<p>I’m a senior EE at Michigan. Definitely interested in power/energy as my area of focus. Unfortunately I didn’t figure out this was what I wanted to do until halfway through school, and U-M’s power/energy program is being restarted after a long hiatus and hasn’t offered me a ton since I am so class to graduation. With that said, I have noticed over the past few years that UIUC has a good program in energy (for EEs at least.) </p>
<p>I do have to add that I interned near Champaign and while the UIUC campus is nice, Champaign and its cornfields pale in comparison to what Ann Arbor and Detroit have to offer.</p>
<p>If you are checking out Michigan, you might also take a look at Michigan’s graduate M.S.E. program in Energy Systems Engineering. It’s kind of a hybrid engineering program revolving around energy systems.</p>
<p>Wow, sorry I haven’t gotten back for a bit, but thanks for all the input everyone! Seriously, this is really helping a lot to hear from you guys! And what’s this about the energy program? Is it like a formal organization or something? I know monydad linked to a pretty cool energy/sustainability commitment Cornell established…is it similar? </p>
<p>Also, since I guess we’ve got some alumni/students from all the schools now, can anyone comment on how the size of the school played your experiences? All three schools have pretty similar engineering populations, but have pretty vastly different total student populations. UIUC and UMich (along with other bigger schools) tend to go with the motto that “its a big place but finding your own niche is a cinch!” Although I don’t think size is incredibly important to me, a school with 40,000 students is obviously going to have a different feel than one closer to 10,000. Have class sizes ever been a problem for anyone? (And I realize large lectures for mandatory intro classes like bio or chem are inevitable, wherever I go)</p>
<p>If there’s any engineers (ME’s especially) out there that could speak on lab facilities, machine shops, etc I’d be really interested to hear what you guys had to say. In my opinion, UIUC’s ME labs looked pretty skimpy (not that I’m qualified to judge) in comparison to Michigan, which in turn looked to be beaten out by Cornell. </p>
<p>Another question for engineers…I think I’d be interested in exploring student build projects (solar car and stuff like that), how do the schools stack up? My visit to Michigan is pretty fresh in my mind (most recent) and the little hanger-esque building that housed that sort of thing seemed pretty cramped, though they had another building partially constructed next door. Anyway, any feelings/experiences with those programs would really help me out! Thanks again everyone!</p>
<p>Alexandre attended Michigan for undergrad and Cornell for grad, he said the size felt the same to him, IIRC. Maybe he’ll pop in. Cornell is not small. I’ve never been to these other schools though.</p>
<p>You’ll be mostly in big lectures in most of the core math & science subjects, I recollect it got smaller in the engineering classes, a lot of them were just a regular size classroom and a teacher. But my experience was so long ago I shouldn’t even comment on this.</p>
<p>Cornell does all those student projects stuff, I imagine you’ll find reference if you poke around on their website. I bet all three of them do it.</p>
<p>Hey,
I currently attend cornell as an engineer. Let me tell you that Ithaca is an amazing place. First of all, if you are instate, cross UIUC off your list (IMO). I hated the fact that UIUC would be high school part 2 for me. In my HS of a few thousand kids, probably 20 percent go to school there, and they all hang out together, still in their HS cliques (yukk). Additionally, the parts of UC that aren’t university affiliated/student ghetto are a dump. Cornell and Ithaca have a VERY unique culture. Its very hip, and hippy here. Cornell less so but the town is full of hippies and it makes for a very “chill” atmosphere. Most people don’t get a good feel for the town because it is much more low key november-early april when the weather is cold. The campus of BEAUTIFUL and a great break from the midwest. Some people (who don’t go here) might say that that there isn’t anything to do in Ithaca. They are dead wrong. In the last year on campus (aka at barton hall, the main place where concerts are held on campus) I have seen Andrew Bird, Kid Cudi, Cee Lo Green, MIA, The flaming Lips (greatest show ever), Chiddy Bang, Phoenix, The greatful Dead (the surviving members playing with the dark star orchestra) and Drake, scheduled for the rest of this year is K’naan, Lupe Fiasco, and Nelly. The greek scene here is pretty chill. Additionally I feel that at Cornell you will be exposed to many more types of people then you would be at Michigan or UIUC. You have everyone from east coast/european gentry, to upstate NY farmers attending here. The mechE department as awesome resources for undergrads too. I strongly suggest Cornell, and get pumped to come here, college is AWESOME.</p>
<p>“Additionally I feel that at Cornell you will be exposed to many more types of people then you would be at Michigan or UIUC. You have everyone from east coast/european gentry, to upstate NY farmers attending here”</p>
<p>You have never been to Ann Arbor. Nuff said…</p>
<p>Maybe I am biased, but I don’t think there are many schools that replicate the sheer diversity of the student body offered at Cornell caused by the numerous courses of study, supreme financial aid etc… Also, if you don’t go to umich, you don’t face the prospect of loosing to THE OSU in football every year (GO BUCKEYES) although Cornell does a time honored tradition in HOCKEY! and they’re usually pretty good.</p>
