UMich v JHU

<p>Hi all...I got into UMich and Hopkins for engineering. </p>

<p>Planned major: Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science</p>

<p>2nd Major: Economics, Marketing, or something Business related</p>

<p>Post Grad: Maybe a Masters in Engineering at a top school (MIT, Stanford, etc.)...Maybe a JD and/or an MBA at a top school (NW, Penn, etc.)</p>

<p>I didn't get any financial aid from either school. I'm OOS for Michigan. I've visited Hopkins before & am going to go back later. I'm going to visit Michigan this or next week.</p>

<p>I know both schools are good in just about every department - which helps in case I feel engineering isn't right for me.</p>

<p>What things do you think should I highly consider when making my decision? I'm not very picky, in general. I'm the youngest & everyone has been telling me it's my decision. To me, it's really hard to decide because...I'm not good with decisions b/c my whole life they (the big ones, at least) have been made for me.</p>

<p>Discuss:
1) Engineering: UMich has a better EECS and overall engineering school than JHU has. </p>

<p>2) Ross or LSA Economics v JHU Economics or JHU IR</p>

<p>3) Graduate School Placement</p>

<p>4) Job Placement</p>

<p>5) Location & Size</p>

<p>6) Social Life</p>

<p>UMICH for all 6 criterias</p>

<p>I'm also considering IR as a second major if I choose Hopkins.</p>

<p>I would say that for 1-4, the two schools are neck and neck, but Michigan distances itself from JHU in 5 and 6. Ann Arbor is a more pleasant city than Baltimore and Michigan is a more pleasant and fun college than JHU.</p>

<p>Michigan is quite a bit better than JHU in most engineering fields (#1). Ditto for (#4) job placement if you want to work as an engineering.</p>

<p>Ok. Let me add some more information.</p>

<p>a) My sister is a Hopkins alum & I wouldn't have to create connections; they would already be there. I'd have a lot of support from her friends, who are still there, and professors that love her.</p>

<p>b) Hopkins is a three hour drive. Michigan is a ten hour drive. I won't be coming home every month like I would at Hopkins. It would probably just for Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.</p>

<p>c) Hopkins is a private school. Michigan is public. Does that affect anything?</p>

<p>d) Is it possible that I could establish Michigan residency...maybe for junior or senior year? </p>

<p>e) I come from a small (~200 students total) magnet-esque high school with a strong focus on computer science. How have you guys made transitions to from small schools, where every teacher knows you by name, to schools the size of cities.</p>

<p>f) How hard is it to get into Ross? How hard is it to get into Michigan Economics?</p>

<p>g) How hard is it to double major?</p>

<p>h) How much of your responses subjective? I'm probably going to post this same thing on the Hopkins board.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input.</p>

<p>1) Do you really want to depend on your sister's friends for support? And your sister's professors won't have time for you. They may recognize you, but it doesn't mean they will treat you differently. JHU is a major research university. Professors are engaged in very high level, time-consuming research and they also serve as advisors to several PhD candidates. In short, they are very busy people.</p>

<p>2) Your folks are going to pay $40,000 for your education and won't fly you in for $250? Detroit Metro will fly you direct to any city with a population over 75,000. </p>

<p>3) Public vs private sometimes makes a difference, but not in this case. Michigan's endowment and resources allow it to function like a private school.</p>

<p>4) I don't think you will be able to establish residency at Michigan. Some states are easier than others, but Michigan is tough when it comes to establishing residency.</p>

<p>5) I also came from a tiny school. My graduating class had 30 students. Michigan is overwhelming at first, but you quickly adapt. Whether you go to JHU or Michigan, chances are, professors will not know you by name Freshman year. Once you are done with requirements and start taking mid-upper level classes, your profesors will get to know you.</p>

<p>6) It is hard to get into Ross, but if you have a solid GPA, it is certainly a very realistic goal. Getting into LSA for Engineers is automatic, so Economics would be guaranteed...assuming you have a 2.5+ GPA.</p>

<p>7) Double majoring at any university is challenging. Double majoring in Engineering and Business is almost impossible, but double majoring in Engineering and Econ is doable.</p>

<p>8) All of my answers are objective.</p>

<p>Thanks for answering my questions.</p>

<p>I know double majoring at any university is challenging, but I think I'm capable of doing it. </p>

<p>How hard would be doing Computer Engineering and doing a BBA at Ross? What do you mean impossible? I can come in with AP credit for Chemistry, Calculus AB, Computer Science A, Microeconomics, & Physics C: Mechanics. Would I be able to finish that in 5 years...or better yet, through summer classes?</p>

