I’ve been accepted to both UMN and ISU for chemical engineering and I’m trying to figure out the best option.
UMN
Pros- higher ranked, in state, closer to home
Cons- big city, 15k+ more students
ISU
Pros- little cheaper, campus feels more homey, largest career fair, college town
Cons- 4 hrs away, Iowa
For a major as rigorous as chem. eng. it’s super important to understand the progression requirements expected of you. Not sure about ISU but for UMN you haven’t actually been admitted to the chem. eng. major - you’ve been admitted to the College of Science and Engineering. From there you are free to explore various engineering disciplines or start right off with the pre-reqs. for Chem. Eng. itself. Highly likely that most of the first year courses for most majors in CSE will be Calc., physics and chem so lots of overlap. You will need to hit a technical GPA of 3.2 in order to be guaranteed admission to the major, but those with a lower GPA are considered as space is available.
Could be incorrect but the difference as I understand it between ISU and CSE is that CSE is a lot more selective so if you’ve been admitted, you are more than likely going to complete your major or something close to it if you change your mind. Not sure if ISU has a separate (higher) admission standard for the engineering students. If not, then it’s quite likely that many engineering hopefuls will wash out or switch to something easier once they start loading up on all the math and science. However, for someone who’s already been admitted to the more selective CSE, completing this or a similar major at ISU theoretically shouldn’t be an overwhelming challenge.
You should visit and tour both places, if you haven’t already. It’s hard for people to weigh in on what YOU should do as some will prefer one campus over another for various reasons that may or may not correlate to YOUR preferences. Ultimately, the decision will lie with you. Explore what it takes to be a chem. eng. student at both schools and; if similar, then other factors such as locale, size and feel might come into play.
There is no additional requirement to be admitted to ISU chem eng. I have also been looking at their career fair sizes, UMN is about 130 companies and ISU is about 400-500 companies. Does anyone know why this gap is so big? ANd will being in Minneapolis help with getting internships. My goal is to get into food processing. Thanks for the reply