Hi all. I have read many forums on College Confidential, but I haven’t found one that corresponds to my predicament. That being said, I’ve decided to post my own, so any help is greatly appreciated. Recently, I found out that I was accepted to Notre Dame, Michigan, and Georgia Tech. I plan to major in mechanical engineering. Also, while in college, I plan to participate in Air Force ROTC and have a 4 year, full ride scholarship that can be applied at any of these institutions, so cost is not an issue. Initially, I know I want to serve my country as an officer in the military, but in the future I may want to attend grad school (specifically business school and pursue an MBA). Would any of these colleges provide an edge in MBA acceptance later in life? Also, since I have a guaranteed job upon graduation within the military, does it matter that Notre Dame’s engineering school seems to be substantially worse than both Tech and Michigan’s? I have visited all the campuses once and I really enjoyed both Tech and Notre Dame, and I am unsure about Michigan. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I think Michigan is more similar to GT in terms of their engineering program. ND has a much different approach to engineering and the university as a whole has totally different requirements - 2 semester of theology, 2 semesters of philosophy, and a strong focus on mission. GT and Michigan seem much more career readiness focused. Michigan’s engineering facilities are amazing and Ann Arbor is awesome. If you haven’t visited Michigan, try to get there before you need to make a decision.
Personally if I had to rate these schools for your major I would say Michigan first, then GT, and then ND.
Congrats on being accepted to some fabulous schools. You really can’t go wrong.
First of all, congratulations! I was going to go ROTC myself and ended up not doing it but I respect your choice. Now, for the reason I’m replying. We have a son at a state engineering college known for their engineering and one at university of notre dame majoring in engineering. I have come to believe over the years (I am an engineer) that the larger universities are the better choices for engineering because they have the money to get the best lab equipment, you will want the best in mechanical engineering (in my opinion). Also, keep in mind that engineering is ABET accredited so often the curriculum is very similar regardless of college. I vote for either Michigan or GT over ND. ND doesn’t make enough investment in their engineering programs. I really think that you will get into an MBA program regardless of undergrad college choice. You should have leadership experience that will help. Good luck!
Different schools’ ABET accredited engineering majors have similar learning outcome goals, but the curricula may be organized differently based on the schools’ educational philosophies. For example, some schools have students start with math and natural science in frosh/soph years, then engineering science in junior year, then engineering design in senior year (which is the logical progression based on prerequisites), but other schools introduce some design work earlier in order to ensure that students have a taste of engineering design earlier to confirm their interest and keep them interested.
Both GT and Michigan are top 10 mechanical engineering programs undergrad and graduate.
Undergrad enrollment, STEM%, Female%:
ND 9k 23% 47%
GT 15k 80% 40%
UM 30k 33% 50%
You said you visited the campuses did you visit when school was in session?
Yes. I visited when school was in session. I was expecting the M/F ration to be terrible at GT, but I was actually pleasantly surprised as I was walking around campus. It looked to be almost 50/50. Also, I feel like I should add that I really like the dorm/ community atmosphere that Notre Dame has as the dorms essentially function as the greek life on Campus. I know that both GT and Michigan are superior in terms of their engineering rankings, but for me, the question is whether or not the difference in rankings would have any effect on job/ grad schools opportunities available to me after my military career.
If I could add another comment regarding undergraduate college choice for you to think about. You are choosing a challenging major and adding on ROTC which will require a lot of time so maybe what could be most important is which college do you believe will help you succeed in all of the work you have in front of you? At ND ROTC students are split between dorms from what I understand. I do not know about Michigan and GT but I know also that Texas A&M puts their ROTC in the same dorms. This way the ROTC students can support each other in their work. Texas A&M has a large ROTC group and many of their ROTC students are in engineering and they put them together for dorms and dining. Maybe they know how challenging it is and so maybe a college that places ROTC students together and provides dorms/tutors/etc. would really help? I don’t know if GT or Michigan house them together or not. NDs dorms do function like greek life. Our son loves his dorm so ND really delivers on that. At least you have 3 great choices in front of you.
Three great schools, no wrong choice.
