<p>Engineering advice needed...
My son must decide between UMich and UTexas Engineering. He's leaning toward ECE or ME. We live near chicago and cost will be about the same at either school.</p>
<p>We understand that Michigan's Engineering is ranked higher (#6) than Texas' Engineering (#11). We do not know how that will translate into the education he will receive and opportunities it will provide. Both schools are a good fit for him; he wants a work hard/play hard atmosphere~school spirit and social life, nice campus, etc. He would like a warmer climate, so Texas would be the obvious choice but Michigan's presentation and tour left a lasting impression.</p>
<p>As far as Engineering, he wants:
~a decent student/teacher ratio in Engineering related courses
~to learn from top professors and not Grad Students
~recruitment opportunities for top internships around the country
~job opportunities from top companies in his field</p>
<p>Please respond:
1. What will my son be giving up if he chooses Texas Engineering over Michigan Engineering?
2. Do the top engineering companies from all over the country recruit from both programs (or do UT grads mostly get recruited in the south)?
3. What other criteria should we be considering to help him make this decision?</p>
<p>If you can only give information about one of the schools, that will be helpful too.
Many thanks in advance!</p>
<p>It really won’t make a difference. Both are excellent schools and both will provide him with a top notch engineering education.</p>
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<p>This will be true of both schools.</p>
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<p>This will depend on how one defines “decent”, but will be about the same at both schools.</p>
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<p>Chances are at either school he will take one or two courses taught by a graduate student. That’s just how it is. If grad students never taught, then you would just end up with professors who start off just as bad. Everyone has to learn some time, and the grad students teaching courses are generally there because their advisor thinks they are capable of it.</p>
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<p>Snow.</p>
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<p>Grads from both programs go all over. Every school will tend to have a tighter cluster of grads in its own geographic footprint, but both of these schools send large numbers of people to all corners of the country as well.</p>
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<p>At this point, cost and where he feels most comfortable should be the biggest criteria. Honestly, the education will be great either way.</p>
<p>I can speak a little bit about EECS at Michigan, but I have no knowledge at all about ME, have never taken an ME class, and know very few MEs (though it’s almost a quarter of the College of Engineering - just happens to be I don’t know them). All I can say about ME is that when I’ve been in the GGBL (ME building) I’ve seen a lot of big machines. The building itself is awful, but he’ll probably get used to it. Apparently they’re also building a new addition to it which is starting sometime next month. </p>
<p>In EECS, the instructors are almost always professors. Occasionally there’s a post-candidate PhD student (like 4th or 5th year) but no one ever knows the difference between the two anyway. Often the post-candidates are better because they’re really trying to prove their teaching abilities. One thing I don’t like however is the new “team teaching” format that many intro (200-level) EECS classes seem to be adopting in which classes which were once two sections with one professor teaching one section and another teaching the other section, are now two sections with one professor teaching both sections one day, and the other professor teaching both sections another day. When I’ve asked questions often times the professors only really know about the days they taught or at least can only explain about the part they taught. This “team teaching” as far as I know only exists in EECS. As far as the quality of instruction in the lectures, there’s a range with many professors being great and a few being terrible. </p>
<p>Labs in EECS are often run by IAs/GSIs but that’s the case everywhere and in reality is probably better than having a professor deal with a lab. The types of labs that undergrads are doing are not going to be things that professors are really doing in their research. </p>
<p>Recruitment in EECS is extremely strong. On the computer side Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs all hire several people every year. I don’t really know much about EE but Qualcomm hires many people every year also. </p>
<p>If you have any other specific questions about Michigan in general or about EECS at Michigan let me know.</p>
<p>Both are good and attractive to (bigger) company recruiters who travel to recruit interns and graduating seniors. However, smaller companies may prefer to recruit locally because they do not have the recruiting resources to travel (Austin does have a collection of computer companies nearby).</p>
<p>If not quite decided on major, check each school to see how difficult it is to change to a different engineering major.</p>
<p>Also, if there are any specific subareas of the majors that are of interest, check course offerings and faculty research interests to see if the specific subareas are stronger at one versus the other.</p>
<p>If you live near Chicago, would you be a resident of Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin? UIUC, Purdue, and Wisconsin are all fine schools for engineering – if the in-state pricing makes one of them much cheaper than Michigan or Texas, it should be considered.</p>
<p>Texas and Michigan are actually one of the most comparable colleges, so the decision really comes down to enviroment and small topics. If you like college towns, both schools are very friendly, but Michigan is a bit more of a party school, whereas Texas has a big city (Austin). Personally, I don’t like Michigan, but the jobs for ME are amazing (GMC, Chrysler, Chevorlet) and is much closer to home, but not to close. Michigan also has a smaller, cozier feel and more professor-student teaching. Remember though, Michigan will be 35,000+</p>
<p>However, good job on getting into both. You must have worked very hard and both schools will allow you to succeed. Have fun in college!</p>