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The university itself takes pride in the quality of educators it chooses for its programs. Every instructor I have had in my first master's program, as well as my current master's program, has provided an extensive amount of passion and knowledge on each subject that they teach. Not only do the instructors provide a wealth of expertise, but they also provide understanding when schedules get crazy. This is especially important when taking online courses; they understand motivation is trying sometimes... Read More but they keep motivating. The degree programs offered provide a deep look into the industry of interest and construct the courses in such a way that each course is not designed the same way; perfect for someone who needs to do online courses but enjoys change!

This is more of a review on living in Ann Arbor (AA) and attending the University of Michigan (UofM). This review will be biased towards one side more than the other. I am currently a graduate student in engineering and have attended UofM for two years now, but have only been able to live in AA for one year. The pros of living in AA are that if you like the cold, like me, it's pretty much constantly cold from October through early April. This comes with a caveat as it is pretty much always dreary... Read More outside since I have been here during these times. There are plenty of things to do in AA, and downtown AA during the summer is gorgeous. Michigan in general is beautiful, and AA captures that by being unique in its layout and non cookie cutter outline. I will also say that most of the professors that I have had have been some of the best that I have had in my numerous courses and are knowledgeable in their area. Most have emphasized understanding the topic instead of just knowing it to get a good grade which I have found is a key trait to have/look for in a professor. I will also say that since UofM is such a large university that it allows for a large and vast network of connections that one can utilize as well as allows for numerous amenities to be available to the students. That's where I personally believe the positives end. The cons of AA and UofM long and often overlooked, I know because I did when I arrived here. I personally am not a huge fan of public transportation, unless its in the from of subways or trolly cars. AA has neither of those and uses busses pretty much for everything. UofM does the same thing, busses are used to shipped students to and from the North, Medical and Central campus locations as well as other satellite locations around those campuses, this is because there is pretty much no parking available to students on Central campus unless you want to back $2.00 and hour for metered parking. By no parking I mean there is no parking available for students who have purchased a UofM parking pass, so you have to either park on sub street and walk, pay the $2.00 per hour parking or find a place to park in the overly crowded student parking locations to take the bus too and from wherever you parked at. Then there is the case of the numerous rec locations that UofM has, all of which there is no parking near them unless you want to pay $2.00 an hour for metered parking. This is all assuming that you have a vehicle and drive to these locations, which I prefer. If you have a vehicle and are deciding to move to Michigan from out of state you should do some of the following: A). Have a brand new vehicle with a warranty, B). Buy a warranty for your vehicle or C). Become a mechanic or knowledge enough to fix your vehicle. I say this for two reasons 1 being that Michigan is in the rust belt and you car will hate you after only one winter for all the rust it will get. 2) The roads in Michigan are one of, if not the worst maintained/repaired road system in all of the United States. With all honesty 80-85% of the time when I am driving I am driving on roads littered with potholes (and this is after finding the routes that have the nicest roads). Some of the potholes that you will encounter will be large enough and deep enough that they will quite literally snap some of your suspension components, shake things out of place on your vehicle or even break entire rusty components on your vehicle if you are driving fast enough. Unfortunately some of the larger potholes that will do this to your vehicle just happen to be on the highways/interstate. Another aspect that must be kept in mind is the cost of living, which is 10% higher than the national average in AA. Meaning for every $1.10 you spend in AA the average American spent $1.00. This is especially evident in rent prices. I have friends who live in Lawrence, KS who live in a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a two car detached garage and a giant backyard who pay 300 less than I do for a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment which is priced about average compared to other styled apartments in AA. The food is more expensive, the gas is more expensive than most. Almost everything is more expensive than most of the midwest except for alcohol. Lastly for the cons is the price of tuition for out of state residents. The out of state tuition is over three times higher than instate tuition (for reference my alma mater (Kansas State University) is two times higher but still half the price of UofM's out of state tuition). There is also no viable way for an out of state student to obtain instate tuition as well. The only way I would recommend someone attend UofM if they are not native to Michigan is to start signing up for as many scholarships as one can or talk to professors to get in with them as early as one can. Finally, people here are nice, but not down to earth. What I mean by this I mean most people here are nice because the know its the correct thing to do/act but are not genuinely nice people in the AA/Ypsilanti area compared to most of the midwest. In conclusion, UofM looks like the perfect location on paper or at a glance but as you look closer at it you it looks less and less appetizing. For those alcoholics its like this "When you go out and drinking and see someone who looks like a solid 8-10, but when you wake up next to them the next morning they're actually a solid 4-5." Make sense? If you had made it this far you may tell that I am from a less densely populated area than AA/Ypsilanti/Detroit area and that's why I don't enjoy some of the things I listed above. If you grew up in Michigan, and or have money to spare, and or already have secured funding for tuition/housing/food/gas then Michigan may be right for you, otherwise if you are from out of state and don't have at least two of the three from above then DO NOT attend the University of Michigan. People will say UofM is a topnotch school, and it is, but do not let the rankings fool you like they have numerous other individuals. I have been on numerous campus visits at all of the top 10 engineering schools in America and I would say nearly 90% of the students that I have talked to have been from universities that I have never heard of and aren't even on the top 50 engineering programs. This just goes to say that UofM does have numerous possibilities, which if one utilized all of them can make for a brilliant individual, but it's more about what you as an individual do that will distinguish yourself than what you school ranking is. As stated prior, you can obtain the same quality, if not higher, level of understanding from other universities at a cheaper price, the main thing you get from UofM are the name, network and the possibilities. Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk.

This is my first year studying in ASU. I am very exciting about the campus life and my degree program here. I am aerospace engineering (MS) student and need to take two math for my program. "Partial Differential Equation" and "Linear Algebra " are the courses I taking. Although I already learned them in my college, I still feel the difference between in here and in my hometown. The content of those two courses is more difficult and broader than I assume and it make me need to use a totally different... Read More mind to understand the same theory. That is why I think there is a place worth studying!

The Aerospace Engineering department at SJSU is amazing. It is unbelievable how much undergraduates and graduate students learn in the span of just a few years. Our program is relatively small so students really get to know their professors and each other. I've had the pleasure of meeting some of my favorite professors ever in this program, and I know I will be in touch with my classmates for many years. We have very knowledgeable faculty who work in the field (NASA, Textron (Cessna), etc) so they... Read More bring a lot of real-world experience. We have alumni who come back to speak with students, teach courses, and recruit interns from the program. There are also lots of clubs and opportunities to pursue your individual interests, and being in Silicon Valley there are many internship opportunities too. I feel well-prepared for the "real world" and I am just so grateful to have found this program.

The program I am currently seeking ranks among the top aerospace and mechanical engineering programs in the country. The school is small, comparatively to the undergraduate school I attended (2nd largest in the nation), which allows for a closer relationship among faculty and students. The school is technologically oriented, allowing for real-time issues to be tackled over graduate research in the fields of environmental sustainability and advanced aerospace systems. As IIT resides in the city of... Read More Chicago, one can only imagine the benefits this has to a young adult. The only downfall to this program is that the school is private and therefore results in higher tuition costs. The ability to fund your education, especially at the master's level is extremely difficult and can result in large amounts of debt.