I’d be more concerned about living in a boring location for four years than attending a school on a, "compact campus. That’s one of the main things I love about the Michigan campus. The North and Central campuses have such a different feeling to them. It makes it more interesting IMO.
@rjkofnovi good point, thanks !
I agree with rjkofnovi on this. Look carefully at the location.
And since I seem to recall you were raised in part in France (Europe???) look into the dining hall: when is it open? where does the food come from (BonAppetit is good), what options accross campus, options if you can’t eat at the set times (ie., packed meal for free or extra cost?), variety and rotations, “dining dollars” and their use…
@MYOS1634 yes, i’ll have to look into that as well. I’ll probably get more information on this when i visit. I’ve seen Ann arbor has been elected 2nd best college town in the US (can’t remember by who though), which is impressive and very attractive.
@MYOS1634
Well, Purdue’s food is some of the best in the nation, especially the dining halls 
Purdue has frozen tuition for the next few years.
Speaking of frozen, Michigan is freezing cold. UI and Purdue have more mild climates.
UI campus is very spread out. Not my taste, but some love the mix of university buildings next to non campus buildings. It’s like a college with no zoning laws. Purdue has a more contained campus. I like that. Some don’t.
Purdue has the awesome advantage and connections of many astronauts and NASA engineers who attended Purdue. The geology dept had moon rocks. Yeah. Moon rocks.
Disclaimer: Hail Purdue! Boiler Up!
@hungryteenager @Barfly Thanks for the great details, i feel like it’s going to be hard to decide
If people read this and have an opinion post it please ! Many engineering applicants applied to these three schools , so this thread can be useful to many people.
“Speaking of frozen, Michigan is freezing cold. UI and Purdue have more mild climates.”
Don’t go to Harvard or MIT either. Have you checked out the winter in the northeast?
Seriously, UC and WL would be tied as the two (well technically 3) most boring towns in the B1G IMHO. BTW:
“The University of Michigan started the first collegiate aeronautics program in the United States in 1914. Since then, the Department has graduated more than 6,000 aeronautical and aerospace engineers. Our graduate program ranks No. 1 among public institutions and our undergraduate program ranks No. 2 in the nation by U.S. News for 2014.”
Alexander, how about the thousands of shabby houses where students often end up off campus?
Honestly, I cannot imagine any of these proposed schools coming close to the quality of institutional food on offer in France. Maybe a school like Cornell, as it has its renowned school of Hotel Administration has an influence on its dining hall food preparation, could be a step up. But having been a student at institutions on the continent and in the U.S., it would be hard to convince me otherwise; I don’t think its really a fair comparison. And to be fair, I also don’t think the aerospace offerings in France would be as strong as these in the U.S. I think for this student, it will come down to visits.
While I’d personally much rather be in Ann Arbor, that doesn’t mean, for various reasons, the OP will feel most comfortable with its department and offerings (if he is accepted). I’m also not clear why rjkofnovi must post the same information about Michigan’s aerospace program twice in two pages – we already know Michigan is a very good school, with a founding program.
The notion that winter is significantly better in West Lafayette than Ann Arbor would be debatable.
moooop, most off campus housing options are “shabby”, not just in Ann Arbor, but in most college towns/neighborhoods. College students cannot afford upscale housing. Most cannot spend more than $500/month on housing.
BTW, UIUC tuition would remain the same all 4 years that you are there.
BonAppetit actually offers excellent dining choices and is favorably comparable to many “resto u” (better than those by a mile in some cases, see Bowdoin, Virginia Tech, Hendrix, St Olaf…) Sodexo, Aramak, not so much. Some universities use local produce, have farms (where work-study students can participate in growing the food), have co-op houses, cook everything on the premises. Others have everything packaged or prefried and the salad bar is anemic. Dining hours are also important - Meriks may not be too keen on eating dinner at 5:30pm (some dining halls close at 6pm… others run to 7, others are open with limited service till 8 or 9pm.) The difference is huge and since students eat at least twice a day, for someone who’s used to a certain level of nutritional quality and taste, bad food every day would be quite depressing - it could be a differentiator, considering there’s really no bad academic choice here.
I agree Ann Arbor > Urbana Champaign > West Lafayette and that “mild” winters wouldn’t really apply to any of those.
I’m in the same position as you, Meriks, I’m in at Purdue and UIUC for mechanical engineering, just waiting on Michigan (I was deferred). Michigan is my first choice as of now, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do if I don’t get in there.
@Benf207 yeah, tough call… Since I got into UIUC, I should get into Purdue. Michigan is something else though.
But hey ! If our only problem is to chose between two or three great schools, it’s a pretty nice problem
Benf207 and meriks. Congrats to both of you. No matter where you end up attending, you are sure to get a great education and a prestigious degree.
@rjkofnovi Thanks !