I would look at the average GPAs for your major at each school and consider your requirements for maintaining your ROTC scholarship. What is the minimum GPA you must maintain? What is the lowest grade you can get in a class? Some of the high level physics, applied math, etc classes are crazy hard, and success in an AP class in high school may not be a predictor of success there. Are there ‘weed out’ classes at any of those schools? You do not need to be weeded out of your scholarship.
I only need a 2.5 GPA to keep the scholarship, and while I understand these schools are extremely rigorous, I can not foresee myself dropping my GPA that low. Additionally, all of these ROTC programs have tutoring built in as an option to ensure that students are able to maintain their scholarships. I really like Notre Dame, my only concern is its significantly weaker engineering program compared to Michigan ad Georgia Tech. But since I have a commitment to the military immediately after college, does the weaker engineering program even matter?
Sometimes the best school for your major isn’t always the best school for you, overall. No point going somewhere you’ll spend 4 years wishing you were somewhere else imo, especially given financing it isn’t a problem and you know what you’ll be doing after graduation. You want to go to ND, go.
And sometimes students switch majors. If this happens, where do you want to be ?
“does the weaker engineering program even matter?”
No it doesn’t.
I think ND is a great school with an amazing alumni base. With all three I bet they all heavily work with future employers and have great internship opportunities. I see it at Michigan State with my kid in the engineering program.
Frankly, I think UM and ND admit much more interesting students.
If you look at the stats for GT, apparently all they seem to care about is the number of APs a student can take while maintaining a 4.3+ GPA and getting 1580+ or 35/36.
I think UM and ND look deeper and I think there is benefit to having broader range of interests on campus. I see you like ND and I think you may be more balanced there, plus ND has awesome alumni network and school spirit.
It’s obvious you want Notre Dame. Get your butt in there. Go Irish!
“I know that both GT and Michigan are superior in terms of their engineering rankings, but for me, the question is whether or not the difference in rankings would have any effect on job/ grad schools opportunities available to me after my military career.”
It would not, I also got a BS in engineering (computer) and then a MBA after working. Your acceptance into b-schools will be based primarily on your work experience, background, GMAT, GPA. Your armed forces will be valuable for sure (outside of serving your country of course). And it’s not like ND has a bad engineering program, in fact it’s possible that the overall ranking of ND could help you a little. As others have said, if you felt the best fit at ND, that’s where you should go. Good luck!
I definitely liked the campus the best at Notre Dame, and the dorm situation made me feel a very strong sense of community there. However, I did take a tour of the Michigan engineering facilities, and I was extremely impressed with all of the resources/ research opportunities available. I haven’t had the opportunity to do this at Georgia Tech yet, but I imagine it would be quite similar. I can’t help but think that Notre Dame’s facilities wouldn’t be quite on the same level as Michigan’s. Is this an accurate assumption? Also, people seem to love Ann Arbor, and South Bend is not the greatest of college towns. How much does the area surrounding the college affect the overall college experience?
Notre Dame has an amazing alumni network. Daughter is a sophomore majoring in civil engineering. Just got a civil engineering internship for the summer beating out many juniors just because of the networking at ND. If you like ND you can’t go wrong. It’s a great school. Daughter will most likely add on a 5th year and get her MBA.
Private schools will allow D’s in classes, state colleges typically won’t. If you have to re-take a class it means throwing you off the engineering path and engineering students must stay on the course outlined (lots of pre-reqs!). ND allows Ds. Not that you would ever get one but just pointing out that private colleges can be more forgiving shall we say! I think many people have made some great comments but ultimately you have to prioritize what matters most to you - grades, bonding with fellow ROTCers, sports, greek life, college town, staying on 4 year, study abroad…many choices but think about what you really want and the rank the colleges for your impression of the things that matter the most to you and then select. You sound as if you are a very dedicated student and will do well so select for what matters the most to you over the next 4 years and will help you be successful in graduating with an engineering degree and staying in ROTC. You will have the best chance of success in both of those things if you are happy. I currently have two children at very different colleges majoring in engineering and when you are sitting in yet another lecture on thermodynamics, python or differential equations, you will want to know that you are happy where you are at. By the way, ND has an amazing trip to NY for civil and environmental engineers their junior year. Not sure what they have for MEs.