<p>It’s an interesting dilemma. For smart in-state kids UofM is well, what hundreds of kids call on this site “an in-state safety.” Problem is it’s not “safe” for every instate kid and thousands of kids from the east coast and hundreds from the west coast and internationally not to mention the hundreds that live in border states that want to go to UofM but can’t stomach or handle the OSS costs. It’s gratifying to have all the great acceptances that the OP’s D has and for in-state kids to understand and appreciate what a great school UofM is and for $30,000 minus whatever aid the kiddo can get to meet need there is much value for cost. If it were mine, I would really beg if I had to for them to go to UofM especially if the cost is better than the far away schools.</p>
<p>Thank you Busdriver11! I certainly am hoping you are right! @ cobrat, although she is strong in liberal arts (likes shakespeare and russian history, 36 verbal on ACT) she is a true math and science geek! Gotta call 'em as I see’em! 
But as they say, when you are young and inexperienced, “you don’t know what you don’t know.” So considering the many directions she could go in engineering at UMich other than her current intended EEC’s, and at half the price of CMU–UMich gets her! 
At least it will not be a long trip home on break! :)</p>
<p>So well said Momofthreeboys! Thanks for posting! That is part of the problem with D, she and her classmates often regarded UM as a safety. Really it wasn’t until we traveled all over the countryside last year that we began to understand what a gem we had in our own backyard! It seems like there is a lot of knowledge on these boards so I wanted to hear from others that have been down this road if we were thinking about this correctly or if we were off the mark and should move heaven and earth to make CMU happen for D. Frankly, I like the more collegiate atmosphere of A2 and CMU had some of that super geeky atmosphere to it. (just IMHO) D will be exposed to a more varied population than at CMU and if she needs to head to the geek stratosphere in grad school, so be it. Ok, don’t everyone kill me for my comments about CMU, even the current CMU students acknowledge that vibe! ;)</p>
<p>I love CMU, but if money is tight I don’t see justifying the cost. That said, from SCS the top students were getting job offers of $100,000 a year. So at least in that field, taking on debt doesn’t look to risky. (Unless we are in the middle of a tech bubble, which we might be.) If grad school is likely, I agree that CMU for grad school, might be the best solution. </p>
<p>My son loved the geeky atmosphere at CMU, but you can find non-geeks if you want to. I asked him specifically last week about cobrat’s continuous dissing of the humanities and social sciences. He didn’t take a lot of courses, but he didn’t feel that they were “at a markedly lower level”, nor did he hear complaints about them on that score from his friends.</p>
<p>Thanks mathmom, I asked D again today about CMU’s SCS just to make sure that is not what she wants. But she does not want straight computer science. SCS is about the only reason I could see choosing CMU for her at the significantly higher cost. CMU’s SCS is ranked just below MIT and D thinks MIT is nirvana! She is waitlisted at MIT but we are filing that in the, “what a nice compliment” folder and moving on! :)</p>
<p>Funny, a2, I don’t think CMU kids mind being considered in a “geeky atmosphere”. In fact, I think my son told me a nickname for CMU was “freaks and geeks”.</p>
<p>As far as “cobrat’s continuous dissing of the humanities and social sciences. He didn’t take a lot of courses, but he didn’t feel that they were “at a markedly lower level”, nor did he hear complaints about them on that score from his friends”, I believe the deal is that comp sci and fine arts at CMU are some of the best in the world. Those fields are absolute standouts. They have many other fine programs that stand with some of the best schools in the nation, but certainly not as notably as CS and fine arts. That doesn’t mean they are poor in quality at all. There are highly ranked programs all over CMU. Master’s in info systems? Number 1 or 2. Tepper school of business? Number 20. There are many, many more. Just because some majors are top of their field doesn’t make the other ones poor quality.</p>
