<p>so i’ve been accepted to northwestern, carnegie mellon, and u mich for engineering…which are all good schools so i’ve got a complicated choice and i need help! the u.s. news ratings for engineering go as</p>
<p>but i can’t base this entirely on ratings…because there’s so many other factors to consider…the size of u mich…social scene at the universities, whcih i hear at northwestern is great…i’ve visited the NU campus and i loved it…but haven’t seen the other 2…
the level of academics at each…and minds of peers and things like…and basically what the college experience is like…</p>
<p>the thing is that i’m not 100% sure that i want to do engineering…and might want to swtich, which also has to be taken into consideration…anyways
i need help deciding cuz i gotta choose soon…feel free to comment cuz i really want and am open to all opinions.</p>
<p>If you visited and loved NU, then you should go there. There is no One Perfect School for a person. You have to accept that fact. You may very well have a great college experience at UMich or CMU. But you can't go to 3 schools. You have to make a decision somehow. It's too late to visit CMU and UMich (probably) so you should take "the bird in hand"--the school/experience you know you will enjoy.</p>
<p>CMU and UMich are great, but you have to make a choice. There is no magic formula to determine whether one school is better than another--so unfortunately in this situation your choice isn't going to be black-and-white. The decision you're going to make is going to be arbitrary. You just have to accept that. You don't have perfect information, you can't make a perfect comparison, and you just have to make a decision and stick with it. So, in this case, I'd recommend sticking with NU, because your opinion of it is solidly positive. Be happy with your choice and don't look back.</p>
<p>I do think it is clear from your post that you don't want to go to UMich. The rankings are the most black-and-white, objective comparison tool out there, but you don't seem comfortable with what they are telling you. UMich is ranked the highest, but you didn't immediately go for UMich. You felt the need to mention social scene and size of school as negatives against UMich, the top-ranked school. If you aren't content with following the ranking, don't follow it. I think your choice now is between CMU and NU. Again, I'd pick NU if I couldn't visit CMU.</p>
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The rankings are the most black-and-white, objective comparison tool out there, but you don't seem comfortable with what they are telling you.
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<p>In fact, rankings, especially the very bad US News & WR ranking, are not objective at all. A large percentage of the ranking score is actually based on a subjective, voluntary survey of university deans and professional recruiters. Speciality rankings in particular, e.g. in engineering, are in fact 100 % based on a voluntary survey of department heads. </p>
<p>There is of course a difference, not least in prestige, between a school that is ranked # 1 and another that is ranked # 100. However, being # 5 in a ranking like USN&WR's is in fact no different than being # 8 or even # 12. Basing your decision on that largely arbitrary list is foolish IMHO.</p>
<p>You really need to visit somewhere before you commit. I visited CMU and loved it and loved the city as well. In a way, I think it is a bit smiliar to NWU (been there too) but you really need to go visit and tour in April before making your decision. CMU and Pittsburgh strike me as places that you either really like or really don't. </p>
<p>I would also consider weather (probably smiliar) and cost. (probably similar as well unless you got scholarship money).</p>
<p>well i'm in no position to go visit any of the schools because i live in indonesia..so that is not an option.
you said you visited both CMU and NU...what did you like about CMU? what appealed to you?
ahh i have to make a decision soon</p>
<p>I visited NU and CMU, both for sleeping back weekend type things. NU is more of a partying campus and has a less diverse student body. When I visited, I just didn't like the vibe, but part of it may have been that my host ditched me (she had to see some movie for a class and do group projects...) with her roommate's boyfriend who spent the whole evening playing Halo. CMU is geekier, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm pretty sure I saw girls at NU sunbathing in bikinis because it was 70 degrees out- don't think you'll ever see that at CMU. CMU's just.. quirkier. We have a bigger pole than NU!</p>
<p>UMICH - great college town, very lively student body, active career services (good placement)
CMU- If it is Computer Science, the student body is superb. The rest, is very average.
Northwestern - Good campus, intelligent students across the board, scope for internship and final placements is very good.</p>
<p>In my opinion, if your Choice is Computer Science - go to CMU. Otherwise, it is a close call between Northwestern and UMICH. Many international students prefer UMICH, simply because of the vibrant student body and the campus life. </p>
<p>Why don't you check with some of the seniors from your school, who are currently doing engineering in these universities?</p>
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CMU- If it is Computer Science, the student body is superb. The rest, is very average.
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<p>Tepper and ECE students are supposed to be top notch as well. The drama and a few other fine arts (e.g. architecture) programs are also very selective, but the emphasis there is not so much on academic performance, but rather on auditions/portfolio, i.e. CFA students are also top notch, but in a different way (I mean, in artistic talent, as opposed to having high SAT scores or things like that). </p>
<p>In any case, for engineering in particular, I doubt the average CMU and Northwestern students are significantly different in terms of academic quality. After all, Northwestern is not Harvard, Princeton, Caltech or MIT, where the real overachievers tend to go.</p>
<p>Yeah Rintu, I am probably going to CMU for ECE and I visited some of the classes and realized that there are maybe 60-70 ECE majors while there are over a 130 computer science majors making the ECE much more concentrated than computer science.
