DS has been accepted to both for engineering, still trying to decide which branch of engineering he wants, possibly electrical or even computer. Penn State is considerably closer to us in the East and we haven’t yet visited MU. PSU is much better known here, but that may be due to proximity vs actual quality of programs. Looking for pros/cons, and how they stack up, thanks.
@acme - I don’t know much about Penn State, other than that it is a very good (and very large) engineering school. My son is a freshman at MU studying mechanical engineering with possibly a dual major in BioEngineering. He turned down several larger engineering schools including home-state Arizona and Arizona State in favor of Miami. He really liked the smaller school feel at Miami and the focus on undergraduate education (no PhD programs). So far, he is very happy at Miami. His professors have all been good and it has been easy to meet with his advisor (unlike my older son who is an engineering major at Texas A&M, who can’t get even get an appointment).
A few stats, my son had a 3.55/4.0 GPA from the number-two high school in the U.S. He had a scored a 33 on his only ACT sitting (36 Science, 35 Math). He passed 13 AP exams with an average score or 4.54. His extracurriculars were pretty good, but not great.
My son was accepted into Miami Honors, but I don’t see that as important as at the larger public universities. Miami is already strongly focused on undergraduate education and all students are part of a living-learning community.
You will see it on your visit: Miami’s campus is one of the nicest we visited and Oxford is a very nice, little college town. Oxford is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but so is State College.
@beaudreau, thank you for this assessment of MU and how it approaches undergrad engineering education. We are slated to go out for a visit in March and have heard a lot about how lovely the campus is.
@acme. I think you will like the engineering facilities. They are very nice for a smaller school. Also, I didn’t mention co-ops, internships, and ultimate employment. The bigger schools like Penn State will have many more recruiters on campus and their employment networks are much larger. However, Miami has had great success placing their engineering graduates, 97.6% overall have jobs or are in grad school in six months and 100% of engineering graduates are placed. http://miamioh.edu/student-life/career-services/parents/index.html
They had my son create a LinkedIn page during his first three weeks of school. Miami also offers five-year engineering Masters degrees.
Send me a message after your visit if you wish.
@Beaudreau Can you comment on the Men in Engineering LLC? Is it recommended or common for engineering students to choose this? Thanks!
@OhioIllinois - My son is in the Honors dorm, so I don’t know anything. I don’t think Honors is a big deal at Miami.
Hi - does anyone know what the approximate number of engineering students is at Miami? Difficult to find this number on the website.
@bluejay89 - In 2015, there were 1899 engineering students. http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/6868/screen/20?school_name=Miami+University