UMichigan Engineering V Tufts Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

It has come down to UMichigan v Tufts for Engineeering. Cost is not a factor. While I am not sure what area, definitely NOT mechanical or aerospace, I am not into building large structures would be the best way to describe it. I would possibly want electrical or biomedical or biomechanics. Not all that into computer science but might consider it. I have taken some engineering already. I definately got the feeling that at Tufts that would put me ahead of most people for the first few months but then everyone catches up.

I visited both and liked both although I liked Tufts better. Second guessing myself because of the impressive UMichigan Engineering ranking. I also really liked central campus (north campus was too deserted feeling for me). I am not into sports or Greek life at all. I do want to go to a place where I can explore intellectually. Someplace very collaborative. I have never been interested in scoring the last two points on the test to beat out the other guy. I do want to have fun in college but have never been interested in drinking, more into video games (I have plenty of friends, played high school sports and am not as nerdy as this sounds).

I like the idea of being able to take some liberal arts courses at Tufts. I am not 100% sure I will stay with engineering as a major although I would like to think I will. I am used to smaller classes. Goal wise I may want to work as an engineer, possibly get a masters. However I am also into business, finance, economics, so an MBA, pre med or pre law is not out of the question. So am concerned about deflationary grading if I end up preprofessional. I am from New York and would probably want to return there.

Weather, size, location, sports and cost do not matter. Thoughts? While I am leaning toward Tufts because I think it fits me better (although I was surprised how much I liked UMichigan), I am concerned that I am giving up the stellar engineering program at UMichigan. Thoughts and suggestions, please do not hold back

2

Good reason to prefer Tufts.

If you were sure you wanted to be an engineer because cutting edge research was simply your passion, then a hardcore place like Michigan would be great. But you seem to have broader interests and want the opportunity to explore them before settling into a direction. If you went Tufts, you would be trading a more difficult engineering curriculum for the opportunity to explore well beyond engineering. It sounds like that is better for you.

3

“Goal wise I may want to work as an engineer, possibly get a masters. However I am also into business, finance, economics, so an MBA, pre med or pre law is not out of the question.”

A great fit program wise at Michigan for you may be Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE). IOE has a more business operations and finance components to it than other engineering departments and is seen as a fine combination of engineering and business. Ranking (#2) and placement are very strong.

4

In the case of the OP, I think Michigan actually makes better sense. The only thing holding him back is his lack of familiarity with Michigan. Here’s why I think Michigan makes better sense:

  1. Michigan is vastly superior to Tufts in Engineering. It is not even close. #7 vs #57. If he decides to stick to Engineering and work as an Engineer, one of the options he listed above, Michigan is clearly the better option. Whether the OP decides to major in Industrial Engineering or Electrical Engineering, Michigan offers incredible research and professional placement opportunities.
  2. I have known many Engineering students at Michigan. Several of them double majored in Econ or another LSA discipline, usually in 9 semesters (one extra semester), though some managed it in 8 semesters (if they took AP Calc BS, Physics C and Chemistry in high school) while others needed 10 semesters (especially those who do not speak a second language). Either way, one can easily receive a first class Engineering education without having to compromise on a first rate liberal arts education and vice versa. The OP can even major in Engineering and minor in Business from Ross if he so wishes. The options at Michigan are plentiful.
  3. Just like at Tufts, Michigan engineering students can easily switch to LSA if they wish to quit Engineering altogether, and in most LSA disciplines, Michigan is excellent.
  4. If the OP decides to add premed, prelaw to his academic options, he may do so without any restrictions. Michigan Medical school and Michigan Law school (both ranked in the top 10 nationally) admit 70-80 Michigan graduates annually.
  5. Should he decide in the next 6-12 months that he would like to major in Business from Ross rather than remain in the CoE
  6. The OP said that he may wish to return to New York after college. Michigan's reputation and alumni network in New York is at least as strong as Tufts'...if not stronger.

I think Michigan offers far more options.

5

And if he doesn’t, Tufts is clearly the better option. It’s a fit for him, and he won’t be bogged down with such intense engineering that he doesn’t have time to explore.

It’s not about which is better, it’s about which is better for the OP.

6

Tufts’ interdisciplinary focus allows students like the OP to dip his/ her toes in many fields, and do so at a school that has the benefits of an LAC (smaller class size, approachability of faculty/ advisors, ability to collaborate with/ intern under professors, flexibility with respect to designing your own major).

7

gondaline, are you suggesting that Tufts students receive a better liberal arts education than Michigan students? Then how come Michigan places as high a percentage, if not higher, of its students in top graduate programs? There are currently 11 Michigan alums (compared to 0 Tufts alums) enrolled at Yale Law School and 11 Michigan alums (compared to just 1 Tufts alum) enrolled at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Those are not trivial differences. Michigan places as many students into top graduate schools as Berkeley, Cornell, Northwestern, Penn etc…And then you must consider Michigan undergraduates’ placement into Michigan graduate programs, which are elite themselves. There are currently 200 Michigan alums enrolled in Michigan Medical School and anothr 150 Michigan alums enrolled in Michigan Law School, both ranked among the top 10 in the nation. Tufts does not have an answer to those types of placement figures; very few universities do.

And how come Michigan is ranked much higher in virtually every liberal arts discipline? Michigan is ranked in or around the top 10 in virtually every field of study, ranging from Economics, History, Political Science and Psychology on the one hand, and Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics on the other. I don’t think Tufts is ranked among the top 50 in any field.

Tufts endowment is $1.6 billion ($150,000/student), compared to Michigan’s endowment of $9.6 billion ($225,000/student). Even without taking state funding (close to $300 million/year) and economies of scale into consideration, Michigan is better off than Tufts.

