </p>

<p>And how come you dropped the whole debate about Cornell having high ranked departments than Michigan?</p>

<p>Fianlly, don't tell me about what Europe thinks. I have studied in European schools for 2 years, visited for 27 summers and worked in Europe as an Investment Banker for 3 years. I know Europe better than most Europeans do. In Europe, only 3 or 4 North American universities have a better reputation than Michigan. In Asia, I would say that 10 or so North American universities have a better reputation. You say that the Ivy League universites are more famous than Michigan in Europe? Clearly, you have never been to Europe. I have lived in Germany, France and England. They have never heard of Brown or Dartmouth and barely know Penn (with the exception of Wharton). Michigan is usually held in the same regard as Chicago, Cornell and Columbia in Europe. I am European educated, and growing up, Michigan was one of the few American universities that was often mentioned.</p>

43

<p>true, alexandre</p>

<p>oh btw. alexandre, could you shortly comment on my concerns?? (it's on previous page)</p>

44

<p>"...dude, there is no Michigan. There is a "University-of-Michigan-Ann-Arbor" that is a great school. UMich-school-system is AA, Dearborn and Flint put together."</p>

<p>Actually, University of Michigan is the official name. It's not University of Michigan at Ann Arbor or University of Michigan, Ann Arbor or University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Besides that, it's almost always assumed that the main campus is the one that is being talked about.</p>

45

<p>"Actually, University of Michigan is the official name. It's not University of Michigan at Ann Arbor or University of Michigan,"</p>

<p>No, it's not the official name. The official name is UMAA (I'm using the acronym, so just expand that!), since </p>

<p>1) There has got to be a way to identify Dearborn and Flint.
2) If UMich refers to one school only, then it doesn't refer to Dearborn or Flint
3) Dearborn and Flint are cleary part of the UM school system.</p>

<p>Putting together these facts, University of Michigan refers to all 3 schools....otherwise the students with Dearborn and Flint degrees are orphans!</p>

<p>"And how come you dropped the whole debate about Cornell having high ranked departments than Michigan?"</p>

<p>It does! You've obviously highlighted the most favorable subjects in the most favorable ranking for UMAA, and you've been copying and pasting the same thing for like months. You spare no expense in comparing UMAA to Cornell, when you know full well that the comparison is totally inappropriate. </p>

<p>UMAA is a HUGE school, and its undergrad is so easy to get into!!! The applicant pool for UMAA is also substandard and clearly not Ivy-comparable, so the 60% acceptance rate is actually worse, since the 60% takes into account every tom,dick+harry that throws an app to UMAA. Most Ivy students would have a 95% chance at UMAA, so please be considerate before you make wild links between two schools.</p>

<p>I'm going to be applying to MIT, Cornell, Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech and Princeton, and UMAA is so far from my choice list (and also my friend circle's list) that it's not even funny.</p>

<p>UMAA, Purdue, Gatech all look the same to a lot of people, including me.</p>

46

<p>Golub: Don't go to Cornell Engineering. MIT Stanford, Berkeley, PTon and CA tech are all better and in the unlikley event u get rejected from the above dont go to Cornell Engineering.
I wouldnt like an a55hole like yourself within a mile of me</p>

47

<p>golubb_u, I applied to similar caliber schools as yours including Cornell's School of Engineering. Yet I still regard Michigan(UMAA in your vocab) highly.</p>

<p>Although I dont like "number" stuffs, it's very hard to get into Michigan for out-staters, and mainly its high acceptance rate is due to, as you know, its large size and its obligation to accept a certain amount of in-state students. It's NOT because its problem is lesser known or whatever. I mean are you applying to colleges cuz their acceptances are low? I would apply to schools that has superb programs and department, yet easier to get in.</p>

<p>And I'd say Alex's ranking comparsion list was not biased. And I also shall say if you can provide us more rankings that would be nice.
Oh and I think you shall elaborate a little more about your last sentence. UM, Purdue, and GaTech would look very nice to a lot of people, including me.</p>

48

<p>dont judge cornell by the engineering class you want to major in. over 50% incoming freshman change majors by their junior year (and yes, you can be undecided till then). you may love cornell for its great ___ program, but if you should decide to change majors, you will find an equally great program. the well rounded programs provide a flexibility that almost guarantees a superb education; you will get your money's worth.</p>

49

<p>Here's few more factors to consider. </p>

<p>One, who do you want to work for when you graduate (or where do you want to live). If that company is in Silicon Valley, you want Stanford or Berkeley. If in the Boston corridor, MIT, JHU, Princeton and Cornell will do nicely. Southwest--Rice and UT.
I know I'm leaving out some schools, but you get my point. The engineering school that has a strong reputation in the geographic area you want is likely to have lots of connections with employers in that area. Finding a job will be easier and you'll already know the area.</p>

