<p>So I know there has already been a thread on this but I was looking for some more personal help. Any guidance would be really helpful. </p>
<p>I have to decide by next week whether I want to go to Michigan or Northwestern and am looking for help from any students or anyone who has experinced either place really. I am pretty much torn 50-50 right now. At Northwestern I would be studying communications which I am not set on but certianly am interested in and at Michigan I would be in LSA. Here's what i think about each one.</p>
<p>Michigan - I love Ann Arbor and love the school spirit. The idea of having football games on Saturdays that everyone is really insanely into is somethign I can get really excited about. I feel like there is always a lot going on and never a dull night on campus if your looking for something to do. My question regarding Michigan really is in the academics. I feel like with so many kids it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle and have heard the advising is not very good. It feels like there really is no one kind of helping you and guiding you in what you wish to study which will someday become to a career. While I love the school and everything, compared to Northwestern where they almost garuntee you internships and help finding jobs and such it just seems liek Michigan is a lot more your on your own academically.</p>
<p>Northwestern - I really liked Evanston. It was really pretty and really a nice campus. I really liked the academics and being in the school of ccommunication it does seem like there will always be someone helping me out and guiding me. Also, I like that it is really easy to transfer schools and change majors should I feel the need to so I am not locked down into communications. What I am unsure about at northwestern is the social life and school spirit and such. Compared to Ann Arbor, it does not really seem like there is much going on. It seems like the school is very strict on parties and the student body is much more into wokring hard than having fun where Michigan seemed much mroe like a balance. Of course, I am really unsure how the social life actually is and what the peopel are like even after visiting.</p>
<p>Personally, I am a pretty balanced person. I have never been on of the smartest kids in my class or the biggest partier. I am a mixture. I can work really hard, but I also like to have a lot of fun and college to me is just where I want to grow as a person and not just as a student. So my quesiton really lies in does Michigan offer enough academic guidance and does Northwestern offer enough socailly. I know I could go and work hard at either place and have the social side of Michigan, but I also feel like you can have fun anywhere and I could take advantage of Northwestern's academics. So this is the quarrel I'm stuck in. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.</p>
<p>Remember, Northwestern is a Big Ten school. We went to one of the football games on Parent’s Weekend and there seemed to be alot of school spirit! Its alot smaller than Michigan or any of the other Big Ten teams, but I was surprised at the school spirit. My D is a freshman and we just came back from a visit. It seemed like there was ALOT going on on campus. Concerts, sporting events, plays…My D seems to go out at least 3 times a week – to something on campus or to a party or both! She is in a soriority and is having a blast. The academics are also top knotch and she is challenged intellectually. Northwestern is about 1/5 the size of Michigan but there is a more intimate feeling. And if you get bored with Evanston, there is also Chicago…</p>
<p>As a Northwestern alumna who is attending Michigan this fall for graduate school, I definitely recommend Northwestern. The undergraduate experience is simply amazing. I loved the smaller classes, variety of interdisciplinary majors, small campus size on Lake Michigan, and access to the city of Chicago on the weekends. It’s the best place to study the arts, social sciences, journalism, communications, and engineering all in one location.</p>
<p>Think about what you want to study. I found that my Northwestern experience prepared me well for many career and educational paths. If you’re not interested in communications, there are plenty of other majors available at the school. Inter-school transfers are simple and common during the first year.</p>
<p>Both Evanston and Ann Arbor (my future home) are fun small cities.</p>
<p>It comes down to this: follow your heart. Good luck.</p>
<p>Yes, we posed the same question (see my posts) and were helpfully guided to the website where there are extensive surveys answered by students at the schools. I found them to to be so incredibly detailed that it really helped in dissecting both Northwestern and Michigan. If you want the link,you can send me a message.</p>
<p>Being very familiar with Michigan, my son had good advising, and also used a lot of the upperclassmen to help, too. He had some amazing professors. I haven’t heard any complaints from his friends about the advising and they had many different majors. He is loving the total college experience at Ann Arbor and will be heartbroken to leave. Northwestern is also a great school. It would be hard to find the level of school spirit at Michigan most other places. Whenever I wear Michigan clothes (and I am not in Michigan), I get a ‘go blue’ from strangers. It seems universal. Yes, football Saturdays are unlike anything. Just walking down State St. can fill you with energy. I like that he lived in a house off campus and had that experience and responsibility. It helped him learn a bit of the real world. (and gave them a great basement for parties).</p>
<p>I feel that my son has gotten a top-notch education at Michigan and it will serve him well in his life. His friends have all gotten accepted to really great grad schools as well. </p>
<p>I understand your dilemma. Don’t go by the ratings in a magazine. Try and prioritize. Did you feel a better ‘fit’ with the kids you met at one school over the other? Make your decision and see how it sits for few days and if you have any regrets.</p>
<p>let’s pose the question again.