<p>I can give you a perspective as a four year member of a project team at Umich. I spend most of my time in the Wilson Center (student project shop) which just had a new edition finished to bring the Solar Car team back on campus (previously they had their own facility in Yip-si , which was a significant liability to the university). </p>
<p>I can’t really convey to you how valuable the project teams are, but let it be known that I’ve learned more about being a good engineer (IMHO) on my project team than I ever did in class. Its a great means to apply what you learn in class to the real world and a perfect way to get a job. I never really talked about any of my classes in my interviews…just the project team. Looks great on a resume. </p>
<p>The machine shop for the project teams is one of the best in the country, if not the world. Our team has competed in Germany and the UK before and we have talked with many other project teams from around the world, including others from the US. I think we are pretty blessed with the facilities and machines on campus. If you take a look at how well the project teams do at Michigan compared to other schools around the world I think you will see what I mean. Formula SAE is currently ranked 3rd in the world (top in US) and everyone knows about Solar Car. I’ve seen a few new project teams being created as well (MAAV, Supermileage) so I think the campus is fertile in terms of starting a new team if you were interested in that. </p>
<p>I don’t know too much about the research facilities but I have a few friends in our Auto Lab and from what I understand it is one of the best in the country. They are doing a lot of stuff with HCCI and emissions testing (EPA is across the street) . It seems to be easy enough to get a undergraduate research position if you want to.</p>
<p>Haha as a lifelong Michigan fan, I don’t appreciate you bringing tosu into this tboone :P</p>
<p>Sheesh, thanks for all the different perspectives everyone! Muira, what are the size of the build teams like? With all the people at Michigan I’d assume the teams garner a pretty large amount of interest. Does that make it pretty competitive to find spots? Or do they just look for all the help they can get? Regardless, I think that’d definitely be something I’m interested, especially seeing how much getting that hands on experience helps! Also, did you try for the EGL/5 year masters program? It sounded fantastic when I heard about it on campus, but I didn’t really get a sense for its rigor (especially since I dropped my foreign language after sophomore year and really hoped I’d never have to take one again). </p>
<p>For either Cornell or Michigan, how difficult is it to take classes across colleges (particularly physics or econ)? Are both schools pretty good with accommodating interdisciplinary stuff like that? I’ll probably end up sorting out a lot of these potential interests by freshman year, but it’s nice to know the options are there regardless!</p>
<p>I haven’t really looked at dorms/housing/food too much for either, but do you guys think they’re particularly strong at either school? I visited Bursley and ate there when I visited Michigan and the food was great, but the rest of the dorm felt a little off (I felt like I was in a bomb shelter when I was walking through the hallways). Maybe that was just a weird first impression though haha. In comparison to UIUC (I overnighted with a friend at Snyder and really liked what I saw with some of the private certified housing and ISR) it wasn’t quite as good of a feel. I’ll be visiting Cornell’s dorms when I go to the admitted student’s days, so I should hopefully be able to make a comparison after that. Anyway, your thoughts on dorms would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>I know Muira touched on research at Umich a little, but I’d like to hear some more about opportunities at the different schools. Is it pretty accessible (even for underclassmen)? I don’t have much background information on research, so your input would be great!</p>
<p>I’ve got some more questions, but I suppose I’ll leave them for later, don’t need a massive wall of text! Thanks again everyone!</p>
<p>haha, everyone in my mom/dad’s generation in my family went to OSU except my dad so I bleed scarlet and grey every thanksgiving. But back to the subject. Cornell has tons of project teams too. Formula SAE, the Offroad car, UAV and a few others. Taking classes across schools i a breeze, as in literally no trouble, you just sign up. Engineers at cornell also have the business of being the only school in the college besides cals that can minor in AEM (the cornell business school). Honestly, we can tell you all that you want to hear but it comes down to visiting the schools with an open mind and deciding for yourself where you want to go. </p>
<p>Alright so I just got back from my Cornell visit and it was awesome. Like really really great. Prior to the visit I was leaning ever so slightly toward Michigan, but now I’m completely deadlocked 50/50. I’m planning on driving myself up to Michigan to take yet another visit very soon. I really liked the laid back atmosphere up in north quad and I got to eat at keeton midway through the day (it was great). Im sure I’d eventually get used to the walk down to the engineering quad just like I’d get used to taking a bus to michigans north campus. The dorms looked awesome, plenty of space and lounges on every floor (I didn’t get to go into mews or courtkaybauer, but I think I’d like those the most, along with donlon or the low rises). Every trait I’ve been trying to compare the two by seems to come out as a wash. I talked to a professor who did undergrad and grad at Michigan and now teaches at Cornell and he said academics and opportunities are essentially equal at both, it just comes down to getting that ‘vibe’ that the school is right for me. I really liked the campus and the atmosphere seemed pretty laid back, so I definitely got ‘that vibe’ at Cornell. Unfortunately, as a lifelong Michigan fan I get that vibe at Michigan two. I feel perfectly happy going to either place at this point. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>“I’m sure I’d eventually get used to the walk down to the engineering quad…”</p>
