I was just accepted to both USC and UMich for chemical engineering, but idk how to choose! I’ve been weighing the pros and cons of both, and figured that y’all could help me.
I’ve visited both campuses, and was equally impressed by both. Ann Arbor was super cute, and L.A. is always a fun time. While I do love the fall and winter seasons, 6 months of the freezing cold might get depressing. On the other hand, I was more impressed with the academics and job opportunities from UMich.
I’m interested in Greek life, and both schools seem to have a great social atmosphere (tailgating, sororities, ect.)
I would not go so far as saying that Ann Arbor is freezing cold 6 months. More like 4 months (December through March). November and April are cold-ish, but not typically freezing.
Anyway, other than than the weather, it seems like you prefer Michigan. Unless you are incapable of handling the cold, I would not make weather a deciding factor.
Just considering the chemical engineering programs, your traditional (e.g., NRC) top three would be Michigan, Washington and Notre Dame. (Fun facts: Washington’s Waldo Semon invented vinyl in the 1920s, and Notre Dame’s Father Julius Nieuwland helped perfect synthetic rubber in the 1930s.)
As between your two remaining contenders, Michigan seems to check a lot of boxes for you, and its engineering programs are world class across the board.
Good luck (even though if you do pick Michigan, you would be passing up two of my favorites)!
USC is a school that is really on the upswing. They recently raised over $6 billion as part of a capital campaign. They are recruiting senior faculty members away from schools like Princeton*** (example: Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton) and they have some excellent homegrown faculty members (Arieh Warshel was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry while he was on USC’s faculty). Michigan also has Nobel laureates on faculty but that is unsurprising since it has always been a highly regarded research university. USC has not always been in a position to attract world-class talent.
An ambitious private school in LA > A well-established midwestern state school (IMO). I can see the value of a USC degree appreciating over the next 10-20 years. I would go to California even though Michigan might be the slightly better option at the present time.
***Deaton is still affiliated with Princeton (professor emeritus) and will be working at USC part-time.
Michigan is already world class in Engineering. Why hope USC might get there one day? Go for the sure thing! Michigan is not declining in any way, shape, or form. With an endowment over 12 billion dollars, not including state funding, Michigan is not going anywhere. The nonsense that an, “ambitious” private school is going to automatically achieve its lofty goals is nonsense. Yale, for example, is much richer than either school and has been trying to improve its Engineering for quite some time. It’s still not there.
Michigan is the same quality as MIT, GaTech, Stanford in chemical engineering in particular.
U of Southern Cal is better in computer science, and EE, not so much in chemistry or chemical engineering.
Caltech, Stanford, UCLA, UC San Diego beat USC for chemistry/chem e, as does Berkeley, so USC will never be near the top in California.
To me, rankings don’t matter. The numbers would suggest Michigan is bigger and can offer more, which may be true, but they’re both great schools overall! Identical middle 50% ACT at both, so you would be surrounded by brilliance at either.
I may have felt differently as a high school senior, but there is no way I would live in Ann Arbor for 4 years.
Either is fine. The reputation of engineering departments is based on their graduate programs. I doubt that there’s much to distinguish Michigan’s and USC’s undergrad chemical engineering. A hiring manager would be happy to get a resume from a graduate of either school.