<p>So there’s a pretty good chance that I may attend Michigan this coming fall but before I make mine final decision I would like to learn a little more about engineering at Michigan. If any of you can answer any of my question, that would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<li><p>Is engineering at University of Michigan really that good compared to other schools like UVa and UCLA?</p></li>
<li><p>Are there lots of research and hands on opportunities at UMichigan? Undergraduate Research opportunities? Does Michigan have a good engineering facility, as apparatuses necessary to really excel in engineering?</p></li>
<li><p>How difficult is the coursework? How many hours a day are spent studying on average? Is there still time to do other things such as attend sport events, hang out with friends, party once in a while, etc?</p></li>
<li><p>Are engineering students at Michigan very competitive or are they very cooperative? Do students readily help each other out without hesitation? Are the professors knowledgeable in their field. Is it easy to get extra help from the professors?</p></li>
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<p>Yeah, I know I posted a lot of questions but you don’t have to answer all of them; even answering one would be very helpful. I’d like to thank all of you ahead of time for your help.</p>
<p>idk what to choose between UCLA and michigan as well. I just looked at some of the videos abotu UCLA engineering on youtube–they are not as good as i expected… >.<</p>
<p>edit: why is there xxxx (mwl - 2.19.2009) –> up there</p>
<p>I would like to know the answers to some of those questions as well. </p>
<p>Alexandre, call you out, but you seem to be very knowledgeable on this board so if you could answer any of those questions that would be awesome.</p>
<p>Yes. At least, according to the rankings, public perception, strength of the student body in engineering schools, and so on…</p>
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<p>Yes. There is a general UROP (undergraduate research opportunity) program that is available every semester to everyone. The program allows you to find a research opportunity among several hundreds of projects with professors there. Additionally, it’s often very easy to just find a professor to work with, even outside the UROP program. You can even get credit for this work. The engineering faculty at Michigan is world-class.</p>
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<p>It’s safe to say the coursework is quite difficult. How many hours you spend a day is up to you. It will vary based on your background, your abilities, your goals, and so on. That said, there is definitely time to do all the things you mentioned. Don’t envision yourself as locked in your room or the library 24/7.</p>
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<p>In my experience, people are quite cooperative, but others may disagree. In almost all engineering classes I’ve worked in groups. I’ve always been able to get help from others, and there are an enormous amount of tutoring opportunities (for free usually) available. Of course, all professors have office hours and it’s usually easy to go and talk to them about whatever you need help with.</p>
<p>My son was just accepted to Engineering. He is a driven, passionate and hard working student. He also would like to experience all that u of Michigan has to offer. I just don’t want to see him get crushed by the coarse work. He really feels that he will do well here.He is a decent Math and Science student. SAT’s well above average but not absolutely amazing. The question is…can a person willing to put in the time succeed and have a little fun?</p>
<p>I had a 29 ACT (that’s something like a 1900 SAT) and did pretty well my first semester (3.4 GPA) and didn’t find it too difficult. I had to study and do homework a fair bit but still had a lot of free time.</p>
<p>His SAT is similar but GPA 3.85. I appreciate your feedback. As I said, he works hard and is really into electrical engineering. I guess it’s just a little intimidating to hear how difficult it is to eek out a good grade, but it seems like a great school. He’ll be happy if he learns what he needs to. I assume then that this is your first year? Are you happy with your overall experience at Mich? Best Wishes to you.</p>
<p>And that’s quite a nice GPA to start with. I’d be very proud if he finished his first semester with that. I’ve been reading about students with much lower…good for you.</p>
<p>Glad you’re enjoying your time there. I guess we’ll visit and that will be the deciding factor. Thank you again for your response. Keep up the good work.</p>
<p>I would add one thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet: endowment. Schools of Engineering are expensive to maintain. Michigan has the wealth to stay on top. And with the recent purchase of the Pfizer research campus, the Biotech and Bioengineering programs should get a major boost. I also have a feeling that sometime in the near future, Michigan will launch a new fund raising campaign, this time anchored by none other than Larry Page, whose donation will be to the CoE. If it is large enough, they may even rename the school the Larry Page CoE! hehe!</p>
<p>My family knows someone in Sequoia Capital, the VC that funded google. They worked closely with Larry Page and the family friend said Larry Page affliates himself a lot more and with Stanford than Michigan. You have to think this makes sense considering that he met the other founding people of google at Stanford.</p>
<p>So if I were to guess his money would go to Stanford way before Michigan.</p>
<p>There’s only one other person in the “founding people” group. I have no idea what Page would choose to do with his money, but it’s safe to say he associates himself with the University of Michigan extremely strongly, what with the growing up in Michigan part and all. Page was also extremely involved in college life here. He was president of a EECS society I’m in, and he’s helped fund this group since graduation.</p>
<p>did you forget the people who he researched with, the stanford network he used to tap into silicon valley and ultimately got him hooked up with sequoia? It is at stanford where he co-created google and it is at stanford where he had access to venture capital fundings. He would never have been able to tap into that network at Michigan. </p>
<p>Do you have any idea how hard it is to get funding from elite VCs? Not only do you need a kick ass “next big thing” type of idea, you also need to know the right people and have a prominent network. </p>
<p>Btw that “only one other person” you are talking about was also a stanford Phd candidate</p>
<p>So far, I have to give bearcats the benefit of the doubt here. Page has been gone from Michigan quite a while already and has made his billions since meeting others at Stanford. I just get the feeling if any substantial money is going to be donated, it might indeed go to Stanford. I hope I’m wrong of course.</p>
<p>Bearcats, one of my best friends (Senior VP at Cisco) who happens to be a very proud Stanford alum met Larry Page in 2002, although they were classmates at Stanford back in the mid 90s. They hung out extensively (like a dozen times over the course of the last few years). My friend always complained how Page associates himself more with Michigan than with Stanford. Of course, that doesn’t mean either one of us is right, but my guess is, when push comes to shove, he will give to both Michigan and Stanford. Also keep in mind it is more common to associate more with one’s undergraduate institution than with one’s graduate institution. I always associate more with Michigan than with Cornell. Most people are the same, associating more with their undergraduate institutions. Finally, Stanford’s endowment is twice larger than Michigan’s. As such, whatever amount he gives will mean a lot more to Michigan than to Stanford.</p>
<p>Oh, and in case you missed Larry Page’s commencement speech two years ago, he was clearly vey fond of the University of Michigan…the place where his parents met.</p>