Cornell vs CMU vs Michigan

<p>I'm in a dilemma like many students in choosing schools based on finance and program rankings.</p>

<p>I have been accepted into the college of engineering for all three schools, my interest is mainly in electrical and mechanical. Michigan gave me enough money that I only have a 5k loan period, no work study or anything. Cornell, on the other hand, gave me about 8k in parent contrib and 4k in wkstdy and summer job. As for CMU, I haven't heard back from yet.
I'm still working on getting a bigger grant from cornell as my award hasn't been finalized yet.</p>

<p>My family's efc is only 5k, so a few k difference in cost is a big difference. But, it is not that a few extra thousand will mean that I literally can't attend the school. So I want to compare these three schools, which all have high engineering rankings. </p>

<p>I'm especially into robotics and I prefer study abroad to be an easy option. In terms of overall college experience, quality of the robotics program and future networks of friends and professors, which one should I go to?</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon did pretty good on the Grand Challenge (2). Urban Challenge (1). </p>

<p>DS will be doing some robotics at Udub/startup although his major CMU '06 were in ME and HCI. He followed his CMU mentor/advisor.</p>

<p>Read, Colleges-CMU, threads for FA.</p>