I’m torn between these 4 colleges. If you would like to look at my information, I posted a thread here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/1749383-march-madness-admissions-style.html#latest
Can anyone offer any guidance?
I want a urban college or college town that has a nice social life, great opportunities for the future, and a great Engineering and Business Program.
CWRU: 32K
Northeastern: 38K
Rutgers: Business- 7K; Engineering- 24K
UMichigan: 50K
I’m going try to see if there are any more scholarships available at these four colleges, but this is what it is right now.
What do you think?
I’m also on the wait list for CMU and WashU.
Bumping. Any comments are appreciated.
It all depends how much money you have. However, I would go to U Mich. It could be worth the investment in the long run, since U Mich is far superior to the other schools you have listed in both engineering and business.
You have evidence that a University of Michigan will deliver 72K plus interest of additional lifetime earnings?
I forgot to add - as compared to Case?
@smokinact If he is interested in Ross, and is admitted then it is common knowledge that he could make well over 72k plus interest over his lifetime since Ross is on a different level than the business schools of the others listed.
I was thinking about engineering.
What kind of Engineering? CWRU is as good as Michigan in Biomedical Engineering.
What would your net price be over 4 years? Have you been admitted to Ross at UM?
The pool of matriculated students in engineering at UM is far better prepared academically for college than at most other Universities.Just as a single point of reference, my S & his five friends from HS, all had excellent credentials in HS (> 8-10 APs with Avg score > 4 out of 5, UW GPA > 3.9, ACT ~ 33 or better,: however, they were just above average at U of M college of engineering (GPA 3.2 -3.6). They found engineering at u of M to be very challenging; though all of them (class of 2015) have secured jobs through campus interviews.
If you are admitted to Ross, take it. It is an incredible experience.
The business school is one thing, but to state that a U of M engineering grads are far better prepared than Case grads is speculation at best.
Case Western is a great school. One of our friend’s son is graduating next month. If one can afford it, it is a very good choice. Smaller classes, excellent facilities.
The caliber of matriculated students at UM engineering is undoubtedly outstanding. The median scores for admitted engineering students for 2014 at UM School of engineering, as reported on their web site:
Median HS GPA for Admitted Freshmen 3.9
Median ACT for Admitted Freshmen 33
Median SAT for Admitted Freshmen 1430
http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/about/facts
Although the # APs or their average AP scores is not reported on UM’s web site, based on our own experience, many incoming students at UM come with several APs in math & sciences at levels of 4 & 5. Very few universities in the country can boast of an incoming students with that level of academic preparedness.
The main point is that because of high caliber of incoming UM undergraduate engineering cohorts, it will take quite a bit of effort to maintain a high level of GPA (>3.5) in UM engineering school.
Not only is Rutgers cheaper, but you get both the “urban college” and “college town” experience there, since it’s in somewhat of a college town yet within access to NYC, the biggest urban environment in the US. If money is a factor at all, I’d choose Rutgers.
@Trinity7 You are assuming college selectivity and the academic stats of the entering students determines the ability of that institution to prepare said student. Is it U of M preparing these students or were they better students to begin with?
^^ Good question. The difference (delta) in learning between the time of college entry & exit would be a better indicator. In most of the cases, I would suspect that the incoming students’ ability overshadows the ability of the institution; however, without outcomes, based on standardized testing for engineering (don’t know if such a thing exists), and normalized across different academic institutions, it is difficult to draw inferences.
Wow. Thanks so much for the responses.
Here are some answers to your questions:
-I was not accepted to Ross pre-admit.
-I’m planning to major in Industrial Engineering
-Money is a huge factor in deciding
-I decided not to go to Rutgers for personal reasons. It comes down to Northeastern, Case Western Reserve and Michigan. To be honest, I think that Northeastern is a lot of marketing, so it comes down to Michigan vs CWRU. CWRU has just revised my FA offer and now, I only have to pay about 30K while Michigan is still 50K. What do you think?
I will give you our story if it helps at all. I don’t have kids at either of your choices, but my S2 applied to Case, and wanted to apply to UM. We knew UM would be way too much for oos, if he could even get in, so we asked him not to bother with the application. Case was borderline using the NPC, so he applied to see how it would work out financially.
Turns out they didn’t quite give enough aid, so he had to take it off his final choice list. But what an amazing place! He loved it, and is very upset to not be going there. It is well respected, plenty of recruiters visit the campus, and the engineering is top notch. Cleveland also has a lot to offer, and there is easy access to get to town. IMHO save your money, go to Case.
Is that 50K/Yr at UM? If so, it is definitely not worth the cost. If money is an issue, how much can your parents pay, realistically, without stretching their budget/retirement? In other words, if you have to take loans, how much of a debt will you & your parents have after 4 years (for all the universities), including Rutgers.
@Trinity7 My parents can realistically pay about 20k per year. That is 50K per year for Michigan.
Right now, I’m leaning towards CWRU, but my only concern about Case Western is the safety and the lack of school spirit.
The debt that I’ll have can be calculated by the money that I’ll have to pay minus the money that I can pay.
What is the reluctance to attend Rutgers business school? Lack of school spirit/reputation? Lack of prestige? Or be looked down by peers who may be attending more prestigious schools? Bragging rights?
From a financial standpoint, it would be more prudent to do business UG, while taking classes in industrial engineering, and incurring an annual expense of only $7K. I presume the scholarship is from the school of business at Rutgers? Is there a stipulation in the scholarship that will prevent you from doing a dual major in business & IE? Get good grades in UG, save money with scholarships, and use the savings to do a masters from a really top notch university.
Sometimes the school spirit is way overblown. Mr. Nadella,the CEO of Microsoft, attended a not so well known school for his UG, and yet he managed to reach the top.
The question one has to ask is which school will provide the learning opportunity at a price you can afford (= under $20K/yr without taking loans).
I know your no longer considering Northeastern but an interesting fact that we stumbled on this weekend is Northeastern requires you to pay $1300/credit hour for any semester where you take more than 16 credit hours. So not only do you pay $60K per year but you also pay extra.