<p>I've been admitted to Michigan as an engineering student, and now as the deadlines are a little over a month away, I'm trying to make a final decision as to whether I should go there, or somewhere else. This depends on a lot of information I'm lacking, and only alumni or current students can help me out; I want to know how your personal experience has been.</p>
<p>First of all, in terms of actually enrolling into your desired classes, how difficult is it? Did you find yourself forced to remake an entire schedule after classes were said to be full or unavailable?</p>
<p>Switching majors- is it hard? I know you're supposed to reapply to another college in order to switch majors, or so I was told at the information session, but is this a difficult process and/or is there an actual chance of being denied a switch in majors? I've essentially already decided that engineering isn't for me, so this is naturally rather important in making my decision.</p>
<p>And, while I'm fairly sure of what answer I'll get on this one, how do/did you like Michigan?</p>
<p>Also, any opinions or general impressions of teachers, student life, workload, anything at all would be helpful :)!</p>
<p>I've had no problems so far with scheduling, but most of my classes are ones that don't fill up. There's a nice online tool to help you schedule classes made by a student (maybe grad, or soon to be grad) called MiSchedule (<a href="http://mschedule.com/mischedule/)%5B/url%5D">http://mschedule.com/mischedule/)</a>. Helps you come up with a whole set of contingincies for discussion sections being filled, and whatnot.</p>
<p>Administratively, if you start in engineering you'll have no problem transferring into LSA. The bigger problem in switching colleges/majors is that if you do it too late, you'll be very far behind in terms of meeting requirements. First year engineering students usually take a fair amount of classes from LSA (math, physics, chemistry, econ, etc) that are required for engineering, but could also be put towards LSA distribution should you choose to switch.</p>
<p>Scheduling is generally not a problem. In my 4 years at Michigan, I never had a single problem with scheduling. I am sure some freshmen are locked out of a class or two, but that is not common. </p>
<p>For Engineers, switching majors (within the CoE or to LSA) is generally quite easy, assuming your grades are ok. It is a little tougher for LSA students to transfer to the CoE. The only tough college to switch to is Ross.</p>
<p>I personally loved my 4 years at Michigan. I cannot imagine having attended another college for my undergraduate studies. Most of my professors were incredibly well informed and genuinely interested in teaching undergrads. However, professors at major research universities are very busy and committed to their graduate students and their research, so if you want a professor to give you the time of day, you must be serious and you have to take the initiative. </p>
<p>Student life at Michigan and in Ann Arbor is hard to match. The mix of student activity, school pride and spirit, incredible athletics, awesome performance and visual arts, culture, intellectualism, activism etc...is unique and the town of Ann Arbor compliments the university perfectly.</p>
<p>Well, here are the colleges I've applied to:
University of Arizona (Hometown college, admitted, obviously)
University of Wisconsin - Madison, admitted, seriously considering
University of Illinois, admitted, not really considering
Northwestern, status still unknown, but seriously considering
University of Texas - Austin, status unknown, not really considering
Boston University, admitted, will visit next month
Tufts University, status unknown, also visiting next month (if admitted)</p>
<p>And then of course there's Michigan, who as I've said, has admitted me and I'm seriously considering going there.</p>
<p>If you get into all the schools you applied to, you would have a tough decision. Michigan, Northwestern, Tufts and Wisconsin are very different from each other, but all of them are strong in their own way. In terms of Engineering, Michigan is the best of the four, but Northwestern and Wisconsin, tied for second, aren't much weaker. Tufts is a distant fourth. In terms of overall quality, all four are top 30 national universities, with Michigan and Northwestern having a slight edge over Tufts and Wisconsin, but again, it is only marginal. If you are fortunate enough to get into all 4 schools, I recommend you visit them all and make a choice based on fit.</p>
<p>Well, I've visited three of the four you mentioned, and if I am accepted to Tufts, plan on visiting there as well in the coming month. The problem is, I liked all of the schools (Wisconsin, Michigan, NW), but each for different reasons. I could see myself living at any of them, so I was hoping there would be some sort of distinguishing advantage or disadvantage in one or more of the schools with regards to scheduling or major-switching, that would help me decide where to go. Oh well. I'll figure it out sooner or later.</p>
<p>Between the schools I visited, I probably liked Michigan and Wisconsin the best, in all honesty. I know a few people up in Madison who love it, and then I've heard rave reviews about Michigan as well. Campus-wise, I liked Michigan better, but as far as a place to live is concerned, while Ann Arbor was pretty sweet, I must say that overall I'd probably side with Madison.</p>
<p>I've heard some mild scheduling horror stories from my friends at Madison, but at the same time I've heard good things about class variety/flexibility and ease of changing majors.</p>
<p>From your responses however, Michigan seems like a scheduling paradise. Regardless of how easy it would be for an engineering student to switch majors, though, I don't like the idea of having to reapply, particularly if it's "difficult" to switch to some of the departments. But perhaps I'm blowing that out of proportion.</p>
<p>Who knew deciding the next four years of life would be so difficult?</p>
<p>Easy there fella, Michigan is no "scheduling paradise". It isn't scheduling hell either though. Students have to be organized and they must firgure things out on their own. And transfering from Engineering to other colleges within the University (with the exception of Ross) is actually quite easy, so do not worry about it.</p>