Interested in majoring in computer science or computer engineering
Are finances a factor in your decision? If so, please elaborate.
If cost is not a factor, what sort of college experience are you looking for? What are your career goals?
Remember most engineering jobs are regional and businesses in that region will mostly recruit from schools there.
All three are excellent schools for engineering although GT rises to the top. But GT is also very different and more strenuous than the other two.
“All three are excellent schools for engineering although GT rises to the top.”
Actually, GT and Michigan are roughly equal, and both are truly excellent. I do not think Vanderbilt can be considered excellent in Engineering, although it is certainly good.
Engineering Programs Ranking (undergraduate/graduate):
4 / #6 Georgia Institute of Technology
7 / #6 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
31 / #35 Vanderbilt University
Engineering Research Budget:
3 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor $250,000,000
9 Georgia Institute of Technology $204,000,000
39 Vanderbilt University $74,000,000
Engineering Faculty Size:
Georgia Institute of Technology 550
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 390
Vanderbilt University 150
Faculty Elected to the National Academy of Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology 14
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 15
Vanderbilt University 2
Students Enrolled in the College of Engineering:
Georgia Institute of Technology 12,000
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 9,000
Vanderbilt University 2,000
Computer Engineering Ranking (undergraduate/graduate):
6 / #7 Georgia Institute of Technology
7 / #6 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
N/A / #46 Vanderbilt University
But the above alone is not enough. If the OP has a strong personal preference, it could trump the rankings…as could cost of attendance.
Computer Science Graduate Ranking:
9 Georgia Institute of Technology
13 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
56 Vanderbilt University
Many of those metrics will be relatively meaningless to an undergraduate - the size of the engineering research budget, for example, is not particularly important to an undergrad. Yes, undergrads do research, but they don’t need to be involved in the most cutting-edge research either. Faculty size won’t matter that much, and that 550 figure includes a lot of adjuncts and research professors at GT that don’t teach. Probably the same for Michigan.
They’re all excellent schools - I would say that top 30ish is pretty excellent - so my question is the same as @Alexandre’s earlier one - are their cost differences? And what are you looking for in campus life?
Yes, both UMich and GTech are comparable for CS/CE.
UMich - strong alumni network, better male/female ratio
GTech - cheaper esp. if you are full pay, better climate during school months, easy access to a cosmopolitan city
juillet, I was not referring to the quality of the undergraduate education one will receive, but rather the strength of the respective colleges of engineering.
As far as the education received and professional placement, there will likely not be that much of a difference, although I would give the slight edge to GT and Michigan, but not as much as the difference in the quality of the programs may suggest.
Cost isn’t a factor and I’m not really leaning any way at this point. I’m visiting Tech and vandy next week and already visited Michigan. I’m seriously considering Vanderbilt but the lower rankings are putting me off / having me concerned about job opportunities in relation to the other two.
Vanderbilt CS sent 4 people to Facebook this year and our CS department is really small. The job opportunities are nearly as good and the lifestyle/brand is better compared to Tech/Michigan. I wouldn’t go here for CS grad school, but the undergrad CS program is really strong.
Some students will do better at Michigan, some will do better at GT, and some will do better at Vanderbilt. This is one of those “best fit” decisions.
“Vanderbilt CS sent 4 people to Facebook this year and our CS department is really small. The JOB opportunities are nearly as good and the lifestyle/brand is better compared to Tech/Michigan.”
I do not doubt that the job opportunities are almost as good (maybe just as good) for CS majors, but the lifestyle at Vanderbilt is not better than Michigan’s (it depends on personal preference but both offer great undergraduate experiences), or that Vanderbilt’s brand is any stronger than Michigan’s or GT’s.
I agree with Simba…go for fit.
Consider the allocation of resources to students. Vanderbilt has 150 engineering professors to 2000 engineering students (per Alexandre’s figures). That’s 13 engineering students per engineering professor. Michigan has 23 students per professor; GT has 22 students per professor. Look up the enrollment numbers in the online course schedules to see how these ratios affect engineering class sizes.
Of course, these ratios don’t account for faculty quality. About 1% of Vanderbilt professors are elected to the NAofE … compared to about 3% at GT and about 4% at Michigan. Is the academy membership rate a good indicator of undergraduate faculty quality? If it is, then the numbers suggest you might be getting more distinguished professors at Michigan or GT, albeit in bigger classes. However, academy membership only affects a tiny percentage of professors at any of these schools. I don’t know what better metrics to suggest to compare the quality of the majority of professors.
I’m inclined to believe (but don’t know how to verify) that they all must be about equally good at attracting good undergraduate teachers. I’m not aware of any evidence to conclude one is significantly better at this than the others. You could compare average faculty salaries, ratio of full time to part time, etc. … but these numbers might not be too indicative, either. Another approach would be to compare student evaluations (which sometimes are posted with the course schedules) or reports on studentsreview.com.
"Consider the allocation of resources to students. Vanderbilt has 150 engineering professors to 2000 engineering students (per Alexandre’s figures). That’s 13 engineering students per engineering professor. Michigan has 23 students per professor; GT has 22 students per professor. "
tk, it is not unusual for the better Engineering schools to have 20+ students per professor. For example, Stanford 5,200 Engineering students (1,650 undergraduate, 3,550 graduate) and a faculty of 260 (20:1). Columbia has 4,300 Engineering students (1,500 undergraduate, 2,800 graduate) and a faculty of 175 (24:1). Northwestern has 3,500 Engineering students (1,800 undergraduate, 1700 graduate) and a faculty of 180 (20:1). Cornell has 5,300 Engineering students (3,300 undergraduate and 1,800 graduate) and a faculty of 250 (21:1).
Given the size of their Engineering graduate programs, it is no wonder those private universities choose to omit graduate students from the student to faculty ratios they submit to the USNWR! 