Cornell v UMich Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I was recently accepted to both Cornell's and Michigan's engineering schools, but I can't decide which to go to. I've been told that no matter what either school will give me great opportunities, but I want to be sure that I'm making the right choice. I want to study a combination of Biomedical and electrical engineering. At Michigan, I would have to study BME with an Electrical concentration (you can select different streams of BME), and at Cornell, an Electrical Major, with BME minor. </p>

<p>I am looking for great study abroad opportunities, internship/coops, and good grad school placement.</p>

<p>Cornell Pros
Ivy League
Smaller school with more individualized program
Location
Top rated college town
Beautiful
Great food
Connections you would make
Overall prestige
Smaller class sizes
Got a research scholarship for $8,000 a year research funding with any professor I want (only 200 out of the entire incoming class of 6000 were selected for this)</p>

<p>Cornell Cons
Lower ranked overall than Michigan
Tuition cost (could apply for Telluride House and if I get it my sophomore year, I would get free housing for the remainder of my stay ~ $36,000)
Heard it is hard to get a high GPA (bad for grad school)
High stress/difficult work
Sports aren't that great
Really far away from home</p>

<p>Michigan Pros
Sports!
Heard it is lower stress than Cornell, more laid back (maybe a little easier to get better GPA than Cornell)
Better engineering school generally
Accepted to Telluride House (free housing for up to 5 years, save ~$50,000)
Closer to home (I'm from Chicago)
Overall tuition cost is less</p>

<p>Michigan Cons
Large class sizes
Heard a lot of stuff about unqualified Grad Student teachers
Heard that professors always don't teach lectures
Just a number in your class</p>

<p>I've visited both campuses many times and absolutely love them both. I'm really stuck between these schools and what to decide. I'd save a lot of money if I went to Michigan, but Cornell is Cornell. I feel that no matter how great Michigan's program might be, the Ivy League education always carries more weight. </p>

<p>Which school can help me get better get into a great grad school (like Stanford, MIT, Cambridge)? </p>

<p>10 or 15 years down the line, will having a degree from Michigan v one from Cornell help better?</p>

<p>Can you guys give me some suggestions on how to proceed? </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Hey,</p>

<p>One sad reality that I learned from doing co-op in industry and going to grad school is that people associate the prestige of the school over all with the intelligence of the student. For example, I got accepted into all Ivy’s + Caltech, for grad school and most of the professors I’ve talked to during my visit cared more about my undergrad institutions overall prestige and the actual research i did than looking at rankings for individual departments. About 80% of the students accepted for grad school were from ivy+5. (caltech, MIT, Stanford, UChi, NW)</p>

<p>If you want to go into industry after grad school same applies. Overall prestige of the school beats out rankings of individual departments. I have a friends who are on recruiting teams at GS, MBB, Int, IBM, and they say the same.</p>

<p>then again, this is just my experience. Others might say otherwise.</p>

<p>But there’s one factor that changes all this. If you are the top student at either place u’ll be fine.</p>

<p>For undergrad I was split between Brown, Columbia, Cornell, NW, Chicago, Penn, UMich, GaTech, UIUC. I chose cornell for it’s engineering program/ prestige.</p>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

3

<p>Thank you very much for your input! Any other opinions from current students? </p>

<p>Thanks! </p>

<p>Sent from my MB865 using CC</p>