<p>Would you say it's on the level of the lower UC's (UC Davis, UC Irvine), or better? If better, which schools would you say Michigan is on par with?</p>
<p>chlory: What caused you to bring up the above question?</p>
<p>i was accepted and one of my friends was trashing it, so he made me wonder…</p>
<p>Even though I hate Michigan’s sports teams, The school has several things going for it: </p>
<ol>
<li>Very strong academics (especially in engineering and business)</li>
<li>Nice big college town backdrop</li>
<li>Oodles of school spirit. </li>
</ol>
<p>Your friend is either misinformed or a Notre Dame or MSU fan. It’s definitely on par with top UC schools (like UCLA or UCB)</p>
<p>Where is your friend attending college Chlory? Also, where are you from?</p>
<p>Michigan is a top-5 public university, arguably the best public school, and as such is considered a public ivy. Michigan’s USNWR national ranking means virtually nothing about the quality you’d get at Michigan. Virtually all of Michigan’s programs are top 20, which is absolutely incredible. In getting jobs after college, I’d like to believe that Michigan has very good alumni connections and national status that you wouldn’t come close to getting from UCD or UCI. Imo, Michigan is worthy of being called a top-15 national university by its calibre of academics alone, which are often likened to its public peers of UVA, UCB, UCLA, and UNC-Chapel Hill. </p>
<p>In comparison to private schools, I’ve often seen people compare its rigor to Cornell, Penn, and Northwestern. I can’t believe you didn’t even scratch the surface of knowing about Michigan before applying.</p>
<p>my friend goes to stanford; im from the boston area</p>
<p>People from the midwest don’t need to ask this question. UCB and UCLA are comparable, but that’s it. Obviously Stanford is an elite school, so maybe that’s why he said that, but then I see Stanford shirts around campus a lot too (grad students). If you end up changing majors, or have no idea yet, you’re pretty much guaranteed a top 20 program, whereas I would imagine Davis and Irvine might have a few. The degree is highly respected and Ann Arbor is a great place to spend 4 years. I don’t know anyone who regrets coming here.</p>
<p>Michigan is no doubt one of the best public universities in the nation. Some of it’s peers are University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, UPenn, Brown, Notre Dame, USC, Dartmouth, among others. Michigan is ranked 29th in the nation by USNWR, 22nd in the world (and 18th in the nation) by ARWU, 17th in the world (and 12th in the nation) by QS, 20th in the world (and 15th in the nation) by THE with a grand total of 95 top 10 programs according to USNWR. Past just academics and rankings, Michigan is located in an amazing city (as long as you can tolerate the cold) with an outstanding community.</p>
<p>In terms of overall academic departmental ranking, UMich is slightly weaker than Berkeley but slightly stronger than UCLA.</p>
<p>The only UCs that are even comparable to Michigan are UCB, UCLA, and UCSD. The rest of the bunch aren’t quite in the same league though they are all solid schools.</p>
<p>Michigan is one of the “public ivies”. That means that for many years, including currently, they’re in the same ballpark as the ivy league in terms of quality education. Lots of top 20 programs there, really across the board in almost all departments…and many in the top 10 nationally.</p>
<p>Can’t recall all the public ivies, I believe they’re UMich, Cal-Berkeley, Univ of Virginia and Univ of North Carolina.</p>
<p>So I’d put UMich maybe a hair below Cal-Berkeley if you’re a west coaster, and equal if you’re east of the Mississippi. UMich is stronger overall than the rest of the Cal universities IMO.</p>
<p>Check out the thread on top of the Michigan forum; “Is Michigan weak in any way”.</p>
<p>To answer your question succinctly, Michigan is generally considered one of the top 15 universities for undergraduate education in the nation. It is an elite university comparable to other top universities. Its closest peers, are Cal, Cornell, Northwestern and Penn. UCLA is a peer academically and reputationally, but it lacks the resources. UVa has the resources and reputation but lacks the academic prowess. </p>
<p>Of course, your chosen major and professional/graduate school aspirations also impact your options. For example, if you wish to major in Business or go to Law school, UVa is very much on par with Michigan and other elite institutions.</p>
<p>Alexandre,</p>
<p>I read your postings and you represent Michigan very well. Can you elaborate on UVa “lacking academic prowess”? Meaning that individual departments at UVa aren’t ranked highly?</p>
<p>I get the whole Business, Engineering and Law strengths but for an undergraduate liberal arts education (Say Poly Sci or History with Spanish) why Michigan over UVa - or over a private school like BC? </p>
<p>I’m talking about things like academics, resources and reputation because of course size, environment, location, etc matter…but just from the measure you are speaking of why is Michigan the best choice…or is it?</p>
<p>“I read your postings and you represent Michigan very well. Can you elaborate on UVa “lacking academic prowess”? Meaning that individual departments at UVa aren’t ranked highly?”</p>
<p>That is correct Bigdoglover. UVa is as strong as Michigan in Business and some humanities, but in most other disciplines (Engineering, Sciences and Social Sciences), Michigan overpowers UVa. </p>
<p>“I get the whole Business, Engineering and Law strengths but for an undergraduate liberal arts education (Say Poly Sci or History with Spanish) why Michigan over UVa - or over a private school like BC?”</p>
<p>Actually, UVa is as strong as Michigan and Business and Law, but significantly weaker in Engineering. And although Law is strictly a graduate field, students can receive a well rounded undergraduate education while majoring in Business or Engineering. At UVa, students must complete two years in the college of Arts and Sciences before transferring to McIntire. At Michigan, students take half their classes in the school of LSA. Naturally, one can receive an excellent liberal arts education anywhere. Any of the top 100 research universities or top 100 LACs will provide more academic opportunities than any one student could ever exhaust. From that point of view, one can receive as good an undergraduate liberal arts education at BC or UVa as anywhere in the country. </p>
<p>“I’m talking about things like academics, resources and reputation because of course size, environment, location, etc matter…but just from the measure you are speaking of why is Michigan the best choice…or is it?”</p>
<p>Choosing Michigan over UVa or BC should not be automatic. There are other important factors to consider, such as cost of attendance, cultural fit etc…But from a purely academic point of view, assuming cost and fit are not considered, Michigan will usually make better sense than BC. UVa is as good as Michigan in many disciplines, but for students pursing Engineering and Science degrees, Michigan trumps Virginia.</p>
<p>I really appreciate your thoughts. Personally I hope my D makes the call for Michigan!</p>
<p>For what its worth, D’s final choice came down to MICH, Tex and UVa. She visited UVa and didn’t really like the vibe there. So her decision came down to UM LSA Honors or Texas Plan 2 (hence my screen name). She thought the honors program was a little better at Texas, but she just felt more at home at Mich. She has absolutely loved Mich and has never regretted her choice. Although to be perfectly honest, other than the South Quad housing her first year, she has not been realy impressed with LSA honors.</p>
<p>MichorPlan2,</p>
<p>Is your D in-state at Michigan? Did she pick a major yet?</p>
<p>Just curious what bothered her about the vibe at UVA? Anything specific?</p>
<p>She was OOS to all 3 schools. She didn’t think undergrad research was as well organized at UVa. Also, she thought the girls at UVa tended to put on makeup for 9 Am classes and that did not interest her at all. She is an econ major.</p>
<p>Chlory: Michigan is pretty close to Berkeley and far superior to UCLA when it comes to academics. Yes, one may consider Stanford to be in a different league.</p>