<p>^^^^^Except Michigan is Berkeley’s equal in professional education and also has top medical/dental/nursing/pharmacy/music programs which Cal lacks. IMO Berkeley is tops and Michigan next in line as the two best overall public institutions in this country, followed closely by UCLA.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the strongest all around schools in the country, with no academic weaknesses, are Stanford followed by Michigan, (although honestly not on the same level). Harvard and Yale are not engineering powerhouses and Berkeley lacks health care professions. MIT and Princeton are not as comprehensive as the others mentioned. Columbia, Penn, and Chicago are also very strong contenders.</p>
<p>Bclintonk, the problem with rankings is that you never know how narrow the “band of excellence” is for certain disciplines. The difference between the #6 school and the the #7 school in a certain subject might be far greater than the difference between the #7 school and the #15 school. Only an expert in a particular field would be able to parse through the actual differences in quality. At the graduate level, where the departmental rankings actually matter, the sub field within a subject that a PhD aspirant is actually interested in might lead him/her to select a different set of schools than another prospective PhD student who’s interested in the same field of study but a different sub field.</p>
<p>At the undergraduate level, a delta of ten, twenty, and even thirty spots in graduate rankings would most likely be unnoticeable since you are studying the basics of a subject and a wide number of schools can give you the sufficient level of education to pursue a PhD in the area.</p>
<p>Stanford or Harvard or Berkeley or “insert X elite graduate program” in any core field of study would never accept an alum from Michigan over Wisconsin for the sole reason that he/she studied at U of M. It would come down to grades, research experiences, letters of recommendation, statements of intent, etc. etc. </p>
<p>If one were interested in working for an investment bank or a management consulting firm, then it would be a different story.</p>
<p>What I want to know is if the kid’s grandmother is PAYING 
If so, do what she says, sonny!</p>
<p>Hahaha this post is actually insane, you need to tell your grandma she is absolutely right for trying to get you to look at Michigan over Wisconsin. Despite the “ranking,” kids at UM work hard during the day and RAGE during the night. Greek life and partying is huge at Michigan if that’s what you want. So go take your rankings elsewhere sweetie.</p>
<p>
:shakes head: You still haven’t learned yet, rjk. ;)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ucsf.edu/about/history-1[/url]”>http://www.ucsf.edu/about/history-1</a></p>
<p>
USNWR’s graduate discipline rankings are usually by peer assessment. They post those peer assessment scores, so you can see differences.</p>
<p>Oh I’ve learned UCB. However UCLA does have those schools that UCB lacks. Take it up with the UC directors why they decided to separate out the schools in the bay area. If they didn’t, Berkeley and Stanford would be the two top OVERALL institutions in this country IMHO. In the meantime, Michigan is indeed more well rounded that Cal.</p>
<p>Michigan doesn’t have a top-ranked Divinity School, Hotel School, School of Forestry, or School of Environmental Science. No school is truly “well rounded”.</p>
<p>^^^Sure goldenboy. Here’s a shocker for you. Forestry and environmental science are covered at Michigan. While Michigan can’t and doesn’t provide ALL areas of study, it does provide a strong academic offering in ALL of its schools. It would never allow its students to attend middling programs and pretend it was a top rated university at the same time, like some other schools. In very important core academic areas such as engineering, Michigan would be embarrased to find itself ranked out of the ten. I’m certain Cal Berkeley would feel the same way.</p>