Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visited MI and vibes are work hard-play hard (from tour guide) so I think many social opportunities. One thing to note is that the engineering section of campus is separate from the main campus. Kids can easily take buses for core humanities and such so they have worked this out and while I would not say it should dissuade anyone, it's something to know about before you decide. Ann Arbor looks very fun with a lively restaurant scene.

Thanks. I wasn't aware of that.

Am reading this for my younger kid but I’ll note that my older kid is at NU and going back and forth between ends of campus for humanities and stem classes has been challenging — the buses aren’t frequent so she typically rides bike but that’s challenging when temps are well below freezing (the gears and brakes freeze) plus hard to find good gloves etc. so I would consider the weather and look at the bus schedule.

Anonymous wrote:nice! how is security around north campus esp for females?

I am the person who wrote about the bus. I would say that security is typical for a college. You can look at the campus security reports for every college you are considering. I believe that Ann Arbor's stats look a bit higher because the town borders the campus so I think some of the stats include incidents affecting students in town that are reported to the school.

I am female and married and attended an urban school for undergrad. I always erred on the side of not being alone late at night in undergrad and at Michigan for grad school. I walked to and rode the shuttle bus alone from Central Campus to North Campus up to about 10 at night and never had issues along my walk. I did have a car but parking is limited, inconvenient, and expensive. My sister was a single grad student at Michigan and had a car and lived in the North Campus area before I attended and had no concerns about being on North Campus at night. She did graduate lab work, etc. with odd hours. The buses themselves feel totally safe. It's rare for non-students to be on them, although that's allowed. And I never saw any behavior that was unusual.

I would say it's definitely safer than a big city/my undergrad but I'm one of those women who is safety conscious so I was always conservative in my late night travels on foot alone. Campus is usually busy but there are also quiet evenings where there's little foot traffic. There are student-oriented areas with businesses all around Central Campus so the general public is also there as well.

Since I went to undergrad, all schools I'm familiar with have added more safety helps. Michigan has the late night buddy programs, campus security helps, etc. Plus for those who are okay with rideshare, there's Uber and Lyft, etc. I don't have all the details on that but it would be easy to find.

In summary, I think it's pretty safe, and I felt comfortable, but I was never one to be out drinking and walking home alone at 3 AM. My preference was always to go out with a friend or date to late night things. If I'd needed it, I would have called for a campus buddy service.

Hope that gives a clear but supportive view. I'm the kind of person who doesn't think anywhere is 100% safe so I'm not one to tell concerned parents that everything is perfect.

Anonymous wrote:in purdue, umich , vtech, all engineering, deferred ut austin and rejected princeton
va resident
going to mich unless ivy comes in March, knows gtech higher rated but not crazy about the school

is mich worth it oos?

social scene is important and am willing to pay more if kid happier
wants to join sorority so they dont have to worry about social scene

If you are looking at job outcomes, I don’t think there is that big of a difference that would justify the cost difference between in-state VA Tech and OOS Purdue or OOS Michigan. If you have the money and are looking at the everything else, UMich is hard to find a lot of exact replicas. In a walkable college town with a campus, while near a city, and big on sports and school spirit and strong alumni, strong in so many areas - engineering, business, and the arts, and attracts talented students who get involved in more than just what they want to study.

The biggest thing I will say about the social scene, is not having enough housing on campus adds to the pressure to find your group and sort out living situations earlier in the game and being at a large state school OOS, it’s not always easy. If your DD is looking at Greek life, that might help, both socially and housing, but they shouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket. Still seek out the different avenues to get involved and make friends and find activities they enjoy.

Anonymous wrote:nice! how is security around north campus esp for females?

PP and I can only give my impression from the tour but the “engineering” campus seemed just like any other campus I’ve visited, and I would have no security concerns. There’s a big central building with a union/food/cafe/tech store and lots of people. I’d feel very comfortable with my daughter attending and being in that section of campus. Also it’s not just engineering - I believe some of the art or media school is there, too. There are many buildings. You could probably find a map online.

nice! how is security around north campus esp for females?

Anonymous wrote:Visited MI and vibes are work hard-play hard (from tour guide) so I think many social opportunities. One thing to note is that the engineering section of campus is separate from the main campus. Kids can easily take buses for core humanities and such so they have worked this out and while I would not say it should dissuade anyone, it's something to know about before you decide. Ann Arbor looks very fun with a lively restaurant scene.

Regarding the shuttle bus...I used that daily for two school years to get from my grad student housing to Central Campus. Many freshman are assigned Central Campus dorms anyway (thousands of them). And new dorms are opening soon to add beds on Central Campus. Freshman do like Central Campus if they like to go into the town or do a lot of social events at night.

Taking a campus shuttle bus is not big deal. For many people, including myself, who are used to public transportation, it is a non-issue. If this worries your family, check it out live during a campus visit. It's free to anyone so you can get on and ride the loop.

Also, many sophomores and most upperclassmen rent apartments. So within 1-2 years, they can choose exactly where they want to live. There are different clusters of apartments and amenities on all sides of campus. Engineering students do tend to get apartments near their classes on North Campus.

The reasons the campuses are separate is because the top of Central Campus borders the Huron River valley. So North Campus is across the river valley. Central Campus is surrounded by town on the other sides.