To say that the kids at CMU are average is stretching it a little because CMU is so selective that the kind of kids they accept end up going to MIT, Caltech, stanford, etc.</p>
<p>Umich and CMU are reknowned for their engineering so I'd choose between those two. Personally I like the private setting that CMU provides that is kind of high-uppish while being close to the city and other many colleges. However it is definitely true Umich has a more "fun" student body in terms of partying and school sports. </p>
<p>Of course it depends on the individual but seeing the predicament you're in, I'll try to offer some help. I can only speak about CMU so from what I've seen, CMU is great for a private specialized setting with caring professors (the Engineering department is amazing and gives a great experience that combines learning and hands on experience). You'll be more than prepared for job fairs and getting out there in the real world and the reputation of CMU engineering/business surprises many a student. It is truly a spectacular journey from beginning to end, IMO. I'd talk to some real students from both schools and let them tell you their own experiences. </p>
<p>PS: As for rankings, look at the post-graduate surveys instead. CMU has a great job reputation out there for Engineering/Tepper/SCS/ECE/etc. and these majors are usually at the top of the salary markets for postgrad ugrad students so don't fret about the rankings. Plenty of kids choose Cornell instead of Purdue and I think last time I checked Cornell was #10 and Purdue was #8? Or maybe last year it was like that...you get my point.</p>
<p>Is ranking really important? I am also interested in engineering and have to decide either NWU or CMU. I already visited both schools and it made me much harder to make decision. I want to hear how these two schools compare with each other with regards to prestige, education, reputation, academics, social life, location, job opportunities etc, which one is the best overall?</p>
<p>Ranking is not THAT important, sometimes #3 and #7 are basically the same, sometimes a random school like Purdue is put ahead of a school like Cornell for engineering. That stuff just happens but rankings do mean something.</p>
<p>Honestly, Northwestern does not have that great of a reputation or postgrad success as Carnegie Mellon does in the field of engineering. This is my personal experience of course and a lot of others would agree but of course on CC.com everyone is very cautious about generalizing or saying anything too forward. </p>
<p>I'd give the nod to Northwestern for social life and Carnegie Mellon the rest for everything else including location and definitely job opps (#1 school for job opps from multiple sources both direct and implied). I like the location because it is both a green-campus traditional spot up on Squirrel Hill but also you have a nice little city just a few minutes walk away along with other great colleges around, such as Upitt. In fact, Pittsburgh is the nation's 2nd largest college city after Boston. This also helps with the social life a bit as many frat/house parties and clubs in the city have students from all colleges, most not from CMU.</p>
<p>Just so you know, NU is actually better than CMU in quite a few engineering specialties: biomedical, civil, industrial engineering/management sciences, and material sciences. NU is relatively weak in CS/ECE, the areas that CMU is the strongest. Engineering is much more than just CS/ECE; so don't let that cloud your comparison. </p>
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Carnegie Mellon the rest for everything else including location and definitely job opps (#1 school for job opps from multiple sources both direct and implied)....Pittsburgh is the nation's 2nd largest college city after Boston
<p>CMU is nowhere to be found on the list while Northwestern is the core school for 4 of the 6 firms. Also Pittsburgh may be the 2nd largest college town, but most people would agree Chicago is a much bigger and a more vibrant, if not better, city.</p>
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the reputation of CMU engineering/business surprises many a student
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<p>CMU business is no Wharton, Ross, Stern, or even Hass. A degree from top ranked econ program like HYPSM, Chicago, and Northwestern is likely more marketble. CMU does look a lot better in the "undergrad busines ranking" when most elite schools don't have undergrad b-school and aren't included in the ranking (in graduate ranking--the <em>real</em> business ranking, CMU is #17).</p>
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the thing is that i'm not 100% sure that i want to do engineering..and might want to swtich, which also has to be taken into consideration
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<p>NU allows great flexibility for people who want to switch majors or schools (between art & sci, engineering, and education/social policy school). It's also very easy to double-major even if they are in two different schools. I can't speak for CMU in terms of this. NU to me, is also more balanced in academics--stronger in humanities, social sciences, and even sciences (in partciuar, NU has a top-10 chem dept).</p>
<p>Anyway, my point is that CMU's business school isn't what some of you made it out to be. That fact that it's not listed as one of the core schools for any of the top-6 consulting firms confirms this.</p>
<p>"That fact that it's not listed as one of the core schools for any of the top 6 consulting firms cnfirms this. "</p>
<p>Confirms what? Perhaps CMU grads simply don't go into consulting in high numbers, they have other interests. </p>
<p>"Pittsburgh may be the second largest college town, but most people would agree Chicago is a much bigger and more vibrant, if not better, town". Again I don't get the logic,which was supposed to be that Pittsburgh, having a high proportion of college students, is thus a good college town. By your thinking going to school in Boston isn't as good as philadelphia (because PHilly's bigger), which can not be as good as school in (bigger still) New York!</p>
<p>Do you have undergrad rankings for engineering. I was under the assumption CMU is stronger overall than NU engineering. Which is what the OP was asking. The first 2 women introduced at my son's CMU IS graduation were headed to McKinsey. Nearly everone else was headed to a top NYC banks (like my S to Goldman and his computational finance roommate to Lehman), so what if Vault doesnt list CMU as a target...plenty of other places do.</p>
<p>Answer to your first question: confirm that it's no Michigan/Berkeley/Wharton. Doesn't mean it's no good however. </p>
<p>As for Chicago vs Pitts, hey, you don't need to be so defensive. The CMU fans would want to sell Pitts as some great "college town". I was saying Chicago is a more vibrant city. I didn't say Chicago "is better for the OP". It's up to him or her to decide.</p>
<p>As for engineering, what I was saying is while CMU is definitely stronger in CS/ECE, NU is better in some other engineering disciplines. The OP didn't specify what his/her field was. I was just giving extra info. Maybe he/she likes BME? You just dont 'know. By saying CMU is better for the OP because of his/her "engineering" interest is like assuming the OP is gonna major in CS/ECE. Actually, the OP did say he/she may switch. </p>
<p>"nearly everyone else was headed to top NYC banks"? Really? Just how exactly did you know where "everyone" was going. By the way, the smartest kids (IS/computational finance majors) at CMU are hardly the representative of the whole student body. What about those non IS/CS crowds? What about those in history or chemistry departments?</p>