<p>Hello guys I have been admitted to the mechanical engineering program of Texas A&M , UWisc and PSU and I need some advice to make the decision.</p>
<p>Which would be the best fit for me I am an international student (Latin American) , can handle up to 44~k per year and weather would be an important factor since I am from a tropical country </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Bump 10char</p>
<p>If weather is an important factor, then the choice is clear – Texas A&M. The weather there will be much more similar to what you are used to than Wisconsin or Penn State. The differences in academic quality between the three schools should not be all that great.</p>
<p>UW-Madison does not have tropical weather; not at all. It is cold. It gets cold early and stays cold for a long time. There can be exceptions in any given year. Sometimes winters are mild and other times they are really, really cold and snowy. A few years ago we had over a 100 inches of snow. I’ve gotten used to it having grown up in New Jersey and living in the Washington DC area for 30 years, but I do not like it.</p>
<p>OTOH, summers are pretty good. Much, much better than in Texas.</p>
<p>All three are academic peers with roughly equivalent student bodies and top engineering schools. Texas A&M will be less of a shock when it comes to climate. TAMU also has a high percentage of students of Hispanic/Latino identification if that’s important to you.</p>
<p>I was worried because of turning down schools like PSU and UWISC, but since it looks like they are in the same academic level I am more calmed down.</p>
<p>@andy09 Yeah it could be a big plus for Texas , I would love to see other Venezuelan students</p>
<p>@tsdad The weather in my region is around 30-40C all year around so the change would be pretty rough</p>
<p>How is the Mechanical Engineering department of TAMU in relation with the other two universities?</p>
<p>UW is in the center of a city. PSU is in a nice college town and TAMU is in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>Is the town of TAMU so bad or it is just far from main cities ?</p>
<p>Also, although TAMU is well-respected in the South, it’s not in the same “academic group” as UWI and PSU. (TAMU is in 65-75 group, UWisconsin and PSU in the 35-45 group).</p>
<p>I do agree though that if climate is a factor, TAMU is the better choice. It’ll be warm all year long, with very hot summers. It’s still colder than 30 degrees C half the year though. In relation to a tropical climate, Wisconsin is very cold from late October to April (+5 to -25) and PSU is cold from mid November to March (+5 to -10). The cold is dry and there’s snow. You get used to wearing long sleeves, insulated coats, boots, mittens. The buildings are all very warm though - some students wear a heavy coat for outside, and a tee shirt for inside…</p>
<p>If immediate environment is a concern, TAMU’s campus is all there is, College Station really is in the middle of nowhere (it’s a downside even for students in Texas) but it’s got a very large campus; PSU is in a college town, that is, a town where pretty much everything exists for the students - restaurants, cinemas, bars, buses if you don’t have a car, etc; UW is in a big , very nice city.</p>
<p>@MYOS
Texas A&M is considered to be equal with Wisconsin and a little higher than Penn State in Engineering.</p>
<p>You’re right though, Texas A&M as a whole is a little worse than Wisconsin and Penn State. Not by much though.</p>
<p>@AndresC I don’t know if they had this on the news in Venezuela, but Penn State’s reputation took a hit following a massive scandal involving one of their football coaches. I’d cross it off your list.</p>
<p>Also, I think you would do yourself a disservice if you immediately crossed Wisconsin off your list. If you’re willing to handle the cold weather, it’s a great university in a great city, with a good balance between social life and a prestigious education. I would put the “overall experience” of Wisconsin ahead of TAMU.</p>
<p>Even College Station, TX will be a significant change in weather from 30-40C year round. Winter temperatures are average around 10C, while summer temperatures average around 30C. Madison, WI can have winter temperatures around -7C and summer temperatures around 22C. University Park, PA can have winter temperatures around -3C and summer temperatures around 23C.</p>
<p>I read in the QS Top universities ranking that TAMU (50) was ahead of UWisc(101-150) in the Mechanical Engineering department this would be of influence to my decision , is this true ?</p>
<p>@asdfkk
I did read the news about the PSU football coach , although the main reason for crossing out PSU would be the price</p>
<p>I would love to go to concerts , I was told that college station was close to main cities of Texas (max. 3h away) where the music scene is great </p>
<p>Also after graduating I would like to work in the renewable energy industry , which seems to be pretty big in Texas</p>
<p>
That low? TAMU and Wisconsin are in the top 20 in the nation according to usnews (which should translate to top 30 or so in the world)… I guess different methodologies and such.</p>
<p>If you want to work in energy, any great school in Texas (including Texas A&M) is great. If you haven’t already, you should look into UT Austin and Rice. Both are in texas and are outstanding engineering schools.</p>
<p>@asdfkl
I forgot to mention that it was the world ranking not nationwide </p>
<p>I checked out UT Austin and I would have loved to go there but they don’t have a spring application for engineers so I couldn’t apply, otherwise it would have been great.</p>
<p>I am leaning towards TAMU right now because of weather , similarity in academic ranking (superior in mecheng), cost and closeness to my country by air travel (only one flight from Ccs-Houston). Although UWisc is a great university it is far away from home and it’s too cold all year round even after getting used to the temperatures the distance would be a great deal</p>
<p>Purely going of US news ranking is misleading…The fact that they rank mid tier UCs over elite publics like UTexas and UIUC shows how arbitrary the ranking is. </p>
<p>Average entering freshman stats:
% FRESHMAN IN TOP 10% sat math sat verbal
TAMU 60 560-670 520-640
UW 56 630-750 530-650
PSU 41 560-670 530-630</p>
<p>Engineering rank
TAMU 15
UW 13
PSU 19</p>
<p>They all look like peers to me…</p>
<p>and college station is 2 hrs away from Austin and Houston…Austin=ACL, SXSW. College Station=Hullabalooza and Houston has a ton of concerts at toyota center, etc. every year. This year Life in Color came to College Station if you’re into EDM</p>
<p>For international students, Wisconsin and PSU (both the campus and the surrounding areas) are more welcoming. Academically, all three universities are brilliant.</p>
<p>Yeah , I am totally into EDM , I would love to go to those concerts.</p>
<p>The small amount of international students won’t really matter much since a significant amount of the in-states are Latin Americans.</p>
<p>Sounds like you made up your mind. Congratulations! :)</p>
<p>@MYOS1634
Yup, thank you I decided for TAMU , I’ll feel more comfortable there , there are more Latin Americans and there isn’t much academic difference between them. :)</p>