UMICH VS PURDUE?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

As the title suggests which is better Umich or Purdue for Aerospace engineering?
I am an international student,
I heard Umich is much more costlier than Purdue…but is it worth the money compared to Purdue?
How is Purdue in other fields of engineering in case i change my mind to switch to mechanical engineering…how is Umich compared to Purdue?
How is the location and social life at both universities?
Are students friendly with Indians or in general with people at both universities?

2

Reply please!

3

Both are excellent in Aerospace. Michigan costs roughly $12k/year more than Purdue. Is it worth it? It depends on your family’s financial situation. If those $12k are going to be sorely missed, then Michigan is not worth the extra cost. On the other hand, if your family can easily cover the extra $12k/year, then I think Michigan is worth the extra money. Both universities are welcoming of international students and each as over 5,000 international students (most of which are Asian). But Ann Arbor is generally considered a nicer place to live and the University of Michigan is considered a significantly stronger brand overall, although not in Engineering, where both enjoy great reputations.

4

Purdue and UMich are very different in many aspects besides cost. Purdue is much smaller in size and is in the middle of corn fields. Nevertheless, it has its own airport and it really encourages co-op experience. UMich is more well balance in all fields of engineering with most programs within the top 10 in the country. Both are great schools for aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering.
For social life, you should have a better experience in Ann Arbor than West Lafayette. Both are around 3 to 4 hours away from Chicago.
Indians are probably not considered minority in each engineering schools.

5

You didn’t directly ask the question, but if you switch out of aero to mechanical, you’ll be switching out of top-5 undergraduate and graduate programs to another top-5 program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels: http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/about/facts

Most of Michigan’s undergraduate and graduate engineering programs are ranked in the single digits (16 out of 20 such programs).

Michigan in general is a school which is welcoming to international students and has one of the largest such cohorts in the country. This is somewhat reflected in the faculty as well. That said, it is a large school and you have to reach out to make it smaller.

The school has its own dedicated campus which is nearly as large as central park in New York City.

As to the social scene, there are a number of social/activity organizations on campus (something like 1,200 clubs) and the school is well integrated with the surrounding city and you’ll find Ann Arbor accessible to the local airport (45 minutes away?).

6

“Purdue is much smaller in size and is in the middle of corn fields.”

billscho, Purdue is located in the middle of corn fields, but it is not smaller than Michigan…at least not in any way that would differentiate the two:

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Michigan: 28,300
Purdue: 29,500

UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS
Michigan: 6,000
Purdue: 8,000

GRADUATE STUDENTS
Michigan: 15,400
Purdue: 9,500

GRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS
Michigan: 3,000
Purdue: 3,000

TOTAL:
Michigan: 43,700
Purdue: 39,000

TOTAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS:
Michigan: 9,000
Purdue: 11,000

ACRES
Michigan: 3,200 acres
Purdue: 2,600 acres

http://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/cds_2013-2014_umaa.pdf
http://www.purdue.edu/oir/CDS_Post/cds14_b.html
http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/about/facts
https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/FactsFigures

7

Purdue is known for their engineering programs. But you can’t go wrong with either. I too applied to both schools for industrial engineering but am leaning towards Purdue.

8

@Alexandre I visited the Purdue Campus last year. It is much smaller in size unless you include the Purdue University Airport which is more than 1/5 of the whole campus. The buildings are tightly packed. You can easily compare them on google map. You can walk around the whole campus easily (without the airport or Gravel Pit but just the academic buildings and residential halls).

9

There is no real difference in their respective Engineering rankings and reputations:

OVERALL ENGINEERING

7 Michigan, 4.3/5.0

9 Purdue, 4.2/5.0

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

2 Michigan

5 Purdue

BIOLOGICAL/AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING

1 Purdue

N/A Michigan

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

8 Michigan

17 Purdue

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

11 Purdue

12 Michigan

CIVIL ENGINEERING

4 Purdue

8 Michigan

COMPUTER ENGINEERING

7 Michigan

13 Purdue

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

5 Michigan

9 Purdue

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

4 Michigan

13 Purdue

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

2 Michigan

4 Purdue

MATERIALS

4 Michigan

12 Purdue

MECHANICAL

3 Michigan

7 Purdue

NUCLEAR ENGINEERING (graduate ranking)

1 Michigan

12 Purdue

10

billscho, I thought you were referring to the size of their student bodies, in which case Purdue and Michigan are roughly the same size.

But even in terms of their campuses, they are roughly the same size. Purdue has an airport, Michigan has a Medical and athletics complex. If you remove those, both have anywhere from 1,700-2,200 acres. The main difference is that Michigan has two distinct campuses separated by roughly a mile of road, and that creates the illusion that Michigan’s campus is larger.

11

Purdue also has athletics complex, golf courses, and parks included in the 2522 acres. Only around 310Acres are for academic buildings.
http://www.purdue.edu/facts/campuses/univ_lands.html

12

@maneendra296‌ i too want to study aerospace engineering and i would definitely choose UMich over Purdue for the following reasons :

  1. I liked UMich’s aerospace program better than purdues, their research opportunities are much more interesting too. You can compare both by visiting their websites.
  2. UMich has more overall prestige than purdue. Don’t get me wrong, Purdue is a great university, but UMich is more renowned over all disciplines.
  3. The social life is definitely more lively at Ann Arbor.
  4. It seems to me that UMich offers more extracurricular opportunities.
  5. I don’t know if this matters to you, but i wanted to minor in Astrophysics and UMich allows that.

Both schools have many international students and if you decided to switch to Mech E, both have great Mech E programs too.

If you can afford UMich comfortably, i would definitely say its the university you should attend :slight_smile:

13

thanks for the replies everyone :slight_smile:

14

Hello ,

Are you applying as undergraduate student ? How much funding do they offer you and may I know the estimated total cost after all those aid ? I am waiting for result as a transfer student and cannot find much exact information about international student financial aid.

Thanks

15

I can’t speak for Purdue, but Ann Arbor is very Indian-friendly. There is a large Indian community and many 2nd and even 3rd generation NRI’s in SE Michigan. No issues with familiar food and culture and most everything is readily available. The engineering school is very internationally focused with people from every continent with Chinese, Korean, Indian, and S American students most common. My MBA class at Ross was > 20% Indian-origin.

UM is #2 in research spending in the US, with around $1.25 billion/yr. Purdue is #32 with $600 million. Both schools spend comparable amounts on engineering ($220 million) but UM spends > $1 billion on science.

In addition, Ann Arbor offers a huge number of world-class cultural events (at student prices), great restaurants, and lots of recreational activities. I would definitely consider UMich if it fits your budget.