<p>First of all, Michigan has many more students from the NE than that. You are completely forgetting about the graduate schools. Michigan has more grad students then there are students in most of the ivy league schools individually. I'd say 14% of the ug student body from 5 states is a pretty significant number. Especially considering Michigan isn't contiguous with any of them.</p>
<p>Hawkette, I am not going to start a debate on which schools are, in fact, best, but the OP asked how do people "view" Michigan. He asked about "prestige", not about reported data. He made that very clear.</p>
<p>This said, I agree that in many pockets of the East coast, Michigan would be viewed on par with schools like NYU, Lehigh and BC. In some circles, it would be viewed as even weaker than those schools. However, on a national (and international) level, Michigan has a stronger reputation.</p>
<p>oh ok, Alexandre, then I guess I misunderstood. But I would still maintain that there are a lot more universities that would be known to the average masses anywhere in the country, but that's a pointless argument.</p>
<p>I aree with your comments keefer. I would venture to say that on an international level the University of Michigan has a better reputation and prestige than Notre Dame and Vanderbilt. Of course i know someone here who would completely disagree with me. ;-)</p>
<p>Had I not gotten into UChicago, Michigan would be my home next fall. The school is absolutely unique in that it offers 1)An outstanding student body, 2)Amazing academics,3)An awesome sports scene, and 4)top of the line departments. </p>
<p>Many people don't agree, but I'd place Michigan tied with Berkeley as the best two publics in the nation.</p>
<p>^ Tied? Hmmm...</p>
<p>I will say U Mich is better than UVA and UCLA...but not Berkeley.</p>
<p><em>Based on my totally unbiased opinion.</em></p>
<p>Hawkette, Michighan has a HUGE Northeastern/Mid Atlantic student population, both in the absolute and in the relative sense. There are currently over 3,500 (out of 25,000) undergrads from the Northeast/Mid Altlantic. Three thousand five hundred undergrads is more than what many elite Northeastern/Mid Atlantic colleges enroll! I cannot overstate how massive 3,500 is. Even in relative terms, that's 14% of Michigan's undergraduate population. The most diverse private universities outside of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic don't have more than 25% of their undergrads hail from the Northeast. </p>
<p>New York: 1,355
New Jersey: 664
Pennsylvania: 386
Maryland: 361
Massachusetts: 250
Connecticut: 205
New Hampshire: 27
Vermont: 18
Maine: 16
Rhode Island: 11
TOTAL: 3,508</p>
<p>I don't think you will find a single university outside of the Northeast/Mid Atlnatic that has a larger NE/Mid-Atlantic undergraduate population.</p>
<p>UCBChemE: I'd agree. And I don't go to either one.</p>
<p>In fact, among the top-5, publics, I'd say:</p>
<p>Berkeley
(small but significant gap)
Michigan/Virginia
UCLA
UNC</p>
<p>Haha and I go to UCLA...soo that shows you my unbiased opinion! Though obviously all 5 are very highly-regarded schools, with excellent programs.</p>
<p>To the OP: Michigan is quite prestigious in CA, and from friends in other regions, all around the US it seems.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Total of 769 students or under 14% of the class
[/quote]
Michigan enrolls around 35% OOS in its freshman class, out of which 40% is from the NE. I'd say that's "hugh".</p>
<p>I'd put Michigan and Berkeley as the two top public universities in the nation.
