My daughter got into UMich Arbor LSA and USC Viterbi school of Engineering and intends to pursue a CS major. We are super confused between the two now… Both are OOS as she is from India, hence cost is a non-factor.
UMich:
Pros:
Consistenly top 10 rated CS program. Higher reputation and branding
Ann Arbor super safe beautiful college town
Strong alum network
Cons:
Public school with large class sizes
Miserable weather for 6 months
USC:
Pros:
Good CS program, West coast location with proximity to tech companies
Private school with beautiful campus and smaller classes
Great CA weather
Cons:
Bad neighborhood. Safety concerns?
Less known than UMich. Will the alum network be strong?
Not sure how the two schools compare in job placements…
Any insights pls on which school she should pick??
we are having same exact discussion in my house. The weather is a big difference, Of the hundreds of Indians I know and interact none can take the cold! Hell, Indian guests I have in the summer go around in scarves and complain about the AC. So do consider that. I also don’t think cost is the same even though you are in India. I believe Michigan will cost about $10K less per year. Although we are considering others, and still waiting for some more responses, between the two we are leaning towards Michigan. My daughter was blown away at the accepted students day at Michigan and said Ann Arbor was the perfect college town with great restaurants, boutiques etc.
I would put it this way. USC sends 4th most grads to silicon valley each year. The other 3 are Stanford, Berkeley and CMU. UMich is nowhere close to silicon valley. If you child wants to work at the valley, USC is a better choice.
In terms of networking, I believe you have heard of the term “trojan family”? it is not just for show. Trojan network is one of the strongest in the nation, especially on the west coast. I wouldn’t say UMich doesn’t have a strong alumni network but USC has one of the best, if not the best, networks.
Thank you so much for all the responses…Thats my concern as well if my daughter can handle the tough winters! Having never lived in such a cold place, becoming hard for me to judge how bad it will be… With all the indoors heated and wearing thick layers, can we handle it? How bad is it really!
@Jeffw0w - Thanks for sharing this info. I wasnt aware that Silicon valley hires from USC so much… Thought they also would go to UMich to recruit heavily… At this point, leaning towards USC, primarily for weather and the west coast proximity to tech companies
@MomFromIndia you adapt. Sure walking through 12 inches of snow in -10 weather isn’t fun, but i’d take that over the humidity in Florida for instance. Ann Arbor is a much cooler college town than L.A is. L.A. is a cool city for those that like it but the atmosphere between the two cannot be compared when looking at it strictly from the the perspective of college towns. You have Ann Arbor, Ithaca, Charlottesville in one category and then NYU in NYC and USC in L.A totally different. It depends on what your kid wants. Look, plenty of Indians at Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia etc and all those places are cold. You deal with it.
Both are great schools and options. The key difference is public vs private. Any public university may require more general education / distribution requirements. USC would likely offer greater flexibility in terms of doubling or taking 1-2 minors. My daughters clearly favored private universities for a # of reasons and are both at USC now. But… if anyone were to choose among the top public universities in the U.S., Michigan is clearly among the very best.
To anyone wrestling with a decision to choose among colleges admitted to, as in your daughter’s case, they should be looking more within and less without for such reasoning and conclusions. I would actually recommend that she take the time to read the schools’ catalogues online, look at each school’s website extensively to get a feel for how they operate and present themselves, see what she may be getting into, research the major itself and all of the offerings of the college that may be of interest to her & look at galleries and online video tours… and by all means, if at all possible, visit the campus/area and determine if it is the best fit for her. Ultimately that is far more valuable to her and her future than any other outsider’s opinion.
@MomFromIndia My S just graduated last May in CS, it was a phenomenal program. I also have a current CS major still in school. If you would like to PM me, I would be glad to answer any questions. I had 4 accepted to USC and 3 attend(ing), so been around the block a few times there. If I can help I would be glad to.
Thanks everyone for the valuable advice. @CADREAMIN Thanks a lot and will reach out to you if I need any other info. We decided to make the long trip so that she can visit both campuses and make the decision as she has to live there for 4 years… Both are awesome schools looks like and she cant go wrong with either of them…
@MomFromIndia My D had the same choice two years ago for MechE. She’s a SoCal girl and a visit to Ann Arbor convinced her that the few extra places in the USNews MechE rankings was not worth leaving the warmth - and the separation of Engineering from the main campus (not a big deal, but Engineering is mostly on “north campus” a short bus from the “main” part of campus at UMich.) At the same time her best friend from SoCal is at Mich and loving it.
We spoke to dozens of Engineering empoyers/business owners and 75%+ said that for reputation/opportunties it was a wash. If you wanted to stay in the midwest Mich was probably a better choice. If you want to stay in socal USC. Otherwise, very little difference.
D is very invovled with SWE and the Viterbi culture for women is exceptionally strong (Viterbi is ~ 40% female.) Mich is not bad either, but for girls in engineering USC is near tops in US. You can’t go wrong academically. It will be all about fit, so it’s good you’re visiting! PM me if you have any questions. My D is doing a semester abroad, but can answer all SC girls-in-Viterbi questions.