<p>My son’s friend is at R-H and complains that the area around the school is boring. I’ve never been to the school, so I have no personal experience. Anyone else?</p>
<p>I guess it’s because I havn’t really checked out Ann Arbor that I don’t know why everyone says it’s a great college town,</p>
<p>Ah…when you schedule your college visit for UMich…try to allow enough time before and after your campus visit to check out the off-campus hangouts. 
Often a school will have one or two sides of the campus that will have rows of restaurants, bars, cafes, shops, etc where the kids go for a “campus break”. </p>
<p>I think these issues can be almost as important as the campus itself. Afterall, it can’t be “all work and no play.” Right??? :)</p>
<p>We toured GT and didn’t like the area, the housing, and a few other things.</p>
<p>“well, he said urban and I don’t consider Ann Arbor urban. I did grad work at Ga Tech. The area is fine. Many schools are not too far from iffy areas, and you just have to use common sense. And you can put down Baltimore and dismiss the ease of getting to DC all you want, but thousands upon thousands of students think it is great to have access to both.”</p>
<p>With all due respect, I highly doubt many D.C. area students are making a regular trek up to Baltimore for the collegiate experience that the JHU area affords. Furthermore, to say that the area around Georgia Tech is “fine” is either disingenuous or made by someone who has no idea about bad living environments. Atlanta is overall a fairly dangerous city and that area in particular is no exception. Don’t believe me? Read this article from November of last year:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sundaypaper.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Print.aspx?tabid=98&tabmoduleid=940&articleId=4735&moduleId=922&PortalID=0[/url]”>http://www.sundaypaper.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Print.aspx?tabid=98&tabmoduleid=940&articleId=4735&moduleId=922&PortalID=0</a></p>
<p>okay, so can people agree that in terms of college towns, the rankings would go:</p>
<ol>
<li>Ann Arbor</li>
<li>Atlanta/Baltimore</li>
<li>Cleveland/Pittsburg</li>
<li>New Orleans</li>
<li>Troy</li>
<li>Golden</li>
<li>Terre Haute</li>
</ol>
<p>all in terms of the criteria I set previously…</p>
<p>I interview and help hire engineers at my company. UM and GT (especially for EE) have the most prestige in our engineering community. We hire ChE, ME ,and EE’s.</p>
<p>I would be carefull about majoring in BME, this degree does not offer as much job flexibility, offers the lowest starting salary, and usually requires a master’d degree. You really want an broad engineering degree so you will have the maximum job flexibility.</p>
<p>UM also offers the best fall back majors, if you decide not to do engineering, there is a very good business school (hard to get into) and science majors.</p>
<p>Personally I’d place Troy at the bottom…</p>
<p>CollegeChecker: This I’ve heard before. My friend is a graduate student at UM who degreed in ME as an undergrad, and said that ME and EE are very flexible in terms of what they can do with the degree. However, I’m very wary on the ME degree, mostly because of the crash in the American auto industry, and I saw first-hand what the crash did to many mechanical engineers (being a resident of Michigan). I’ve also heard that EE degree holders are obliged to be able to do computer engineering, which I have not even looked into as a high school student (never took a programming class in my life), which makes me worry also.</p>
<p>baseballa. I highly suggest you look at the “engineering majors” theads under the “college majors” heading located in the Discussion Menu. There will be CCers there ready to answer you engineering inquiries.</p>
<p>Thanks^</p>
<p>I think I have a pretty good idea of how I will choose college. I guess the final thing I’d want to ask is…what are the pros and cons of public vs. private?</p>
<p>well rjkofnovi - I lived in Atl. working at GT for 3 years. You? And as far as cities and statistics and all that, they can be extremely misleading. I am not saying GT is in a paradise, but I was just back there 6 months or so ago and there are lots of nice things to do within walking distance and there are shuttles and other conveniences. I get it that you don’t like it. I thought Atlanta was great.</p>
<p>Also, I didn’t say DC students went up to Baltimore a lot, I said it was the other way around. Although before the Nats, if you wanted to take in a baseball game you sure had to head up to Baltimore. And the Inner Harbor area, along with other places has things to offer. So you get Baltimore and DC if you are a JHU student. Please, at least quote me correctly.</p>
<p>*I would be carefull about majoring in BME, this degree does not offer as much job flexibility, offers the lowest starting salary, and usually requires a master’d degree. *</p>
<p>My H has been hiring engineers for over 20 years, and he would say the same thing.</p>
<p>“well rjkofnovi - I lived in Atl. working at GT for 3 years. You? And as far as cities and statistics and all that, they can be extremely misleading. I am not saying GT is in a paradise, but I was just back there 6 months or so ago and there are lots of nice things to do within walking distance and there are shuttles and other conveniences. I get it that you don’t like it. I thought Atlanta was great.”</p>
<p>Can’t say I have lived in Atlanta, but I have enjoyed my visits there. But that isn’t to say that GT is in a safe area, it’s not. Ann Arbor is safe. You can literally walk anywhere in the entire city limits and feel secure. Not bad for a city of over 110,000 people.</p>
