Engineering: Iowa State or Miami University - Ohio

College Search & Selection
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<p>You’re worrying too much about USNews. That is all meaningless in the grand scheme of things. </p>

<p>*Do you happen to know any of this information about Miami such as the career fairs and such? I would greatly appreciate this information so I could get a solid comparison of the resources that would be available to me at each of the schools.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>You’re going to have to get that info from the school, probably from the Col of Eng’g. That said, these are big state schools with eng’g. They’re going to have career fairs. The regional engineering firms will be sending reps to find new hires. that’s what goes on. State schools provide employees for regional businesses. There’s no mystery here. </p>

<p>*</p>

<p>Also, I was looking at the “US News and World Report” magazine for engineering school rankings and found some interesting information. ISU was ranked as #39 school for engineering where the highest degree is a doctorates, and Miami was in a separate ranking of schools where their highest engineering degree is a bachelors or masters coming in at #35. I assume the rankings of programs with doctorates available carries more weight, but then I realized Miami focuses a lot on undergraduate studies, making it reasonable for them to not have a doctorates engineering program. What do you all think of this? By the way, thanks for all the replies so far! This information is very helpful.*</p>

<p>None of the above matters…at all. At any good state school with eng’g (ABET accredited) you’re going to get a good education opportunity. It’s really UP TO YOU. If you’re not a strong student, then your biggest issue will be that the other eng’g students will be stronger than you are…so you may get weeded out if the math, physics, and other weeder classes are too hard for you. </p>

<p>Since you’re at risk (because of your stats) of not surviving Eng’g, I don’t think you should take on any debt…at all. A $30k debt will be painful to pay back if you don’t end up with a job that pays as well as eng’g.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot Haystack! I will be sure to take a look at that information.</p>

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<p>For engineering, that USN&WR teaching ranking is going to mean less than nothing. What matters most in engineering is department and faculty industry contacts, and that comes through graduate programs and research. That is what leads to the donations for first class labs and equipment, leads to internships and most importantly leads to student recruitment.</p>

<p>Now that being said, it seems as though you have your heart set on Miami, and things about Miami of Ohio that turn a lot of people off are positives for you. You’re right that the overall experience should be a big factor, and it seems as though that’s Miami in your case. </p>

<p>One other thing to consider is that something like 50% of students intending to major in engineering end up graduating in something else–overwhelmingly business. Miami’s undergraduate business program is first rate, and its presence should be something to consider should you decide to transfer out of engineering.</p>

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<p>One of the problems in transferring from engineering to business, is that, if you struggle in engineering classes frosh year, you may not have the requisite GPA for admission to Farmer.</p>

<p>Current Miami Students Seeking FSB Admission: Admission Information</p>

<p>Admission Requirements</p>

<p>Current Miami University students who were not offered direct admission or who did not apply to the Farmer School of Business may seek admission through a non-competitive process. The requirements for admission to the Farmer School of Business, effective for the 2013-14 academic year, are:
30 graded credit hours at Miami University
3.3 GPA in Miami Plan Foundation and business courses at Miami University
Completion of MTH 151 and ECO 201 (or equivalent AP, post-secondary, or transfer courses)</p>

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<p>“If I go to Miami I will have about 30,000 that my parents will not have covered, while if I go to Iowa State, it will be completely covered.”</p>

<p>Just exactly where do you propose to get that $30,000? </p>

<p>If there are no loans in your student aid package, and you are eligible to file the FAFSA, you can borrow $5,500 your freshman year, $6,500 sophomore year, $7,500 junior year, and $7,500 senior year. Which would still leave you $3,000 short over the course of four years. If you aren’t already committed to the cheapest housing and meals, and you haven’t already factored in the money you will earn during the summers and the school year, you probably can shave $3,000 out of your budget over the course of all four years.</p>

<p>However, if you are estimating your Cost of Attendance for four years solely on tuition, fees, housing, and meals for this year, and you haven’t factored in books, travel to and from college, personal expenses, materials, etc., and you haven’t taken the expected cost increase of 5% to 7% each year of college, and you haven’t considered what will happen if you need an extra summer session, semester, or year, to finish your degree, then no, you aren’t going to be able to make Miami-Ohio affordable.</p>

<p>Sit down with your parents. Crunch the numbers. If it can’t work, it can’t work.</p>

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<p>And estimate that the costs will rise a few thousand EVERY year…including next year. That means that the $30k that you think you’ll be short, will really be $40k+</p>

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<p>I agree with Happymom (and generally with Haystack). While Miami offers a fine engineering degree it’s not worth the price difference.</p>

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<p>Miami does have engineering fairs, but the problem is that the students are competing with University of Cincinnati which is less than an hour away and more well known for their engineering program. To a lesser extent they are also competing with the University of Dayton about an hour away and Ohio State about 90 minutes away but with a much larger engineering school/reputation.</p>

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I will revive this thread because I have a son who is a freshman ME major at Miami and another who is strongly considering ME at Iowa State. Because of the scholarships they earned, the costs are pretty close for us.

Overall I agree that because of ABET accreditation requirements, programs do not differ that much from school to school. I would also agree, and told this to my son, that he will have to work harder to get a job out of Miami than from a larger engineering school. Still, Miami’s overall six-month placement rate is 97.6% for all graduates and 100% for engineering and computing majors. http://miamioh.edu/student-life/career-services/parents/index.html The Miami ME program is also much smaller, with 44 graduates last year, compared to 299 at Iowa State. In total, Miami has 399 enrolled in the ME program, while Iowa State has 1788.

Miami’s overall freshman retention rate is 90% vs 86% at Iowa. Miami’s six-year graduation rate is 79% vs.69%.

We have visited both schools and campuses are more similar to us than different. Miami is in Oxford, Ohio, a very small, charming town, but there is no movie theater and the shopping highlight is a new Super Walmart on the edge of town. Ames is larger, with more shopping and dining opportunities. Both campuses are quite lovely and very traditional looking. Cincinnati is about 40 miles away from Oxford by mostly two-lane roads. Iowa State is about 30 miles from Des Moines by mostly interstate.

Both schools seemed equally diverse (non-diverse), with reported 78% white student bodies. Miami has 57% in-state enrollment compared to 58% at ISU.

It really comes down to what a student is looking for. ISU is one of the largest engineering schools in the country, with all the associated resources and placement opportunities. ISU also has the Big 12 football/basketball games to enjoy. Miami is about 1/2 the size of ISU and the engineering college is about a fifth that of ISU’s. Football and basketball are pretty bad and rarely sell out, but hockey is big-time.

So far my son really likes Miami. He is in one of two Honors dorms in a large, nice triple-room. Both his roommates are also from outside Ohio. He can easily meet with his advisor and already started working with Career Services to create his LinikedIn page. He likes all his professors and is doing very well so far.

@Domc76 - Where did you end up going to college?

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Domc76 has not been on CC since Oct 2013. That’s one reason we don’t generally revive other people’s threads.