I recently got accepted to all of these colleges. I am torn between these schools :-? . For me, I really like the urban atmosphere at Minnesota plus it is the cheaper one. However, I feel that Purdue, Texas A&M, and UWM have a stronger reputation for science and engineering. Rose Hulman also seems interesting because it is the smallest one out of the bunch. I assume that they give a lot of attention to undergraduate students. I am planning to major in computer science/engineering and am out of state for all of them.
I’d go with Minnesota if you want a big city, Madison if you want the best college town in the US, rose hulman if you want small+attention from professors.
Do not look for a small school meaning a better scholastic experience. Look at the relative strengths in the fields that most interest you. You will not be coddled at the large U’s but you do not need to be. You get to know people in your major and can develop relationships. Remember that the TA’s will be among the best PhD candidates- perhaps better than the full professors at a small school.
Look at the academics. Look at the required and available courses of interest to you at each school. The material covered in a course can vary widely. Figure out if the possible courses are available at each school. It can happen that a small school lacks the variety. Also- if in an Honors program you may be eligible for some grad level courses as an undergrad.
Your choices include some very different campus atmospheres. Do NOT assume Rose Hulman will be better because it is smaller. Do realize that large campuses are made of many smaller units of influence. Consider climate. There are many Minnesota and Wisconsin students who choose each other’s flagship for varying reasons. Of those two figure out which campus atmosphere you prefer. Remember most of your off class hours are likely to be spent on/near campus- the rest of the city does not matter. Ignore the size of the city, pay attention to life for students in the immediate campus area. Figure out if the campus layout suits you- walking across the Mississippi to get from one part of campus to the other and other factors.
Does R-H have the breadth of engineering majors that some of these large research universities have?
I asked a faculty member of CSE (U of MN) how many TA’s teach the undergrads and he said: “None”. It’s the most prestigious college at the U and they give a lot of attention to the students. Still, it’s a large university and CSE accepts 1,000 freshman per year. Also, some engineering majors are relatively harder to be accepted to than others, which might not be an issue at a private school such as R-H.
It just depends on your preferences… Size, location, atmosphere, etc. are all different at these schools so it depends on what you want. If you do not mind the size, I would personally pick Texas A and M. But for me personally that would be way too big.
Wrt #4: TA’s don’t ‘teach’, they ’ lead labs and sections.’ Semantics. In this case, used to obfuscate parents.
Basically students all sit in a huge Hall and the professor speaks, sometimes uses clickers to know who’s following and who’s lost but sometimes not. The professor doesn’t really know who’s there and who’s not, except for the kids who sit in the front rows right in front of the podium. (Attendance may be taken by the machine at the entrance to the hall. ) students ’ primary contact to an instructor will be through office hours and trough the ta. Sometimes the table rather than the professor handles office hours, it depends on the class and the University. The TA typically is the person who knows the students best. Because in engineering lots of graduate students come from Asia, check English language requirements for ta -ship (a TOEFL 90+ is good).
Being a “best” Ph.D. candidate and even having a Ph.D. do not necessarily translate into great instruction. 1) teaching is an art in and of itself; 2) Ph.D.s are often smart but in many cases (not all by any measure) don’t have social / emphathy / patience skills and don’t really want to teach as much as they have to teach to move forward in their Ph.D. program; 3) as @MYOS1634 points out, their English may be perfect but it may be really bad, too. Even if you score well on a TOEFL, you may not speak clearly (as I experienced at an Ivy with a TA).
Rose-H is known for really nurturing its students. It’s worth going to check it out. They have open door policy on freshman hallways to create more of a community; they ask each student to look to their right and to their left and to make sure that those people are graduating with them–rather than weed people out.
Definitely check to see whether RH is affordable for you and if they have the academics you seek, also be sure that you like the Frat scene that they offer and you are okay with the small community it’s in, but in terms of nurturing you through to a fine level of craft, RH would be my choice. Profs there are on board to TEACH as well as to do research. Great research schools the profs often treat teaching as the thing they have to get out of the way in order to get back to what they really love, which is research. Again, not everyone is like this, but the tendency is there. Knowing this, do your research well.
Nothing wrong with a large lecture- discussions are for clarification et al. I would hate it if a student interrupted a lecture with questions and wasted my time with stuff I got and s/he didn’t. Somehow I can’t see needing “nurturing” at the college level- I’m used to independent students.
^ I think it’s a clear distinction of culture between a research university and an undergraduate- focused institution, and it fits different learning styles. Where some see 'waste my time with an interruption ', others would see 'an opportunity to revisit the problem from another angle '. If your school uses the flipped classroom model, you have yet another perspective on teaxhing/learning.