Wisconsin or Purdue for ChemE

Hi guys,
I’ve narrowed my options for next year down to UW-Madison and Purdue to study Chemical Engineering, but I’m at a bit of a crossroads since I love them both. They’re both OOS for me, and although Purdue is about 10k less, money isn’t an issue. Does anyone have any insight on which they believe would be the better choice?

Both great schools! I think more similar than not.

My daughter is a chem e at Purdue. Do you have any specific questions?

@momofsenior1 has she enjoyed her experience at Purdue? And does she feel like the school is setting her up to get a good job? I know I’ll be fine at either school, but hearing what a student thinks would be great!

She loves it! She works very hard but it’s been great so far. She’s already registered for classes for next year as a chem e and the transition to major process was a piece of cake.

The career center and office for professional practice have been amazing. She landed her co-op in January at the career fair. Purdue is very focused on career readiness.

Are you direct admit to either major? If not, what are the specific requirements for admission to Chem E at each school?

Purdue: 3.2 technical and overall GPA automatic admission, otherwise competitive:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/InfoFor/CurrentStudents/enrollment-policy

Wisconsin: 3.5 technical and 3.0 overall GPA to stay in the chemical engineering major, even after direct admission:
https://www.engr.wisc.edu/academics/student-services/academic-advising/first-year-undergraduate-students/progression-requirements/

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2122052-compare-contrast-my-cheme-programs-p1.html suggests that you got into UIUC direct admit to chemical engineering, and were waiting on some in-state public universities. Seems like some of those would be lower risk (earning a 3.2 or 3.5 GPA in college is typically harder than earning a 3.2 or 3.5 GPA in high school).

@ucbalumnus I didn’t get accepted to any of the major UCs, so my options are all out of state now.

Go to Purdue because its just somewhat better connected to jobs in your home state of California, and other California residents often choose Purdue.

Wisconsin is good for PhD hopefuls though. U of Wisconsin is more isolated, even being in the capital of Wisconsin.
Purdue is a name brand out in California.

Weather is also slightly less cold in Indiana.

I think students are less drinking oriented at Purdue, compared to Wisconsin, but that could be debated.
Wisconsin, due to the cold and isolated environment, is a very heavy party school. Both schools have plenty of parties though.

While admission to major at Purdue is “competitive” for a GPA under 3.2, the rate of 1st/2nd choice acceptance is variously reported at 90-98%.

My daughter is a Sophomore MechE and very happy with her choice. Her HS classmate is ChemE and also very happy. The only person in her circle of friends that didn’t get into first choice had a 2.5 and was trying to get into the very competitive Aero major.

Both are good schools (Dad’s PhD was from Madison and I was born at the UofW hospital, so I have a soft spot for cheeseheads too), so you really can’t go wrong. But spending an extra $10k doesn’t seem to make sense.

The transition to major debate seems to really be a non issue. It seems to me that the students who are really, really struggling are already changing majors out of engineering. That’s no difference than any other school.

UW is in Madison. I wouldn’t say they are isolated at all! Can’t speak to the party culture though.

Not even UCR?

Both are great schools for Chem E and, as an Indiana resident who knows many Purdue students and grads and my own kid went to UW – you really can’t go wrong. Saving some money by choosing Purdue makes sense, particularly as admission to Chem E at UW is especially tough, it is known as the most difficult Engineering major at UW to get into.

West Lafayette is more than an hour from Indianapolis airport, Madison is about 2 hours to O’Hare, with coach bus service throughout the day. I have to disagree with the characterization of Madison as isolated – it is a mid-sized city (250,000+), the state capitol, with a vibrant music, restaurants, arts scene and great college sports, and is generally considered one of the great college towns, similar to Ann Arbor. Yes, there are kids who drink heavily, regularly, but there are also many more kids who don’t. My kid was in greek life at UW with good friends in highly competitive engineering majors – his friends balanced their social life effectively and graduated with excellent jobs/grad school outcomes.

A hard working student can launch successfully on the west coast from either school and, at $10k less a year, Purdue would be a great option.

One reason why I’m not set on Purdue is that I’m not completely sure I want to stay in engineering, and it seems like Wisconsin would be a better place to be if I ever wanted to switch to something that isn’t engineering or math/science based.

I could be wrong, but I remembered the GPA requirement was 2.7 for ChE and 3.3 for ECE. This was many years ago when I was there. Things have really changed.

@eho – yikes, that is quite a change! My UW grad knew plenty of kids who revised their major plans after realizing they could not hit the technical gpa required for Chem E. These were hard working kids, definitely not slackers.

Current GPA thresholds to stay in the major are given at https://www.engr.wisc.edu/academics/student-services/academic-advising/first-year-undergraduate-students/progression-requirements/ .

3.5 technical / 3.0 overall for chemical engineering
3.2 technical / 2.5 overall for computer engineering
2.8 technical / 2.5 overall for electrical engineering

Note about chem e at Purdue…they have a cap of 190 students that they’ll enroll in the major. Only 160 students opted for chem e as their first choice so the 3.2 GPA threshold is a non issue. Can’t say that will be the case going forward though.

Where is the capacity and enrollment documented?

If that is the case, then Purdue seems like much lower risk than Wisconsin for the OP in terms of getting into and staying in the major.

I would say that both schools will prepare you equally as well for careers and both have large amounts of coops/internships to choose from.
Also the progressions don’t tell you about the grade distribution. For the entire engineering department at Wisconsin, the average gpa is a 3.4 from freshman through senior year.
If I were you, I would call the department to find out more about the retention rate in Eng. and any other concerns you might have. I believe that any reputable college would be honest with you. There is no one on this sight that is more qualified to tell you which school is better for you.
You are very lucky to have to wonderful schools to choose from. I would think you would be equally successful at either. I’m sure you must have visited so I would think that putting everything else aside, go with where you think you would be the happiest.