In terms of reputation, I just have to say that in the Chicago area, the Michigan name opens a lot of doors and is extremely well-regarded. I can't speak for the coasts, of course.</p>
<p>I also agree with UCBChem. When it comes to overall national reputation, state schools go something like this:</p>
<p>University of California-Berkeley
University of Michigan-Ann arbor
University of Virgnia
University of California-Los Angeles
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill & University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign & University of Texas-Austin</p>
<p>U. Michigan has nothing to be defensive about. It's a top school. Personally, I've never attended it or visited it even, but in my opinion it's perennially underranked and underrated. I've said it before on other threads and I'll say it again: rankings tend to focus on two things: undergrad selectivity and academic output. Graduate school rankings are a good proxy for the latter. CC is full of people who believe and argue that because certain schools are, on an overall basis, more selective they are ipso facto better schools. This form of prestige is extremely important to a CCer. But to me this overlooks the fact that U Mich has across a huge swath of fields top program after top program in terms of academic output and achievement and that the essential model of how U Mich delivers education is different. And by the way, the school has a huge number of top students, even if its averages don't come out as high as some other more prestigious schools. For these top students in particular, U. Michigan opens them up to tremendous quality every bit as rich as the top privates and in some cases significantly better, IMO.</p>
<p>And where I've spent a lot of time -- i.e. the West Coast -- U Mich vs. Lehigh or BC? What? Are you joking?</p>
<p>On the other hand, who gives a rat's a** about the question anyway? Personally I'd choose U Mich in a New York second over those and even over several other more highly ranked schools.</p>
<p>Hawkette - Michigan is ranked much higher than Lehigh, BC, and NYU no matter what criteria you use. Michigan is on par with Berkeley, UCLA, and private schools like Cornell and Northwestern. </p>
<p>It's ridiculous to put Michigan on the same level as NYU. USNews is not the be all end all but it ranks Michigan in the top 25 and NYU in the 50s. This along with the fact that Michigan is underranked.</p>
<p>well im from central jersey and michigan is VERY highly regarded around me. maybe thats just cause i went to an insanely competitive public school. you would actually get MORE "wow" factor in my HS if you said you were going to michigan than if it were nyu/lehigh because everyone smart applies to these schools. maybe because less people go there and its so hard to get into oos? my grad year 15 went to nyu, 7 to bc, 6 to lehigh and only 2 to mich. the kids right below the ivy kids go to michigan before they would go to bc/nyu/lehigh.</p>
<p>i go to BC and i seriously consdiered nyu and lehigh.. that said i think i would go to michigan if it was soley based on prestige anyday. but since its not, it would be hard to decide between BC and there for me conisdering the sizes and the distances from home.</p>
<p>go to mighigan</p>
<p>Wow. Thank you guys for your comments, I didn't know this thread would be on fire like this... anyways I guess because people in south jersey rarely see people go to Michigan they couldn't fully see the prestigiousness. Now I can reassure myself to go to Michigan.. Thanks.</p>
<p>Just to clean my skirt a little….</p>
<p>On the numbers of northeasterners at U Michigan, if you want to count graduate students as part of your calculation, that’s fine. I don’t. If you think 14% is huge, that’s fine. I don’t. However, I do think that the size of the school could accurately be called huge (26,000+ undergraduates with 17,000+ from the state of Michigan).</p>
<p>As for the claim, “I don't think you will find a single university outside of the Northeast/Mid Atlnatic that has a larger NE/Mid-Atlantic undergraduate population,” you are probably correct if you are talking in absolute numbers as few colleges are as large (although you forgot Penn State). But if you are talking about percentages, you might want to look at Notre Dame which I believe has around 24%.</p>
<p>For U Michigan’s rep, I would agree that it is quite strong in the Chicago market and most of the Midwest and much more so than it would be in New Jersey. </p>
<p>For those protesting my comments about the relative quality of Lehigh, BC and NYU vs U Michigan, I think you are selling these schools and their student bodies and the quality of their academic experience short. These are terrific colleges and compare very, very well with U Michigan. Saying that they are the true private schools peers for U Michigan is an accurate statement. </p>
<p>For example, using a few of the colleges mentioned by imaparasite, consider the following and see if you can tell which college is which and which are closest peers:</p>
<p>STUDENT SELECTIVITY<br>
-% ACCEPTANCE RATE<br>
College A 47% College B 30% College C 39% College D 27%
-SAT/ACT RANGE (Middle 50%)<br>
