<p>Forbes has ranked the top schools in Michigan....just wondering what everyone thinks of the ranking and if anyone has the top ten for US News.
1 U of M
2 Kalamazoo College
3 Hillsdale
4 Calvin
5 Albion
6 Hope
7 Michigan State
8 Michigan Tech
9 Wayne State
10 Alma</p>
<p>Huh, surprised to see Tech is so low. It’s a very popular choice in my area (northern lower peninsula).</p>
<p>sounds about right :)</p>
<p>Forbes rankings are not accurate. That Michigan should be #1 in the state is not surprising. It is far and away the best university in the state. But the rest of the ranking can stand scrutiny. What are LACs being ranked alongside public universities?</p>
<p>I have to agree with Alexandre. Forbes has a history of some quite ridiculous rankings.</p>
<p>I’m not a big fan of Michigan LACs, with the possible exception of Kalamazoo College. Many of them appeal to niche constituencies–Hillsdale to ideological conservatives, Hope and Calvin closely tied to the Dutch Reformed Church. Nothing wrong with that, if that’s your thing, but it’s not for everyone.</p>
<p>I’m also not sure what is the basis for Forbes’ rankings. Here’s how they’d stack up on the basis of entering class middle 50% ACT scores:</p>
<ol>
<li>University of Michigan 28-32</li>
<li>Hillsdale 27-32</li>
<li>Kalamazoo 25-30</li>
<li>Michigan Tech 24-29</li>
<li>Hope 24-29</li>
<li>Calvin 23-29</li>
<li>Michigan State 23-28</li>
<li>Albion 22-28</li>
<li>Alma 22-27</li>
<li>Wayne State 18-25</li>
</ol>
<p>But that leaves out a number of schools that come out ahead of Wayne State on that metric, including, inter alia:</p>
<p>University of Detroit Mercy 22-27
Grand Valley State 21-26
WMU 20-25
CMU 20-25</p>
<p>On the other hand, that’s just one metric. Based on faculty strength, the University of Michigan is head and shoulders above the rest of this field. I’d say Michigan State is a fairly strong second, and Michigan Tech a fairly strong third (recognizing that Tech’s strengths are mainly in STEM fields). And that’'s about how I’d rate them overall, with Kalamazoo College fourth, Hillsdale-Hope-Calvin fifth with an asterisk (*niche schools–beware!), Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.</p>
<p>Yeah … I don’t agree with Forbes on this one. I see MSU as the #2 school in MI. They are arguably #2 in terms of faculty and research activity in State of Michigan. Heck, they have a few things that they are better at than Michigan … like primary/secondary education, nuclear physics (if I remember correctly), and supply chain management.</p>