<p>U-M also has a computer science program in LSA too i think... which is where econ and history are anyways</p>
<p>The best thing about UMich is its breadth. If you change your mind as to a major, you will likely still land in a great program without transferring. And the fact that it has a world class engineering program is a plus -something Uva (although it has a program), UNC, and W & M simply do not have.</p>
<p>What public schools your prefer has a lot to do with what sort of feel you're looking for in a school.</p>
<p>If you wanna go to an enormous school, with a large endowment and a ton of facilities and resources, but sacrifice the opportunity to take classes from actually professors rather than grad students, then UMich and the larger publics are perfect.</p>
<p>If you want a smaller, liberal-arts type school, where you'll have small classes, a more flexible schedule, and interaction with your professor, but sacrifice some of the facilities a larger school can provide, William and Mary is probably the place for you.</p>
<p>Something in the middle of the two would be along the lines of UVA.</p>
<p>Pretty much all of these top publics are at the same level of prestige and the academics at all of them are very strong. No matter which you choose, no one would look down on you for your choice. If you apply to grad school, any of these schools would look VERY good.</p>
<p>**actual professors</p>
<p>None of my classes were ever taught by students. 100% of my 40+ classes at the University of Michigan were taught by full time professors. 35 or so of those classes had fewer than 50 students and 30 or so had fewer than 30 students. The 9 classes I had with more than 50 students were indeed huge and those were broken down into much smaller discussion sections. 6 of those were inded led by graduate students (5 of which were brilliant) and the other 3 were led by actual professors.</p>
<p>You have a good memory.</p>
<p>Just to clear things up, at this point I'm not interested in Engineering itself as a whole as much as I am specificially in Computer engineering.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response, I'll think over it.</p>
<p>Not really untilted. My numbers are approximations. I do remember that I had 9 discussion sections and that 6 were led by TAs and 3 by professors. I also remember that roughly three quarters of my classes had fewer than 30 students. But the rest is a blur! LOL</p>
<p>If the OP is interested solely in the computer science area of engineering, I will have to recommend UVa over Michigan. UVa CS grads on average made $2000 more a year than Michigan CS grads.</p>
<p>infact, upon further inspection, while I still agree that Michigan might have a stronger engineering program, it is of interesting note that on average, graduates of UVa's engineering school make more money on average than graduates of michigan's engineering school in every major area.</p>
<p>not bad for a 2nd rate engineering school eh?</p>
<p>whoa..cs and ce are two pretty different things</p>
<p>i guess - i just know uva's computer science program is in the engineering school.</p>
<p>"If you wanna go to an enormous school, with a large endowment and a ton of facilities and resources, but sacrifice the opportunity to take classes from actually professors rather than grad students, then UMich and the larger publics are perfect."</p>
<p>I really do think that some of that is a myth. While UNC isn't as big as UMich or Berkeley, it is still considered one of the "larger publics." Either way, all of my classes, even as a freshman, were taught by professors. The only exception to that rule was a french class i took, but that was taught by a native speaker of french, and they have to have a ton of sections of it in order to keep class size down (there were only 15 or so in the class). All I'm saying is, you're not necessarily sacrificing that much professor time at a larger public, just as you're probably not sacrificing a ton of resources at a smaller one.</p>
<p>"it is of interesting note that on average, graduates of UVa's engineering school make more money on average than graduates of michigan's engineering school in every major area."</p>
<p>Are you serious? This is absurd.</p>
<p>Yea sometimes CS is put into Engineering schools, but they are two different disciplines...personally I'd pick UMich</p>
<p>ehh why is it absurd? it just proves rankings don't always mean anything.</p>
<p>Also it proves that the people who do the rankings might not know what they're talking about - i mean, after all, being paid more means they're obviously in more demand.</p>
<p>Jags, Engineering students from 4th rate Engineering schools make on average almost as much money as Engineering students coming out of schoolls like Cal and MIT. Engineering salaries are very standardized. The reason UVA Engineers make slightly more money than Michigan Engineers coming out of college is because Michigan Engineers end up working in the rust belt for the most part whereas most UVa Engineers end up working in the East Coast, which is more expensive. Therefore, Engineers are paid slightly higher salaries coming out of college. Majoring in Engineering isn't like majoring in Business. Where you go to school for Business does determine earning potential upon graduation. Where you go to school for Engineering doesn't. Rankings of Engineering programs is about quality of faculty, research, facilities etc... Yes, UVa starting salaries are slightly higher for Engineers (if you consider a 3% difference signficant) but do the same number of high-end Engineering recruiters go to UVa and are UVa Engineers equally qualified as Michigan Engineers?</p>
<p>mmm, I don't know about that alexandre. While I can't speak about recruiters - I can say that, for example, the national average for an engineer with a degree in computer science is about 50800, while the average person from UVa is making 59800 and the average computer science degree from michigan is making about 57800. Both UVa and Michigan are significantly above the national average - which leads me to believe that earnig potential is different depending on where you went.</p>
<p>I should also mention, that I don't think that uva's engineering program is better than michigans. I think its pretty obviously to most people that michigan has a better program. However, I don't feel that uva's engineering program is as bad, or average, or whatever other term you want to apply to it is.</p>
<p>of course though, it is program specific. for example UVa's electrical engineering graduates receive below the national average. this would lead me to believe that EE's at Uva are extremely undesired - meaning to me that it would be an extremely weak program.</p>
<p>Well I'd say for the OP, Michigan is a SOLID choice. Since he's stated he's looking for CS and just said eng. because most of the time that's where CS is located, it's worth noting that UMich has 2 computer science programs: one in the college of eng. and the other in LSA. If he wanted to dual major in say CS and History or CS and Econ, there'd be no need to go to the CoE because he can find both programs right in LSA. Also, Michigan is an amazing place to go to school, but I may be bias ;-)</p>