I’m currently trying to decide between CMU and UW-Madison. I plan on studying engineering - probably chemical but I’m also possibly considering mechanical - with a possible minor in CS. Can someone give me pros/cons of each school? A couple things I’ve already considered: a) I live in Madison and while I love it, I might prefer to go somewhere else for college b) CMU is much stricter than UW as far as transfering between schools/changing your major dramatically c) CMU is more expensive than UW.
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Go to UW! So many kids from Madison high schools have that ‘want to get away’ attitude but transfer back to Madison after 1 year.
@ashley500 - how much more expensive is CMU and how much of a burden is that on your family and you (loans)?
@wayneandgarth CMU is about 10,000 more per year than UW for our family, which isn’t that much but we will probably have to take out loans no matter which place I go, unless I live at home at UW.
While CMU would be a little hard to pass on, I would think that $40K more in loans and travel costs for CMU probably makes UW the right choice.
Since you will need loans go to UW. I was from a suburb and did not want UW because of location. But- it is a world apart from the rest of the city. Also- large enough you can be there without running into HS classmates usually. UW has excellent Chemistry for freshmen and Chem E, Computer Science, math and other programs. You are lucky the state flagship is truly world class and you can get top notch STEM courses. Consider the Honors Program and the various STEM sequences in it for freshmen. Son was a recent honors math plus added comp sci grad- great opportunities.
Cost/benefit ratio favors UW. Also the flexibility if you discover you want math as well as comp sci, or choose engineering instead after having college experience. I wouldn’t consider the travel costs as a deterrent, but the tuition costs et al are significant. Be sure to live on campus instead of commuting your freshman year. An experience you can’t get later and worth every penny. Totally different after hours experience- a friend walked to campus and missed a lot of late night getting together just to talk et al (we couldn’t ring her doorbell after 10 pm and expect her to be able to come with us).
The world came to me at UW instead me going away to expand my horizons. I was an undergrad Honors Chemistry major at UW and still get my Badger Chemist, keep up with how the department does things. The Honors program was great and even better now as well. I note now there are women science professors that were lacking in my day- mentors we women could have used.