Northwestern (WCAS) vs Michigan (LSA Honors)
workload? school spirit at NU?(I already know half the kids at Michigan walk around in Mich clothes)
social life? Greek life? advising? off campus housing?</p>
<p>let me just say this about the social life at NU. a little more than 1/3 of the whole student body is in a frat/soro. There are residential colleges notorious for their partying. Two really fun cities near by. If you are not trying to study all day long, i am sure you will be able to go out as often as you want.</p>
<p>hey there, i just wanted to say i am in this exact same predicament- same school, same worries… though that probably doesn’t help you decide at all. i am concerned about the social aspect of northwestern as well, and the cost of it… </p>
<p>what i can say about smaller schools and worry about the social aspect… my brother is a huge sports fanatic and though he works hard, he is a social person too. but he went to a smaller private school and he hated it at first, but now he’s really enjoying it. he still goes to parties and has a good time while studying and has a really good social life. i don’t know if that helps you any, but it IS still possible to have a social life and good education going to either school.</p>
<p>two guys my son knows in new york have the flu. they think they got it on spring break in Cancun. maybe that is where the NU students got it? anyway, they are doing okay now.</p>
<p>and my son still hasn’t made the decision between NU and Michigan. I think the quarter system may be the negative at NU. Both how it starts late, ends late and crams a lot in each 10 week period. Maybe its too much of a grind pre-med and it puts you off schedule with friends from home. but other than that, NU is great. no negatives on Mich (honors) except he claims there are no music practice rooms (and he got to use one when visiting NU). not a music major, but likes to jam with friends, and may not be able to at Michigan</p>
<p>All of the premed courses, physics, chemistry, bio, and organic chem, are covered at the same pace as those in semester schools (1 year). You wouldn’t be cramming more in 10 weeks. In fact, you would be cramming less for each final - 1/3 of each of those 1-yr courses instead of 1/2. Also, you would taking 4 courses instead of 5. Depending on how your arrange your schedule, you may even have less work while taking those premed courses.</p>
<p>thanks for all the help. its now a coin toss since the pros/cons are coming out kinda equal. If I picked for him - it would be Mich, DH would pick NU and DS is caught in the middle. the info on the premed workload was helpful. its good to know that if he’s at NU he won’t be any worse off for a more demanding workload.
Its all good choices and I am hopeful he is happy wherever he ends up. Who knows, he may still clear the waitlist at his first choice, though we don’t discuss that at all.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the social life at NU - you can go completely crazy, find a good balance or be a total teetotaler.</p>
<p>While students at NU generally don’t plan their lives (or their self-esteem) on football, there are a good portion who do plan around games on Saturdays as the mainstay for socializing on the weekend.</p>
<p>Having “partied” and gone to games at most B10 schools, I’d have to say that the game atmosphere at AA was a bit underwhelming - definitely not like crazy like State College or Madison (as they say - the “wine and cheese” crowd makes for less boisterous fans).</p>
<p>He’s chosen Northwestern, and if there’s a purple painted guy in the stands, it could be him. ha. He’ll bring enough school spirit for 10 people. It wasn’t a deciding factor either. It was a very tough choice. thanks for your help.</p>