<p>What defines a solid GPA to get into Ross? How hard is doing that as an Engineer?</p>

<p>Given the demands of Ross and the CoE, I'd say it will take you a good 5 years to finish (assuming you get 16-24 credits you will get from your APs). Summers are designed for internships, especially if you intend to get into Ross and benefit from the degree. </p>

<p>A solid GPA at most top universities is 3.5+.</p>

<p>Alexandre,</p>

<p>I was wondering if you could elaborate on how Michigan has the ability to function as a private school. Are you referring to Honors College, RC, etc.?</p>

<p>Anyone know the acceptance rate for Ross as a Michigan freshman engineering?</p>

<p>They don't have exact stastistics for that, but the accept rate for all students applying to ROSS as freshman is 47%, with a college frosh GPA of a 3.6 on average...</p>

<p>u only need a 3.2 to a 3.3 if u are from the engineering school. I've seen a few people get into Ross with a 3.2, a portion of engineers don't choose to go tho.</p>

<p>George W.,</p>

<p>First of all, this is weird writing something to George W. If only you knew how much stuff I'd rather talk to him about than college selection... </p>

<p>Second, a lot of what you're reading here is HIGHLY BIASED TOWARDS U of M. Seriously, you'd be better off posting in the College Search & Selection thread, where you'd get views from non-U of M alum, students, representatives, supporters, etc.</p>

<p>Personally, I have to argue that JHU is a better school overall, especially in terms of the criterion you posted.</p>

<p>I was accepted to both JHU and U of M, and I'll be the first to admit that in many regards JHU is much stronger than U of M. Of course there are some criterion in which the schools are essentially "equal". </p>

<p>But overall, if money isn't an issue, you'd be foolish not to choose JHU.</p>

<p>Thanks chriscap. I had a feeling that some of what was posted here is a bit biased, but it highlights some excellent points. </p>

<p>I was speaking to other people, and they said JHU in a heartbeat. When I asked why, they said that JHU is the overall better school. I guess when you analyze each particular thing, it seems like UMich is a better school.</p>

<p>Where else did you get accepted to? I'm in at CMU for HSS, but I'll probably turn that down. I'm on waiting list for CMU's CIT, Northwestern, & Cooper Union. If I get off CMU's CIT waiting list for ECE, I think I'm going to have to leave for that because that's arguably one of the best ECE programs out there. I would probably leave for NU too because double majoring in Economics seems awesome, especially since NU has an awesome Econ department. And for Cooper...well, you really can't be a free & darn good education in the City.</p>

<p>Can anyone comment about how Michigan engineers go about handling Ross? Do they leave Engineering? Do they do both? If so, how?</p>

<p>If I could pull of a 3.6 engineering gpa, do you guys think my shot at Ross is solid?</p>

<p>If you are planning to go to graduate school, I would keep in mind that JHU is a grade "deflated" school -- i.e. it's really tough to get good grades at JHU. For some fields that doesn't matter, but for MBA and JD schools, they are numbers whores who care more about your GPA and test score than your undergrad often times.</p>

<p>Michigan is probably neither inflated nor deflated.</p>

<p>They are both excellent schools otherwise and will have advantages in certain fields.</p>

<p>^ I know that Hopkins has a bit of grade deflation, but all the graduate schools probably know that by now too</p>

<p>Chriscap, since you are neutral and I am blindly biased, can you please ellaborate in which ways JHU is "much stronger" than Michigan or why it would be "foolish" not to choose JHU? </p>

<p>GWB, I definitely agree tha you should post your question in the general forum, but I doubt you will get much more support for JHU there. It's not that JHU isn't great because it is...but Michigan is pretty sweet too. And even if graduate schools know that a school has grade deflation, they will seldom give their students special consideration. That is why schools like Cal, Chicago, Cornell, JHU and even Michigan, which are known for not inflating grades, have slightly lower placement rates than schools like Brown, Dartmouth or Duke.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=296394%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=296394&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>GWB, just click on a few of the admissions links in this thread and you will see that JHU is terrible at feeding top law schools relative to its top undergrad peers. Law schools and business schools are all about the USNEWS rankings, which is largely derived from median lsats and median gpas. Therefore, they may understand that JHU has grade deflation, but they don't care.</p>

<p>Other graduate fields take more holistic approaches, but I wouldn't go to JHU if I plan to go to law school or business school.</p>