Going to U MICHIGAN?? -- HELP!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
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<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I'm having trouble making my final list of colleges this summer. So far, I'm sure that I'll be applying to 5 colleges already. I need to decide about the last 5 colleges I'll ultimately apply to.</p>

<p>I'm planning to major in Political Science, but I want the flexibility to change that major in case I don't want to study PS after all. My stats are strong, so I'm not worried about that right now.</p>

<p>Here are the questions I need answered (anyone can answer; alumni or current student answers would be amazing):</p>

<ol>
<li>Are students taught by professors or TAs or other?</li>
<li>What is student/faculty ratio?</li>
<li>Sequence of courses in majors?</li>
<li>When do you have to declare major?</li>
<li>How hard is it to change major?</li>
<li>Enough majors to transfer into later?</li>
<li>Graduate school placement rates?</li>
<li>Where do those graduates go?</li>
<li>How many students go on to post-graduate study?</li>
<li>Any special relationships w/ post-grad institutions or medical or law schools?</li>
<li>What is the general atmosphere of the school?</li>
<li>Quality of related majors (sociology, economics, etc.)</li>
<li>Overall school quality?</li>
</ol>

<p>If anyone at Columbia is currently studying Political Science, it would be great to know what you think about the program.</p>

<p>I was also wondering if there is any undergrad Journalism/Communications program @ Michigan.</p>

<p>Thanks! =)</p>

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<p>Ummm, I don’t think you’re going to find too many Columbia students on this forum. Though I guess when you post the same thing on ten different forums it can be hard to keep track of all the changes, eh?</p>

<p>As for your questions, you should at least do some some basic research for yourself instead of expecting everyone else to do all the grunt work for you. I suggest you start [url=<a href=“http://www.google.com%5Dhere%5B/url”>http://www.google.com]here[/url</a>].</p>

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<p>I agree with Chinaismine. I was going to say the same thing(s).</p>

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<p>Thanks for the “helpful” responses. I targeted my question toward anyone who had the information easily at hand and would help me, which is what users at College Confidential sign up to do.</p>

<p>So, if you don’t want to help, just say so. I don’t need the attitude along with it.</p>

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<p>This forum isn’t your *****, OP. Seriously, the amount of info you want would be enough to fill a several pages of literature. Nobody’s gonna have graduate school placement rates “easily at hand.” I will answer one question though. In response to no. 13, Michigan is a great school and if you don’t have the brains to peruse the internet and find some of these answers yourself, you’re not getting in.</p>

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<p>“I’m planning to major in Political Science, but I want the flexibility to change that major in case I don’t want to study PS after all.”</p>

<p>Within the college of LSA, you can switch majors with ease. There are no hurdles to students changing majors at any time. </p>

<p>“My stats are strong, so I’m not worried about that right now.”</p>

<p>Good, you will need good stats to get into Michigan.</p>

<p>“Here are the questions I need answered (anyone can answer; alumni or current student answers would be amazing):”</p>

<p>I am an alumnus and I will try to answer some of your questions.</p>

<p>“1. Are students taught by professors or TAs or other?”</p>

<p>Most classes at Michigan are tought by professors. Roughly 93% of lower level classes and 99% of higher level classes are taught by professors. Overall, 97% of classes at Michigan are taught by professors. TAs (referred to as GSIs at Michigan), teach only 3% of classes at Michigan, mostly intro level classes in Foreign Languages (only 100 level courses), English (intro to writing) and Mathematics (Calc I and II). </p>

<p>Most of GSI (TA) activity is centered around assisiting professors by leading discussion groups, but even in that capacity, their involvement is limited.</p>

<p>[Information</a> About Graduate Student Instructors at the University of Michigan](<a href=“http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/gsi-sa/teach.html]Information”>http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/gsi-sa/teach.html)</p>

<p>This said, some GSIs (TAs) are brilliant and really enhance the academic experience. Remember that most of them are 3rd or 4th year PhD candidates and since all of Michigan’s graduate programs are very strong, those PhD candidates tend to be very strong.</p>

<p>“2. What is student/faculty ratio?”</p>

<p>The official student to faculty ratio at Michigan is 15/1. But this ratio is generally not telling, so I recommend you not pay too much attention to it. </p>

