Purdue VS U of Minnesota Twin City

College Search & Selection
1

<p>hey guys, i have been admitted by both of universities. i am pretty interested in chemical engineering, but have not declared the major yet. i am sure that U of Minnesota is strong at chemical engineering, and what really worries me now is i am not confident enough to get in to chemical engineering department in U of Minnesota due to the intensive competition. so maybe i will be forced to major in electric engineering, which U of M is not good at. However, Purdue is well-rounded and will offer me more options in engineering department. here i would like to hear other people' s choice and the evaluation on overall engineering program in U of M. </p>

<p>Is the major rank very import to undergraduate? Dose the difference between No.10 and No.25 really matter when you begin you career.?</p>

<p>by the way, i check the website of U of M and they said i need a GPA of 3.3 to major in chemical engineering, is that difficult to achieve in the first semester?</p>

2

<p>You may want to see if the career centers at each school will tell you what companies come to recruit for each major at each university.</p>

3

<p>"…maybe i will be forced to major in electric engineering, which U of M is not good at."</p>

<p>I don’t think you could say UMinn is not good at EE. It ranks #16 in the NRC rankings, the same as Brown, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie-Mellon and higher than Wisconsin, RPI, JHU, Rice, Washington, Columbia, TAMU, Penn, et al.</p>

4

<p>At least this page <a href=“https://webapps-prd.oit.umn.edu/pcas/viewCatalogProgram.do?programID=24&strm=1123&campus=UMNTC[/url]”>https://webapps-prd.oit.umn.edu/pcas/viewCatalogProgram.do?programID=24&strm=1123&campus=UMNTC&lt;/a&gt; doesn’t mention anything about a 3.3 required gpa to major in ChemE at the University of Minnesota. I’d be kinda surprised actually if they required a 3.3 gpa for non-transfer students to major in ChemE. Not that a 3.3 gpa is impossible to obtain by any mean of the imagination but I’m pretty sure it’s at least somewhat above the average gpa for freshmen in CSE. I think Minnesota’s ChemE program is considered one of the best in the country and Minnesota’s engineering programs are typically considered its best. I don’t think a small difference in rank would really affect engineering because the curriculum is pretty standardized and rigorous everywhere. Another issue to consider is cost as I think OOS Minnesota is much cheaper than OOS Purdue.</p>

5

<p>OOS Tuition for Minnesota is around $18,000 whereas Purdue OOS is $27,646</p>

6

<p>The EE program at Minn is ABET certified [Accredited</a> Programs details](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=48]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=48) which means there shouldn’t be much variation with other ABET programs. The real difference that may exist is with internships. Purdue is known for having national reach on their internship program. I’m not sure if that is true for Minn, though they have access to a larger local metropolitan area.</p>

7

<p>the 3.3 GPA is for transfer students. i did not decide my major when i applied U of M, and is there another requirement for me? lower or higher?</p>

8

<p>what i am trying to say is Engineering Program in U of M is not as reputable as it in Purdue or UIUC. when people talk about Purdue they will think about the entire engineering immediately rather than only one major. Maybe is because the chem eng in U of M is too strong and makes other majors seemingly weak.</p>

9

<p>both are okay for me, but attending U of M will save a lot of money. it is worthy considering.</p>

10

<p>the headquarter of 3M seems to be located in Minneapolis</p>

11

<p>If you are really intrested in chemical engineering, then chose according to that only.</p>

12

<p>UIUC might be worth more $$ than UMinn for some majors. Purdue–not so much.</p>

13

<p>I think when the say the transfer GPA requirement is 3.3, that is for students outside the university not students from CSE although I’m not 100% sure about that. My understanding is that to declare a major in CSE if you’re already in CSE you basically just need to complete the preparatory requirements for the major. You should ask a University of Minnesota admissions officer to be sure though. According to the Times Higher Ed engineering rankings <a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/engineering-and-IT.html[/url]”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/engineering-and-IT.html&lt;/a&gt;, UIUC is 16th globally, Minnesota is 29th, and Purdue is 39th.</p>

14

<p>I did not choose a major when I applied it, so I am not in the engineering college and I should be in LAC. i plan to transfer to engineering college after first semester, and what I really need is a inter-college transfer. Is the GPA requirement still 3.3?</p>

15

<p>UIUC costs too much and I prefer to live in city.</p>

16

<p>If you prefer to live in a large city, than go to U of M. Problem solved.</p>

17

<p>Re transferring into UMN’s CSE program, your best advice is to go to the information sessions offered on intercollege transfers and talk to an adviser as early as possible so that you can take all the necessary courses and find out CSE’s requirements and deadlines.</p>

<p>This is from the “Transfer from within the University” page from UMN’s CSE website, </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>[Transfer</a> from within the University : College of Science & Engineering : University of Minnesota, Twin Cities](<a href=“http://cse.umn.edu/admissions/transferadm/CSE_CONTENT_374935.php]Transfer”>http://cse.umn.edu/admissions/transferadm/CSE_CONTENT_374935.php)</p>

18

<p>You do know Purdue/West Lafayette is no city, right? Might be only B1G town worse than Chambana.</p>