<p>Tryingmybest, for LSA, I would definitely (and have) chose Michigan over Cal or Caltech. Stanford would definitely win in my book. MIT would probably win for Economics and the Sciences, but not in the humanities or social sciences.</p>
<p>trying my best:Well let's say it is for premed and lets's say the person liked the school better, includng the culture, diversity, town, attitude.Do you think the acadewmics would be that inferior? I thnk not. </p>
<p>Some of those things are why my S turned down the others..of course the engineering program and options he has at UM are really not much different than the other schools. (I do not think rankings of 1,2,3, versus 4 or 5 mean much either).</p>
<p>I know you probably think this is hogwash, but getting into the top schools is more indicative a persons future success than going to them. I contend that any of these students, including those in the examples above, will do just as well at any number of schools because they have what it takes to succeed anywhere. I do think it is cool that people of this calibur find UM appealing. I know even though I had grown up in the midwest and had not seen it until this year, I have been impressed. Seems like a great place to go.. I know it is not perfect. I have to agree with Alexandre that it has good academics and everything else in a nice college town.(of course that is just an oldold guy view)</p>
<p>By the way, and maybe Alexandre disagrees, but I think the students mentioned, assuming they do well, will be able to go to places like Stanford, MIT etc for grad school coming out of Michigan if they choose to do so... Is that a good assumption Alexandre?</p>
<p>Oldolddad, doing well at Michigan opens any door your son may wish to walk through. In terms of college experience, nothing beats Michigan. There are only 3 or 4 universities I would consider over Michigan, but I know that none of them would have provided me with an equal experience to Michigan's.</p>
<p>Alexandre, that depends on what 'experience' you're looking for in college. If you're looking for the desired college experience of most regular high school students (good balance of social life, athletics, and academics), than Michigan is definitely ranked among the top. However, I would have to say that many students who go to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton have other intentions in mind (mainly to sacrifice a great portion of the 'college experience' for the pursuit of academic excellence).</p>
<p>As much as I like Michigan, I have to say that turning down Harvard, Yale, and Princeton for Michigan's LSA is quite extreme to say the least. Granted, that student would have certainly stood out amongst the other LSA kids, but the professional networking opportunities presented by Harvard just seem overwhelming (Al Gore rooming with Tommy Lee, Bill Gates living with Steve Ballmer, etc. Simply put, Harvard's got brilliance shining out of every corner. We both like Michigan, but let's not let our pride get in the ways of our reasoning). HYP's excellence stems from their ability to cram some of the brightest students into a community that fosters mutual academic growth. Sure, Michigan has that too, but not to the degree of the HYP. Those school have the alumni, wealth, prestige, ranking, and many other accolades for a reason.</p>
<p>All in all, if you got into HYP, I would not suggest picking the LSA if you're looking for an all-out 'academic experience' (other than for financial reasons).</p>
<p>Why did you feel the need to make this thread? It's not like you chose Eastern Michigan over Harvard or something.;)</p>
<p>My point exactly. Picking Ross over Wharton is like selecting Stanford over Princeton.</p>
<p>I turned down Cal (in state) for UMich LSA. Everyone thinks I'm crazy... but I know I made the right decision... we'll see when fall rolls around.</p>
<p>Go blue! Haha.</p>
<p>My D is the student OOD referred to who turned down HYPBrown to be a Shipman scholar at Michigan. And yes, from some people she is getting a hard time for her decision, that's their problem, not hers. She has spent the last 4 years dreaming about and working towards attending a selective school and would never have predicted her choice. However, after spending over a week visitng the Ivies, she felt that they all had their strong and their weak points, but none jumped out at her as THE place. She still likes what she believes to be the full college experience she will get at Michigan, including academics. And she feels more than ever that she is the one that determines her success, not a school. Professional school in either medicine or architecture are distinct possibilities, and attending Michigan keeps those and other options open.</p>
<p>bahamutscale, at the risk of sounding pedestrian, I was very happy that she did not decide to sacrifice other parts of her life for "academic excellence.... alumni, wealth, prestige, ranking". IMO there are many things to sacrifice for, family, friends, ethics, but not the things you mentioned.</p>
<p>oh wow.. turned down HYP? kudos to her.
