@brantly Universities can never win on this. Barnard just had a suicide. They did announce the students name and details, but that was it. Some criticised the university for announcing the student’s name, but the later confirmed this was done with the parents’ permission. Otherwise it would be illegal.
Same with health. Look at the controversy when Harvard announced that some students had the Zika virus and mumps. Lots of complaints.
@klingon97 I was just saying a fact from my personal experience. Also your comparison is quite not at the same level. Michigan is one of the top Universities in the world, let’s say top 20. Apart from Oxbridge, LSE and Imperial College, the rest of European Unis are usually (with few exceptions) over the top 50s or even 70s and 100s.
My point was just that UMich, despite its rankings, it’s not well known. That’s not true, however, with others uni at the same level of UMich. Some examples are JHU, Duke, Washington, UCSD, UCSB, UT Austin, Boston University , U illinois Urbana etc etc
All of those are super well know in my country, even among my teenagers friends.
That said, PLEASE don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that U Mich is not a good school. Hell no. I still think is one of the best school in the world, and I applied there, and I hope every day I’ll get in there.
My statements are just based on my curiosity. I think it’s interesting that such a good school is actually shadowed and not well known.
Thanks for the response tho! 
@alm2020 The best thing you can do is to attend the professors’ and/or TAs’ office hours every so often. Even if it’s to quickly poke your head in a door and say you enjoyed such-and-such lecture or that you appreciated that they covered a certain topic. It sounds dorky, but it keeps you from being anonymous. Another thing to consider is the UROP program (undergraduate research for freshman and sophomore students) and look for a project in the political science department. That will help you get to know at least one professor well. If the department has work study and you qualify, that’s one more thing to consider.
@brantly. On the suicide, unfortunately news stories, vigils etc…have a tragic history of sometimes leading to more suicides. There is something about suicide that can become viral. This sad phenomenon was discussed in the book “The Tipping Point”. Many psychologists have recommended that suicide in small communities like colleges not get too much public notice.
But in general I agree with you that Michigan does not always do a great job of communicating. It falls into the trap of many organizations of holding onto important information for far too long. The norovirus outbreak was one such incident
Communicating with students about norovirus is not controversial. The university did very, very little – close to nothing – to contain the virus, and in fact its actions helped spread the virus further. They also intentionally misled the community about the number of students infected. The students were very unsupported and left out in the cold.
Those students are adults. People their age are fighting in Afghanistan. They should learn to look after themselves. It’s not a nursery school. Such delicate butterflies.
I repeat. I never realised students were so fragile and immature. Not impressive. No wonder they want trigger warnings when they have to read unpleasant things. I’m 100% behind the university.
brantly, there is not doubt that the university could work on communication. No sure I agree about the suicide, as the University should respect the privacy of the family and of the student. Those who know the student will mourn her/his passing and participate in the funerary proceedings, the rest of the student body need not know. But properly communicating the Norovirus, harmless as it may be, was the duty of the university. There are other ways that the University can improve communication with the student body, alums etc…
@grimx98 I am curious. What country are you from? I live in the UK and what you say is definitely not true here. Indeed, last month I went to a Fulbright event attended by well over 1000 students. They had representatives of leading private schools and scores of students are parents. They asked which universities the students had heard of. No one knew Duke, UT, UI Urbana or any of the UCs except Berkeley and UCLA. The Fulbright people said this wasn’t surprising as they often had to convince British Fulbright Scholars to accept scholarships to places like Georgetown, Duke or Johns Hopkins. Michigan was very well known, as was Notre Dame. No doubt because of football.
Asking my teenage friends, they’ve heard of some of the Ivies, Berkeley and possibly CalTech. Duke, Pomona, Brown, etc., bring blank stares.
As for where European universities rank in terms of US rankings, such comparisons are futile. Indeed, the formula don’t work as USNWR uses endowment, percentage of alumni donating, number of faculty with PhDs etc. None are relevant in the UK or European context.
@kilngon97. Needing more information about a public health issue does not make students “delicate butterflies”. Viral outbreaks are best contained by providing quick information about current situation, prevention and what one can do if sick. The university failed to quickly tell students and staff the steps that needed to be taken including not getting on public transportation and not coming to class if Ill while assuring students that they would be able to make up missed work. The university failed in this instance and needs to plan better in the future.
@klingon97 Thanks for the response
I’m from Italy. That’s interesting, I guess is just different country by country.
I’m an exchange student and I’m currently in the us finishing my senior year (and waiting in few decisions still! ).
During this year I kept, of course, contact with all my friends in italy, and sometimes we talked about colleges. My personal experience is different than yours, all my friend knew those Universities (even brown, but not ponoma tho). That’s why I was curious, UMich was pretty much always the only one left out…
Even my parents when I told them I was applying there they were like “are u kidding me? Why are u applying to such university?”