<p>“And the Inner Harbor area, along with other places has things to offer. So you get Baltimore and DC if you are a JHU student. Please, at least quote me correctly.”</p>
<p>Every large city has things to offer. But c’mon now, Baltimore is no D.C. Sorry about the misquote. When I read thousands and thousands I just assumed you meant more than just JHU students.</p>
<p>Well, of course in general smaller college towns tend to be safer than cities of millions. The flip side is they don’t offer the variety of activities either, economically that is virtually impossible. That is why it comes down to a matter of taste. And again, I didn’t come close to saying Baltimore is DC, in fact I said that the nice thing about living in the Baltimore area is that you have DC readily available. Then whatever Baltimore offers is just a bonus. Not that hard, man.</p>
<p>yes, I would avoid working the the auto industry, this industry is going to have problems recruiting top engineers.</p>
<p>I believe though alternative energy will offer a lot of engineering job growth, and being a ChE, EE or ME offers will give you a lot of flexibility in getting a job.</p>
<p>Also, of course, you really don’t need to decide on your major in engineering until your sophmore year, so you have plenty of time to check everything out.</p>
<p>I am though surprised how many young kids we know that started out in engineering at top schools and have swtiched out already. they were top students in high school with high math scores but simply overwhelmed how difficult and time consuming it was to do engineering.</p>
<p>"Well, of course in general smaller college towns tend to be safer than cities of millions.</p>
<p>With over 114,000 people in it and not including surrounding areas, Ann Arbor is NOT a small town. There are plenty of “smaller” towns with and without colleges that are not considered safe, Durham is a good example off the top of my head, so that remark is meaningless. Also, last time I checked, Baltimore and Atlanta didn’t have millions of people living inside it’s city limits. Ann Arbor offers plenty of activities, cultural and otherwise, and is just as close to another major metropolitan area as Baltimore is to D.C. Not that I would want to travel to Detroit from Ann Arbor that often, but there are a plethora of things to do in a major market of over 4.5 million people and plenty of nice areas to visit. It’s not like you’re in the middle of podunk. Plus you can head to Canada, once you’re 19, to legally drink and gamble. How’s that for excitement? The OP should also consider what CollegeChecker mentioned about how time consuming engineering is. Most of your free time will be spent studying, not running around dangerous areas in large cities.</p>
<p>I didn’t say it was a small town, and I clearly said in general, which is true. Again please quote correctly. And of course I am talking about the SMSA when I say millions, that is what economically drives the city and attracts activity. Now you are just being disingenuous. You think people don’t come in from Marietta to attend Hawks games, for example? I don’t see any major league sports in Ann Arbor, to illustrate my point. And DC is among a handful of unique American cities with its incredible selection of museums, monuments, and activities. Some people would be attracted to that kind of opportunity.</p>
<p>You are acting like I don’t think Ann Arbor is a fine place to live and go to school. Not true, it is. I am just contrasting the areas. You on the other hand seem to have a thing against cities. By your reasoning everyone should live in places like Ann Arbor, in which case it will just become a large city, lol.</p>
<p>“And DC is among a handful of unique American cities with its incredible selection of museums, monuments, and activities. Some people would be attracted to that kind of opportunity.”</p>
<p>Yes, I know that. Baltimore and Atlanta are NOT D.C. however, as has been discussed. I honestly don’t see the attraction of going to college in either location. Nothing against big cities, but IMO there are much better cities to attend school in as an undergrad than those two.</p>
<p>Wow, OK. I’ll say it one more time then. Students in Baltimore area can get to DC for a few bucks and a short train ride, or an even shorter trip by car if traffic not bad. On the weekends that is an extremely viable option. That’s fine that you don’t see the attraction of that. Hundreds of thousands of students, if not millions, over the years see it differently.</p>
<p>*Well, of course in general smaller college towns tend to be safer than cities of millions. *</p>
<p>*With over 114,000 people in it and not including surrounding areas, Ann Arbor is NOT a small town. *</p>
<p>There are college towns and there are COLLEGE TOWNS. I’ve visited colleges in college towns where there is the college, some homes, and a few nearby off-campus hangouts. </p>
<p>I’ve also visited colleges with COLLEGE TOWNS like Ann Arbor which have many off-campus hangouts because they have 100k+ populations and the whole town is dedicated to their beloved college. While those towns may not have all that big cities have, they often have enough to interest college kids. </p>
<p>Schools like UMich are large enough to provide many recreational and leisure activities.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, then, I totally agree with those staement mom2collegekids. Isn’t it great students attending college in the USA have all these choices and more?</p>