“Northwestern is significantly more impressive on the pedigree level / resume.”
StanfordGSB00, I am not sure who told you that, but by and large, most employers, from Fortune 500 companies to Investment Banks, and from Silicon Valley techs to Management Consulting firms do not differentiate between Michigan and Northwestern. As far as academe is concerned, Michigan and Northwestern are considered equally prestigious. Outside of the crowd that worships the US News (aka, impressionable high school children and parents), there are not many highly educated adults who would agree with your statement.
“Why would you pay the same amount of $$$$ to go to a large public school (which is still awesome but not quite the same level as NW) when you can go an elite private school with more resources, a higher caliber student body, smaller classes, etc.”
So let me get this straight, Michigan is merely a “large public school”, but Northwestern is elite? Are you for real? First of all, Northwestern does not have more resources than Michigan. You clearly need to study Michigan more before laying such claims. Students, on average, are indeed of a slightly higher caliber at Northwestern, but the students at Michigan are not far behind. Classes at Northwestern will be smaller than at Michigan, but that is mainly thanks to the thousands of freshman seminars offered at Northwestern. Remove seminars from the equation, and Michigan and Northwestern will have a similar ratio of large:mid-sized:small classes. Intro level classes at Northwestern will be smaller, but still large. Intermediate and advanced classes at both universities will be roughly the same size.
“UMichigan alums will disagree here but if money is not a factor, 90% of students are choosing NW over UMichigan.”
That is a grossly exaggerated figure. While there are many students who choose Michigan over Northwestern because of cost, there are probably just as many who choose Northwestern over Michigan for the same reason. I would say that when you cross out financial decisions, cross admits choose Northwestern over Michigan on a two third to one third basis. But it should be noted that the disparity is due to ignorance, not objective analysis of the pros and cons. High school students are impressionable and easily swayed by criteria that are, quite frankly, immaterial. Impartial students who choose to look at those two objectively will be equally split between Michigan and Northwestern.