she'll probably be one of the stars at umich.</p>
<p>entomom, academics is something not worth sacrificing for? Yes, family, friends, ethics, and other important parts of life are just as important, but to say that academics is something not worth sacrificing for is a bit radical and idealistic, no? I'm sure your daughter selected Michigan because she honestly believed that Michigan's academics were just as competitive as the HYP's academics. Many other students, however, do not believe that they will have the same academic experience at Michigan as in the HYP. When I talked about sacrifice, I had weekend parties, athletic entertainment, and clubbing in mind. NOT family and ethics. (I will stress this again: I do not believe that I mentioned family, friends, ethics, or any of that.) The alumni, rankings, wealth, etc., are just some of the attributes of the HYP, not things that I stated as students sacrificing for. My reply to Alexandre was simply to imply that people look for different experiences from college (he made the comment that "in terms of college experience, nothing beats Michigan.", which I thought was overly generalized). It just so happens that many students find the HYP environment a better place for education and networking.</p>
<p>Please do not misinterpret my earlier comments. I have similar views with Alexandre (and maybe even yourself) in terms of what to look for in a university. I picked the PA at Ross over many other universities as well and I fully understand our reasons for coming to Michigan. However, I was just noting that the 'college experience' is a subjective matter.</p>
<p>Can't say I would have made the same decision, but kudos to you. It's becoming increasingly hard to ignore all the rants about prestige in today's world. Ross is also an amazing school, not far behind Wharton, but not everyone would have the courage to turn down W because you knew it just wasn't for you. Congrats.</p>
<p>"I would have to say that many students who go to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton have other intentions in mind (mainly to sacrifice a great portion of the 'college experience' for the pursuit of academic excellence)."</p>
<p>bahamutscale, I agree that there are 5 universities in the US that are slightly better than Michigan. HYP are three of those five, MIT and Stanford are the other two. If a student gets into one of those five, chosing Michigan wouldn't always make sense. But in some cases, it does. For example, I would have been miserable at Harvard or Yale. I would probably have chosen MIT, Princeton and Stanford over Michigan myself, but I know I would have had a more complete undergraduate experience at Michigan. You would be amazed at how many students at Michigan actually chose it over H,M,P,S and Y. </p>
<p>Chosing Michigan over any other university or program (including Brown, Cal, Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Northwestern or Penn) makes perfect sense to me. I chose Michigan over those schools myself and I would do it all over again. The academics, resources, campus activities (cultural, intellectual, social, political and atheltic), laid back attitude of the students, networking opportunities, school spirit, graduate school and professional placement and prestige...all mixed together in the perfect college town of Ann Arbor makes the University of Michigan hard to beat.</p>
<p>I have to say that I agree with what bahamutscale has said about differing notions of the true "college experience." People who can attend HYP are probably more geared toward academics, while others may see partying and having an active social life as a more important aspect of the total college experience. If you are the former type of student, HYP would probably be a better fit, while for the latter, Michigan would make more sense.</p>
<p>entomom, I'm not sure I understand what your argument is. Are you saying that you are glad your daughter can have more of a social life rather than focusing on academics?</p>
<p>Congratulations, Entomom on your daughter's success. Other posters, perhaps you didn't notice that Entomom mentioned that her daughter has the honor of being a Shipman Scholar. This means that she is going to go to Michigan for free. I believe it also means that she will get special opportunities for research, interaction with faculty and administration and other perqs of being an elite scholar. I think anyone who isn't the child of a multi-millionaire would find just the financial incentive hard to turn down, couple that with the other things and I bet the choice gets a lot more obvious.</p>
<p>Yes, I believe that considering financial incentives, Michigan is probably the better choice, especially for undergraduate (that is why I chose it too). But based solely on academics alone, many students would choose Harvard over Michigan and would probably consider it their idea of a better 'college experience' too.</p>
<p>fredmar, I mentioned in my post that financial incentives are a main reason why Michigan would be chosen over HYP.</p>
<p>...and to entomom, I don't want to sound confrontational, but you basically quoted my exact point. College experience is something subjective; many students include partying, entertainment, and other such attributes of a university in their ideal 'college experience'. As you have quoted, many students who go to HYP forgo those things for the purpose of academic excellence. Did I mention family, friends, and ethics? No. I also have never implied any of those in my comments. If somehow I sounded as if I did, than let me inform you at this moment that I did not intend to.</p>
<p>To Alexandre, I agree with you wholeheartedly in regards to why one should pick Michigan over many other options. Hell, there's a reason I'm here, right? In fact, my definition of an ideal college experience is very similar to yours. However, would you not say that our idea of an ideal 'college experience' does not apply to every individual on earth? Hence, we cannot make a generalized statement that 'in terms of college experience, nothing beats Michigan.'</p>
<p>Kastsm, I agree with you. It seems we are on the same page.</p>
<p>bahamutscale, I would never say that nothing beats Michigan, particularly when it comes to specific needs and preferences. However, I would say that Michigan is hard to beat, especially when looking at the whole picture.</p>
<p>lol @ me…such a bad choice… funny thing, I am not even in Ross…wow</p>