<p>Not sure how much you’ll have to get used to it. Unless I’m mistaken, there are only a couple engineering courses one has to take freshman year, one per semester. Unless you have the engineering class as your first class of the day, you’ll probably be doing a shorter walk to get on to campus for your first class, then another shorter walk from that class to the engineering quad later on.</p>
<p>Starting sophomore year you will have more courses on the engineering quad. But you will also have choice of where to live, and many engineers choose west campus or collegetown to avail themselves of a shorter “commute”.</p>
<p>Well, it’s about the same walk to the arts and science quad as it is to the engineering one. The ag quad I think was the only one particularly shorter to get to?</p>
<p>You should look at a campus map. The CAS science buildings are the first buildings you encounter, to the left just after you cross the bridge from North campus. The arts quad is just below them, these are all CAS buildings after you pass the architecture buildings on the arts quad. Of course some destinations on the arts quad are closer to North campus than others. But they are all closer than the engineering quad.</p>
<p>In any event, I lived on North campus for one semester, while taking courses on the engineering quad and the arts quad, and I do not have a recollection of having any particular issue with the walk. People at Cornell generally walk a lot, anyway. </p>
<p>One thing about the walk from North Campus is, though longer distance, it is relatively level. From West campus or lower collegetown to campus you are going uphill. The university is not the best choice for someone who has a particular aversion to walking, but otherwise people generally find they can deal.</p>
<p>FWIW, google maps says it’s 1/2 mile from the corner of University Ave & East Ave (right over bridge from North campus,near CAS Baker chem lab bldg) to corner Campus Road & Sage Ave (engineering quad).</p>
<p>The CAS buildings will be between these two points, essentially.</p>
<p>Yeah, sorry, I was mixed up for some reason, CAS (or the top part of it) is right across the bridge and around that little bend of the physical science building. Ag quad is behind the rockefeller building I believe. Regardless though, I was just saying that whichever place I go, I’m going to have to get used to a minor “commute.” </p>
<p>Since I’ll be visiting Michigan again soon, anyone have anything I should look out for? I’m definitely going to be taking a closer look at dorms and their overall feel. Last visit I took a pretty extensive tour of north campus, so I’m planning on taking some tours through the rest of campus and just walking around town for a while. Any particular ‘hubs’ on campus any alumni or students would recommend I hang out? The dude seems pretty popular on north campus, and I’d guess the union has some good student traffic on central campus. Anywhere else though? </p>
<p>Also, are all the dorms (at UMich) completely locked up all the time? Since its finals, Michigan isn’t hosting any residence hall tours, but since the feel of the dorms is going to pretty important in my decision I was hoping that maybe I could find a way to peek my head in a couple of them (freshman ones at least).</p>
<p>I don’t know about Michigan, but regarding Cornell if I were you I would not necessarily make the dorms a huge part of my decision, actually. Although the dorms are fine there.</p>
<p>The reason being that after freshman year a lot of students do not live in the dorms.
True, many sophomore and other upperclassmen choose to live in the West campus dorms. But many others wind up living in fraternities, coops, and in houses and apartments in Collegetown (the area immediately adjacent to West campus), and elsewhere. There is a lottery system for on-campus housing that many feel is not friendly to upperclassmen, past sophomore year. You might follow up on this more with current students, if you think it’s important.</p>
<p>D2 shares an apartment in a collegetown house, and has much more room to herself than any dorm room would ever provide, plus a kitchen of course. The house has become her version of a pseudo-fraternity, the residents do many things together.</p>
<p>Well, I mean I realize that I won’t be living in a dorm for my entire four years, but with academics essentially equal, I’m looking for something to differentiate the two. My experience with Cornell’s dorms/eating halls was awesome…lots of lounge space/commons for every floor along with a communal kitchen. Then the little things at the keeton dining hall just made me feel at home (and it might sound superficial) but like having a professor talking to me as I made myself a sandwich, legit glass glasses, really friendly atmosphere, etc. It just felt…good, for lack of a better word. Plus, the area outside the dorms (lots of fields/basketball courts/tennis courts) made it feel like there’s lots to do right around where my room would be freshman year. Although I won’t make the decision based solely on dorms, it’ll certainly be a factor.</p>