<p>I'm a prospective Electrical Engineering major for both U of M and Northwestern. I know Northwestern is ranked around 13th or 14th place whereas U of M is ranked around 6th for EE. My question is: should I choose the better program or the better school? Better school in the sense that Northwestern is more prestigious and smaller, and I'm assuming roughly equivalent in terms of the resources available for Engineering majors. </p>
<p>Any input would be greatly appreciated! </p>
<p>Note: I did ask this question in U of M's thread as well.</p>
<p>First B1G question is are you from MI, which should make a B1G difference in COA.</p>
<p>If you are not from MI, then you just compare the overall fit for you, and of course visit both schools. As you can tell from my posting name, I am completely non-biased, so we’ll see you in Purple soon.</p>
<p>There is really no right answer to this question. First, both are excellent schools, and you won’t go wrong with either. </p>
<p>However, the two schools have very different feels and different atmospheres – again, not a ‘right-wrong’ question, but after visiting both schools it is likely that you’ll have a clear preference.</p>
<p>With two excellent schools, this is probably more important than rankings.</p>
<p>I’m not actually from MI, I live in California. So both would come down to the same price for me. I understand that prestige shouldn’t be a deciding factor, but I’m curious about the opportunities that would be available for Engineering students at both schools. I know Engineering is Michigan’s forte, but I’m not sure about Northwestern.</p>
<p>Northwestern is the better undergraduate engineering school IMHO. McCormick is also very entrepreneurial and NU is at #4 according to a recent WSJ article about the schools with the highest graduates working for companies that are going public (IPO filing) in the early part of 2011.</p>
<p>FYI: here’s the NRC engineering ranking (top-15) by averaging the midpoints of R-rankings for all engineering departments:</p>
<ol>
<li>MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY</li>
<li>UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY</li>
<li>UC BERKELEY/UC SAN FRANCISCO</li>
<li>UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SANTA BARBARA</li>
<li>HARVARD UNIVERSITY*</li>
<li>STANFORD UNIVERSITY 7. NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY</li>
<li>UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR</li>
<li>GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY</li>
<li>PRINCETON UNIVERSITY</li>
<li>UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN</li>
<li>CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY</li>
<li>PURDUE UNIVERSITY MAIN CAMPUS</li>
<li>UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER</li>
<li>UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES</li>
</ol>
<p>Mistasuggs, I am actually in a similar dilemma, but with chemical engineering. I was already accepted to Michigan and I am hoping to get into Northwestern as well, and I was thinking about the same question. Although NU is ranked higher overall, Michigan is ranked higher in engineering. I think at a point, when you get high enough in the rankings, the differences are almost nominal. Both are amazing schools and it comes down to the feel. Personally, I would rather a smaller school where I am not just a number, but according to what I have read, Michigan’s engineering school is smaller and tries to harbor the sense of community that I am looking for (ie. it is even on a separate campus). That being said, it might be a difficult decision and I would absolutely need to visit both schools. They are definitely more similar than they might first appear.</p>
<p>There are sources on the web that rightfully admit and acknowledge that any rank within the top 50’ish is way more “art than science.” Meaning; the differences in degree cred, academic rigor, post graduation marketability (tops on my list) between #1 and #50 are imperceptible! The only real and noticeable difference is the “on campus experience” (we’re not talking $$$ here).</p>
<p>I visited both NU and Mich, twice, with my D. Mich won hands down (she is OOS for both). But keep in mind, this is entirely subjective and only personal preference. To each his/her own.</p>
<p>After having DS in both U Mich and Northwestern and I can tell you that the academics are on par in both schools. UMich has a lot more to offer overall, and the quarter system at Northwestern is a killer, it is always exams, midterms and finals. UMich is Ann Arbor, Evanston has a very bad relationship with the students. Michigan exceeds Northwestern in school spirit and off campus life. Evanston is dead at night, Chicago is not that close. Life will be much better in Evanston. Mich also knows how to make the “big school small”, you won’t feel the size. There are plenty of big lecture halls for the intro classes at Northwestern, it isn’t that small.
So if you say the academics are about the same, then just for quality of life I say UMich.
Never pick a school because of “prestige”.</p>
<ol>
<li>Always pick a law school because of prestige. So never say never. </li>
<li>Different strokes. “Michigan makes a big school feel small.” I say, still a giant school. Big school means socially it’s easy to drown. NU is much homier, smaller community, easy to find a niche. They’re very different schools, and for different people there are different rights answers.</li>
</ol>
<p>I am glad your S feels happier at Michigan. Just curious, was the workload heavier at NU? How many courses per semester is he taking at Michigan?</p>
<p>The 48-course requirement at McCormick is more than other schools. It seems to me there’s room to relax the requirement a little.</p>
<p>“Michigan makes a big school feel small.” I say, still a giant school. Big school means socially it’s easy to drown.</p>
<p>You can drown in a cup of water. We spent the weekend on the Mich campus; rode the bus to north campus (5 minutes!) walked from the Union (Central Campus) to Crisler arena (South Campus) in 10 minutes. Walked from Ross school of biz (awesome, btw!) to North quad in less than 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Bottom line; do not let anyone intimidate or scare you by saying a school is too large… go visit it yourself. I also know for a fact (since the Admissions counselors admitted it), the freshman intro courses at NU are much larger (50++) than the ones at Mich. And the real difference? school spirit and pride - no contest</p>
<p>I genuinely don’t think it’s possible to take some of these thoughts from the Michigan fans seriously when the apparent point they’re implicitly trying to make is that everyone who went to NU would be happier if they had gone to Michigan.</p>