<p>I hope you are looking forward going to Michigan ab2013. Just remember you are attending one of the premier universities in the world and forget about the “what if” arguments. Besides that you just saved yourself well over 100,000 dollars!</p>
<p>“It depends on what your parents attitude towards money is. My parents began saving money for my college education before I was even born and had 200k in the bank ready to go when college admissions rolled around. They told me that the money was for UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE ONLY though, so it’s not like I would have the money in discretionary spending if I had chosen Michigan over some of the private schools I gotten into.”</p>
<p>I am not sure I agree with your logic there ring<em>of</em>fire. Your parents aren’t a company. Their money belongs to the family. College spending is not a “use it or lose it” proposition like a benefit handed out to employees by a company. I agree that different families attach different value to education. My family is one such family, where spending a lot of money on a better and more reputable university is perfectly acceptable. But that money could certainly have been used for other purposes, such as graduate school etc… Of course, to some families, $200,000 is chump change, in which case, cost is not even a consideration.</p>
<p>“Instead of spending that extra cash of something superficial like a house down payment or a better car, why not spend it on a better education?”</p>
<p>Since when it a down payment on a house considered “superficial”? I agree that spending money on a luxury car is, but a house strikes me as a necessity. And I don’t think there is any university on earth where a student can receive an education than at the University of Michigan. There are a handful of universities that are better overall, but that does not mean that an individual undergraduate student will receive a better education at those universities. Quality of eduation is in large part derived by the fit between a student’s learning style and the university’s learning environment and even more dependent on a student’s self-initiative. </p>
<p>“I would have gone to Chicago in the OP’s case, but Michigan is a fantastic school as well so he couldn’t have gone wrong either way.”</p>
<p>You would spend $130,000 more to attend the University of Chicago over the University of Michigan?</p>
<p>In this case, given ab’s circumstances, Michigan obviously made more sense. Michigan is #7 in undergraduate Engineering, #9 in Mathematics and #12 in Economics and will cost a very reasonable $90,000 over 4 years. That’s a relative steal.</p>
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<p>He probably would. Which then makes me wonder, can you be this stupid and get into Duke?</p>
<p>“Instead of spending that extra cash of something superficial like a house down payment or a better car, why not spend it on a better education?”</p>
<p>Chicago is indeed a slightly stronger school academically than Michigan in certain fields (Econ, etc). But to spend $130,000 more to attend Chicago over Michigan doesn’t really make any sense at all. Totally not worth it. Michigan provides one of the most well-rounded undergraduate experience that can only be matched by a few universities on this earth. </p>
<p>One proud alum (Dr. Sanjay Gupta) had the following to say about his experience at Michigan:
“I think that, and all of the surrounding parties around those games and the spirit of this place is something that I found is hard to find once you leave here.”
"I got a world class education here, and I became a fully trained neurosurgeon here, but it was the writing that I think propelled me in directions that I would have never imagined. "</p>
<p>Perhaps the kid is loaded…</p>
<p>LOL. Seriously, spending an extra 130K for Chicago? That is ridiculous!</p>
<p>^GoBlue81: </p>
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<p>Who? Me? I hope not, because I chose Michigan, though I have to admit money was only one of some other issues.</p>
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<p>I think that most people will agree that most people who graduate from Michigan will not end up like Sanjay Gupta or Larry Page … though people DO have the potential to truly be the leaders and the best like they are, but it takes more than an education from a great school (I think)</p>
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Your parents wouldn’t give you the 200k to spend on med school or law school? Only undergrad? Undergrad is probably the dumbest thing to sink 200k into compared to a house or professional school.</p>
<p>ab2013: No, I wasn’t thinking about you… Whoever willing to put up $130K for undergrad must be loaded.</p>
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<p>Oh that’s good. I was worried if I said anything earlier that would have made you think that way. </p>
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<p>Not really … it depends on how much they value that kind of education. I didn’t think it was worth $130K, but that’s me. I wanted the Chicago education, but the $ difference just didn’t seem reasonable to me.</p>
