<p>We are in the fortunate position to have 2 great choices. Our kid received the Singer from UM and the Banneker Key (full COA) from Maryland-CP. We are from the midwest so the distance is about the same. Maryland does have a more cohesive honors group but Miami has the Foote Fellows so those are big pluses. Of course, the size of the schools are different but since there are living learning communities at Maryland, it brings it down to a manageable size. Thoughts???</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the Banneker Key scholarship but the Foote Fellow at UMiami enables your daughter to skip the gen ed. courses and assuming she has AP credits to apply then she can enter as a soph. on paper. This in turn would enable her to double major. I know the engineering field well and I think it is important to augment the basic degree with another focus area if she would start to look for jobs out of a BS Eng. degree. (chem, Bio, policy, math etc). The Foote Fellowship enables a student to double major quite easily and that is a big plus in my book.
Have you spoken to the Deans of both Eng. departments she is looking at. Internships are an important differentiator too. Lastly, I know you probably heard this @ the Singer w/e but the cultural diversity at UM is significantly above other schools like U. Mary. and is an important soft benefit when comparing to similar opportunities.</p>
<p>Good luck in the decision!</p>
<p>We met with the chairman of the BME dept on our last visit to Miami (last month) and we were really impressed. There are a lot of research opportunities there. DS also got into College Park Scholars at Maryland, where we were very impressed with the engineering (and nearby opportunities). While College Park Scholars makes Maryland “smaller,” he greatly prefers Miami for the size and the environment. He is now deciding between Miami and Lehigh. I am confident that either way, DS will have great opportunities.</p>
<p>i agree with the above poster to talk with the chair of the department.</p>
<p>The Banneker Key scholarship would cover tuition, room and board plus a book stipend for 4 years. Interdisciplinary is definitely possible there and from our visit (and looking at the statistics) there is more diversity in Maryland but that will always be the case at a state’s institution. Our kid is in Honors and as a Banneker Key Scholar, there is more of a community. We wish that the Singer or Honors community at Miami was more connected.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that Miami’s Foote Fellows is a huge plus and the weather cannot be beat. The opportunity for internships for both school is comparable with Maryland’s engineering program to be more well known.</p>
<p>It looks like you have already made up your mind. All the best to your child :)</p>
<p>We haven’t made up our mind at all… We have a child at the U who will be a junior (not in engineering) so we know a lot about Miami and our kids would love to be together (it would be wonderful for us parents also!!)…</p>
<p>Having 2 at the U this year, I can say that it is a wonderful experience for them and for us, as parents! Congrats to your child for such wonderful honors and choices! Many years ago, we had our DS make a pro/con chart when he was in between schools and seeing it in writing really made his decision quite easy. Either school will be a great foundation for a successful future. Both programs are fabulous. So, other components like money, weather, travel, size, community have to come into the decision process. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Hi guys! I was redirected to this thread. This was my concern:
“Can anyone comment on UM’s future regarding its engineering department? I’m considering UM, University of Rochester, and North Carolina State University for electrical engineering. I know the latter two are better known for their engineering… Are there any recent significant improvement towards UM’s?”
I’d greatly appreciate any input. Thanks. :)</p>
<p>spidermc25: We were really impressed when we visited the College of Engineering last month. But we didn’t ask about electrical as my DS is interested in BME. In general, they called engineering at UM a “hidden gem” (yes, they were trying to sell us), but I was really impressed with all the research institutes they have. I would recommend that you contact the CoE - Vivian (or Victoria?) is the secretary there and was really helpful in connecting us with the people we needed to meet with during our visit to get our questions answered about BME. if you want her email address, PM me. It’s on my other computer so I can send it to you tomorrow.</p>
<p>We spoke with the former Dean of Engineering for two hours. He was very direct. He said: Engineering books are the same everywhere (btw he holds 4 Masters Degrees so he could answer any question about any type if Engineering). Differences: class size, research money, if you want the teacher to get to know you or not (he said some kids want to have the freedom to come and go to classes as they please, and location. Miami had small classes, has good research but it is not meant for people that see themselves in academia life, the teacher will get to know you well, and regarding location,. Miami is a great location to find work in the US and all over Latin America. My son go into Northeastern so he asked about their co-op x Miami program. He told him that Miami will place him in a paying internship because they believe that every Engineer should experience a real job before graduation. Both of his daughters are Engineers. One went to Miami and the other went to Michigan. After two years the Michigan one said that she was tired of being a number and transferred to Miami.</p>
<p>LINYMOM: Thank you! I’d really appreciate that.</p>
<p>wegotin: I do agree that the things that you said hold true. I think I’m starting to let go of NC State to focus the debate between UM and UR, mainly because of class sizes. From what I know now, Rochester has made a lot of improvements shown by the rising of its rankings for undergrad engineering. Whereas for Miami, I’m not sure if they are moving at the same momentum as the former in regards to engineering. Does anyone know how much money is being put into engineering at Miami and Rochester, respectively? Thanks.</p>
<p>If any current UM engineering students can comment, please do. :)</p>
<p>I majored in engineering at UM for 2 years and was really disappointed with my experience. I didn’t feel as if the professors were good teachers and I hated all my courses. I felt as if UM didnt really care about thr engineering school. Even after I switched majors my friend who did electrical engineering would tell me during his junior year that he doesn’t know what’s going on in half his engineering classes. However that same friend has a job waiting for him at Motorola right after he graduates next month. If I were to do it all over again I wouldn’t have gone to UM for engineering but instead for another major.</p>
<p>Driver23D:</p>
<p>How long ago was that? What was your engineering major and where do you go to school now? I hear that UM’s really working to improve its engineering school nowadays though. I’m going into electrical engineering and as of right now, my top choice is NC State, followed by Rochester then Miami. Been doing nonstop researching! Thanks for your input. :)</p>
<p>What major would you have gone to know that more experience? Do you think part of your bad experience might be the fact that it might have been the wrong major for you?</p>