<p>“3. Sequence of courses in majors?”</p>

<p>I assume you are asking about requiredments within each major. Typically, each major has anywhere from 5-7 required courses. For example, Econ majors must complete Econ 101,102, 401, 402 and Calculus I. There are honors sequences (assuming you are admitted into the honors program and chose to go for it). However, by and large, students have a good deal of flexibility in selecting their classes. Rougly 30 of the 40 courses you take at Michigan will be courses you will chose.</p>

<p>“4. When do you have to declare major?”</p>

<p>Like at most universities, you must declare your major(s) by the end of your Sophomore year.</p>

<p>“5. How hard is it to change major?”</p>

<p>Assuming you wish to changemajors within the same college, it is easy. If you want to change from LSA to Engineering or Ross, it is obviously more difficult but still quite possible. </p>

<p>“6. Enough majors to transfer into later?”</p>

<p>I am not sure I understand your question. Do you mean to ask if there aremany majors availlable to chose from? Michigan has over 100 majors to pick from. Virtually any field you can think of is availlable.</p>

<p>“7. Graduate school placement rates?”</p>

<p>Graduate school placement rates are hard to interpret. They do not take into account quality of applicants and quality of institutions applied to. However, rather than go into details, I will say that Michigan undergrads are afforded the highest level of respect when they apply to graduate school. Michigan students with good GPAs are given the same attention as students with good GPAs from other top universities.</p>

<p>“8. Where do those graduates go?”</p>

<p>Michigan graduate programs are generally the most popular destination for Michigan undergrads. Considering the quality of Michigan’s graduate programs, that is a good thing! Many of Michigan undergrads also end up going to graduate programs at other elite universities, including Chicago, Northwestern, Cal, Stanford, MIT, Johns Hopkins and the Ivy League.</p>

<p>“9. How many students go on to post-graduate study?”</p>

<p>Anywhere between 30% and 40% of Michigan alums end up getting a graduate degree of some sort.</p>

<p>“10. Any special relationships w/ post-grad institutions or medical or law schools?”</p>

<p>Obviously, Michigan has a special relationship with itself. Roughly 25%-30% of MBA, MD and JD students at Michigan completed their undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. Other than that, there seems to be an unspoken connection between the nation’s elite universities. A sort of “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” scenario. Michigan sends many of its top students to top graduate programs around the nation.</p>

<p>“11. What is the general atmosphere of the school?”</p>

<p>That is quite possibly Michigan’s biggest strength and the main reason why I chose to attend it over several other peer institutions, inclusing Cal, Chicago, Columbia and Cornell. The University of Michigan has an incredible atmosphere, both on its beautiful, lively, intellectual and spirited campus and off campus, in the quaint, charming and fun town of Ann Arbor. </p>

<p>“12. Quality of related majors (sociology, economics, etc.)”</p>

<p>Political Science is a Social Science. Michigan’s Social Sciences are all strong. Below are some national rankings of Michigan’s main Social Science departments:</p>

<p>Anthropology: #1
Economics: #12
Political Science: #4
Psychology: #3
Sociology: #3</p>

<p>Those are obviously graduate rankings, but Michigan has considerable resources at its disposal and undergrads have equal access to faculty and facilities, so there is virtually no distinction between quality of undergraduate and graduate education.</p>

<p>Michigan also has a school of Public Policy, which is separate form the college of LSA but relatively easy to combine with an LSA major. Michigan’s Ford school of Public Policy (named after President Ford, a Michigan alum) is generally ranked among the top 10 in the nation and is a small program thattruly gives undergraduate students incredible access to resources.</p>

<p>“13. Overall school quality?”</p>

<p>Michigan is strong across the board. Engineering was ranked #7 in the nation in the latest undergraduate rankings and Business was ranked #3 in the nation. Michigan is also very strong in the Humanities, particularly in the Classics, English, History, International Studies and Philosophy. all of which are ranked among the top 10 in the nation. Relatively speaking, Michigan’s weakest programs are in the pure Sciences. Even then, it is still ranked among the top 10 in Geology and Mathematics and among the top 15 in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. </p>

<p>The resources availlable to the university and its students are equally as impresive. Michigan’s library holds over 8 million volumes, making it the 7th largest university library in the US. </p>

