I am facing a really difficult situation in my life and that is deciding on which UMich campus I should attend after high school. I want to go into Computer Science and I could finish my bachelor at Dearborn 1 year after high school because of all the AP and dual enrollment classes I’ve taken, however most of these AP and dual enrollment courses don’t transfer to Ann Arbor because of some circumstances and if I were to go to Ann Arbor it would take me 3 years to finish my bachelor. I know Ann Arbor is a really prestigious university and I’ll have one of the best experiences of my life but is it worth an extra 2 years. I have a full ride at both colleges so money isn’t an issue. One solution I have thought about is to finish my bachelor at Dearborn and go on to Ann Arbor to get my masters or PhD. What do you guys think?
If money isn’t the issue I’d go to Ann Arbor and get a great 3 year college experience. If you can graduate in 3 years you will already be ahead of your class. And while academics are of paramount importance, college is also a time of great personal growth, gaining in independence, spreading your wings etc. OMO there is no reason to rush through it.
Ann Arbor is good, but it’s not so good that I’d spend an extra two years in college to go there. For CS it doesn’t matter that much where you go to school.
Thank you Simba that’s what I was thinking
You need to spend some time in college. One year is not enough. You have a full ride, go to Ann Arbor
OP,
It sounds like you most care about graduating from college, not attending college. This is fine, of course. I would never tell a career-minded young person who wants to dive right in, but first has to get this “college thing” over with, that she/he must attend school for three or four years for personal growth, even though I personally value what college has to offer in addition to the degree.
And yet you also made a comment about graduate school, so it is puzzling why undergrad is viewed as a barrier instead of an opportunity. Typically, one who views college as solely degree pursuit isn’t head to graduate school, certainly not doctoral study. So I admit that I’m confused. If it were me (and I realize that I am not you), and if I have two options and both are full rides, I would jump at the chance to attend a school like UMich and enjoy all the things that college has to offer. I wouldn’t view the three years as purgatory; in fact, I would be depressed that I’d only be attending for three years and not four.
But this is your choice, not mine. It sounds like you know your answer and are looking for validation, so here it is. Yes, it’s perfectly fine if you want to complete your degree in one year at Dearborn.
Are you sure it will only take you one year to finish at Dearborn? Many high school students with lots of AP and college courses taken while in high school find that they are good for lots of credits, but are not optimized for the major and degree requirements when they attend college “for real”.
I.e. you may have 90 credits worth of AP and college credit, but if they are all equivalent to frosh-level courses, then you may need more than a year to complete all of the subject requirements for the CS major (particularly the junior/senior level courses).
Don’t worry about that alumunus I know the C’s curriculum and the course requirements and have my schedule planned out from now
I’m not sure you are asking us wax poetically on the values of your time in college. All of the posters before me are right and down the road you will see that more clearly.
But out of respect to your query and the practical answer you already know. But you also seem to sense (or why would you ask the question in light of the obvious practical answer) you know Ann Arbor is a different level of shcool in the eyes of the world.
It is much more.
If you took out mich and substituted schools with a lower academic reputation than mich but had some of the other qualities my answer would be the same. Go to that school (mich). What’s the rush and it is free. Why throw away two years of that. It’s like taking 100k and tossing it out the window.
But if it where a commuter school or purely a pre professional school environment, I would go to Dearborn in a ny minute.
If you are planning on going to graduate school, one year’s worth of college transcripts will not cut it. Also, a degree from Michigan-Ann Arbor will open far more doors. If there is no cost element, this is a no brainer.
Go to UMich. That degree and what you will learn about yourself, the contacts you’ll make, the classes you’ll have the opportunity to take simply aren’t comparable.
You have a full ride to one of the best universities in the world. Make the best of it.
That doesn’t apply to CS. First, there is no real need to go to graduate school with a CS degree. But if you do want to go to grad school, there will be plenty of places that will accept you, especially after a few years of work experience. Second, in the field of CS, your skills and work history matter far more than your school when it comes to opening doors.
If you spend an extra 2 years at Ann Arbor, you give up two years worth of income and work experience. And it’s not like your life experiences end and all fun stops once you graduate from college.
