Do internationals fit into the Michigan community? I am from Singapore by the way :)
How easy/tough is it to get into UROP/RISE and all the research programmes where you can do your own research work with help from the faculty?
How are the class sizes like? I am looking at majoring in Mechanical Engineering and am afraid that the class sizes would be too huge (220) for interaction with faculty. Are there any specific programmes which provides us with the opportunity as a select group of individuals to pursue our education in smaller classes? (e.g. residential/ scholar programmes)
Do faculty teach most of the lectures? Or do the TAs normally teach them?
I understand that the statistics for the entire UM may be a little skewed due to the vast number of students and programs being offered so can anyone tell me more about the statistics for the College of Engineering? I know its really tough to get in and the education there is incredible! But it is not really known to the public as most rankings take into account the numbers for the entire university.
Will we get a chance to work on inter-disciplinary projects with undergrads from Ross and Penny W. Stamps?
Is there an honors program which we have to fulfil in the COE?
How easy/tough is it for a Umich grad to pursue master programmes in Umich as well as around the country?
Thanks a lot in advance! Hope to hear from this friendly community about the world-class education at UM!
As a rule of thumb, Michigan is considered one of the top 20 universities in the world, and one of the top 15 universities in the US. That extends to all departments, colleges and facets of the university, including departmental rankings, size of endowment, alumni professional success, alumni graduate school placement etc…Michigan’s closest peers are Berkeley, Cornell, Northwestern and Penn.
Anyway, below are some specific answers to your questions.
Michigan is a great place for international students. There are over 6,000 international students, 2,000 of which are undergraduate. Ann Arbor is also very welcoming of international students. I was an international student myself, and I felt right at home at Michigan.
Most students who request an UROP will get it. There are other venues to secure research opportunities as well. Undergrads usually have little trouble getting research experience.
Where did you get the 220 figure from? At any rate, Engineering classes at Michigan range from large to medium. You will not have huge classes (with 500+ students) or tiny classes (with fewer than 10 students). Most research universities will have similar class sizes for Engineering students.
Michigan is a research university. As such, you will have a large graduate student population, and naturally, many of them will be teaching. You will have a mix of TAs and Professors teach undergraduate students, but the majority of intermediate and advanced classes will be taught by faculty. From questions 3 and 4 I can surmise that you would not be happy at a school like MIT, CMU, cornell, Michigan, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia Tech, UIUC etc...Did you apply to colleges like Harvey Mudd and Rose Hulman? Even quasi LACs like Rice and RPI may be a better fit for you. Those colleges offer far more personal attention from faculty.
I am not sure what you mean. Michigan is usually ranked among the top 15 universities in the United States, from an academic reputation and prestige point of view. I cannot think of a single academic reputation rating of universities that does not place Michigan in the top 15. Obviously, Michigan is not as known as MIT or Stanford, but it is usually considered a mere notch below. As for CoE specific statistics, here's a link, but it is 2 years old. Things have changed A LOT since then. For example, in 2013, the CoE received 11,000. This year, it is estimated that the CoE received over 18,000 applications. Regardless of that figure, only 3,000 will be admitted.
There will be plenty of interdisciplinary opportunities, but you must seek them out, and they will be competitive.
Michigan has a tiny honors program in the school of LSA. The CoE has not honors programs. Usually, top universities will not have honors programs.
A degree from Michigan will open any door you may wish, both in terms of professional placement and in terms of graduate school placement. Very few (like a handful at best) will offer you better opportunities. However, in order to benefit from those opportunities, one must maintain a high GPA.
2 and 6. So from what I hear, it is relatively easy to do R&D in your own specialization but to work on interdepartmental collaborations it is rather competitive?
I got the 220 figure from the number of undergrads in Mechanical Engineering who enrolled last year.
So what would the approximate number of people attending each lesson? Is it largely lecture (in auditoriums) or tutorial (in classrooms) based?
Yeah I understand that. Indeed I prefer an education with far more attention by faculty but I do know that there are many other aspects such as top-notch faculty, world-class facilities, good school spirit, prestige, top entrepreneurship programmes, alumni connection, VC connections which will give me an edge as an engineer and entrepreneur. Hence I wish to look for a balance and I think UM offers me a lot other than the part about class size. Hence, I am looking towards specialised programmes which offers pair ups with teams or professors to gain a world-class, selective education.
Does this mean that to graduate with distinction its entirely based on your GPA for your 128 credit hours?
What's the approximate GPA that would be favourable to a student applying for a programme in the top ranked schools like MIT/Stanford? And many people are able to achieve that distinction?
One correction for Alexandre, there is a Honors Program in Engineering, however, it is somewhat different from other Honors program. You can find more information at http://honors.engin.umich.edu/.
For master program in engineering at Umich, you may consider SUGS that you get both bachelor and master degree in 5 years. http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/academics/bulletin/depts/me/sugs
It’ll depend mainly on fit. First step would be to find a professor to do research with who’s doing something you’re interested in and see where you fit in. Worrying about whether it’s interdisciplinary or not is not important.
There’s a few classes that are huge like that (EECS 280 is one), but most won’t be, and especially electives will be smaller. Where you see the numbers for the number of people graduating in a particular major per year, they won’t be taking all the same classes at the same time. So for instance, one person in the major may take class X in winter and another person may in fall, and they’d still graduate the same time. Also for major classes for big departments, they’ll have multiple sections of the class for the same semester.