<p>Two, it is likely that you will go to grad school. While a BS will get you a job, a Masters is quickly becoming much more important. Good grades, high GREs, and strong recommendations from profs at Cornell, CMU, JHU, MIT, Stanford, Princeton--even Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth--will almost guarantee you admittance to the grad school of your choice. It MIGHT be more difficult to develop relationships with Profs at large state schools just because of the sheer number of students....but I'm speculating here.</p>

50

<p>its so great that my school doesn't attract ignorant dumb****s like golub.</p>

51

<p>i know im jumping on kinda late to the discussion, but i was reading this thread and i have to make a defense on behalf of RPI:</p>

<p>"You can think RPI is good, but ask any international student if they've ever heard of it." </p>

<p>someone said this earlier. thats definately not true. my dad went to RPI and he was an international student. besides name recognition shouldnt be the only factor in ur decisions.</p>

52

<p>"UMAA, Purdue, Gatech all look the same to a lot of people, including me."</p>

<p>OMG, golubb_u you are probably the most ignorant prestige whore out there. One thing you should know about engineering school is that in the field of engineering, private prestige won't help you much at all. Doesn't matter if you are from MIT or Iowa State university, if you can't do the job, you are not going to get a job doesn't matter which school you are from. I am a Cornell engineering student and I have as much respect for a Michigan engineering student as my fellow Cornellians. I have friends in Michigan and their courses are just as hard as ours. If you are really convinced that state universities' engineering programs are not as good as the private universities', the I would advice you NOT to be an engineering major. I don't think you can handle the truth in the near future. UIUC, Michigan, Gatech and other top rank public engineering programs all have similar, if not better, earning potential and job placement as the private programs out there. If all you care about is the prestige, go be a business major and you will probably earn a lot more. If you want to be an engineer, go to the institution that spends the most money on its engineering school. The only way you can be a great engineer is to work on projects. Only schools that are willing to spend a lot of money on their engineering program can provide such education to its undergraduate engineering students.</p>

53

<p>While browsing through the list of majors at Cornell and UMich, I noticed Cornell offer's ECE while Michigan offers EE, is there any difference??</p>

54

<p>It just means Cornell makes you take more Computer Science classes than other schools.</p>

55

<p>"UMAA, Purdue, Gatech all look the same to a lot of people, including me."</p>

<p>I think you would find that engineering professors at CalTech, Stanford, MIT, Princeton and Cornell have quite a bit more respect for the programs at the large State schools mentioned than some on this thread. </p>

<p>I believe the business world does too. A year or so ago, I researched "Royalty" income earned by Universities. The large state schools generally were better represented than the smaller, private schools. I drew the conclusion that a lot of research was being conducted and a lot of patents awarded to the state schools. To me, this is a meaningful measure of quality.</p>

<p>Wild, irresponsible statement: if the engineering programs at Illinois, Michigan and GATech were separate, freestanding private schools and not constrained to give marginal candidates a chance at the program, the naysayers would think much more highly of them.</p>

56

<p>good to see this thread come back to life...</p>

<p>Have any of you ever heard of Olin College?</p>

57

<p>Olin is a 3 or 4 year old enginering school being built from the ground up. Probably a solid program but un-ranked and unknown by many. Not sure I want to be a pioneer, especially if I have other good choices.</p>

58

<p>Olin rocks :) and Cooper Union is good engineering school too</p>

59

<p>I would have applied to UMich (thats a standard acronym. ive been on this board a long time, and ive spent a ton of time on the Michigan board, and not once have I ever seen UMAA before) but its too cold and too expensive. Yes, Cornell is certainly great at engineering, and it is smaller than UMich, but that does not mean it's better.</p>

<p>Arizona State University has a main campus, and three satelite campuses- ASU West, ASU East, and ASU Downtown. Its still the same University, but different schools and classes are held at different campuses. A graduate from ASU West has the same standing as a graduate from ASU Main, because it's all the same school. UMich works the same way- Dearborn and Flint are not seperate entities from Ann Arbor.</p>

<p>Beside, golubb, anyone who decides on a school based upon what ignorant people like you think are just prestige whores who want massive egos to impress others. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to say that you went to a famous school, but its what employers think, those who really know the strength of engineering programs, that matters in the end. And from your attitude, I hardly think that you will fall into that group.</p>

<p>An engineering graduate from Michigan, as well as Cornell, will be respected more than a counterpart from Harvard or Yale, no matter how prestigious those latter institutions are.</p>

60

<p>"A graduate from ASU West has the same standing as a graduate from ASU Main, because it's all the same school. UMich works the same way- Dearborn and Flint are not seperate entities from Ann Arbor."</p>

<p>The campuses of ASU maybe be similar, but there is a huge disparity between UMich at Ann Arbor and the other two. For example, UM-Dearborn only offers CS, EE, Inustrial, and MechE. UM-Flint only offers CS and a major called Engineering Science. Obviously, the main campus has far more resources than the other two, thus the education it offers is better.</p>