Anonymous wrote:Visited MI and vibes are work hard-play hard (from tour guide) so I think many social opportunities. One thing to note is that the engineering section of campus is separate from the main campus. Kids can easily take buses for core humanities and such so they have worked this out and while I would not say it should dissuade anyone, it's something to know about before you decide. Ann Arbor looks very fun with a lively restaurant scene.

Thanks. I wasn't aware of that.

Visited MI and vibes are work hard-play hard (from tour guide) so I think many social opportunities. One thing to note is that the engineering section of campus is separate from the main campus. Kids can easily take buses for core humanities and such so they have worked this out and while I would not say it should dissuade anyone, it's something to know about before you decide. Ann Arbor looks very fun with a lively restaurant scene.

Anonymous wrote:in purdue, umich , vtech, all engineering, deferred ut austin and rejected princeton
va resident
going to mich unless ivy comes in March, knows gtech higher rated but not crazy about the school

is mich worth it oos?

social scene is important and am willing to pay more if kid happier
wants to join sorority so they dont have to worry about social scene

My kid loves it at Gtech. Freshman this year. There is a big social scene at Tech especially in the Greek system which is popular. Seems the motto there is work hard and play hard. He was accepted at UT Austin as well and a couple of Top privates. He liked Austin, but just personally loved the vibe at Gtech better. Between UMich and Purdue I would choose UMich for social scene. Not that Purdue is not good for that, but UMich would have the edge in my opinion.

Anonymous wrote:in purdue, umich , vtech, all engineering, deferred ut austin and rejected princeton
va resident
going to mich unless ivy comes in March, knows gtech higher rated but not crazy about the school

is mich worth it oos?

social scene is important and am willing to pay more if kid happier
wants to join sorority so they dont have to worry about social scene

Yes UMich is worth it. No question.

in purdue, umich , vtech, all engineering, deferred ut austin and rejected princeton
va resident
going to mich unless ivy comes in March, knows gtech higher rated but not crazy about the school

is mich worth it oos?

social scene is important and am willing to pay more if kid happier
wants to join sorority so they dont have to worry about social scene

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD applied to these same engineering schools, deferred at Purdue, Boulder and Case Western. 1490 SAT (high math score) 3.9 GPA UW, excellent EC’s including leadership, solid essays and I thought solid recs but now I’m not sure since we don’t see what was written. MCPS. Nervously waiting for 7 more schools, including UMD CP. Wishing everyone good luck

Good luck to you too! As you know from the other thread DC was also deferred at Boulder with similar scores. I guess we'll find out next Friday if they will have an option or if we need to wait another 2-3 months for things to clarify. DC also applied to McGill Engineering where they required only GPA and SAT.

Hope you got some good news today. DC deferred at Michigan but got into V Tech. Good luck again!!!

Congrats on V Tech!

Thank you! As I mentioned - huge luck to you!!! I feel bad because we already have an elite European school as an option (business and the most competitive program in it) and yet I felt so stressed out about these outcomes. I should not have but I did! And I feel bad because I think your stress level was/is even higher! Fingers crossed!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD applied to these same engineering schools, deferred at Purdue, Boulder and Case Western. 1490 SAT (high math score) 3.9 GPA UW, excellent EC’s including leadership, solid essays and I thought solid recs but now I’m not sure since we don’t see what was written. MCPS. Nervously waiting for 7 more schools, including UMD CP. Wishing everyone good luck

Good luck to you too! As you know from the other thread DC was also deferred at Boulder with similar scores. I guess we'll find out next Friday if they will have an option or if we need to wait another 2-3 months for things to clarify. DC also applied to McGill Engineering where they required only GPA and SAT.

Hope you got some good news today. DC deferred at Michigan but got into V Tech. Good luck again!!!

Congrats on V Tech!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD applied to these same engineering schools, deferred at Purdue, Boulder and Case Western. 1490 SAT (high math score) 3.9 GPA UW, excellent EC’s including leadership, solid essays and I thought solid recs but now I’m not sure since we don’t see what was written. MCPS. Nervously waiting for 7 more schools, including UMD CP. Wishing everyone good luck

Good luck to you too! As you know from the other thread DC was also deferred at Boulder with similar scores. I guess we'll find out next Friday if they will have an option or if we need to wait another 2-3 months for things to clarify. DC also applied to McGill Engineering where they required only GPA and SAT.

Hope you got some good news today. DC deferred at Michigan but got into V Tech. Good luck again!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students can switch to humanities degrees from any of these schools, if they realize engineering isn't right for them. All have strong liberal arts colleges too.

Not always true. Many schools have minimum GPAs to transfer, and the tough grading in engineering can stop that.

[b]OP was talking about switching majors within the same school if they decide engineering is not right for them. Not transferring.

They are correct. Many colleges within a university have minimum GPA requirements and other hoops to jump. It’s called an intra-university transfer. My kid did it from UVA engineering to UVA Arts & Sciences. Here are the min requirements. https://college.as.virginia.edu/admission-and-transfer-college-arts-and-sciences

DP. Extremely low bar for transferring within that school. Anyone with a pulse would have no issues switching.
“In order to be admitted to the College from another UVA school, you must satisfy all of the College's criteria for Good Standing:
Your semester GPA must be at least 1.8.
You must pass at least 12 graded credits.
You may not have more than one grade below a C-.
You must also have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0”

Right. But the point was the PP was confused between college transfers and intra-university transfers. And for the latter some schools do have min GPA rules.