UMich vs CMU vs Rice

[Anonymous]

DC is having hard time deciding which school majoring in engineering (bioengineering) - may be going medicine later. Is any of these schools are cut-throat, grade deflation, belt curve grade? We know they are completely different and will be visiting the open admitted students soon. We want to know what to ask or look for when we get there.

[Anonymous]

All three are fantastic programs, but the cultures and settings of the three couldn't be more different. Choose the one where they feel the most comfortable.

[Anonymous]

UMich can be grade deflated/curved for intro courses. Rice isn't (they actually have grade inflation). Not sure about CMU. I recommend Rice for the quality of life + easy access to the largest medical center in the world for internships and research opportunities in bioengineering.

[Anonymous]

We have visited all three over the past couple of years. Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather. About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe. Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three. Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture. But located outside/outskirts of Houston in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there. Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc. MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car). A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have visited all three over the past couple of years. Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather. About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe. Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three. Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture. But located outside/outskirts of Houston in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there. Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc. MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car). A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.

This is all exactly what I would say about the locations. Very well put.

[Anonymous]

NP, as a family considering CMU and U Mich who has not visited CMU yet thank you! This is really helpful.

[Anonymous]

CMU will likely have the hardest CS component of the engineering degree. For med school, Michigan will be the easiest to get a higher GPA. CMU will mean the most degree specialized classes, UMich and less so Rice will have more bumper classes for GPA.

[Anonymous]

All are great schools. I suggest you look closely at the curriculum for each. When we looked a few years ago, CMU offered biomedical engineering as a second major but not a primary one. So would have to double major in biomedical and another engineering discipline. May or may not be a deal breaker, but something to keep in mind assuming they haven’t changed that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have visited all three over the past couple of years. Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather. About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe. Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three. Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture. But located outside/outskirts of Houston in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there. Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc. MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car). A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.

Rice is in the heart of Houston..

[Anonymous]

Michigan engineering is tough. Not easy to keep a high gpa. My daughter is a sophomore. If med school is a possibility I would not suggest engineering at least not at the schools listed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have visited all three over the past couple of years. Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather. About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe. Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three. Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture. But located outside/outskirts of Houston in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there. Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc. MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car). A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.

Rice is in the heart of Houston..

Which can be a plus or a minus. I toured there with my mother (long, long ago) after I got in, and when my mother asked about safety, the tour guide hemmed and hawed. We learned from another student that the previous semester, 3 students had been marched off campus at gunpoint and raped. That shut down my prospects of going there very quickly. But it is possible that Houston has gotten safer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have visited all three over the past couple of years. Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather. About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe. Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three. Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture. But located outside/outskirts of Houston in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there. Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc. MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car). A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.

Rice is in the heart of Houston..

Which can be a plus or a minus. I toured there with my mother (long, long ago) after I got in, and when my mother asked about safety, the tour guide hemmed and hawed. We learned from another student that the previous semester, 3 students had been marched off campus at gunpoint and raped. That shut down my prospects of going there very quickly. But it is possible that Houston has gotten safer.

Rice is in a super safe part of town. Surrounded by some of the most affluent homes in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have visited all three over the past couple of years. Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather. About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe. Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three. Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture. But located outside/outskirts of Houston in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there. Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc. MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car). A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.

Rice is in the heart of Houston..

It didn't feel like the heart of Houston. It was in a sort of isolated, but really cute area. They were building a performing arts center when we visited. That will be good. But it really is a smaller campus. Not in the downtown of Houston and more suburban in feel than the other two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have visited all three over the past couple of years. Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather. About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe. Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three. Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture. But located outside/outskirts of Houston in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there. Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc. MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car). A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.

Rice is in the heart of Houston..

It didn't feel like the heart of Houston. It was in a sort of isolated, but really cute area. They were building a performing arts center when we visited. That will be good. But it really is a smaller campus. Not in the downtown of Houston and more suburban in feel than the other two.

Does Houston really have a "heart," though? I've only been there a few times, but it feels more like a place with multiple nodes (Downtown, Galleria, medical center/museum district) rather than one center of town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have visited all three over the past couple of years. Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather. About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe. Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three. Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture. But located outside/outskirts of Houston in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there. Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc. MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car). A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.

Rice is in the heart of Houston..

It didn't feel like the heart of Houston. It was in a sort of isolated, but really cute area. They were building a performing arts center when we visited. That will be good. But it really is a smaller campus. Not in the downtown of Houston and more suburban in feel than the other two.

Does Houston really have a "heart," though? I've only been there a few times, but it feels more like a place with multiple nodes (Downtown, Galleria, medical center/museum district) rather than one center of town.

You are correct. There are a number of downtown districts, all with a different feel.