The University of Michigan - Dearborn

I started first at Ann Arbor and then came to to U of M- Dearborn to save my dollars! To be honest,it's a bad decision. Though,UM-D is way lot better than Wayne state or UM-Flint and most of Engineering programs in UM-D are all recognized by Rackham school of graduate studies but the fact remains:

Ann Arbor is Ann Arbor and Dearborn is Dearborn.

Here are list of pros and cons:

Pros:

1. Fees is less.

2. Faculty are much easily available than U of M.

3. The program is recognized by Rackham school of graduate studies, Ann Arbor and the degree gets conferred by them.

4. You do not feel one in a million here!

5. Staff too are friendly and helpful.

6. Students are pretty friendly unlike in Ann Arbor.

7. Library though small is quite decent.

8. UC is the best place to hang out.

9. Gym is quite well kept and a good trainer.

10. In general though campus is quarter the size of Ann Arbor is neatly maintained and organized.

11. Plenty of parking space :-)

Cons:

1. Very hard to get employment on campus.- Especially RA's, TA's

2. Campus is way too small than Ann Arbor so you dislike it.

3. Life for Grad student suxs as most of the Grad students are employed full time( usually in the big 3. "Ford" in particular) and classes are all in the evening.

4. Average graduate student has way too much of working knowledge and industry experience. They do the degree for sake of getting promotions at their work. Result: WITHOUT WORK EXP YOU FEEL YOU ARE USELESS

5. Its just impossible to take a transfer to UM-AA from UM-D. So just forget this school if you aim at that.

6. International student population is very less.The majority of them are again from Asia- China & India.

7. The course work at CIS suxs!! You kind of lack options and the Department is "way too small" and "courses are very traditional and old". Nothing new or exciting!

8. I feel they lack infrastructure in most of Engineering buildings. Its high time they renovate it. Some rooms in Science building basement is dark and moist which makes you feel its haunted! The best building with state of art facility is CASL. NOTE: This whole issue was actually complained to the Dean and no action has even been considered.

9.Most importantly, no matter whatever happens, its not a great place when compared to Ann Arbor.

9. Hard to find funding.

10. Phd is ruled out option here!

11.Faculty in general in CIS are not too great except with the Head who has an impressive and outstanding profile.Some professors just know nothing!! You just waste your time with them.

12. They do not offer courses according to your needs or according to the catalog.Due to limited faculty and student population. This is very hard and annoying.

13. This school in general caters to Arab Americans and Ford employees. ( I dunno if its positive/negative).

14. You need to forget dorms as it is a commuter school and need to save to buy a car else you cannot survive unlike Ann Arbor.

15. Cafeteria is pretty expensive and very few choices!!

16. KEEP IN MIND: If you are planning to get a job showing your UM-D degree it would be hard as recruiters no matter what do not consider you as a student from U of M. This is the catch so you need to think before investing $ in degree is it all worth it.

17. Athletic teams are also different, They are called as wolves. :(

18. Research opportunities are very limited.

19. Coz of too many experienced people in class fact remains the same its way too hard to get an A+ when you compete with gifted and people with min 12/13 years of experience in industry. I in fact had a class mate who had 23 yrs of experience in IT!

When I applied to this school I couldn't find good reviews about this school to make a right judgement. One last advice if you are flexible with finances and get some external funding please go to Ann Arbor.