Well, It is almost decision time and I was admitted to UMDCP’s engineering program, honors program, and received merit aid. I was also excepted to a few top ten schools including UMich and CMU.
I was wondering how UMD’s engineering program fares in the eyes of employers and others. I know it ranks 25th in the nation which is excellent, but in terms of overall program recognition and opportunities I would to know its status.
I really liked UMD, and found CMU and UMich to be very competitive(both) and a bit quirky(Mostly CMU) on visits. I want to know if there is really a huge difference in opportunity and employment options between somewhere like UMich and UMD or if they are on par with eachother.
Right now UMich ranks 5th and Maryland 25th, but of all the engineering programs in the country, is this really a difference I should be considered about, or are the differences fairly negligible? Are we looking at the same kind of school tier wise for the most part?
So the mean for a typical CompE student at CMU is about $10-15k higher. However, the difference between MechE grads is neglible. So, for CompE and CS CMU has a significant enough return that it likely would be worth it, but the same doesn’t hold for other specializations within engineering. However, it’s clear that CMU is a clear step up prestige wise (for computer-related stuff) and the higher starting salaries reflect this. It is worth noting that since UMD is a public school, the salaries are naturally dragged down a little. For example, GA Tech (which is ranked higher than CMU for Engineering) grads only start around $5k higher than UMD grads, despite being ranked much, much, higher. Since you got into CMU, there’s a good chance you would be among the top students at UMD.
Personally, I would say go with CMU is the difference is relatively close; maybe something like $20,000 a year? Otherwise UMD is simply too good of a deal to pass up, and you could probably get into CMU for grad school anyway.
Hold up, this was making sense until you said $20,000 a year was relatively close. That kinda opened my eyes. Definitely not worth it to make a little extra money at your very first job to be in a worse environment that is costing you $80,000 more in the long run.
I’m not too worried about starting salary as that ins’t a good indication of the money you will make later in your career and your overall success. Also you said GA Tech was ranked much much higher when its only 20 spots higher out of the thousands of schools that offer engineering across the nation.
Would you still consider Maryland, CMU, and UMich in the same tier? That was my main question.
@panda20 In my opinion, no. CMU is Tier 1 (ex. UC, MIT), Michigan’s Tier 1.5 (ex. Cornell, UT Austin), Maryland is Tier 2 (OSU, UWash). If 80k is a lot of debt for you Maryland is a clear choice. I value starting salary a lot more highly, but it’s certainly debatable what kind of impact it has on mid career.
@Laerai Don’t take this the wrong way but I seriously am unsure how you are basing your tiers. I always thought tier 1 was top 25 and tier 2 was 26-50. By your standards, wouldn’t most of the pretty decent engineering schools (Not great but good ones) be like tier 6 or 7? Are you basing it every 15? so 1-15 is tier 1, 15-30 tier 2, 30-45 tier 3? I don’t really understand how you can categorize like that, what are your criteria?
I guess a good follow up question would be how do you feel about each tier, so is tier 2 still top notch programs in your system, or would you only find that in the top 10 or 15 schools nationwide?
@panda20 These are just my personal rankings which are influenced but not based off of USNWR.
Tier 1: Elite Privates and UCB (MIT, Caltech, CMU, Stanford, UCB)
Tier 1.5: Elite Publics + Strong Privates (UMich, GA Tech, Cornell, UIUC, etc.)
Tier 2: Strong Publics + Solid Privates (UMD, OSU, PSU, UWash, Rennsaeler )
Tier 3: Generic State Flagship (UMass, UDel, U of U, UAlabama)
Tier 4: Secondary State School (UMBC, Wichita State, NDSU)
Tier 5: Barely Accredited (any school below Top 200)
This ranking is mostly based on my own view of prestige/starting salary/connections. You can easily have the job prospects of a tier up just by being in the top 5-10%, and probably two tiers up by being in the 1%, so it’s not like they dictate where you’ll end up after school. The tiers are not filled up evenly; Tier 1 has only those 5 (Looking back at it CMU probably should be moved to 1.5), Tier 1.5 has 10-15 schools, Tier 2 has around 30, Tier 3 has 60, Tier 4 has 90. Honestly once you get past Tier 1.5 the differences get smaller and smaller, which is why the amount of institutions in each tier increases by a lot.
Go with the school that you feel best fits your personality and goals. Just because a school is ranked higher doesn’t mean it is a place where you will thrive.
With respect to your question about opportunities and employment options…that will depend on you, not the school. It depends on how you perform at the school you choose, and whether you take advantage of the opportunities available. No school will spoon feed you by saying, hey, let me help you apply for xyz job opening. Nothing is guaranteed. Your outcome is directly related to your own effort. I agree with @jmek15 that you are more likely to do well at a school that you are happy at.