It varies hugely, and also there’s lectures and discussions for many of the major classes. Discussions will range anywhere from about 5 (yes, 5) to 200, but are commonly around 30. Lectures will vary from about 10 to 400, with most major classes being something like 100-150, and most electives being something like 30-100. Depending on the department, electives may or may not have discussion sections. In IOE they typically didn’t, in EECS they typically did. Not sure about any other departments.
Very few lecture instructors will be students. Occasionally a professor may have a grad student (GSI) teach one lecture in a course because they are busy or sick or something, but that’s not the norm. However most discussion sections are taught by GSIs.
You mean like cum laude, summa cum laude, magna cum laude? Then yes.
For PhD? Very high but GPA is not the biggest factor. To give some gauge, I’ll say 3.8+, which I’ll guess is maybe top 1/15 or so.
Sure. But I am looking at the ME490 course, where we are able to suggest our own ideas to faculty. I currently am leading a project and I hope to continue with it and probably turn it into a start up in the near future so I am looking for such opportunities. Are these opportunities readily available?
That’s not a real course. The way those work is that for research, sometimes students want academic credit for it, and when that happens it’s listed as ME490 (for the ME department). It’s not like you sign up for some ME490 class then are assigned to some professor and they oversee whatever it is that you want to do. And I’m confident that no school will have something like that.
Oh I see. I must have been mislead then. Nevertheless, I am not exactly looking for credits, more of the research experience, opportunities as well as being able to go into technology entrepreneurship is my main motivation. Hence, I guess the question I should ask is that is there a community which supports the entrepreneurial spirit of students and the generation of great products just like how people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Page have been able to conceptualise such great products during their university days?
I am getting one year of credits since I take the A Levels so I guess I wont have to take so many large classes?
Many of the 200 level courses are still in large classes and you will need to take ENGR100/101 too.
My D also has one year of credits from AP and almost all of her freshmen classes are still in large classes.
To some level yes, but I can’t tell you anything about it.
Are you getting credit for major classes or just prerequisites? Prerequisites are like Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, Intro Programming. Most of the major classes will still be 50-150 people, only the elective classes get smaller which you’ll take mostly sophomore-senior years, probably not freshman year even if you don’t need to take any prerequisite classes.
benjamineu, did you apply to schools like Caltech, Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman, Cooper Union, Olin, Rice, etc…That is where you are likely to have smaller classes. Research universities like Berkeley, CMU, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Michigan, MIT, UIUC etc… typically have larger classes and less accessible faculty.
I think class size seems to be an issue in the beginning. But when once you attend a few such big size classes, this may become the norm and you may not think it is a big deal.
@alexandre I have only applied to Caltech. I am on a scholarship from a company involved in Defence R&D so I can only attend top research universities. Moreover, as I have mentioned, I value the UROP and entrepreneurship programmes offered by top universities, as well as the ease of completing my masters in the 4th year. Nevertheless, I understand where you are coming from with regard to the class size and accessibility of faculty. I wonder if that will matter significantly; more than the added opportunities and prestige.
My D2 is a senior at Rose Hulman and D1 is a freshman at Mich, both in engineering. The schools are very different in size and other factors, but each suits my respective D quite well and they are both very happy with their choices. I think both Ds are getting great educations.
At Rose, all classes, labs, etc. are taught by professors, and most professors are extremely accessible with “open door policies” and they know most kids by name (most classes are 30 or less students, even pre-reqs and intro ones). Research opportunities are plentiful for some, but not all, majors through their Ventures research program (joint with various companies) and other faculty research. My D’s senior research project is a company-sponsored effort to look at taking a newly developed lab process to production scale. (BTW, you can also get a masters at Rose, just not a PHD.)
At Mich, D2 has some really big classes as a freshman. However, she already has friends in each one, formed some study groups, and attends the smaller GSI-led (grad student instructor) discussion groups. She also has gotten in touch with several profs directly and not had any issues reaching them. All of these things make the large classes seem smaller. D2 has not yet partaken in UROP or similar (she’s dual degree so pretty stretched), but several of her friends are already enjoying some research experience. I don’t think there’s any major drawback to the differences in class size, but students with different styles/personalities may fit better at a smaller school vs one where you might need more initiative and networking to fully capitalize on the broader opportunities.
After all these discussions, I guess my concern would be that the large class size may stifle my education and research opportunities.
I have looked at the various programmes by Umich.
I am actually interested in the learning communities at Michigan, such as the residential MRC and Living Arts as well as the non-residential UROP and Comprehensive Studies Program in order to obtain more personalized help from the professors and advisors. Are these programs hard to get into?
This is a school not located in the US, but its awesome and in fact, fits your idealized college to a tee.
Take a look at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
Small class size, all conducted in classrooms.
Curriculum developed by MIT, taught by top professors coming from Caltech, Stanford etc. No TAs at all.
If you are thinking of taking engineering/ architecture then yes. Wide range of majors.
Unlimited research opportunities on a professor’s project/ your own idea. Funds projects too.
Low cost: Less than S$20k a year for international students.
Only drawback is that its new (just 4 years) and may not have the prestige many top research universities have.
