<p>I'm coming to UMich as a grad student this fall and I wanted to know what the job scenario is like... I've heard from a few people that local companies aren't really hiring and that might be a problem unless you're in the top 10% of your class... How true is this?</p>
<p>I haven't declined offers of admission from a few other universities (CMU, Cornell & Columbia) yet, so I'd really like to know if this should be a factor influencing my decision. All other factors considered, I want to go to UMich.</p>
<p>What would you say?</p>
<p>no offence but you should definetly go to columbia or cornell if you want garenteed job. duno what u studying but man its columbia haha</p>
<p>^^^No offense but you really should learn how to spell and type in English before you give biased and incorrect information. Michigan is world class institution. It’s reputation and graduate programs are stellar. Recruiters come to Ann Arbor from all over the country seeking talented graduates.</p>
<p>“I’m coming to UMich as a grad student this fall and I wanted to know what the job scenario is like… I’ve heard from a few people that local companies aren’t really hiring and that might be a problem unless you’re in the top 10% of your class… How true is this?”</p>
<p>Someone told you very inaccurate advice. There are many out-of-state/international graduate students at Michigan (my program alone is 55% out-of-state) because the university’s academic reputation is excellent. My classmates have received domestic or international job offers. The university is also large enough that there will always be departments hiring students. The state’s economic recession will not prohibit you from finding a campus or off-campus job.</p>
<p>Well thanks a lot…that’s reassuring. Are things better now than they were before?</p>
<p>Yes the state is still in the hole. I think Columbia is one of the best schools for a graduate student.</p>
<p>honestly? yes, it’ll be years before michigan starts to recover fully</p>
<p>The department you applied to should have statistics on past job placement, including employers.</p>
<p>Well, my program is electrical engineering…and going by the rankings and even otherwise I think UM is quite a bit better than Columbia for it…hence the dilemma…</p>
<p>I would definitely choose Michigan over Columbia if your passion is engineering. Columbia isn’t even among the top ten in your field. Grad students should attend the best programs (and best fit) in their field. Do not settle for less.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s what I was thinking too. Thanks :)</p>
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<p>Why do you care about this? As a graduate student in engineering, you aren’t exactly limited to local jobs.</p>
<p>Well if that’s so, then its great…It’s just that I don’t know too much about what its like after you graduate and someone kind of misled me I’m guessing…so I was getting a little paranoid.</p>
<p>tetrahedr0n is right: graduate students are not limited to local jobs. My #4 post illustrates that point.</p>
<p>MI is still in a recession but the whole state is not Detroit. In other words … the dismal picture the news paints of Michigan is mainly because of the extreme job losses in the Detroit area. The other parts of Michigan are much more similar to the nation as a whole in terms of recovery.</p>