I agree that classes at Tufts will be smaller for intro-level classes, but the quality of the faculty, facilities and advising will not be better at Tufts. If anything, Michigan’s faculty and facilities are better, and its curriculum both broader and deeper than Tufts’.

And Tufts is not like a LAC. LACs enroll 1,000-2,000 students with no graduate students and research to take the faculty’s attention away from them. Tufts enrolls close 11,000 students, of which more than half are graduate students.

It really depends on personal preference. If the OP was 100% set on premed or prelaw for example, I would have recommend he go on fit. But overall, Michigan is much more versatile considering the OP’s broad interests.

8

I’ll let gondaline answer for himself, but I am suggesting that Tufts engineering students receive a better liberal arts education than Michigan engineering students.

Even if Michigan’s faculty is more renowned, there are only 24 hours in a day and some of those must be used for sleep. Tufts engineering is not as demanding leaving more time for serious liberal arts. No question something is given up by choosing this route, but it’s a perfectly viable route open to the OP.

Tufts is very LAC like. Michigan, not so much.

9

^^^^Sounds like a ringing endorsement not be an engineering major at Tufts.

10

No, it’s a particular path to becoming an engineer that may be better for the OP since he is unsure and has other interests. Not everybody is the same.

11

ClassicRockerDad, Engineering is not a hobby, it is a vocation. If you go down that path, you had better be all in. Shortchanging your Engineering credentials in favor of a well-rounded liberal arts education will not serve the OP well. If he wants a well-rounded education, AND a strong Engineering education, he can do that at Michigan, but it will take 1-2 semesters more to graduate.

12

Actually, it has served many people well. Many of these people aren’t practicing engineers, but know how to think like engineers, interact with engineers, and many make a lot more money than engineers.

In my research group, very few Tufts grads have made the cut, but for easier engineering careers than R&D, they are all over my company all the way up to upper management.

13

“Actually, it has served many people well. Many of these people aren’t practicing engineers, but know how to think like engineers, interact with engineers, and many make a lot more money than engineers.”

ClassicRockerDad, that is a function of career track, not Engineering credentials. Many highly technical engineers decide to go down the consulting/management track and indeed get paid better than those who choose to remain in the purely technical track. But getting a strong technical degree is optimal, regardless of career track. Of course, if the OP know from now that he has no intention of going into hard core engineering, then Tufts may indeed be a better option, although IOE at Michigan is not that “hardcore” and offers great career opportunities to graduates.

14

Optimal? Says who? Whose utility function are you optimizing? Might happiness factor into that utility function? Might critical thinking and verbal skills be a factor? Might the function be different strokes for different folks? Might someone’s optimal allocation of resources that maximize their personal utility function allow for a little less guns (engineering) and a little more butter (liberal arts). :slight_smile:

15

ClassicRockDad, like I said, Michigan Engineers can “butter things up” as much as they like. It may take an extra semester or two, but they can receive as good a liberal arts education as they come without compromising on the credibility of their Engineering qualifications.

16

@Alexandre

“ClassicRockerDad, Engineering is not a hobby, it is a vocation. If you go down that path, you had better be all in. Shortchanging your Engineering credentials in favor of a well-rounded liberal arts education will not serve the OP well. If he wants a well-rounded education, AND a strong Engineering education, he can do that at Michigan, but it will take 1-2 semesters more to graduate.”

Trying to scare the OP away from Michigan?

You’re addressing this to the OP as an existential-ish “life” choice that goes well beyond college choice. The OP has made it clear he/she is not completely sold on engineering as a vocation. Distinctions are being made between schools based on size, ethos, fit, competitiveness, rigor—criteria the OP seems to factor very seriously. To be honest, the distinctions upon which the OP must make his choice are probably greyer–and thus more difficult–than implied by the vociferousness of certain posts.

ClassicRockerDad has taken every word from my mouth here.

“Michigan’s reputation and alumni network in New York is at least as strong as Tufts’…if not stronger.”

Proof?

For the OP: Since folk are throwing in the kitchen sink on this thread, here’s a Parchment comparison chart.
Stark.

http://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Tufts+University&with=University+of+Michigan±+Ann+Arbor

17

“Trying to scare the OP away from Michigan?”

No, just stating a fact. Engineering is not meant to be watered down, and Michigan will not do so.

You want proof that Michigan has as strong a reputation in NY as Tufts? How about the close to 3,000 undergrads from the Tristate area that are currently enrolled at Michigan? Or the fact that Michigan is one of the most heavily recruited campuses by Wall Street firms?

“For the OP: Since folk are throwing in the kitchen sink on this thread, here’s a Parchment comparison chart.
Stark.”

I tend not to take Parchment too seriously, not that I find it hard to believe that many high school students find Tufts more appealing than Michigan. For one, Tufts is a great university and I never denied that. And the fact is, most high school students (and most parents) would rather attend an elite private university in the cultural hub that is Boston than suffer the ignominy of attending a large state school in so unrefined and unsophisticated a locale as the rust belt! :wink: I just don’t think that in the case of the OP, Tufts makes sense.

But gondaline, you have not addressed my point above; if Tufts is so superior to Michigan at providing undergraduate students with a liberal arts education (better teaching, better advising etc…), how come Michigan alums outnumber Tufts alums 22:1 at the #1 Law school and the #1 Medical schools in the nation despite the fact that Michigan only has 3 times as many prelaw and premed students as Tufts?

18

The OP was asking for comparisons between Tufts and Michigan for engineering. If the OP intends on going to Tufts, he/she would be giving up a “stellar engineering education.” There is no way to deny it.

19

Nobody is.

20

That is why I recommend the OP to attend Michigan. Tufts is a great school, but Michigan has it beat for engineering. If the OP decides he/she wants to major in liberal arts, then Michigan is at the very least as good as Tufts for those disciplines.