UW-Madison vs NYU vs UCSD. ChemE -a bit complicated-

College Search & Selection
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I’m an international undergraduate student studying under a full ride scholarship with financial aid, so fees don’t matter. These schools are my current top choices among the schools I got into, I’m still waiting for my absolute top choice school’s decision but in case I don’t get in (Which is sadly what would mostly happen) I’d like to discuss this early on.

UW-Madison and NYU both accepted me as a chemical engineer. UW-Madison sounds more appealing but my scholarship program will not allow me to delay my graduation past 4 years for internships and such. I feel like I won’t get much research in chemE done in UW-Madison compared to NYU, as my scholarship requires me to take summer research programs every year and I will spend the first two years at Wisconsin as a general engineer instead of a chemical one. Wisconsin really shines if you can delay your graduation (I wouldn’t even be discussing this if I could). I also hate large classes which is why I prefer NYU (10:1 student:faculty compared to UW’s 19:1). However, UW-Madison seems to have great chemical engineering faculty compared to NYU.

My scholarship requires me to earn a master’s degree in chemE once I’m done with my bachelor’s degree in a specific really prestigious university, so I don’t have to worry about my undergraduate school’s reputation.

UCSD is another great choice. However, UCSD admitted me as a nano engineering major, and I’ve been obsessed about being a chemical engineer for the past few years. Do you know how hard is it to change majors once you get in? once again my scholarship requires me to maintain a 3.5/4.0 GPA, will that be enough to guarantee me changing my major in UCSD?

As you can see my scholarship is a real pain in the ***, but I really can’t leave it.

Finally, Wisconsin is too damn cold! and New York is a horrible city to live in!

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I also have to make my decision in the next week so I would appreciate any input at all.

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I would choose UCSD and Wisconsin over NYU for engineering. You are correct – Wisconsin traditionally has excellent chemical engineering. If you are coming in as a freshman, and are specifically focused on chemical engineering and choose classes / summer opportunities carefully, it can be done in four years. Many years ago, I remember an honors friend who did a difficult double major and graduated in three years, complete. I also knew many engineers who graduated within four. Best to speak with current people, and see what it may take.

I was also admitted to UCSD; in the end, I preferred the campus / environment / disciplinary offerings more at Wisconsin, but this is not to dissuade you. UCSD would be another great option, but you would need to check with current people there to see if there are limits in place now for chemical eng. As last I recall, there were caps on certain majors. Thus transferring from nano- may or may not be a problem. I’d wager chemical engineering at either Wisconsin or UCSD would land you in an excellent graduate program if you do well, so it would come down to personal preferences if majors work at both.

I’m sure it would be solid, but I personally wouldn’t place NYU at the top of my list for engineering. Perhaps if you were considering mathematics or analytical philosophy, then NYU would be worth the extra expense, imo. In reference to class size: be aware that those numbers don’t scale well, especially for the larger state schools, including Wisconsin and UC campuses. In other words, once you reach the upper-level classes, they will be much smaller. Some freshman-year classes will be large.

Hopefully other engineers or current students will chime in. Best of luck to you-