^Yes, but life experience and social maturity before you start a job matter a lot. Also, there’s more to life than getting a job. College happens only once in one’s life and turning down a full ride to UMich in order to speed the process and graduate in a year is a poor calculation.
I happen to think spending 2 unnecessary years in college is a poor calculation. It’s up to the OP as to whether he’s looking to graduate and get a job ASAP, or looking for “the college experience.”
Let’s be realistic here. Michigan isn’t Harvard or Stanford or MIT. It’s a very good school, but nobody’s going to hire someone on the spot because they went to Michigan. (Unless maybe the hiring manager is a Michigan grad.)
My perspective is the great majority of people go to college to get a piece of paper that says they’re qualified to enter the job market. They don’t do it for the experience. If they could get a good job without going to college, most high school grads would skip college.
Honestly, I think Dearborn is my best bet because like simba said, in those 2 years I got have been doing internships, income, and time itself. 2 years is a lot and I think undergrad isn’t looked at as much as a graduate degree. That’s why I’m hoping to finish undergrad at Dearborn in 1 year and then go to grad school at Ann Arbor and finish in 2 years. Like what simba said, undergrad just certified that you got some experience, bt once you obtain a masters degree then it shows that you know how to carry out research, which is more important for computer science.
“Let’s be realistic here. Michigan isn’t Harvard or Stanford or MIT. It’s a very good school, but nobody’s going to hire someone on the spot because they went to Michigan.”
Let’s be honest here, Dearborn isn’t Ann Arbor either. The OP is 17-18 years old I assume. You think graduate schools are clamoring to fill their classrooms with 19 year olds?
Well, you choose to hear what one poster says, over what everybody else said.
The reality is that you can’t be certain you’ll get into UMich or any Master’s program if you spend only one year in college and at Dearborn. You simply can’t have done in a year everything that others will have over four, no matter how advanced you are.
Keep in mind you’ll be compared to high achievers from the best CS programs. Not high achievers from high school, not average Cs majors from an average university.
(Doesn’t Dearborn have a requirement you spend at least two years there to receive a degree, BTW? Check - most colleges have that 2-year requirement to grant a degree.)
Perhaps email the CS department at UMich and ask to be put in touch with alumni, graduating seniors, rising seniors to have an idea of what the resume of a top senior from UMich looks like.
My advice was based on the assumption that you wanted to go to work after getting your Bachelors, rather than immediately go on to graduate school. You’ll be able to get into grad school somewhere with a degree from UM Dearborn, perhaps a school on the level of Western Michigan or Wayne State. Grad school at Michigan is a different animal, and you should never take it for granted that you’ll be admitted, no matter which school you go to for undergrad.
Why do you want to get a Masters? Do you want to go into academia, or is there a particular field you’re interested in and want to study further? Because otherwise you don’t need a graduate degree to get a job. Almost nothing beats work experience when looking for a CS job, and a Bachelors with 2 years of work experience will be the equivalent of a 2-year long Masters program on the job market.
If I see the question op is asking us is-
UM D plus Masters degree from an accredited uni in CS is better than just undergrad degree from UM in same time.
Life wise it’s not better. Ie non school components to life. It’s supposed to be a fun time too
Job wise probably gets you a better first job relative to age.
Now if you get into a really good grad school. Plan b is much better job wise. And everyone saying you won’t is good advice. But not certainly true. Maybe they’ll think you’re a prodigy. No one here knows how good you may be.
We don’t know who you will meet at either shcool what decisions you make. What grad school you’ll attend.
Make the best of your life for you. But most of us a few years down the line can see the rush to the work life is misguided.
I don’t really care about the so-called “fun” everyone in this thread is saying that college has to offer. To be honest I just want to finish my degree faster and obtain a job. I am a really smart person btw. I have a 4.0 unweigthed high school gpa and don’t see it changing in college because of how hard I work to obtain an “A”. I focus mainly on my studies because I want to have a good career. I know I might come off as a really dark person, but everyone is who they are and this is just my personality haha.