College A 1210-1420/ 27-31 College B 1320-1500/ 30-34 College C 1220-1400/ na College D 1250-1420/ 28-32
-% OF STUDENTS RANKING IN TOP 10% IN HS CLASS<br>
College A 90% College B 83% College C 90% College D 80%</p>
<p>% OF STUDENTS SCORING 700+ ON SAT CRITICAL READING<br>
College A 23% College B 53% College C 13% College D 26%
% OF STUDENTS SCORING 700+ ON SAT MATH<br>
College A 43% College B 63% College C 39% College D 40%
% OF STUDENTS SCORING 30+ ON ACT<br>
College A 43% College B 69% College C na College D na</p>
<p>FACULTY RESOURCES<br>
-% OF CLASSES WITH <20 STUDENTS<br>
College A 45% College B 74% College C 66% College D 39%
-% OF CLASSES WITH 50+ STUDENTS<br>
College A 17% College B 8% College C 4% College D 9%
-FACULTY/STUDENT RATIO<br>
College A 15/1 College B 7/1 College C 9/1 College D 13/1
USNWR FACULTY RESOURCES RANK<br>
College A 69th College B 7th College C 19th College D 69th</p>
<p>GRADUATION RATES<br>
-% OF STUDENTS EXPECTED TO GRADUATE IN 6 YEARS:<br>
College A 83% College B 93% College C 82% College D 86%
-% OF STUDENTS WHO DO GRADUATE IN 6 YEARS:<br>
College A 87% College B 93% College C 86% College D 91%
-% OF STUDENTS WHO GRADUATE IN 4 YEARS:<br>
College A 70% College B 85% College C 75% College D 88%
FRESHMAN RETENTION RATE<br>
College A 96% College B 97% College C 94% College D 95%
USNWR GRADUATION & RETENTION RANK:<br>
College A 26th College B 13th College C 31st College D 20th</p>
<p>ALUMNI GIVING %<br>
College A 17% College B 29% College C 36% College D 24%
USNWR ALUMNI GIVING RANK<br>
College A 83rd College B 27th College C 13th College D 41st</p>
<p>% OF WHITE/NON-HISPANIC STUDENTS<br>
College A 66% College B 59% College C 72% College D 76%</p>
<p>% FROM PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS<br>
College A 80% College B 73% College C na College D na</p>
<p>tsukasa,
For your purposes, U Michigan is an excellent state university and you should have few qualms about placing it on your college search list. Good luck.</p>
<p>"But if you are talking about percentages, you might want to look at Notre Dame which I believe has around 24%"</p>
<p>Is there an echo here? Hawkette, that was my point. That is exactly what I said. Even small, private universities outside of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic do not have more than 25% Northeast/Mid-Atlantic representation. The fact that 14% of Michigan's undergraduate student population come from the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic is very significant. It is to be commanded and admired. That is why Michigan's reputation in NYC and DC rivals that of the elite Eastern private universities. Their alums hold the highest positions both in the private and public sectors in those two major East Coast cities.</p>
<p>Which brings us back to this thread's purpose. Reputation. Your stats are interesting to be sure, but they do not give the OP much to go on. Those stats are not a reflection of academic reputation or academic quality.</p>
<p>again, whenever you mention Michigan or UC-Berkeley, you always say "excellent/good state University", you never recognize Michigan for the great University that it is, public or private status, you discount everything that Michigan is good at, including but not limited to the PA score. which clearly asked University deans and presidents to rank UNDERGRADUATE programs. </p>
<p>I don't feel Michigan needs defending in academie, or the professional world, but I must warn high school students on this site that you have a strong bias against Michigan, that I cannot explain, because you have never attended any of these schools, use a set of personal internalized rationalizations based on median SAT scores to judge undergraduate education quality. </p>
<p>For example, all the schools you listed as Michigan peers have almost the same SAT median scores, and that's pretty much the only similarity i find between Michigan and those schools.</p>
<p>michigan is a great school. period. as far as well rounded schools, you really can't get a whole lot better, as umich is excellent in engineering, sciences, business, and the liberal arts. The idea of a private being more prestigious than a public is just based on the fact that most privates have smaller student body, thus more student/teacher interaction and that their student bodies (at the top privates) are more even (meaning that there is less disparity from smartest to "dumbest" kid). Michigan has tons of smart kids that could have gone to the "prestige" of a private school but mabe just wanted a big school atmosphere.
BTW, this is from a person that is going to attend a private college.</p>
<p>To hawkette exclusivity is everything. Why else would he/she mention only four less significant factors while comparing these schools. There is an elite private slant that is always on the agenda and it's more apparent with every post. I agree with keefer and hope young impressionable minds don't pay much attention the constant barrage of negativity that hawkette brings to these boards. You can gloat all you want about the IL and other top privates, Michigan is up there quality wise and prestige wise with all but a very select few. I mean i can count them on my two hands.</p>