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Michigan has a strong engineering school, beating out a good deal of the Ivy Leagues. For example, we're #2 in IOE, #3 in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, #4 in Environmental Engineering, etc. You can get some more information here if you're interested. It really depends on what field of engineering you're looking to go into.

If you're thinking about applying to U of M, one of the main factors that attracted me to the school was its strong international presence. For example, Michigan is ranked #15 in The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2010 and US News & World Report. If you're considering studying business, Ann Arbor's Ross School of Business also is one of the top in the nation; its BBA program is consistently in the top five, comparable to that of UPenn or Notre Dame.

There are so many other great colleges, though. Depending on where you live, state colleges can net you great bang for the buck. You'll be spending the next four years of your life there, so campus visits are always a good idea. And don't forget that you'll have to like the climate, or it's going to be hell on you. I'm not so much into the socal scene as I am into cold weather, so Michigan was, naturally, a good fit for me.

Why are universities always about "We are "#" in "x" and "y"". Isn't the important your success?

senior year was the shit... i slept the whole fckin year... it was so easy and the best part was in my pre-cal class i was always asleep, the teacher didnt care worth a shit... and the other students were pissed to hell when i got a A in that class
I took the SAT early senior year and was applying for scholarships cuz my broke ass didnt have any money for college, let alone my parents. I got a 2290 and scored a 800 on the math portion... i got refused for many scholarships but i still got accepted for some cheap ones -.- i got accepted to cal poly pomona which is the school i wanted to go to but after all the fees the scholarship money i was getting wasnt close to enough so i ended up not going. now im a bellhop at a casino living on my own :/ im going in the navy soon so they can pay for my school, im gonna see if i can get into a better school too... fck being poor

So I have a few questions, I have been curious about asking someone from a top college you don't have to answer them but it would help me if you do

1)What was your SAT score?
2)What was your gpa?
3)How many extracurricular did you have?

I only have NHS as a an extracurricular activity atm. Its not that I don't want to take more, but my school doesn't offer many other then sports and I don't have a ride to depend on, I am thinking about trying out for a sport next year so how well do you think my chances would be with two? Not applying for U of M, just asking about general mid range unis.

Thanks for taking the time to write this!
So, I am planning to major in Chemical Engineering, do you know people that are majoring in Chemical Engineering? and apparently from what I've heard, it's actually one of the hardest of all the engineering disciplines, would you say that's true?

wow fena you are at U of M? cause thats where I am

chemical engineering is one of the hardest ones yes, especially at U of M. ChemE, aerospace, and EE are probably the hardest..but you get 70k job offers even before you graduate lol. Engineering isn't for everyone though, don't be pressured to do it if its for the money cause your 4 years are gonna be hell..

^Jstar thanks for your input, yea however I actually do like Chemistry and I like to do Math, and ChemE seems to fall in both of those subjects. Although I heard you get good salaries, and actually didn't do it for the money, I actually like to solve problems.

No way! What year are you? I'm guessing you're in Engineering, so do you live on North Campus?


1) I got a 2370 on the SAT, and a 35 on the ACT.
2) My GPA was 4.01, but that's pretty low for my school. What's more important, I think, is class rank and what percentile you fall into, since that's a better measure of how you compare to your classmates. For me, I was only in the top 11%, since I didn't really work as hard as I should have in high school.
3) I had quite a few extracurriculars. Like you, I was in NHS. I was also the captain of my school's wrestling team, vice president of the school computer club (hah), vice president of the school's Chinese club, and then just a member in a bunch of other organizations like psychology club and the like. Outside of school, I had some volunteer hours and 12 or so years of piano, so I was in decent shape.

Two extracurriculars isn't anything noteworthy, to be honest. If I were you, I'd find some organizations to join at your school - there have to be some that you at least have some remote interest in. You don't even have to attend the meetings if they're not required. Like I mentioned earlier, having a good deal of extracurriculars is one of those things that don't really make your transcript better, but can make your transcript worse. At the end of the day, colleges look at how you compare to the other applicants in the pool. That one extra club you joined might separate you from the rest of the crowd.

Volunteer hours outside of just NHS aren't a bad idea, either. I know you said that you don't have a dependable ride, but you could try to carpool up with a friend and find some community service you can do. Colleges want students who don't just study all day long; ideally, what they want to see is an applicant who excels academically but is interested in the world around him as well.



Chem E is hard, man, there's no doubt about it. My girlfriend is a freshman at UT studying Chem E (long-distance, haha...), and she's swamped with work. Like Jstar mentioned though, the end result is definitely worth it. For example, she's thinking about working in the petro industry after graduation, and there are some pretty ludicrous opportunities there. If you like math and science, it's something you should look into further.

I'm not sure how credible Yahoo articles are, but here's an interesting article I read the other day regarding disappearing jobs...

Damn 2370, and top 11% of class isn't bad at all, the SAT score is at genius level actually. I am in top 15% of my class and moving up still, but I don't think I will get my SAT score that far.

lol im a freshman and in the engineering school. wbu? I actually live in central. I'm actually thinking about majoring in something else, apply to ross or go down to lsa. I'm definitely doing something math/science related though

I'm from Pa and I'm not really sure what major I'm looking at. I didn't have the best grades are anything really until my senior year kicked in. Right now I have about a 98.3 average out of 100 in all my classes. SAT's I did poorly I took them twice highest score was a 1430/2400. I just see community college as an opportunity. If I get accepted to one of the state schools I am applying to then I will definitely not go to community college but if worse comes to worse I will enroll. I matured and I'm learning from my mistakes now.

Did you fill out FAFSA? If you talked to finances, I think you mighta had a chance at working things out. If you really wanna go, they can always give you a job offer on campus. You'll be working shitty hours, but if you wanted to go, it's the way to do it.