<p>ab, if you were chosing between Harvard and Western Michigan, I can see how $130,000 would make sense. But between two top 20 university, neither one of which is a top 5 university, spending more on one (even $20,000 0r $30,000 over four years) makes little or no sense at all. It does not matter how much you value education or how “loaded” you are. You are essentially wasting $130,000 on an identical product of equal quality.</p>
<p>^Well, Chicago isn’t that far away from being a Top 5 U. If you’re using the US News rankings, it’s up there at #8, along with the international rankings. </p>
<p>And I know how US News likes to underrate public schools.</p>
<p>Also, Michigan isn’t even a top 25 school based on the latest US News ranking. I think if your parents make about 200k combined and they have been wisely saving money for college, then one should easily be able to foot a 130k extra bill for Chicago.</p>
<p>Like I said, my parents had 200k in the bank ready to go for undergrad and another 100k already saved up for graduate school.</p>
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I don’t need a professional degree though necessarily. In fields like investment banking and management consulting, the firm pays for the MBA if they feel that an analyst/associate even needs it.</p>
<p>ab, Chicago is sometimes ranked as high as #8 or #9 and sometimes as low as #14 (2005) or #15 (2006) according to the USNWR. Michigan is generally ranked between #23 and #25. It has been ranked #21 a coupleof times and #26once, but those are unusual cases. In short, the USNWR is relatively accurate in the case of Chicago and slightly off in the case of Michigan. Chicago deserves to be ranked between #6 and #17 in the US. Michigan should be ranked anywhere between #9 and #17. Of course, in a country with over 2,000 colleges and universities, one can safely claim that all top 50 or even 100 universities are good and that there is virtually no difference in quality between sechools ranked within 10-15 spots of each year. For this reason, whether the USNWR ranks Michigan at #12 or #24 doesn’t realy matter. My issue with the USNWR is that it misleads people into thinking that there is a difference between schools ranked within reasonable proximity of each other. Chicago and Michigan are peers. Chicago is not better than Michigan. However, those two schools are very different from each other and students in a position to pick between the two schools should first focus on cost and then fit.</p>
<p>Harvard and Chicago are peers then right Alexandre? They’re ranked within a few spots of each other.</p>
<p>Chicago and Harvard are indeed peers, although Harvard is one of 5 universities that is slightly better than the next 10-15 universities. Those 5 are, as well all know, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale. Of the next 10 or so universities, Cal and Chicago are probably the two closest to Harvard and the other members of the “Big 5”, but they are not quite as good.</p>
<p>There is virtually no difference between universities ranked between 6 and 18 (4.3-4.7) according to the USNWR peer assessment score. Those schools include Brown, Cal, Caltech, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn and UVa. Those are all equal in terms of quality, reputation, opportunities offered prestige etc… That is not to say those schools are identical. They each have their own character and environment, but they are equally respected and equally good.</p>
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Your parents are really rich and really generous. If a family is earning 200k a year, according to you they should have 200k saved up over 18 years to spend on college. Thats more than their takehome salary each year. You have to be really stable financially to afford blindly spending an extra 130k for undergrad, especially with what happened to the stock market last year.</p>
<p>Are you aware how tough it is to get funding for an MBA? Assuming you are hired by a company that funds your MBA you still need to be at the top of the pack with your fellow analysts to make it past 2 years. At top consulting firms and investment banks the average analyst is gone after 2 years. After that they move on to other companies or go for an MBA to further their career. I’m under the impression that most people pay for their MBAs. Maybe I’m wrong, but whatever. If you do well in an internship that can get you funding for your second year, but thats still $50k+ you spend out of pocket.</p>
<p>That is also assuming you still want an MBA after working for a few years. There are many people who work in banking or consulting and decide that law is for them. I’m not aware of any funding for law school. Maybe an internship in your last summer can lead to a company paying for your third year, but thats still 100k+ out of pocket.</p>
<p>bump in honor of the “brown” thread</p>
<p>I love me some controversy… I wish I could bring up the “University of Michigan and its volatile future” thread but alas it’s locked</p>
<p>Lol, he already picked U of M!</p>
<p> Go Blue!! </p>