<p>[Largest</a> U.S. Libraries - Table - MSN Encarta](<a href=“http://encarta.msn.com/media_461550874_761564555_-1_1/largest_u_s_libraries.html]Largest”>http://encarta.msn.com/media_461550874_761564555_-1_1/largest_u_s_libraries.html)</p>

<p>Michigan’s endowment stood at $7.6billion last year, making it the 6th largest endowment in the nation, behind only Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale. Of course, that figure will drop considerably this year because of the Economic crisis, but the endowment should still be among the 6 or 7 largest in the nation.</p>

<p>[List</a> of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment]List”>List of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>“If anyone at Columbia is currently studying Political Science, it would be great to know what you think about the program.”</p>

<p>I did not attend Columbia, but my mother attended their MBA program back in the day. When I was chosing between Columbia and Michigan, she recommended I go for Michigan. This said, Columbia’s Political Science departmentis as strong as Michigan’s, so if admitted into the two, you should probablygo with the school you prefer.</p>

<p>“I was also wondering if there is any undergrad Journalism/Communications program @ Michigan.”</p>

<p>Michigan has a Communications department within the school of LSA. As such, you can easily double majorin Political Science and Communications, or changemajors from Political Science to Communications.</p>

<p>I hope this helps.</p>

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<p>Adding on to Alexandre’s post, which, by the way, I thpught was extremely informative and well-thought-out, here is a link to a profile of LSA: </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/lsa_alumni/Home/_TOPNAV_LSA%20Fact%20Sheet/LSA_fact_sheet_08-09.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/lsa_alumni/Home/_TOPNAV_LSA%20Fact%20Sheet/LSA_fact_sheet_08-09.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>These rankings should the OP’s 12th question even further…</p>

<p>Selected Department/Program Rankings and year ranked:
Biological Sciences – 15 in 2008
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – 11 in 2008
Chemistry – 16 in 2008
Earth Science – 5 in 2009
Geological Sciences – 5 in 2006
Mathematics – 9 in 2009
Physics – 13 in 2009
African American History – 7 in 2005
African History – 4 in 2005
Behavioral Neuroscience – 1 in 2005
Economics – 11 in 2005
International Economics – 5 in 2005
English – 12 in 2005
History – 7 in 2005
Paleontology 5 in 2006
Political Science – 3 in 2008
Psychology – 2 in 2005
Sociology – 3 in 2005
Women’s History – 4 in 2005
Undergraduate Research – 1 in 2002
Learning Community – 2 in 2002
Service Learning – 4 in 2002
Overall Public Undergrad U – 3 in 2008
Overall Public Undergrad U –5 in 2007
(Sources: US News & World Report, National Research Council, and Business Week)</p>

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<p>I have some Law school admissions data that I will share later today (afternoon). Michigan certainly holds its own against its peer institutions.</p>

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<p>Alexandre, thanks for a most informative post - it amazes me how much work you put into these things!</p>

<p>One caveat: OP, you mention journalism, but mention it suspiciously casually and in the same phrase as /communications, which, depending on the school, can mean anything from seimiotic analysis in the post-modern literature tradition to organizational comm studies in the social sciences. You will need to do some digging of your own before embarking on this path. Journalism isn’t exactly a minor…typically, it’s the other way 'round (poly sci minor)if you study at undergrad not just grad level.
U of M is fabulous in every conceivable way, but when it comes to J-school and the capacity to be employed worldwide as an actual journalist, specifically print journalism, Columbia is very tough to beat in terms of reputation and output (but only for grad students, as with Berkely). Also…not especially “easy” to get into for that program. Northwestern is also very well known for its communications school, of which journalism forms a major part, along with other media disciplines, all available as undergrad. So too for University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism (well regarded), and U. Syracuse. </p>

<p>If you are considering becoming a professional journalist, AND you have great tear-sheets, high school editing experience, and phenomenal writing skills/stats/standardized tests, and the motivation to dig deep, there is a whole world of difference where you apply to school and how profitable your endeavor may be. U of M, for example, would be a good fit for a poly sci or English undergrad if you intended to take a journalism masters/grad degree. But N’Western or Syracuse might be a better fit for the journalism part <em>IF</em> there is a good chance that’s more in line with your interest level. You sound a little non-committal re: poly sci.
Good luck in your search,
K</p>