<p>I'm interest in chemical engineering and have narrowed my schools down to UC Santa Barbara and U Wisconsin Madison. Any opinions on either school???</p>
<p>Depends, if your are not a resident of California, would it be worth to pay more than 50K a year to go to UCSB? UCSB is a great school, located right on the beach with beautiful people. Honestly, unless you can afford it or you get a scholarship, it would not be worth it to spend so much money on out of state tuition.</p>
<p>UW-Madison. An inexpensive top 5 Chem E. program in a Midwest collegetown with a Big 10 school atmosphere. How could you turn that down for a UC that’s not UCLA or Cal?</p>
<p>UW is much, much better in the sciences. UCSB is known as a party school.</p>
<p>^
Although it is a party school, it’s probably the smartest and best academically party school you can find.</p>
1 Like
<p>Party school? Those are both party schools if you want to party. UW-Madison made top 3 on Playboy party schools this year.</p>
<p>Thing is, since those are both great schools, you only have to pick for yourself. It is desirable to go away for school, but there in instate vs outstate cost that is prohibitive.</p>
<p>I am not familiar with either school at the department level. But my daughter, who is from CA, is in grad school at Madison and finds the town fantastic–she is loving living there after only a year. I think Santa Barbara will be a smaller college town. I think Madison is the stronger school, but UCSB will get you anywhere you want to go if you are a strong student.</p>
<p>Why not Cal? They have an excellent chemical engineering department.</p>
<p>^
Maybe they can’t get into Cal lol. I would love to have gone to Stanford but I didn’t work hard enough haha.</p>
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<p>Right, but Wisconsin is known for its academics more than partying. On the other hand, Californians, whether accurately or not, think UCSB is comprised solely of frat guys and sorority chicks.</p>
<p>Wisconsin is stronger in engineering though, and in particular better for chem e. If costs are similar, I would attend Wisconsin.</p>
<p>“UCSB is comprised solely of frat guys and sorority chicks.” </p>
<p>That is definitely not true. Ericsson, you don’t even go to UCSB, who gave you the right to talk about it ?
to OP : i go to UCSB and i am a chem e. Yes we do party hard BUT we get our work done also. UW-Mad, is definitely a great school (top 5) also for chem e but I doubt you will find the amazing lifestyle of Santa Barbara/Goleta anywhere other than in UCSB. If money is not an issue, I would strongly suggest looking into UCSB. if you have any more questions about SB, don’t hesitate to ask.</p>
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<p>If you read this in context of the entire sentence, you’d realize that I am expressing what many Californians think. I never said this is the accurate, factually-based depiction of the school, but merely the reputation.</p>
<p>**Complete USNews 2010 Undergrad Engineering Rankings for PhD Granting Schools **</p>
<hr>
<p>Undergraduate Engineering Specialties: Chemical</p>
<p>1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
2 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA
3 University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
4 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI
5 Stanford University Stanford, CA
6 University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX
7 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
7 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
9 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA
10 University of Delaware Newark, DE
11 Princeton University Princeton, NJ
12 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
13 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN
14 Cornell University Ithaca, NY
15 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA
16 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA
17 Northwestern University Evanston, IL
18 University of California–Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA
19 North Carolina State University–Raleigh Raleigh, NC
20 Iowa State University Ames, IA
20 Texas A&M University–College Station College Station, TX
20 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
23 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
23 University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA
23 University of Washington Seattle, WA
23 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA</p>
<p>and for those saying negative comments about UCSB Sciences:</p>
<p>USNWR Graduate School Physics Rankings</p>
<p>Rankings
Physics
Ranked in 2010 </p>
<p>Sort by Rank | Name
Rank College name Distance Score
1 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA Enter your zip 4.9<br>
1 Harvard University Cambridge, MA Enter your zip 4.9<br>
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Enter your zip 4.9<br>
1 Stanford University Stanford, CA Enter your zip 4.9<br>
5 Princeton University Princeton, NJ Enter your zip 4.8<br>
5 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA Enter your zip 4.8<br>
7 Cornell University Ithaca, NY Enter your zip 4.6<br>
7 University of Chicago Chicago, IL Enter your zip 4.6<br>
9 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL Enter your zip 4.5<br>
**10 University of California–Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA Enter your zip 4.4 **
11 Columbia University New York, NY Enter your zip 4.2<br>
11 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI Enter your zip 4.2<br>
11 Yale University New Haven, CT Enter your zip 4.2<br>
14 University of California–San Diego La Jolla, CA Enter your zip 4.1<br>
14 University of Maryland–College Park College Park, MD Enter your zip 4.1<br>
14 University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX Enter your zip 4.1<br>
17 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Enter your zip 4.0<br>
17 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI Enter your zip 4.0<br>
19 Johns Hopkins University (Rowland) Baltimore, MD Enter your zip 3.9<br>
19 University of California–Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Enter your zip 3.9<br>
19 University of Colorado–Boulder Boulder, CO Enter your zip 3.9<br>
19 University of Washington Seattle, WA Enter your zip 3.9<br>
23 Ohio State University Columbus, OH Enter your zip 3.7<br>
23 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA Enter your zip 3.7<br>
23 SUNY–Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY Enter your zip 3.7</p>
<p>^
I found it interesting that both rankings you guys cited are for graduate students and those wanting a PhD.</p>
<p>No, the first listing is Undergrad Rankings (at schools that grant PdD’s.) Grad school rankings are also useful because they do reflect on the department quality.</p>
<p>Well, actually they rank the quality of the graduate faculty which in these areas is the same as undergrad, so the rankings give some good info. Of course there are many other sciences ranked and UW is usually higher. But UCSB does well at hiring older well known profs nearing retirement who want a nicer lifestyle.</p>
<p>UW-Madison</p>
<p>agree with post #2. Not worth it if you are out-of-state. But if you are a CA resident it is an affordable option with a great setting and college atmosphere, as well as a respected program. </p>
<p>Don’t know anything about UW Madison.</p>
<p>Also I should add that between 1/3 to 1/2 of all those entering as engineers end up leaving the program. So its worth at least considering what your options would be at both schools should you change your mind about ChemE.</p>
<p>Where did you get the top 20 from US News and World Report Rankings of Engineering? I can only find the top ten when I go online…I would like the top 20 rankings for aerospace engineering for 2010 in schools who offer PhD programs. If you could post thaqt list or tell me where I can get it I would greatly appreciate it!</p>
<p>UCSB= high STD rate.</p>
<p>go to Wisconsin! It’s very strong in the sciences and engineering.</p>