<p>I agree Busdriver, and D would probably fit right in with “freaks and geeks” she’s spent her high school years being the girl hangin out with all the boy robotics geeks–and that was because she was into the robots and not the boys! (for the most part ) She is robotic’s team captain and the rest of team is all guys! If money were no object we might lean towards CMU. But of course, $$$ figures in and I guess I can’t say that I’m unhappy that she will be only 1/2 hr away as opposed to 4 1/2 hrs. Also, she worked so hard in HS that I don’t know if CMU’s intense academics is what she needs. Maybe this sounds crazy, but I’d like to see her lighten up a bit and enjoy college life!</p>
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<p>Actually, the CMU alum friends and colleagues who criticized their alma mater’s humanities/social science programs admitted that most of their CMU classmates liked the lower-level of the humanities/social science courses as they were not only geared towards their STEM interests, but also facilitated their ability to get high grades without having to put in nearly the same amount of work as their STEM programs. </p>
<p>In this respect, the attitude their CMU classmates and possibly your son’s friends may have had is similar to those of an older college classmate in being able to fulfill his boarding school’s science requirements by taking two non-lab “rocks for jocks” type science classes, non-STEM college students who made a point of doing so to fulfill math/science requirements, and STEM majors who deliberately chose humanities/social science courses with the lowest reading loads, minimal lengthy essays(anything less than 5-8 pages IME*) and the least challenging Profs. </p>
<ul>
<li>IMHO, that was pathetic considering my STEM-centered public magnet high school required us to regularly write essays exceeding that length and everyone had to turn in a 20 page Senior English thesis on top of all other academic requirements.<br></li>
</ul>
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<p>Neither of the two examples are considered related to humanities/social sciences by most academics or the population at large.</p>
<p>As for my “dissing” CMU in the humanities/social sciences…all I’m doing is conveying information I’ve heard from dozens of CMU alums who attended and graduated CMU. As far as they were all concerned, the humanities/social sciences courses/programs/students were markedly lower than their STEM or Fine Arts counterparts. </p>
<p>In fact…they felt it was such an issue they made it a point to encourage their own younger siblings/relatives/classmates and kids to apply to universities with more well-rounded strengths if they were serious about doing a double-major* or moreso…if their sole/main interest is in the humanities/social science fields. </p>
<ul>
<li>I.e. EE and US History which a HS classmate did at Stanford, Chemistry/Pre-med and Sociology a cousin did at Cornell, two college classmates who did Neuroscience/Comparative Lit and a violin/biology at my LAC**, and CS/East Asian Studies an older cousin’s classmate did at Berkeley. All of them attended universities/LACs where the humanities/social science departments were nearly as/as topflight as their STEM counterparts.</li>
</ul>
<p>** Both are now in topflight PhD programs in their respective STEM fields…including an HYP.</p>
<p>I’ll just say that I felt the H&SS classes were a bit easier than the classes I was used to in the engineering classes, but I’m not sure if that was so much because of very low expectations in the H&SS classes, but rather very high expectations in my engineering curriculum. I took an upper-level history elective and was appalled at the presentations that students from the department were giving. If I had done some of them in my department’s classes I’d have worried about getting a passing grade.</p>
<p>(That said, I absolutely loved the school and would recommend it to anyone that loves what they’re studying and doesn’t mind doing the work to learn as much as they can about it. I wouldn’t recommend the school as an alternative when you have a great, inexpensive option like UM, though. I don’t think one could recommend ANY school when the difference is, relatively, the small.)</p>
<p>Congrats on your decision…Go Blue!</p>
<p>FWIW, U-M has such a broad student base, that you really can make whatever you want out of it. My son has managed to create a very geek-based social group for himself. It’s all there.</p>
<p>You might be intersested in this article re Robotics at U-M: [Levin:</a> Robotics technology ‘is our ticket to an awful lot of good’](<a href=“http://www.ur.umich.edu/update/archives/120410/robotics]Levin:”>http://www.ur.umich.edu/update/archives/120410/robotics)</p>