Of course, they understood why after I show them how great umich is, but still, is interesting.
Thanks again!
“My point was just that UMich, despite its rankings, it’s not well known. That’s not true, however, with others uni at the same level of UMich. Some examples are JHU, Duke, Washington, UCSD, UCSB, UT Austin, Boston University , U illinois Urbana etc etc All of those are super well know in my country, even among my teenagers friends.”
Several thoughts:
Yes, it would be nice if every random potential teenage applicant were aware of Michigan, and yes that would augment “the brand”, but item #2, perhaps as evinced on peer reputation scores, suggests that Michigan is well thought of by several of the most important constituencies.
So, when one says Michigan is not well known, to which cohort does that impression belong? There are many important constituencies, and Michigan has been punching above its weightclass for years. Increasing wealth (Michigan has the fast growing endowment in the country (thus the world?) over the last 25 years) will increase the university’s profile. No matter how unknown it may be to some, you can’t go wrong by attending, unless your desire for “fit” mandates a LAC.
Clearly.
@klingon97
Are you aware of what went on?
In a public health emergency, effective communication and handling of the outbreak is key. I’m not going to get into all the details here – there are a lot of details – but it’s ridiculous to assert that during a massive viral outbreak, students should be left to their own devices, with no communication from the university. Norovirus is one of the most contagious viruses that exists. There are published CDC guidelines on how communities are supposed to contain the virus.
The university was disingenuous in stating that 100-125 students were affected. That is the number who sought treatment in the ER. According to the CDC, you have to use a multiplier of 10 to estimate the total number affected in a norovirus outbreak. So, the real number of sick students was around 1,000 to 1,250. Including entire dorms, which had vomit all over the halls because students couldn’t make it to the bathroom in time.
@blue85 I agree with you. I was just sharing my personal experience. UMich is definitely well known in the work and accademic world.
Grim: wasn’t trying to go Dirty Harry on you, my point was more that there are, to reuse the word, a lot of different constituencies that track the college game. I’m not questioning your experience – as the expression goes, it is what it is – just making the point that there are a lot of POVs out there.
@GoBlue81 @blue85 Hey, I made my own decision to attend Michigan based on the info all of you guys have stated! I am personally very aware of these things.
Like @grimx98, I’m not saying anything bad–I’m saying that Michigan is so good, yet it’s underrated by people who “aren’t in the know,” and as you might argue, “don’t matter.” Which yes, I don’t have to worry about in terms of my future. But heck, there are still people in the freshman admissions threads that say things like, “I applied to Michigan as a safety, but then I realized it was actually competitive.” The perception is just outright wrong, and completely undeserved.
“If you look at Wikipedia pages devoted to those folks who have achieved noteworthy goals, Michigan is roughly equivalent to Penn and Cornell COMBINED (which more or less normalizes for population size); a recent influence poll based on those pages ranked Michigan 3 in the nation behind 2 of the usual Ivy suspects…almost in a dead-heat with 2nd place Columbia.”
The above is just another example of why Michigan is underrated. Like @grimx98, my own mother gave me a blank stare when I told her about my acceptance. Yet back in Russia, she had heard of Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, and even Duke.
Sorry if this offends anybody (and yes, this is my own personal experience, everybody has their own so no need for argument), but I honestly am puzzled why this would be offensive. I’m literally saying “X is such a good thing, people need to be more aware of X.” Especially since there are so many other brands out there that don’t quite match up but get better recognition.
@eyo777 Agreed 10000%. I couldn’t explain better. Thanks!
I’m not offended. I don’t even attend Michigan. I just felt it was farcical to argue that Michigan isn’t well known on the basis of what students and parents in some foreign country think or know. And I really wouldn’t consider it a “weakness” in any case. Enough said. I guess people just want reassurance that they are going someplace good.
@brantly When I checked with the Department of Public Health, they said that the virus involved was not "notifiable:. I suggest you take it up with the public health department and CDC.
I am partly surprised with gromx98’s observations. Not so much about Michigan not being well known in Italy. I said as much before he said where he came from. Michigan’s reputation in France, Italy and Spain is practically nonexistent among the general population. My surprise is that Washington, UIUC, UCSD, UCSB and Texas-Austin are well known. BU and NYU are not known, but since they are in large cities, their name rings a bell. I have lived in France, Germany, the UK, all over the Middle East, and nowhere have students shown much interest in most of those universities.
One should understand that the majority of the population, both American and international, will not know what constitutes a great university. I recall my first day Among the highly educated, Michigan’s reputation is exceptionally strong (certainly one of a dozen or so universities that has a truly global reputation).